hey guys and welcome to episode three how to fly a wing in this
video I'm going to be talking through all the important fundamentals of winging safety
terminology wind window angle of attack and handling the wing on the beach
what time you spend flying your wing on the beach the easier it's going to be when you
come to get on the water it's also going to save you some time walking back up the beach you should
practice flying a wing in a decent breeze so you get a good feel for it in around 15 to 20 knots
it's also really important that you pump your wing up to the correct pressure so it retains
its shape and produces power efficiently make sure you have a really good leash connection on either
your wrist or a harness as Wings catch a lot of wind and will take off down the beach if you need
to leave your wing unattended on the beach make sure you tie it to something such as your board so
it doesn't fly away always handle the wing from the front Central handle facing into the wind
called the neutral handle this is where your wing will have the least amount of power move the wing
up and down holding the neutral handle to get an idea how the wind flows over the wing it's a great
reference to know the Leading Edge will naturally face into the wind and the center strap will face
in the direction the wind is going practice lifting the wing and reaching to grab the rear
power handles always go from front to back to flip the wing shuffle your hands along the Leading Edge
to the end of the wing so you can create enough leverage to flip the wing over you should practice
this on your knees to emulate being on your board to generate force with the wing you need to hold
it across the wind this is called the angle of attack practice moving both hands underneath
the wing grabbing the power handles or boom your front hand should be closest to the Leading Edge
and your backhand closest to the training Edge this is the powered position when the wing is flat
and lined up with the wind it generates minimal Force as you pull in your back can and increase
the angle the wing captures more wind and the power increases push away your backhand for Less
power and pull in for more power if you pull your backhand in too much it will stall the wing try to
find that sweet spot where there's still plenty of airflow over the wing and you're getting a decent
amount of power grip the wing with an open Palm to avoid over gripping and tiring out your forearms
release your back hand at any time to instantly depower the wing practice moving your hands up
and down the wing between the powered and neutral positions learning this muscle memory and getting
very familiar with the hand positions will really help you when you come to get on the water you can
also steer the wing up above your head and out in front of you by rotating your arms if you
push your front hand down and your backhand up this will steer the wing towards the water and
if you steer your front hand up and your backhand down then this will steer the wing above your head
this is a really important skill to practice for a number of reasons one of the most common
problems when learning is catching the wingtip on the water so you can use these steering techniques
to help keep the wing above your head and out the water always keep your front hand higher than your
backhand this will help you avoid catching your wingtip another reason why you need to steer the
wing is to adjust the direction of force when the wing is lower towards the water it gives more side
sideways pull with the wing higher above your head it will give more upwards lift this technique is
really important for controlling your speed now let's look at how to practice walking across the
wind on the beach with the wing in the power position walk across the wind simulating a
reach practicing steering the wing up and down and cheating in and out to turn around release
your backhand swap it out with your front hand and then grab the rear handle and walk in the
other direction another skill to mess around with on the beach is pumping the wing pulling the wing
towards you quickly pushes more airflow over the wing resulting in more power you'll find yourself
pumping the wing instinctively and it's a really useful technique for helping get up on the foil
when there's not enough power now let's look at how to carry your board foil and Wing into
the water always carry your wing downwind and your foil upwind beginner equipment can be quite
heavy and bulky so it might be worth carrying your board to the beach first and coming back for your
wing you can carry a smaller board with a handle under your arm but boards have different handle
configurations so experiment what works best for you just make sure you keep your wing as far
downwind as possible to avoid puncturing your wing with your foil as it's surprisingly easy to do
it's really important to always use a board leash the board will blow off downwind faster than you
can swim when entering the water with the windfall set up I tend to walk in as far as I can with the
board on its side until I can't stand anymore then I jump on the board and Pad it like a surfboard
until it's deep enough so I can start going on the foil a handy technique in flat shallow water with
big bulky beginner kit is to float the board with the foil up being able to paddle the board like a
surfboard is really important and very effective especially when Wing sapping it's essential to
be able to paddle the board upwind as you are guaranteed to get blown downwind when you're
learning a really handy tip is to hook your feet on the Leading Edge this makes it much
easier to paddle so that wraps up this lesson and thank you so much for watching please smash
the like button drop me a comment and subscribe I'll see in the next lesson peace out [Music]