I decided to give SUP foiling a go recently after quite a few failed attempts at surf or prone foiling. The F-one Rocket Air 7’11 and F-one Phantom 1780 were the weapons of choice and I couldn’t have picked better gear to learn on. The board has plenty of volume and width and it is more forgiving in case you land on it (or it lands on you!). All of the same advantages that makes this board great to learn to wingfoil on. But what’s great is that it also works for SUP foil (and wind foil, wingsurf and windsurf)!
I haven’t done any SUP surfing before but I do have a number of years foiling, some prone surfing experience and many years of watersports under my belt. I couldn’t believe how easy it was compared to surf foiling, mainly because my pop-ups are terrible – starting standing up with a paddle to help balance means you eliminate one of the most difficult steps!
Within two or three sessions I was riding down the line on foil and loving it. It’s so nice to make use of 1-3′ mellow waves when there are few surfers out and get some foil froth action!
I’ve since progressed to use a F-one Rocket Wing V2 6’6 board for SUP foiling. It’s rigid construction, shaped bottom and shorter length mean it takes off and pumps back out more easily and can also be used for wingfoiling when the wind picks up!