My downwind journey
Author: Jon Mann
Many roads lead to Rome, and the same applies to learning to downwind sup foil. Depending on your water sports background, general athleticism and approach. Your journey from zero to hero (or competence) will be unique to you and it is difficult to draw parallels to other people and how quickly they have learned. Nonetheless I’ll try and outline my approach and philosophy of how I learnt to SUP foil DW in order to help give an impression of progressions, useful things to do and also things you might want to do or might not want to do.
Disclaimer: SUP DW can be frustrating. My advice is to use what I feel are the ‘pre-requisite’ skills as a guideline as to when its a good idea to start, but don’t try to assume direct carry over. For example, if you can freewing 2k comfortably with a wing, don’t assume that first time up with SUP you’ll easily do 2K. Just embrace the learning process, celebrate each win, and learn from each fail!
What is my water sports background?
So what minimum competencies do I need for SUP foil DW?
As I mentioned, I set myself some minimum competency skillset requirements in order to make my transition to SUP foil DW as smooth as I could.
Note: this list is over the top, so I’ve listed what I set myself as well as in hind sight what I think is sufficient.
Prone: Shore runners over 1K (probably not needed as shore runners aren’t downwinding and are just pump skill focused. I’d change to easy 3-for-1s). I actually ended up smashing this and doing a proper 5K prone DW run pumping way out back and cruising down the coast from Ijmuiden to Bloemendaal.
Dockstart: Pump over a minute with a mid aspect surf foil (Axis SP860) and more than a 1:30 with my PNG 1010 (I’d say 30s is enough)
Note: If you don’t prone, not to worry, you don’t need to. You can either work on your pump skills dockstarting or winging. If you don’t dockstart or wing, you don’t need to learn either. But just accept that learning to pump has to be part of your downwind journey.
Wing: Freewing comfortably over 1K (I’d stick to this if you are a winger, this foiling competency is key, to have a nice reward for each paddle up).
Note: If you don’t wing, you don’t need to learn to wing. Again you have to accept that the bump reading will take a bit longer to learn. You can speed this up by watching videos or getting a tool such as the foil drive. The best resource on Foil Drive and using it for learning to foil is Dominic Hoskyns who is a frother and rips on his foil drive set ups.
SUP Technique: Learn to paddle in a straight line paddling only on one side. Sprint paddling on only one side for 10 – 20 strokes and learn how to use your paddle for balance (I wouldn’t skip this step, even if you have SUP experience, its great to get used to your DW boards on flatwater). I did this initially on a 90L 5’8″ x 26″ board, before using my girlfriends 110L 5’10” x 28″ board. Note: FLATWATER PADDLE UPS ARE NOT A PRE REQUISITE. I didn’t learn to do this until way later in my journey. They are a great training tool, but don’t let yourself get locked into thinking you need to be able to do them before you go out in the bumps.
SUP Foil: Comfortably sup foil in waves of all sizes and at least double dip (I’d say you don’t need to double dip, but I set myself that goal with my prone background in mind). SUP foiling gets you used to timing your paddle with the push of a wave (slightly different to a bump) without having to worry about bump selection. The takeoff is a similar feel, and as you get better you can work back from breaking waves to crumbly waves to unbroken waves before dialling in your timing in the bumps.
What did my SUP foil DW progression look like?
Jannes and I set ourselves a fairly high bar before going for our first SUP runs, with the highlight being a nearly 30K downwinder on the wing where we freewinged 95% of the run and came down maybe 5 times and that was more due to the fact that the wind was 12-18 knots. This put us in good stead for our first SUP run (which was 15K) which we foiled probably about 45% of or so with a nice stretch of 2-3k straight (main reason for the freewing goal).
After this first run it was a question of going often and getting longer and longer stretches on foil with less paddle ups. Thanks to the month on / month off work I was able to get very focussed progression in spending almost every day of my time off on the water doing DW runs or ‘in and outs’ (paddle out 1k, DW back 1k) which meant I got my first 10K ace pretty quickly ( I think in my second month off of focusing on DW).
Since then I’ve just been playing with foil set ups, tuning my set ups and focusing on flow and turns thanks to the slow lake bumps. My highlights on the lakes have been foiling amazing bumps in 40-55 knots and I’m especially proud of foiling 30K straight from Almere to Lelystad on a 32k run (1 silly fall at 2K stopped it from being an ace).
Currently my progression focus is on the North Sea. I find the North Sea a lot trickier, thanks to the undercurrents, refracting wind swell and generally choppy conditions. Generally the best bumps are far out the back, so the first few runs were (and often still are) long paddle out back and if unlucky with foiling in to the finish, also a long paddle back in. For me personally, the trickiest part about downwinding in the North Sea is the paddle up. Being a bit less stable in the choppier conditions makes it harder to get power down and the mixed up swell can make bump selection a bit harder. Once on foil though, the North Sea isn’t too different, though I’ve found the bumps a lot faster so prefer to use the ART 1099 when I can. I’ve still got heaps to learn and would not say I’m completely proficient in downwinding on the North Sea yet so watch this space (I’ll probably write another post about that).
Top tips for starting out with SUP foil DW
What are the best conditions? This is a tricky one, and is really based on where you are. My first bit of advice is to reach out to your local crew. They can advise you on the best conditions.
I’m not going to list it in the below as its really quite obvious. Get a crew, I’ve mentioned Jannes a couple of times but there is a wider crew of guys I regularly downwind with in The Netherlands and their continued stoke has really helped me get better (so anyone in NL who is serious about SUP foil DW, reach out, the more the merrier!).
Tip number 1: Do not go in light wind. Jannes and I learnt this lesson on our first run (the 15K, one I’ll come back to that on tip number 2) and were so stoked we went again despite a dropping wind forecast. We foiled about 1K then came off foil to then not paddle up again leaving up 14K to paddle… This is not fun. Ideally a rule of thumb is high teens to low 20 knots. Most places that will result in decent bumps. The easiest places to DW are lakes (like the Ijsselmeer and Markermeer in The Netherlands), Rivers (like in Hood River) or bays. These provide slower and easier bumps that move in a single direction unlike the ocean where theres normally at least 2 swell directions.
That brings me to tip number 2 – pick a short run. 3-5K is ideal, not too long to paddle the whole way. Until you get better at reading bumps you will paddle for everything, this is extremely tiring. Short runs make you less tired, give you a chance to rest and you can repeat them without too much impact on time allowing you to tune gear in between.
Tip number 3: Should probably be lesson one. Take time to look at the bumps. Sit on your board, see how the ‘sets’ come through, which ones are steeper and feel the push and the differences. This really helps with the paddle ups.
Tip number 4: Don’t paddle for every bump. Sometimes you think ‘Oh the next one is good’ and just keep going until you red line your heart rate and can’t paddle anymore. I set myself the rule 2 attempts and then sit down. This allows you to conserve energy and maintain focus. If the wind is blowing, the bumps will come. So missing a set really isn’t the end of the world.
Tip number 5: A bad run, is still a good run. Each run has a learning point. Maybe your foil was too big, foil was too small. If you didn’t get up you can get a better understanding of what your low end is. Sure it’s frustrating and sucks, but it’s another ‘data point’ in your learning of how to downwind and will prove valuable down the line.
What gear did I start on?
I put this section last for a reason. I don’t believe there is a right or wrong or even best set up. It really depends on your background. If you have a sup background you can maybe choose a narrower board. If you don’t a more stable board might help you more. So boards wise, its worth having a look at my post on boards. My first board was a 5’10” x 28″ 110L AK Phazer V2. Yes it was draggy to paddle, but it taught me a lot about bump selection and in hindsight I wouldn’t change it. My second board was a 6’4″ x 24″ 105L Release DW SUP and my current board is a 6’6″ x 21.5″ 100L Release DW SUP Pro.
Foil wise, there is this perception that you need a high aspect. Sure glide helps. But to get started, lift is the most important, you can’t foil downwind if you’re not on foil. So choose a foil with enough low end. I started out on an AK Durable Supply Plasma 1600. I used this foil on the lakes, the North Sea and even for my first ocean run in the Canary Islands. Since then I’ve moved onto the Axis HPS foils with my 1050 being my go to for a long time (got my first 10K ace on it) but now I’m mainly using the 980 or the ART1099 depending on if I’m on the lakes or the North Sea.