Hello, I have windsurfed for 30+ years but never foiled until 3 weeks ago so as a complete beginner I thought some tips may help others just starting out. It would be great if others and those more experienced add their top tips to this thread.

First, my setup: I'm 76kgs and sailing a JP Foil 7'0 at 115 litres with a NP Glide Surf Large (about 1500cm2 projected). Here are my beginner tips (in no particular order):

- don't bother with foot straps front or back. I've not needed them at all and it has alowed me to adjust balance of both feet by small amounts. E.g 1 inch back with the front foot makes all the difference getting up on the foil.

- get some protection for the nose of your board as you will fly over the handle bars and smash! I use a stick on Unifiber and it works well.

- foil position is key. Get this right quickly otherwise you will spent time wondering why your board feels like a bucking bronko / wild horse! For anyone with a JP Foil, i now set my foil as far back as it will go - back bolts about 1" off the nut holes.

- foot position is next, balanced over the front wing. No foot straps means you can quickly play around with this.

- don't sail under powered, more sail makes it easier to get flying. I figure, light wind pumping (sail and board) can follow in the learning curve.

- make sure your board has enough volume to uphaul and tack (at 76kgs i find 115 liters very doable).

- pointing off the wind helps get flying

- dont bother with a harness, just gets in the way and when up on foil the rig goes so light anyway. Interestingly, today i was way overpowered on a 4.1m so put my harness on to help but took it straight back off again as just got in the way. Flying harness and footstrap free feels amazing..

- when up on foil i find pitch the hardest to control but after 4 x 2 hour sessions startingtto get it dialled. Top tip, dont look down at the nose of your board, lookup and forward 50 yards instead. Like riding a bike or slacklining if anyone does that!

- going up wind is so easy im having most trouble getting back down wind again!

- i find holding the boom slightly more forward than with windsurfing helps

- when up on foil stand up straight over the board rather than leaning back

So there you go, hope it helps someone. Using the above im managing 500m flights but no gybes yet after 4 sessions.

Please feel free to add to this list with anymore tips.

Also, i appreciate im on a windfoil / sup foil board as im into WWF style with long US tracks so regular windsurf foil boards may need to adjust some of these tips.

Also, what works for me wont suit everyone and im sure plenty out there swear by footstraps and a harness etc. so find what works for you.

Thanks