Lots of very good Foiler's don't switch.

I think you are crazy not to learn switch for winging in waves though, gets you back to the peak heaps easier.
Yes it feels weird at first but do it enough and then get foot changes dialed and life is so much easier.

With a kite I don't think it is so important, with one hand on the bar you don't have to get into as much of a twisted stance to pull the power on and get upwind.

I am crap at switch so have learnt to change my feet.
But learning to sail switch is next on my list.

When I wingfoil (and I'm only 6 months in, swapping between windfoiling & windsurfing), I don't ride switch; coming from Windsurfing it felt odd not to swap over (although I can't jibe it yet...pretty new). I'm goofy and riding swell feels much better in that direction so I might need to do what those who ride switch do and stay planted ... ToW as always :-).

k.

I can switch, longtime windsurfer and kiter. But I never switch anymore, and the only downside is upwind ability on toeside. With more practice you get almost as good upwind as heelside but it is a lot harder work.
Riding waves switch is very ordinary, especially strapless.

While its a bit counterintuitive once it clicks you
won't have any issues riding switch if you've done it before on a foil. This is probably not the norm but I found it easier to start riding switch with a flying foot swap, its the same as kiting and then you get a feel for riding. Pumping up on your non-natural takes a while to get used to.

first five sessions i thought it would never happen but it quickly becomes 'natural'.

agree do what floats your boat but its defo helpful for local sessions to be able to hammer upwind. While you can point quite high toeside if you're good at it, you can point much higher heelside once you're good at that too.

I always change my feet after gybing, but I used to windsurf and ride a surfboard kiting so it's natural to me. You can go upwind better, deal with on coming waves better too. I turn onto a wave carry through on teesside to control the speed and swap feet at the bottom of the wave.
I think also always riding with the same foot forward won't do your body and back any good over the long term, makes it a wonky sport like golf or tennis where one side over compensates.

I do swap my feet to topside for a while before tacking though.

Mike

I never learned to switch my feet, so I ride heelside and toeside with my left foot forward, always.

Yes, I could probably get 10-15deg more upwind angle if I learned how to ride with my right foot forward, but I find I'm pretty good upwind toeside anyways so marginal benefits there.

To me, it's a question about how you want to invest your time on the water, and what your winging goals are. I'm a surfer first and I want to ride waves. So every time we have wind I can either (1) have a session in the waves or (2) go to a flat water spot. That choice is easily made. However sometimes there's no waves and only wind, and I'll go to a flat water spot anyways. But then the question becomes: what do I want to improve on? I could (a) spend time trying to switch my feet or (b) spend time perfecting my tacks on smaller/faster foils. I still go for option b, because I'm not at a level yet where I'm happy with those. Perhaps once I'm nailing them 100% of the time, I'll want to learn to switch my feet, but perhaps I'll want to spend time learning race gybes, or downwinding, or something else...

So ultimately it's a question on whether you want those extra 10-15deg of upwind angle, and how much value you place on that vs other aspects of wingfoiling.

Give it time.You will probably learn it all just because it is not that hard.

The progression in wingfoiling is very constant and smooth compared to prone.Wind is a very available and reliable "engine" compared to waves.

mcrt said..
Give it time.You will probably learn it all just because it is not that hard.

The progression in wingfoiling is very constant and smooth compared to prone.Wind is a very available and reliable "engine" compared to waves.

I just get so many more prone days compared to wind sports that its hard to keep that muscle memory on the other foot. I was at the point kite foiling where i could throw 360 tacks and loops on wave but i couldn't even get up on foil switch.

First session. 100KG, 120L wing board, Naish 5.3 (which runs small i think) and the NL 160. 13kts. I felt great getting up on my good tack, could go upwind great on foil, almost made a transition to backside. Today should be windy enough to get up without pumping so i'll try some switch and some touchdown gybes to see if i can make some transitions

Also, i'm realizing today that while my NL 160 is feels like a massive surf foil wing for me riding prone, its probably quite small for my first session on the ding.

I'm sure this seems like much to do over a silly question but i'm on mostly borrowed gear now and i'm still on the fence on the ding.

My spot and chase boat for learning this week. Few miles of 3-4 feet of depth. Supposed to blow 20 today

Just got my 2nd session pretty lit solid 20 and found I could sail around transition to and from backside and stay upwind fine. Not switching seems great. Got a few runs on the switch foot and while it was annoying it's dooable. Gonna see about some footwork this afternoon.

As a natural footer over in the west (predominantly left handlers) when winging on a set wave, it pays to learn to ride switch on your non preferred and also to change feet quickly and smoothly otherwise you have no hope of getting upwind to the peak before our goofy brethren. They are ripping upwind on their preferred to a wave peak and you always find yourself on the inside of them. Bang up to the peak then a quick foot change into toeside preferred as you enter the wave.


On your toes you are also dealing with the swell running to the left against you as well.
downwinders - hardly ever switch. But get to a good peak its handy to have your switch game on the hang there a bit.
worth learning

Dspace said..

Mikedubs said..
I think also always riding with the same foot forward won't do your body and back any good over the long term, makes it a wonky sport like golf or tennis where one side over compensates.
Mike

Exactly. Old back surgery and a bad right knee and left shoulder( I'm a walking basket case at 63!) forced me to change up all the time, otherwise the joints just wouldn't tolerate it. Learning to switch stance on-foil consistently with kitefoiling was pretty challenging for me at age 60, but it made learning switching feet on a wing foil completely trivial.

I would practice by going on either tack (port or starboard) and switching my feet back and forth in quick succession at least 4-6 times while maintaining constant direction and speed. Gets to be second nature pretty quickly

+1 to this. I would be surprised if there wouldn't be serious body imbalances in the long term if riding with the same leg forward all the time. Of course this depends how many times and how long one rides per week. Highly recommend switching the feet due to this but also for higher angles and resting the back foot.

Yes, it's well worth learning to ride (and water start) switch stance. I struggled learning to do foot switches but have them dialed now. Upwind angles are significantly better and it's easier on your body. When cranking GS turns downwind I don't switch though. So fun to jam turns back and forth in your natural stance.

I used to only foil left foot forward

it torn my meniscus in my left knee

now.
i swap feet

StephenZ said..
As a long time kite foiler, I learnt to change feet as soon as I could, most kite foilers learn to do this. When winging, riding a wave flagged out, i generally like to ride open, it just feels nicer and more natural. This means if riding downwind on a wave I'm typically riding backside, so if generally heading right I ride goofy (my strong side) and heading left ride natural.
I can ride toeside, but don't do it much except for short stretches, would hate to do long stretches upwind, can't be good for the back.

Yeah, as i said above in my kite foil days i had that...then lost it fron excessive prone foiling. Loving the wing, probably not too keen on working out that switch foot skill set just to loose if like i did kiting.