WING FOILING

What is wing foiling?

Wing foiling is a new and exciting discipline that allows you to utilise the wind like with a kite but gives you the freedom to ride waves without worrying about your kite. It also opens up more places to ride. Places where the wind is maybe side off shore, with small or awkward launch areas, or any where where kiting isn’t allowed (like a lot of inland lakes in The Netherlands).

How do I start wing foiling?

If you don’t have a water sports background or currently practice a foiling discipline. The best and safest way to get into wing foiling is to take lessons. As the sport grows more and more places are beginning to offered structured and dedicated wing courses. A few places to have a look for lessons in the Netherlands are: Foil School Nederland, Wingfoil Haarlem and Soal Surf

If you have a good watersports and/ or foil background in another discipline. With a bit of perseverance, wing foiling isn’t too hard to self teach. Further down I’ve linked some good YouTube videos to get you started.

What gear do I need for wing foiling?

Despite being a new sport, gear selection, as with kiting, can be overwhelming. With a wide range of foils, wings and boards on offer knowing where to start can be overwhelming. The most important things to consider are what are the average conditions where you will be winging as to then base your selection on. All your equipment is linked in the sense that in the same wind you can ride a big foil with a smaller wing or a small wing with a bigger foil. The choice of foil, board and wing can be varied based on personal preference but the below gives a rough overview of what you should look for when starting out.

Board: The most important thing is to get a suitably sized board. A rule of thumb would be to select a board that is 20-30l above your body weight (e.g. I’m 75kg, so to start I’d select a board between 95-105l). This will allow you to have enough bouyancy and stability to get up on your board. As you get better you can downsize your board for a more manouvrable and responsive ride (currently I typically foil my surf foil board – a 4’6″ AK Phazer).

Foil: As with the board, when you start out a larger and more stable foil is preferred. Something with 1500cm2 or more depending on the average wind at your spot / your weight/ and the size of wing you chose.

Mast length: To make life easy, start short, but not too short. A mast that is too long will make the foil difficult to control. A mast that is too short will be too easy to breach (when the foil comes out the water). I have found the sweet spot to be around 55-75cm. This gives you a bit more room for progression before sizing up.

Wing: The ideal wing size to start off is between 4-6m. Again, this depends on the typical wind at your spot and your weight.

This is just a quick high level overview of things to consider, if you’re struggling with what to get or want some friendly advice or pointers – just reach out and I’d be happy to help you out!

YouTube Resources

– Leroy Damo’s ‘How to Wingfoil’ series

– Mac Kiteboarding’s ‘Wingboarding School’ series

– Mac Kiteboarding’s ‘Wing foiling How To’s‘ series