Wing foiling progression: right place, right time, right gear.

Words: Foilshop UK

Pics: Oli Lane-Peirce, Mike Pringuer

Wing foiling, as with all types of foiling, benefits from being practiced at the right spot at the right time with the right gear.

You may have aspirations of tackling full on conditions, but until you’re fully developed skills wise making life as easy as possible is key.

Right place, right time, right gear.

All your mates are heading to spot X and the forecast’s looking on. Unfortunately spot X mightn’t be the best option. Heavy chop, strong tide, gusty winds and other factors might make this so. Yet that’s where everyone’s heading so you do too.

There’s no question riding with mates is fun. And post-sesh you’ll be buzzing. Upon reflection, however, there may be a low level niggling frustration that your riding didn’t yield more results. Perhaps a higher gybing success rate or more efficient and early take offs. The list goes on.

We appreciate it’s tricky to bin off a session with your crew and head elsewhere. Yet a better spot, with more favourable wing weather perhaps would’ve seen more moves stomped and your overall level elevated. And with an elevated skill set comes ability to take on less than ideal conditions in a more efficient manner further down the line. Which, in time, allows better riding across all wing foiling scenarios. But you have to get there first…

Choosing wisely.

Here at Foilshop UK we love winging. But we also love other foiling discplines just as much. Turning up at the beach, with winging in mind, Mother Nature has on a few occasions let us down. What was (on paper) a banging forecast turns out to be a damp squib. In this instance we go plan B and swap out the wing kit for something else.

There’s no shame in this. Time on the water is time on the water regardless. But right ‘tool’ for the job is key to increases fulfillment. Forcing the issue just leads to stress, anxiety and not as much fun. With windows of opportunity in short supply for many it’s better to maximise the fun rather than the stress.

Wing foil kit choices.

Often we see wingers struggling with inappropriate gear for the conditions on hand. A big doff of the cap to anyone putting in the work. But with the best will in the world that 50L wing board in 10-12knts is going to be MUCH harder to get lifted than something bigger and easier.

And the same goes for your other kit. Another scenario could be inflating your trusty 7m in 20+ knots. It’s hard to break habits when you know something works. But the described just won’t do you any favours if it’s blowing.

Keeping the ‘choosing wisely’ saying in mind your chosen gear should be a fine balance of harmony with weather on offer, your skill level, how you generally ride and whether you have any specific goals in mind.

Ultimately making life as easy for yourself is going to aid your wing foil riding. It’s easy to become almost evangelical about winging as that’s what’s being hyped, marketed and pushed right now. Being more calculated in how you approach wing foiling is better though. And you’ll have less frustration this way.

For more wing foil and other foiling chat head over to the Foiling Knowledge section here.