Chapter 8: Trying New Things

About a month ago, I got back from an amazing month in Peru - a combo trip for a friend's wedding, backpacking in their epic mountains, and of course tow foiling the legendary left hand point break - Chicama. Long story short - Chicama blew away my expectation and deserves its own post soon. Stay tuned.

That said, coming home after Chicama was difficult. I felt like my progression was accelerating faster than ever while towing and coming home to paddle into crowded waves during summer break was a total buzz kill. My progression came to a screeching halt and I was frustrated that I couldn't practice everything I had learned in Peru. Overall, I knew I needed to figure out a way to up my wave count as my home break entered peak season.

So - what did I do? Well, for starters, I put a deposit down for a Tow Boogie. If you don't know what a Tow Boogie is, check it out! It will be a few months before mine arrives but when it does, I'm hoping I can up my wave count by 5x for future swells and avoid crowds completely.

In the meantime, I decided to dust off my 8'2 KT Dragonfly Crossing DW SUP to take advantage of my local break at high tide when no one was out. If you've seen some of my other content, I am a horrific SUP paddler (zero SUP experience), so I previously had been using this board as a prone longboard setup, paddling in with my arms and popping to my feet. Super fun but definitely not tapping into the board's full potential.

So I popped on my biggest wing, an AFS Enduro 1300, and prepared to engage full kook status. No joke - couldn't stand on the thing for more than 10 seconds at first - it wasn't pretty. There's something special about fully shedding your ego and paddling out next to a crowd of people watching you fall again and again and again. Highly recommend it.

Regardless, I stuck to the basics knowing that the magic of muscle memory was subconsciously at work. I kept going out and made sure I was getting a good nights sleep to process everything. And then one day - it happened. To my surprise, I was suddenly able to stand on the board for minutes at a time! Stoked! Time to try paddling for a wave!

For my next session, I picked a specific time/day where the tide was high, waves were small, and crowd was nonexistent. I spent the entire session practicing paddling into waves that I thought (at the time) were impossible to catch. And I fell - over and over again. Until I didn't! Suddenly, some kind of magic happened and I glided perfectly balanced into a wave, pumped a few times, and BOOM - I was FLYING! I wish I had a recording of my scream - I was so so stoked. I had unlocked a new skill - the paddle.

Fast forward one month and as of the time of this writing on July 14, I have successfully foiled in waves for 29 days straight - sometimes mixing in prone and surf sessions. I even had my first trifecta last week - Prone in morning, SUP in afternoon, and sunset surf session. Really felt cool to be able to finally bounce between a few different disciplines.

This morning, I had a particularly special session before starting work. I was in the water for about an hour and was on foil for ~8 minutes on 10 waves. A friend who is a better foiler than me on a prone board was only able to get 2 in the same amount of time. And the quality of the waves? Amazing. I was able to paddle into the shoulder of some huge sets that normally would be pretty difficult to prone paddle into. And the best part? I was able to make huge cut backs, connect waves, you name it. It was a breakthrough session where my muscle memory was able to throw my 8'2 board around like it was my 4'5 daily driver. So so cool. The human body is incredible.

While driving home, I couldn't help but think that I am enjoying my DW SUP setup more than I ever enjoyed my foildrive. I am human powered and able to catch just as many waves as I caught when I was battery powered. And the weight distribution feels so much more natural which makes pumping way more intuitive. With less than a month of experience, I am consistently getting connections and able to avoid crowds completely. High tide with waves not breaking - no problem. Crowds? Paddle onto the shoulder away from everyone. Blasting off-shore wind? Still not a problem! I honestly think the SUP has increased my wave count by 10x the past month, solely because I was able to unlock so many more sessions. And knowing that every wave I catch is preparing me for a future doing actual downwinders makes it all the more rewarding.

Here's a quick clip from last week with a blasting offshore wind at high tide - my least favorite conditions for prone foiling. This was on the Enduro 900 by AFS - which is currently my favorite wing to SUP with.

In summary - go get a DW SUP setup! I promise you it will change your life. The newer generation of DW SUP boards are extremely light and easy to ride - don't be afraid.

If you need help deciding what to buy, reach out! I highly recommend buying through the Foil Shop - they can ship anywhere in the world and their customer service is the best I've experienced in my life. Make sure to ask them about their free SUP/Paddle clinics.