Crossing white water

Foil safely over broken waves

At a surf spot, you almost always have to cross white water on the way out. Here you can see how this works with a foil board.

White water is the foam of a wave that is just breaking. White water is a mixture of water and air, and the foil generates significantly less lift in this zone. You will notice this as soon as you are foiling behind a broken wave in the bubbling white water area. Due to the turbulence and the lower density of the air mixed with the water, the foil glides rather unevenly through this zone.

Even when riding over a broken wave, the board behaves more unsteadily in the foam than when foiling over an unbroken wave (green wave).

How do you cross the white water safely? Bring your flight to a medium altitude (half lenght of the mast) and ride as precisely as possible against the wave. Lift the nose (apply pressure to the tail with your back foot) so that it does not stick into the white water. Right on the wave the foil can sink deeper into the water, but you're standing on a surfboard that lets you glide with it's bottom over the wave.

Distribute your weight evenly on both feet and keep your balance. As soon as the white water has passed underneath you, you can bring the foil back up to normal flying height.

Depending on the wind direction, you will feel different levels of power in the wing in front of and behind the wave. The waves deflect the wind slightly or cover it - the bigger the waves are and the less the wind blows sideshore, the stronger this effect is.

Instead of foiling over the white water, you can also try to avoid the broken waves: ride upwind or downwind in time to escape and cross the wave at a less steeper point that has not yet broken.

Training tip: Start in small surf - once you have learned the technique, you can also cross higher white water waves.

Waves Crossing whitewater Level ★★☆☆ Rider: Clement Roseyro Text: Jürgen Schall Photos/Videos: Duotone DE

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