Expert Foiling: ​Duck Tack to Toeside - Ticket to Glide Ep 05

This trick is really awesome, it’s tons of fun, it keeps you blasting upwind without losing any ground, and it’s also going to lay the groundwork for some more advanced tricks such as the duck tack with a stance change, as well as carving 360s. Those are some of my favorites; they’re tons of fun, and are always a crowd-pleaser. This is going to lay the groundwork and build some skills for that.

The prerequisites for this trick are found in some of our previous videos. You’ll want to be able to nail the heelside to toeside gybe downwind with no stance change, as well as the toeside to heelside gybe; be comfortable with those with a downloop transition. Those will get you more comfortable and bring your skillset a little higher to where you’re going to be ready to tackle this trick.

As always, when learning new tricks, we recommend a helmet and an impact vest. Just in case something does go wrong, you’re protecting yourself- and when you’re learning new stuff, occasionally things do happen.

Lastly, what you’re going to want to bring to the beach, if you have multiple wingsets for your foil, are your larger wings. They’re going to provide you with some more stability on the foil, especially at slower speeds, and that’s going to allow you to complete this trick without an excessive amount of speed that can put you in a compromising or uncomfortable position. So rig those big wings, get that extra stability, increase your lift, and just make your life easier. You can progress to faster, smaller wings once you’ve tackled the trick on the larger, more comfortable wings at a lower rate of speed.

We recommend you download the attached PDFon your phone. Check it before your next session! 

Come in with moderate speed

When you first get out there, get comfortable with your normal stuff by riding around, and come in with a decent amount of speed. You want enough speed to be able to carry a momentum upwind, but not so much speed that you’re not feeling comfortable making a tight-radius turn, or you can’t make a tight enough radius turn without leaning back really far.

As you first go into your turn and you’re heading towards your tack, figure out where you want to do it, and bring the kite up. When it’s almost to noon, start a hard carve upwind. When you do that, don’t lean back like you want to do a backroll because you’re trying to avoid your lines. Instead, continue your momentum looking upwind, and stay centered over your board. As you begin to turn, push your bar up. Don’t hold it in tight, dump the power in the kite. That’ll allow the kite to rise a little higher in the sky, and it’s also going to allow you to bring your hands up closer to your head. When your hands are closer to your head, just follow around, pushing your hands forward, through the turn as you carve upwind; that’s going to bring your bar and lines around your head.

As the kite climbs up, push your bar out 

Bring the kite up, push out, carve up, and do one of these maneuvers, and that’s going to put you in a good position to keep your body weight forward. You want to do all that in a really fluid motion and be confident with it; don’t be sketchy about it because you do have to make that turn and keep your momentum. 

When you get about halfway through the turn or maybe a little bit further than halfway, your kite’s going to be up at noon, and that’s going to put you in a position where you can best carve around those lines. Once you get about halfway, you want to start your loop. So you’re going to loop the kite, you bring your kite up, and then as you’re carving, pull on that back hand and it’s going to begin your loop to get you out of that with some more momentum.

You may use a loop 

Now, if you’re riding with a fair amount of speed, you might not need to loop. That’s going to pull you through the rest of the turn, or if you’re just heading the kite in the other direction, the kite’s going to give you a burst of power. Continue in the other direction; you’re just going to need to correct it so it doesn’t crash into the water, because you do need a pretty good power stroke to finish since, as you’re coming around your turn, you’re going to lose almost all of your speed by the time you get going in the opposite direction. So be sure to start that loop at the right time, commit to it, and get ready to go, and that’s going to help you pull right out of there and do it in the right way, heading toeside.

Mind your how you weight the board

As you complete your turn, as with any foil transition, get ready to get back on your front foot; you’ll be riding toeside at this time, so it can be a little harder. It almost makes you want to go on your back foot riding toeside sometimes, but be sure you’ve got weight on your front foot and get ready to counter that lift as you accelerate in the opposite direction once that kite kicks in. All that efficiency from the foil rolls in and you’re going to accelerate, so put weight on the front foot when you do.

Here are some final trick tips:

If you’re finding that you’re touching down as you’re doing your upwind transition, there could be a couple of things going on. You’re probably not carrying enough speed into your turn, so you could try to add a little bit more speed. You might need to initiate your loop a little sooner to get that burst of power a little faster in your transition, or you might need to carve a little harder. Most likely it’s kind of a combination of all three, so try to go in with a little bit more speed, make your transition a little faster, and initiate that loop a little sooner or more aggressively to complete it in a faster way with a little bit more power to continue your momentum.

Lastly, one of the biggest mistakes that almost everybody makes, and which we’ve already mentioned, is leaning back while trying to get around your lines or trying to back roll into it. Unless you've got a really long mast and really fast wings going really fast, you shouldn't be leaning back; you should be centered over your board, driving upwind just as if you're doing ‘S’ turns downwind, and you’re going to just drive it up. Be sure to keep your hands high so you can dump the power in the kite, get upwind with it, loop that kite around, and drive forward with your hands. That's going to put your body in a good position over your front foot driving in the right direction, and getting those lines around where you can complete this trick with some easy success.

Printable steps 

Before you try you should...

• Nail the heel to toe and toe to heelside Gybe - see previous videos
• Wear a vest and Helmet
• Rig your large wings - more stability and less speed is needed

Before the tack

• Come in with moderate speed. Enough speed for stability, slow enough for a tight radius turn upwind
• Bring your kite above your head
• As the kite climbs up, push your bar out (depower)
• Begin your turn upwind with your hands near your head. Push your bar forward, not backward as you move through the turn.
• Remember to keep your weight centered over your board, do not lean back as if you are doing a back roll to avoid your lines.
• Make fluid movements that sync with the movements of the kite. This can be tricky at first.
• When your kite reaches it’s apex, you should be just past halfway through your turn.
• Begin to loop or turn your kite aggressively in the direction you wish to go. I find it easier to loop the kite than try to whip the kite up and down to gain power. Especially since you will be riding toeside by this time.
• Get ready to counter the lift of the foil as it begins to accelerate.

Tips:

• If you are touching down, try going in with more speed, looping the kite sooner, or making a faster carve on the foil. Potentially all three
• The biggest mistake new foilers make on this trick is turning it into a back roll kind of body position. Proceed with the turn as if your lines are not there at all, centered over your board. If you hands are near your head, the lines will move out of the way as you carve upwind and maneuver the kite. However, if you do not push out on the bar and put your hands high, you will get blocked by your lines. When you progress into doing this tack at higher speeds, you may need to lean back more to get the turning response that you need. If you do that, you will need more lift from the kite to pull you back up on top of the board, so you will need to pull in a bit to support your weight.

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Written and produced by Tucker Vantol, Ryan (Rygo) Goloversic and Blake Olsen 

Tucker Vantol

Mackite's resident surf and "Hydrofoil junkie." You can either catch him on the phones or on the water at dawn testing new gear. He is proficient at a myriad of sports, a shaper and passionate about getting his water time. When he discovered kiteboarding it took over as his predominate sport. The same could be said about hydrofoiling.