Matt Nuzzo: What's up everybody? Matt Nuzzo hanging out here at REAL with no other than Mr. Bennett. You guys probably all know Mr. Bennett from Instagram. If you've looked at Instagram and you're following foil surfing, you follow Mr. Bennett because he has the sickest style out there, like the sickest. Everyone you talk to is like, "Oh, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Bennett," because you're ripping, dude. You're absolutely ripping. So Mr. Bennett is here to set the rule straight on what good style is, how to make yourself become a better foil surfer and have some style. So in surfing, you were a pro surfer, right? In surfing, there's good style and bad style. You see a longboarder, they've got really elegant, cool style. You see a power shortboard surfer, they're just ripping big turns, and then you see someone go and they're like starfish all over the place. In foil surfing, what is good style? How do you define good style?
Mr. Bennett: For me, good style is someone who makes the motion and the fluidity of whatever they're doing look effortless and easy. It just looks easy, right? There's nothing forced. That's basically putting your body, your arms, legs, and everything in positions that go to the foil and the board and put it in a certain position. So it's a matter of technique, putting your body in the right position, and just staying relaxed. It looks relaxed. Style for me is relaxed, effortless, and easy.
Matt Nuzzo: With what you're talking about too, the body mechanics and stuff, you're getting a boatload of power out of it, too. You got a ton of power. I definitely want to pick your brain as to how to make it effortless but get all that power, too. But we want to start with the elephant in the room, and the absolute kookiest part of foiling is pumping. Pumping is one of the beauties of foil surfing because you don't catch one wave, you catch multiple waves in a set, and you can just tour around the lineup once you're up. Pumping is a fundamental, but most people look like they're trying to tamp out a campfire or a dying seagull or something like that. I mean, thank you Sterling Spencer and Pinch My Salt, because those guys are just hazing every foiler out there because it just looks so kooky. What are your tips for having good style while pumping?
Mr. Bennett: I think it comes back to what I said earlier about being relaxed and not over-forcing. You don't need to use your arms so much; it's a matter of getting into a rhythm and projecting yourself forward. Initially, you can use a little bit of arm movement to get that rhythm going, but the whole arm thing is obviously inefficient because you're using so much energy by throwing your arms around. Where if you're projecting yourself forward and jumping forward in a pump without using too much arms, you're saving energy.
Matt Nuzzo: What should you do with your arms?
Mr. Bennett: Keep your arms down, like down and making little movements. Don't bring your arms up further.
Matt Nuzzo: Down by your waist?
Mr. Bennett: Yeah, just let them sit by your waist. If you're looking at your hands, you're in the wrong place.
Matt Nuzzo: Exactly. Keep your arms below your belly button.
Mr. Bennett: Hands low and projecting forward, not projecting up. Projecting forward with your pump is what's going to get you further.
Matt Nuzzo: Hands low, hips go forward is what I heard.
Mr. Bennett: Hips and shoulders go forward. It's like you're leaning forward like that.
Matt Nuzzo: Cool. What about your legs? Do you have to start with your stance or what do you do?
Mr. Bennett: Going back to style, having a narrower stance lets you stand a bit taller, and that helps you with pumping because you're not using as much energy. If you have a wide stance, it's like doing a squat the whole time. You're using all your muscles, wasting energy, and then you can't pump as long. So it's a matter of narrowing up your stance, which is usually bringing your back foot forward. That's what I do. Then it's a matter of projecting forward and standing a bit taller. That's going to save energy, look better, and get you to the next wave.
Matt Nuzzo: Narrower stance. Where's your back foot in relation to the top plate of the mast?
Mr. Bennett: For me, when I ride, my back foot is usually over the leading edge of the mast when I'm surfing. If I'm pumping, I'm moving it forward maybe an inch or so.
Matt Nuzzo: Got it. So it's a little bit further forward, narrowing up your stance.
Mr. Bennett: Yeah, just narrowing up your stance. Kane de Wilde does it really well, too. He has a really narrow stance, and that guy is probably the best pumper in the world.
Matt Nuzzo: How do you not just fall over if you have a narrow stance like that?
Mr. Bennett: You're offsetting your feet, and it's just a matter of getting comfortable with narrowing up that stance.
Matt Nuzzo: So just practicing that while you're on a wave, maybe riding with a narrow stance while you're going. Then when you come off pumping, you're going to move forward.
Mr. Bennett: Exactly.
Matt Nuzzo: Next question. What about body English while you're foil surfing? Going through the mechanics like arms, shoulders, legs, what are key pointers people can think about to improve their style?
Mr. Bennett: Coming from surfing, most surfers stand pretty square down the center line. You want to offset your stance a little bit, which means moving your feet. I'm regular, so I move my left foot heel to the left rail and my toes to the right hand rail. Then I twist my front foot to a 45-degree angle. What that does is open up your shoulders, which actually helps a lot with pumping, too. The offset stance allows you to get more leverage on the foil because instead of just doing heel-toe on the center line, you have one whole foot pushing on each side of the wing tip.
Matt Nuzzo: Exactly. You can push harder, get more leverage, and turn harder because you've got more pressure and weight on each wing tip. That makes sense.
Mr. Bennett: Fundamentals of surfing are all in where you look, you go. It's rotation, like looking over your shoulder. If you're going into a big cutback or a top turn, it's bringing your back arm around, looking over your shoulder, and bringing your arm around. It's all a rotational thing. The offset stance squares up your shoulders more, so you can rotate further, which means you can turn sharper.
Matt Nuzzo: Got it.
Mr. Bennett: With the arms, keep them low. Don't keep your arms up. Rotate in that sort of motion, keeping your arms low around the waistline.
Matt Nuzzo: A lot of people put their arms out to stabilize, but keeping them low is key.
Mr. Bennett: When I do my turns, I try to almost grab the rail, but I don't. I send my arm toward the rail, and that keeps everything looking nice.
Matt Nuzzo: As I'm standing here with my knees locked, I'm seeing that as you rotate, you're bending your knees and sinking into that turn.
Mr. Bennett: For sure. Bringing your back knee in and kind of knocking it in helps a lot with the rotation. You don't want to be bending at your hips and keeping your legs straight. You want to keep your center of gravity low, bring that knee in, and then rotate.
Matt Nuzzo: No bending at the waist.
Mr. Bennett: No bending at the waist. You want to stand straight and keep your center of gravity in a column. You don't want to be leaning over or leaning back.
Matt Nuzzo: So if you keep your center of gravity in a column, even when you are on rail, everything is compressing to that center line of the board, which is then distributing to the foil. Now getting into the wave, how are you utilizing the wave from small to big? Small waves are accessible to a ton of people, so could you talk about the fundamentals and how it differs by wave size?
Mr. Bennett: The general fundamentals of wave riding apply across all sizes because all of the power is in the top third of the wave. That's where you get the most speed. You want to use that top section of the wave to your advantage. You want to put the foil there when you need speed, and when you don't need speed, you want to be out on the flats away from the curve of the wave. It's a matter of trusting your foil. Every time you turn, you actually generate more speed than when you pump.
Matt Nuzzo: If you get out in the flat instead of pumping back to the wave, you can just turn, and it will bring you back faster without any weird pumps and wobbles.
Mr. Bennett: Yeah. A problem I often run into is that I'll get out to the flats, start losing speed, and get a little lost. You just need to turn and put it on rail like you were surfing, and it powers you back up the wave. You get to the top of the wave where your speed is, and then you reset and do that again. It's a matter of wiping off speed, turning, getting to the top for heaps of speed, wiping off speed, and that applies to small waves or triple overhead. If I'm riding huge waves, I'm going straight down the wave out into the flats 40 feet and then bottom turning just because I have so much speed and need to wipe it off. Going out onto the flats and wiping off speed lets you turn tighter, so you can come back to where the pocket is instead of projecting way out onto the face.
Matt Nuzzo: It gives you a way better turning radius. A critical thing you're talking about is the power zone of a wave. A lot of people think the power of the wave is at the bottom, but it's at the top. If you start at the top, you get that projection down low and have the speed to come back up the wave.
Mr. Bennett: If you always start at the top, you always have a lot of speed, and you just need to manage that speed. At the bottom is where you have no speed, and that's when you find you're stuck in a hole. So use the top part of the wave to get your speed.
Matt Nuzzo: Any other style points for all of us average foilers out there?
Mr. Bennett: As long as you're having fun, it doesn't really matter. But just relaxing is probably one of the key things. At the retreats I've done over the years, a lot of my clients tense up. Everyone's just tense and their legs are locked out. If you can just relax—and I know it's hard because you're flying 30 mph hovering 3 feet above the water over a reef—subconsciously thinking to relax tends to help with everything.
Matt Nuzzo: That's a huge one. Work on your style, take these tips home with you, and thank you so much for the style points. If you want more reviews or want to find out more about REAL, reach out online at realwatersports.com or give us a call at the shop at 252-987-6000. See you guys on the water for the next sesh.
