Are tacks impossible?

I've seen people do them with my own eyes so the answer is no. But you would't know if from my efforts.

I can jibe, my foot switches are above 50%, toe side riding is OK (I can build a little speed turning off the wind, but struggle to ride further upwind), and I'm riding a stable foil (Armstrong HS1550). Nevertheless, when I begin (toeside) my upwind turn and transition the wing, riding feels so sketchy. My best attempts seem to happen when I enter the tack with more speed and look through the turn.

I don't have any video so probably doesn't make sense to ask what I have wrong (a long list, I bet). Instead, I thought I'd ask, what was the thing for you that made tacks click?

More speed going into it. Cut harder upwind than you think you need to before you pass the wing overhead (need speed to do this). Push the strut to the outside of the turn with your back hand. Maintain front foot pressure.

If you keep those points in mind, you will get it.

probably not the answer you need, but for me it was when i upgraded my hand wings to new ones.....that can cut through the air rather than old baggy ones. Even now with my Swing V4s are no where near as easy to tack Heelside as some other wings like the Duotones, Flux amongst others....

Watch some videos - but i think the toe side tack is a lot easier than it purports to be - throw that front hand up and ahead of you and keep front foot pressure....i quite like his videos

My jibing is similar to yours, which has frustrated me enough to start looking into tacks. I've done only very few tries, just enough to get an idea about what I need to know. I then can ask my wife, and double-check with lecture videos, about those details. For toe side tacks, the important things seem to be to (a) start moving the wing to the new side very early, and (b) to extend new front arm fully in front of you right away. Depending on the wing type, it can also be very important to get the wing totally flat (horizontal to the water) at the start (some wings needs this more than others).

Having the arm extended in front of your head, towards the nose of the board, is very important, since you'll have the apparent wind coming straight at you in the middle of the turn. It will push against the bladder, so if the arm is not extended to the front, and your weight forward, it will put you on your heels, followed by the nose coming up and a crash. Fully extending the arm towards the nose of the board on the new side prevents that.

My favorite teaching guru says to go straight into a tack after a jibe while learning. That probably works well for some people, but I don't like this particular idea. I found it useful to first practice riding toe side, including powering up to gain some speed, and little s-turns. I'd rather learn something new when I have the feeling that I'm in control. But I'm coming from windsurfing; if you're used to toe side from kiting (or snowboarding, skateboarding, prone foiling), that may be not an issue.

Forget all the tips above.You got us!
Yes the tack in undoable and all those tack tips and the profiles posting about it are fake.It is al A.I generated with as main goal fo F#ck people up and mak em buy more gear.If you look at this tack pick of "me" you can see clearly that it is AI: barely a visible face and no toes on the feet That is clearly not human but AI generated.

As in many other board sports look where you want to go. Your arms and hips will follow. Approach with speed and keep carving through the tack. Don't flatten your board in the middle of the tack. Lean into and forward to maintain the carve.

Choosy, It's damn hard. I have been working on tacks for literally years now and still not reliable.
The biggest breakthrough for me was trying to learn in flat water. Chop and waves put more instability into the foil. You just don't need that. Minimise the variables as much as you can.
Toeside to heelside tacks are my favoured. Exiting heelside feels really good. Exiting toeside feels munted. (I think my co-ord is really the thing that's munted )
Then it was learning how to glide (unpowered) into the turn. Set up with plenty of speed. As you being to turn in, swap hands and move your (now) front hand in front of you - almost to direct where you want to go. As others have said, some wings don't fly predictably. Having a boom or solid handle can be beneficial as you can torque the sail to orientate in the correct direction for exit. In my early attempts I tried the full foiling tack. After failure I decided to just try gliding into the turns and not worry about the exit. So practice gliding in and then coming down off foil. Once you master that, then try and work the wing flip into it with the glide. Once you get that, then it's time to think about the exit.
The problem with tacking is there's lots of components in it. I'm not talented enough to master them all at once.
My 2c worth.
Good luck and don't give up.

The following is for the backside to front tack no foot switch. I tack both ways all day but don't switch feet ever. Back to front is easy front to back is very hard.
Biggest tip is to use the drag of the wing in the air to pull you through the turn. Shove that wing out in front of you over to the new side a full extended arm length ASAP so the drag of the wing is pulling you through the turn.

next tip is once the wing is there.ignore it. Don't ever look at it. If you look at the wing in any maneuver your toast. With the wing over on the new side your going to be looking over your shoulder but look forward and ride through your turn(if you prone out yourself in "prone foiling" mode and pump through that turn)

For me, the wing (not the foil) has the biggest performance impact on the tack. There are wings that I have to really adjust technique to get through a tack (particularly heelside). The Ozone Flow and Flux are by far the easiest wings I have used for tacking. Some wings (like these) create lift through the tack and are effortless, and other wings push down through the tack and really need to be steered. With a wing that pushes down, the key is minimize the time when the wing is held neutral, by pushing the strut to the outside of the turn so that it moves from one side to the other pretty quickly. Gwen taught me this trick and at first it feels awkward to push in the opposite direction that you are turning, but it really works once you get it right. Easy to practice on the beach.

Thanks again to all. Lots of mentions of wing design impacting tacks, a topic I had not appreciated. My wings are a mix of 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation F-one Strikes. Where do they fall on the ease of tack spectrum?

Many mentions of glidier foils too. I have a couple of Armstrong MA foils (1250, 1050) and three new generation HA foils (780, 980, 1180). I had been using the HA foils this summer but went back to the HS1550 thinking the greater stability at slower speeds would be advantageous for learning. Is there any sort of consensus on which of the foil options may tack best?

The above notwithstanding, I'm quite sure the main piece of kit requiring modification is wetware and not hardware. I'll be certain to re-read this thread to absorb the advice before going out again.

More to watch:

Lots of great advice on here.
Speed and glide are your friends. For me, learning tacks on the 1550 was a bit challenging. The HA880 covers approx. the same wind range and provides better glide time to complete the tack.

I also want to emphasize the benefit of practicing on the beach the overhead transition of the wing and hand switch while rotating your body through the tack until it becomes natural and effortless. It's much quicker to pick yourself up off the beach ;)