Riding Frontside

Riding waves frontside

As with normal surfing, you can also ride waves frontside or backside when wing foiling. Frontside means that your upper body points towards the wave when riding, so you always have the wave firmly in view when riding.

The ride on a wave starts on the waves face with a flagged wing. You always try to stay on the shoulder of the wave, which is what the unbroken part next to the white water is called. You ride down this wave and then make a turn of approx. 90 degrees in the wave trough, the so-called bottom turn.

Don't ride too far in front of the wave, because without the thrust of the wave you will lose speed. After this bottom turn, ride up the face of the wave to make another turn of approx. 90 degrees - the so-called top turn. You can continue with S-shaped turns until the wave collapses.

When riding frontside waves, your position is centrally above the board so that you can control the the depth of the foil in relation to the wave at all times. When riding down, you have to push the nose of the board downwards, otherwise the foil will shoot out of the water. When riding upwards, the nose must be set steeper.

Tip for flow when riding waves: By rotating the shoulders to initiate a turn, the rest of the body follows this rotational movement. Try to do this very clearly on a wave, then your turns will be smooth and fluid. Your eyes are always watching the building wave. Every wave is different and you always have to adapt your riding to the wave.

In the integrated video above, Clement Roseyro shows how the frontside wave ride works.

Frontside wave ride Level ★★★☆ Rider: Clement Roseyro Text: Jürgen Schall Photos/Videos: Duotone DE

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