Wake Foiling | Mast and Stance Positioning

One common question from new wakefoilers is, "Where do you put your hydrofoil on your board?" I'm Cole, and I'm going to walk you through that answer here.

Push 'em Back

If you're new to wake foiling, I want you to put the foil all the way on the back of the board. Yep, just push it all the way to the back of the board. Don't worry about the numbers on the bottom of the board; just get the foil on the back and leave it there for your first few rides. Don't worry about moving the foil around; you can simply move your stance around instead.

Why This Works

Why can we leave the foil at the back of the board and not worry about moving it? The ideal stance puts your back foot just in front of the mast and right over the front wing of the hydrofoil. Your front foot should be a shoulder-width apart from your back foot. If we were to move our stance farther forward on the board, we'd be putting our weight in front of that front wing, and that will cause the board to ride nose down. It's really hard to get the board out of the water with the weight in front of the foil.

Now let's say we move our stance to the tail of the board. Your weight is behind the hydrofoil so it's going to cause the foil to ride up. The foil isn't going to want to stay in the water; it's going to rise and it'll probably cause you to fall.

To avoid submarining the board, keeping it in the water, and to avoid launching it out of the water, we want to make sure our stance has our back foot just in front of the mast and right over the front wing, with our front foot a shoulder-width apart from that back foot.

Fine-Tune Your Stance

Here are some techniques to try if you're having trouble getting the foil out of the water or keeping it in the water. Larger riders may have to move their stance farther back on the foil to get out of the water. Small riders don't have enough weight to keep the foil in the water, so the foil wants to go up since they're just too light to keep it down. They may have to move their stance farther forward on the board to counteract the lift of the foil. The majority of riders should be able to put their stance in a balanced position just in front of the mast and be successful, though.

If you have any other questions about wake foiling, feel free to contact us at MACkiteboarding.com and we'll be happy to help you out. Until next time, happy shredding, and I look forward to seeing you on the water.

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