Goal Setting for 2024

Author: Jon Mann

New Year means New Year’s resolutions… whilst I’m not particularly a fan of the resolutions, I am a fan of setting targets. One of my colleagues once said to me ‘what gets measured gets managed’ and thinking about it makes sense. At the start of our SUP DW journey, my buddy Sibren and I tracked all our runs (and still do) and it was satisfying to quantify and measure our progress through metrics such as % distance on foil, % time on foil, number of paddle ups etc. However, what I have noticed is that I’ve gotten to a point where these stats interest me less. This doesn’t mean I think I have nothing to learn (far from it, Open de France showed that) but maybe I need to change my goals.

It’s a new year, so what are my DW foiling goals for 2024?

  1. After my chat with Dave on his podcast, I want to try and commit to the Art Pro 1051 as my main North Sea foil for most conditions taking the 1121 only if its light and the 1001 if it’s nuking. How will I measure if this is successful? Well I can go back to my beginner metrics of time on foil, number of paddle ups etc.
  2. Try to foil on the North Sea as much as possible. As much as I love the lakes for surfy runs, I want to go faster, foil consistently bigger bumps without having to wait for nuking days and in general ride more challenging conditions.
  3. On that note (speed): sub 2:00/ km split and consistent splits under 2:15/km on the north sea for runs with minimum run lengths of 10km ideally around 20km. 
  4. I have a number of longer runs and target times I would like to do them in, but I won’t list them out here. 
  5. Tacking onto the 1051 goal, I’d like the Spitfire 900 to be my go to lake foil (it pretty much already is) but also to use the 840 and 780 more. Less glide on tap (not really needed on the lakes, bumps everywhere) but more rippable foils will allow me to push my turns and surfing whilst also ensuring better line choice. On nuking days I am tempted to take an art pro to see how fast I can go, but that is a lot of up and over work. 
  6. Races. I need to plan which races I’d like to go to, but after DW de France I would like to do a few more. It’s always nice to go to events for the community, but racing also offers the opportunity to expose weak points and areas for improvement. 
  7. Prone downwinding. I’d love to try and do a few more prone DW runs (5K minimum to count, ideally 10Ks)
  8. Blogs: try to post at least once a month. Need to work on the constituency. Please reach out with topics you think might be informative. 
  9. Look after the body. In order to achieve my above goals, I think I need to back off on ‘just foiling all the time’ and spend some time looking after my body, working on my fitness and doing some strength and conditioning (obviously not instead of foiling when the conditions are good). Hopefully that balance and routine should be easy to establish with the new job. 

This maybe hasn’t really been the most informative blog post, but I felt writing a blog about it might help me hold myself more accountable and maybe encourage others to set goals to work towards. Be it your first paddle up, first prone foil double dip, first ace run etc.

As always, any questions (happy to help people think of goals), comments, feedback. Feel free to message me on instagram or email me.