Hi all, just looking at various options at the moment.

I've never foiled before and looking at making my first attempts this summer.
As a new foiler, I'm definitely taking some form of lessons to help accelerate the learning curve.
My question is, would I get the same benefit from eFoil lessons as I would from proper coaching towed behind a small RIB?
I don't really have any aspirations towards continuing with eFoils due to my sailing/windsurfing background however the eFoil lessons are much closer to home, and so a bit more accessible to my time frame.

Thanks in advance...

I think behind the boat is better. But it all comes down to what you have access to. The E-foil will definitely get you to learn how ride the foil and the muscle memory. Here in the states, they are like 300-350 bucks for a session. About 90 mins. I have ridden one, but I did not learn on one. Now if you have access to some buddies with a boat, to me this is the way to go. You don't have to use a small board to learn. You can use a 6 or 7 foot foil sup and move down to much smaller boards as you get better and get the muscle memory. And you can literally learn behind a very small boat. I have heard of people foiling behind boats with 5 hp outboards with SUP foil boards. The feedback you can get from behind a boat is great too as you progress. You can watch the ski rope to see if it gets slack to know you are actually riding the foil by itself compared to always have to throttle to get flying on the Efoil. This will greatly benefit you more as you progress. If you go to about the 6:00 min mark in this video, you will see how he is riding with no tension in the line.



I learned following the steps they talk about in this video and have taught about 10 people based on the steps in this video.

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/Foiling/Foil-Frothers-Info-night-with-JB-and-James-Casey-Video

Whatever you have access to to get flying. Once you start doing it, you will be hooked like the rest of us addicts. Have fun !

Obviously anything that gives you time on a foil is going to help. I suspect an electric foil is a bit too easy and you're not going to learn much.

Actually being on a foil is dead easy, especially the big foils used for winging. Once you're up there you're pretty much standing looking at the view.

I think being towed behind a boat would be much better, especially if the tow point is relatively high, and if you have a coach with an idea of how to teach you stuff. By the time you account for the length of the tow rope it should simulate the angle of a wing.

This lets you practice a number of things.

You can get towed up and practice riding along and the feel of the handle in your hands. The boat can vary speed and you can learn how that feels in your hands and feet. You can practice moving your feet and maintaining the trim of the foil so you keep moving up on the foil and practice touch downs and stuff.

You can be towed just a little bit too slow and practice the feel of loading the tow line and pitching the foil up to get up on the foil, followed by quickly levelling the foil to keep moving. That will be very similar to what you do when you pump the wing and get up on the foil.

You can also practice gliding by getting up a little speed, having the boat slow right down, and you carve a turn and maintain speed both with and without tow line pressure.

One very valuable lesson is to explore the balance point of the foil. You can move your feet around inside that balance point and practice toe side riding and foot swaps and trimming and all the rest.