Reflections on week one
Bought a foiling set up and did a week-long boot camp with it. Here are my reflections for any other beginners!
Where? Scotland. Mixture of sea and inland (lochs). The sea was way harder because of the waves. Should have stuck inland only.
Kit setup? Naish hover wing foil 110L, Naish 1400 foil with 75cm mast, and freewing go 4.5m. Bought the setup used for £950, split between me and my buddy.
Training progression? We both have a SUP and sailing background and a bit of wakeboarding. We did some cable wakeboarding, then some wakefoil towing, then used the wing on the beach, and finally spent three full days attempting to wingfoil, taking it in turns on the wing foil and following on a touring SUP.
How did we get on? By the end of the third day, we could wing surf competently (taxiing standing up). Very occasionally we get on foil in brief gusts, but not sustained flights.
Reflections? The main challenge we had was that the 4.5m wing was a bit small for beginners (70-85kg) to get on foil on a big board in light winds (10-15mph). It was much easier to balance in higher winds: forward momentum stabilised the board. Falling off a lot (50 times a day each x 3 days, at a guess) and having to hold the wing up in light winds, rather than pulling it down in stronger winds, was exhausting. But we had a week off work and made the most of the conditions we had.
What next? We got the bug! We've got alerts set up on the windy app for winds that are in the narrow window we need and will look to buy a bigger wing when budget allows.
Observations on beginner provision? It was hard to find any wing foiling schools in Scotland. There are a few providers but they're very expensive. Not many Clubs either. I can see why - high chance of injury and/or kit damage and of students being disappointed and leaving bad reviews. So we bought the kit and learned independently. Buying the kit is expensive. I noticed lots of people selling nearly new set ups - presumably lots of people never get beyond the pain and frustration of trying to get on foil. This is not an accessible sport and it's easy to see why it hasn't yet become really popular. Although it's also interesting to see that more accessible sports like windsurfing also seem to be falling in popularity. I think it's similar to skiing, in a way: lots of expensive kit, steep learning curve, very conditions dependent, but with big rewards once you master it.