The Day I Finally Saw What’s Beyond That First Lift
viva-wingfoilSaturday, April 18.
Like always, I headed down to Enoshima.
For the past few weeks, it’s been the same pattern:
The forecast looks great a few days out…
then drops to almost nothing by the morning of.
So honestly, I wasn’t fully convinced this time either.
But this day felt different.
I checked the forecast when I woke up—steady at 4 m/s.
Checked again an hour later—no change.
“Okay… this might actually be the day.”
So I headed out.
Right on the Edge
Train trouble. 30-minute delay.
Still, when I got there—the wind was on.
“This could work.”
Quick setup:
- Foil
- 6.0m wing
- Drysuit
And I was out.
But once I got on the water—
It felt closer to 3 m/s.
Windsurfers were barely planing.
“Yeah… here we go again,” I thought.
Still—not dead calm.
The wind was steady enough.
So I made a decision: commit and keep going.
Real Progress — Even Without Foiling
One of the biggest takeaways of the day:
Even without getting on foil, I could:
- Ride upwind consistently
- Link jibes without falling
- Head offshore with control
That’s a huge step forward.
Feeling good, I pushed outside the bay.
The Offshore Trap — Swell Over Wind
I figured there’d be more wind offshore.
Instead, I got hit with swell.
About 1.5 meters, constantly lifting and dropping me.
There was wind—around 3 m/s—so I could stay up.
But just barely.
I was using all my focus just to stay balanced.
No room to accelerate.
No chance to even try foiling.
At that point, I knew—this wasn’t it.
I headed back inside.
Enoshima Is Tough for Learning
That’s when it hit me:
Enoshima is not an easy place to learn.
- Constant waves = constant balance corrections
- Hard to build speed
- Pumping loses efficiency in chop
If this were flat water, like a lake,
you could just pump and go.
Here, the waves act like noise in the system.
It’s like:
Trying to learn basic skiing… on moguls.
Not ideal.
But at the same time—
Once you get good, waves become the fun part.
So I’m not changing locations.
I’m committing to this.
Foiling Attempts — Something Shifted
Back inside the bay, I started trying again.
Wait for a gust.
Pump the wing.
Add leg pumping.
Then—
I lifted.
But immediately tipped forward.
The reason was clear.
Old windsurfing habit—too much weight forward.
Adjustment — And a Real Lift
Next attempt.
Focus: stay centered.
Pump → accelerate → lift
This time—
Different.
A smooth, light lift.
Much more stable.
“This is it.”
Then the next moment—
a wave tilted me, I overcorrected…
And went down the other side.
The Real Issue — Control
Next attempt.
This time, I reduced the correction.
Result? Not enough—I fell anyway.
And then it clicked.
This is a control problem.
- Too much input → overshoot
- Too little → not enough correction
In other words:
Gain tuning.
Once that’s dialed in, stability follows.
And more importantly—
I finally had enough control to think while riding.
Before, it was just lift → crash → repeat.
Now I could actually manage feedback in real time.
That’s a big shift.
“Almost There”
I got multiple lifts that day.
And more importantly—
They were stable at the moment of lift.
That’s real progress.
At this point, it’s about fine-tuning.
Honestly—
With 10 or 20 more solid attempts,
I probably could’ve locked in stable foiling that same day.
Reality Check
But conditions weren’t on my side:
- Light wind
- Few gusts
- Constant swell
So I didn’t quite get to stable foiling.
Seeing Myself Ride — For the First Time
Even though it was a solo session,
my instructor filmed me from a distance.
First time seeing myself wing foiling.
The footage wasn’t close, but still—
Seeing myself ride was huge.
That’s going to help a lot next time.
The Takeaway
- I can lift → so it’s doable
- Not stable yet → control issue
- Cause → clearly identified
Which means—
I’m right on the edge of breaking through.
What’s Next
I only need two things:
- A bit more wind
- A bit more repetition
Next time, the goal isn’t just:
“Lift.”
It’s:
Ride.
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