eFoiling is a new exciting sport and with that comes a lot of challenges. Here are the Top 5 mistakes you’ll want to avoid when riding your eFoil:
- Riding too slow
- Weight too far back
- Poor Posture
- Standing up too quickly
- Riding the wrong equipment
The problem with a lot of these issues is foiling is counterintuitive to most board sports. Typically you watch videos where surfers or skateboarders keep their weight back instead of forwards.
If you want to avoid the top 5 efoil mistakes and improve your riding time with this new sport then continue to read along!
1. Riding too Slow
This one sounds wrong but trust us. Slow is pro right? Yes but it’s more nuanced.
Much like riding a bike, if you pedal slowly it will be more difficult to balance the bicycle. You’ll wobble around and be far less stable then if you have momentum carrying you forward.
The same principle applies to efoiling. The rider needs to slowly ramp up their speed so they can safely stand up.
2.Weight too far on backfoot
Beginner riders having their weight far back is probably one of the biggest common mistakes. Foiling is different than most board sports because like we said, most board weight is on the back foot, not the front.
This is common in both the pop up, when the rider is in the prone position and when the rider is actually standing. When foiling, the nose wants to come out of the water.
It’s critical to have enough weight on your front foot. Roughly 60% on front and 40% on the back.
Pro tip: Press down through the front knee when standing to keep the board weight on the nose.
3. Poor Posture while eFoiling
The biggest issue is bending forward at the waist. Bending the knees is important for riding any type of board but if you bend your waist and your knees you will have a lot of weight on your toes.
If you notice you keep falling off your eFoil to your toe side, you have an issue with your posture. If you also have a difficult time turning your eFoil to one particular side, you may have a posture issue.
To fix this, relax. Before you hop on your board, take a deep breath and focus on your posture.
When you get up to your feet, your head should be upright and directly stacked over your hips and shoulders. To reiterate, relax your shoulders while keeping your head, shoulders, and hips stacked over your feet. Ideally, your hips should be directly over the center of your feet. Not too far forward over your toes or too far back over your heels.
Pro tip: Have some bend in the knees while stacking your hips and shoulders over your feet.
4. Standing up too quickly
This one is for the advanced riders, mainly surfers who try to eFoil for the first time.
When we spoke to Steven Reep from Jup Spot eFoils he said this was the biggest single mistake surfers tend to make on eFoils.
He had this advice for surfers:
Surfers go too fast. They pop up too quickly and jump the gun a bit. Instead of taking their time popping up they treat it like a wave where you only have that split second to pop up. I like to remind them you’re in control of the wave. You are in control of the board. You are the wave. Positioning and keeping your weight right is critical.
If you’re a surfer who wants to get into eFoiling than remember: take your time.
5. Riding the Wrong eFoil Equipment
If you’re just starting out it’s important to ride a beginner eFoil board with a large enough wing that will complement your abilities.
If you try to get the fastest eFoil board on the market with a small high aspect wing, it’s going to be very difficult for you to stand up.
The ideal board for a beginner is probably a Lift 3 eFoil. Lift offers heaps of beginner wings and has plenty of videos of tutorials on how to ride. Plus it’s a stable board to learn on.
Bonus: Avoid first generation boards and avoid preorders
Outside of our top 5 mistakes for riding an eFoil we have some suggestion on how to buy an efoil.
Consider the following when purchasing an eFoil or jetboard:
- Avoid preorders
- Avoid first generation boards
- Avoid buying cheap jetboards
- Avoid buying cheap eFoil boards
Why? First generation boards are subject to bugs and will have their quirks, it’s better to select a battle tested efoil with plenty of information online. A cheaper boards is never the ideal board because skimping price bites you in the end.
Is it Easy to Ride an eFoil?
We wouldn’t say it’s “easy” but it’s not as hard as learning how to surf or learning how to hydrofoil.
Riding an eFoil takes practice but it’s something that can be learned within an hour of riding with a trained professional guiding you along the way. Depending on the location, you can find a great demo spot to learn how to foil properly.
If you’re a visual learner, check out this video from Flite to support your riding time.
Should I Avoid Shallow Water when I ride my eFoil?
Yes. Riders with eFoils avoid shallow water like the plague.
Shallow water can ruin your foil board if the foil hits the shallow it can wreck your board.
How can I care for my eFoil?
The best thing you can do to preserve your efoil is to rinse it with fresh water after each use.
What’s wrong with cheap jetboards?
Semi-unrelated to the article but cheap jetboards are much like cheap efoils avoid them!
Buying cheap jetboards can cause you a lot pain. Unfortunately, there’s plenty of bad information online where shady companies make a poor prototype and get their kickstarters to foot the bill.
It’s cheap for a reason, a cheap price is a red flag. Most riders are better off buying a lift efoil instead of buying cheap jetboards and cheap efoils.