BIG WAVE FOILING

THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING HOW TO BIG WAVE FOIL

STARTING OUT

Big wave foiling, or tow-in foiling, the key things you have to prepare yourself for is that you’re going to be going fast – really fast – and having experience in bigger waves is key. Managing fear is probably the key thing you’ll have to face when you want to start out and you’re thinking about going to ride these bigger waves, because sooner or later you’re going to get hit by a big wave, and you’re going to have to deal with taking it on your head, and that alone can be horrifying, but having a foil near you is even more terrifying. So that’s the first thing you have to consider – whether your mind can handle what you’re going to see and have to deal with.

You should also be used to riding foils at quite a high speed. You’ve got your downwind stuff and your lower speed stuff but with big wave foiling the speed you’re going to be going at will be something that you’ve probably never experienced before. The speeds are phenomenal and, if you have experience of foiling, then you know that