LEARNING WINGFOILING

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WINGFOILING

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO WINGFOILING

INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS WINGFOILING?

Wingfoiling (also called wingsurfing or winging) is an exciting new watersport that is quickly gaining traction among water sports enthusiasts. It is a combination of surfing, kiteboarding, and windsurfing, with the addition of a large inflatable wing.

Unlike other watersports, Wingfoiling does not require the rider’s board to be in constant contact with the water’s surface while using their body weight to control the speed and direction of the board. This makes it an exciting and unique way to explore the ocean or any body of water.

With its fast learning curve and accessibility, Wingfoiling has become a popular alternative for those looking for an adrenaline rush or just something different from traditional watersports. Many people coming into the sport of wingfoiling come from a background of kitesurfing, windsurfing or surfing. The feeling of riding on a foil can be best be described as hovering over the water on a magic carpet.

WINGFOILING GEAR: WHAT DO YOU NEED

Wingfoiling is an exciting new sport that requires the right gear and preparation to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience. Here we break down the gear that is needed to get you into Wingfoiling

-1- THE WING

This is the part you hold in your hand.

When it comes to wings, it’s important to understand exactly how they work and how much power they need in order to get up on the foil. Generally speaking, if you’re a beginner, you’ll want to start with a bigger wing in lighter winds. For someone up to 70kg or 155lbs, go for a 4m version and if you’re heavier than that, opt for the 5m variant. Other factors to consider when choosing a wing include its handles (soft vs hard) and leash attachment (on your wrist or waist). The best way to decide is by demoing different wings so that you can find the right setup for you!

The Wing is inflatable and has an inner tube. Inflating the wing is done quickly with a kite pump via 1 valve. Defalting and packing up the wing takes 2 minutes and they roll up into the size of a normal backpack, which makes them easy to travel with. To prevent you from losing your wing when you fall, the wing is attached to your wrist with a leash. Manufacturers make different size wings varying in sizes from 3 m2(square meter surface area) to 8 m2. The wings have a good variety of wind ranges so 1 wing size will do for most people. Popular brands are Naish, Cabrinha, Fone and Neil Pryde and all have their background in either windsurfing or kitesurfing.

Prices of wings start at 600USD to 1000USD new.

-2- THE BOARD

When you are learning the sport of Wingsurfing you will want a board with plenty of volume (measured in liters) to give you heaps of stability. So when you are learning wingsurfing you’ll be on a board with 120 to 140 liters of volume, the board will be wide and thick

Some wingschools give their first lessons on Stand up Paddle boards with a regular surf fin, without a foil under neath.

Most boards have large EVA deckpads to give your feet grip and might have inserts to attach footstraps. Footstraps are generally not used for beginners.

Advacnced Wingsurfers can use a smaller board with less volume (Between 35 and 65 Liters)

The board will be attached to you with a leash that goes to either your feet or your waist.

Prices of wingfoil boards start at 500USD to 1500USD new.

-3- THE FOIL

This is where the magic happens!

Basically a surf foil is the water version of the wings of an airplane, with an airplane the fast air that hits the front wing gives it upward lift. the smaller rear wing balances that lift downward so it becomes stable. With surf foils exactly the same principle applies. The front and back wing start engaging in lift when water hits the wings at a certain speed

Terminology of the different parts of the foil

Mast: Usually around 70 cm in lenght

Fuselage: Connects the mast with the front and rear wing

Front wing: Provides the upward lift

Rear wing (also called stabiliser): Stablises the wing and is a lot smaller than the front wing

Materials used in the foils: there are 2 different materials used in the construction of a foil for surf or wingfoiling: carbaon and aluminium. carbon is the more epxensive of the 2, because it requirers less maintenance ( no oxidation) and is stiffer at a lower weight. Aluminium is more budget friendly but because they are less stiff, means lower responsiveness. Some companies make a combination of the 2 materials: an Aluminium mast and Carbon wings and fuselage.

Popular brands are: Naish, Armstrong and Axis Foils

Prices alu foils: between $800 and $1500 USD New

Prices full carbon foils: between $1800 and $2500 USD New

Prices alu / carbon foils: between $1200 and $2200 USD New

-4- SAFETY GEAR

Wingfoiling is a safe sport, ones of the reasons wingfoiling is so accesible to people of different ages and abilities is to instantly ‘depower’ the wing. Meaning you let go of the wing and the power is immediatly reduced to zer, reducing the chance of injury. With kitesurfing you are more attached to the kite and if something goes wrong a safety mechanism has to be activated to release the power.

The part that is the most harmfull in wingfoiling, or any kind of foiling is, you guessed it, the foil. Knocking any body parts against the sometimes sharp-ish edges can result in a bruise or a scratch.

that is why people wear a helmet and an impact / flotation vest when learning to wingfoil, and even advanced and expert riders wear these.

LEARNING WINGFOILING

One of the reasons wingsurfing is now one of the fastest-growing watersports is that the sport is accessible to most people between 10 and 70 years old. Prior watersport experience is not required. Another reason for the popularity is that progress is very quick, people can go from zero (no experience) to hero (riding upwind on foil ) in days. Here at Swell we have taught people wingsurfing with no experience and they were confident on foil in 3 days with around 6 hours of lessons.

WINGFOIL LESSONS

Here’s an example schedule of what you can expect when learning wingfoiling

DAY 1: Brief introduction on terminology followed by beach practise with the wing (1,5 hours) followed by 1 hour on a large board getting comfortable with the wing

DAY 2: Learning to stand up on the board and using the wing to sail out and come back to shore.

DAY 3: Getting enough speed standing on the board to start engaging the foil. First short ‘flights’ on foil.

DAY 4: Getting longer time on foil and start learning and using pumping techniques to get you on foil quicker.

BEST WINGFOILING DESTINATIONS

Windfoiling can be domne at lots of places arround the world, you need wind and water

What are historically good wind surfing and kitesurfing destinations also make for good wingfoiling destinations

What does a destination have to offer to make a good wingfoiling destination:

– A large area of open water (minimum depth around 1 meter or 3′). Lakes, rivers, or open oceans.

– Stable Winds (minimum wind of 10 knots or 3 Beaufort), ideally side or side onshore winds.

– Sandy shore to start from.

TOP WINGFOILING DESTINATIONS

Maui, Hawaii

Canary islands, Spain

Australia

Cabarete, Dominican Republic

One of the reasons that Cabarete, the Dominican Republic is so popular for people learning wingfoiling is that we have the ideal conditions: For beginners the wind is usually light of around 8 to 12 knots between 11 in the morning and 13.00. After that the wind picks up to 16 to 18 knots which makes it perfect for the next stages of your wingfoiling progression.

ADVANCED WINGFOILING IN CABARETE

Already know how to wingsurf? Cabarete offers worldclass conditions for advanced and expert riders: the gentle rolling waves at the outer reef at Cabarete Bay are ideal to de-power the wing and hone your surf foiling skills.

Rides of over 100 meters long are easily possible

Doing a downwinder from Cabarete to Encuentro the surfing beach is also a great way of exploring the stunning scenery along the north coast of the Dominican Republic

VARIATIONS OF WING SPORTS

The wingsport is not just for foilers to enjoy, since the sport started several years ago variations have already popped up.

Snow wing, Ice wing, Skate Wing, SUP Wing

So you can keep practising and enjoying your wing even if the season doesn’t allow you to go on the water.

Getting into wingfoiling is also a great entry into other aspects of foiling such as SUP Foil, Surf Foil and even Kite and Windsurf foiling.

ABOUT SWELL AND WINGFOILING

In 2022 we started offering learn to wingfoil packages to Swell clients, and it has been received with great enthousiasm from our clients. Many do the learn to surf course in the morning and learn wingfoiling in the afternoon.

At Swell we have been open since 2009 teaching 1000’s of people the sport of surfing, with our learn to surf & yoga Retreats.

WINGFOILING IN CABARETE VIDEO

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June 1, 2021January 18, 2023

LEARNING TO FOIL WINGSURF

AN INTRODUCTION TO FOILING

Unless you haven’t been paying attention to new water sports crazes, you’ve probably seen a huge increase in the number of people getting into foil boarding; whether it’s using a foil for surfing, kitesurfing, or the relatively new wing-foiling (covered in more detail below).

LEARNING TO FOIL / WINGSURF

WHAT IS A FOIL?

It was in Hawaii that the hydrofoil was first developed. The idea is to use a blade below the water to ‘lift’ the board you are using (whether it’s a SUP, kiteboard, or surfboard) clean out of the water. The board is attached to a mast which is attached to that blade. Once the blade lifts at a certain speed, the mast comes out of the water and then no part of the board is actually touching the water. We will talk about how foiling feels a little later in this article; the very reason for its existence is how that ride feels.

Early foil models were heavy, extremely difficult to use, and really quite dangerous. These hand-made foils were also very expensive. After several manufacturers came up with various foil models over the years, in around 2014, foil models had improved and started appearing in more numbers on local beaches. However, they were still too fast, generally unstable and very difficult to ride, as well as being expensive. Accidents were common and often resulted in nasty injuries.

The speed of design improvements has been impressive and the good news is that today, all manufacturers are building easy to use, less expensive, stable, fun foils which suit all kinds of surf/water conditions. They range from inexpensive plastic foils, through aluminium and fibreglass construction, all the way to the top-of-the-range carbon fibre foils.

Even better, many are of a modular design, meaning that you can interchange the various parts as your level of foiling improves.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO FOIL COMPARED TO RIDING A NORMAL KITEBOARD OR SURFBOARD?

This question is rather like trying to describe how it feels the first time you ride a wave; it’s really hard to put it into words.

It’s like no other form of board riding you have ever undertaken before. The reason for this is that you are simply floating: Imagine gliding over a sea of soap suds where the suds keep you on top without sinking yet you can’t feel them beneath you. Your foil makes no sound at all as it carries you, there’s no slapping of water that you always get with a board in contact with water. It’s spookily quiet as you glide effortlessly through the water. People have described it as a magic carpet ride and I would have to agree.

Also, the momentum of foils and the way they travel through water means that you only need light winds for either kiting or wing-surfing. You can also travel at much faster speeds and turn further upwind or downwind than you can with a regular twin-tip kiteboard.

It’s really easy to see why kite foiling and wing-surfing are the fastest growing water sports.

WHAT MAKES FOILING MORE DIFFICULT TO LEARN?

If you are used to riding a twin-tip kiteboard or a directional surfboard, you will know that you steer the board using your heels and toes. Only two things to remember; heels will dig in to ride upwind and toes will turn the board downwind. Let’s refer to this as the ‘roll.’

With a foil, there are three things to master. You’ve got the toe and heel operation (the roll) but you have also got a front and back axis (the pitch) to deal with. Getting the ‘pitch’ of the foil right is essential to keep the board out of the water. Too much leaning back and the foil will literally fly out of the water. Too much pressure forward and the foil will sink the board. Foils are sensitive and require only a tiny movement of your body forward or backward to completely change momentum.

The roll is also harder to come to terms with on a foil. If you can imagine the roll on a regular board occurs immediately beneath your feet and the adjustment you make results in an instant turn. With a foil, the blade is well beneath you, anything from 40cm to 110cm (depending on the length of the foil’s mast). This means that the adjustment required is larger and the turn takes longer to effect.

Then we have to look at how weird it feels to be hovering above the water. Everything you have ever learned with kiteboarding or wind-surfing is about the board being in direct contact with the ocean. The height you can achieve with a foil is at once exhilarating but it’s also scary. No matter how good you are as a kiteboarder, surfer, or windsurfer, learning to foil will make you feel like a noob all over again. It sounds like a bit of a nightmare, doesn’t it? But the reward, the reward………..your soap-suddy, dreamy cruise through the air will make all the faceplants and aching thighs well worth it. It’s just a learning curve you must go through to get to the pot of gold.

HOW DO I LEARN FOILING?

There are several different ways to learn to foil. If you already kitesurf well, then you can pick up foiling using your kite skills to generate the power required. If you are an accomplished windsurfer, then moving to wing-foiling will not be too big a step up.

If you don’t kitesurf, surf, or wind-surf already, then your options are as follows: 1. Learn to kitesurf first using a regular twin tip (this might sound difficult but actually, the learning curve with kiting is much faster than with regular surfing and progress can be rapid. 2. Learn to wing-foil (see below for our course options at Swell). The great thing about using the wing to start foiling is that control of the wing is easier and even faster to master than control of the kite. 3. Use a boat-tow to start. However, whilst using a boat to tow you might seem like a good option, in reality, it’s cheating somewhat and with this method, you won’t utilize some of the balance skills which are vital for foil control once a boat is not towing you. Another problem with a boat tow is that the boat tends to do the steering for you, so you are not learning that skill either. Lastly, unless your boat pilot is well-versed with foiling themselves, they won’t know the correct speed to keep you above the water and safe.

Whichever method you choose, you should begin your water experience with a short mast on the foil (shorter = easier). The better you get, the longer you want your mast to be. You will also use a bigger board at the beginning to give you as much stability as possible.

WINGSURF FOILING; A PERFECT INTRODUCTION TO FOILING WITH NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE

As we’ve mentioned above, wingsurf-foiling is an ideal choice if you don’t already kitesurf and you want to get straight into riding a foil. Wingsurfing is growing quickly in popularity and it’s easy to see why.

Unlike a kite, the hand-held wing is much simpler and safer to use. There are no long lines to put out, no potentially dangerous launch to master, no risk of crashing the kite and not being able to relaunch it. The equipment is easy to put together and the wing is quickly inflated. A leash attaches the wing to the rider in case of falls and handles are positioned along the center of the wing to guide it; it’s very light in the hand. In fact, there are no discernible disadvantages to using a wing to foil.

Wings are sold in various sizes to suit wind conditions and rider size. A good wing-foiling school will have the correct size of the wing for your lessons. You will be able to wing-foil in just 12 knots of wind. All you have to do is inflate the lightweight wing and enter the water.

WHERE CAN I LEARN TO WINGSURF / FOIL

SWELL LEARN TO WING FOIL COURSE

Cabarete, Dominican Republic, is already a world-renowned kite surfing destination, with steady side-on trade winds and warm Caribbean water: Now foiling is taking over as the fastest growing sport. You can come and stay with us at Swell and take a 10-hour foiling course for $795 USD (one person) or $636 USD each if two guests are learning at the same time.

More info on our learn to wingsurf course can be found here and the package pricing for learning to foil & wingsurf are here

WING FOILING IN CABARETE

Cabarete on the North coast of the Dominican Republic is one of the best wing foiling spots in the world!

Great conditions for Wing foilers of all levels

ABOUT SWELL

We are a purpose-built retreat for people that are looking for an active water sports holiday. We offer learn to surf, kitesurf and wingsurf packages for clients staying with Swell

More info about learning wingfoiling, or the wingfoil packages we offer

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