Wakefoiling- What is It? How to Do It

Wakefoiling is one of the newest and most popular lake sports. You may have already seen some people out on Lake Granbury having fun Wakefoiling. 

Though wakefoiling seems like it is brand new, the main concept was invented in the 60s by an aeronautical engineer named Bob Woodward. At the time he had invented hydrofoil water skis to help eliminate drag and enable the skier to glide over the water with more ease and smoothness to create higher speeds. Later on Laird Hamilton, a surf pioneer took the concept that Bob Woodward started and brought it into surfing while other water sports enthusiasts like Kailani continued to adapt and fine-tune the concept of foiling into other sports. And today we have a marriage of foiling and wakeboarding that has now become wakefoiling.

 A new foil system allows the board to plane underwater and attaches to what is considered a traditional wake surfboard through a mast to give a new wakeboarding experience. Not only are you able to ride a better system of wakes, the wake boarder no longer needs the use of a top-of-the-line boat to get going. Pretty much any watercraft that creates a wake can get a wakefloiler moving. There is a little bit of technique but foiling is pretty easy to pick up and does not require a huge amount of speed once you have grasped the technique. The most skilled wakefoilers can even keep riding for quite a while after leaving the wake.

The basis of how to Wakefoil

Once you have determined what type of board you would like to use, it is as easy as placing your feet flat on the board to enable you to get the foil to be as close to the surface of the water as possible. You then want to get whoever is driving the watercraft creating the wake in front of you to drive slow so you can ease into your wakefoiling experience. Then as you begin to get comfortable you can increase your speed.

Make sure to position your feet forward on the board making sure that the foil is directly below you. Bend your knees and keep your rear end down when you have found a comfortable position start to move your stance further back so that the foil can begin to act like an airplane propelling your board out of the water.

Once you are able to get up on the board think of the mast as the control stick of your board and use it to experiment with a roll, pitch, skip, and skid. Choosing to wake with a rope is much easier because it illuminates the drag and your arms are not making as much effort. Once you have found a comfortable groove for wakefoiling you can let go of the rope and surf the wake with your own body weight.

Wakefoiling is just one of the many fun things people enjoy daily on Lake Granbury when they live out here. For more information on available real estate on Lake Granbury and surrounding areas please contact us anytime.