I started doing this well in my 14th session, but maybe you can do it earlier, since I didn’t start getting on barefoot until my 14th session.
Even though we’ve already got the initial jump down quite well, there will still be many jumps where we don’t end up with our feet in the right position. If the position isn’t too bad, this can be corrected once we’re on the jump.
In my experience, the easiest way to change the position of your feet on the board is barefoot and with a board that is completely covered with EVA foam. So if you see that you are not making progress in this area, it is time to change your board.
After the initial jump, we usually do a downstroke that picks up speed, followed by 2 or 3 quick pumps to gain height and stabilize ourselves. It’s in this first and second quick pump that we can take advantage of to move our feet to the right spot. At first, it will be easier to correct the back foot than the front foot. You can see an example in this video.
The next correction you should practice is when you start pumping and notice that the tip of the board barely goes down even when you’re pushing. This is usually because you’re positioned too far back on the board. So in the same way as the previous correction, when you get up on the board take the opportunity to do a small jump forward of 1 or 2 centimeters on the board to correct the position of both feet at the same time.
I did this in my session 15
What is the correct position of the feet on the board?
At this point in the progression, if you have been going step by step, fulfilling the other objectives of the manual, you should already start to intuitively feel what the correct position is and therefore move them on the fly automatically without thinking.
Sometimes the board goes too far to one side and to correct this we exaggerate the position of the back foot towards the other during just one pump to put the foil horizontal.
Normally we tend to move the position of the feet further forward because in the initial jump on the board we tend to be too far back.
The back foot is not usually positioned right in the center, rather the ankle is positioned in the center and the toes tend to be at the corner of the board.
The front foot, on the contrary, will tend to have the toes closer to the center of the board.
But as I said, your body should ask you for these positions naturally. I’m telling you about them so that you know that if it asks for them, it’s normal. Don’t force them if the table doesn’t ask for them yet.
Go back to the course index to learn how to pump the
