Wings Of Change The Great Foil Debate!

Foiling – are you in or out! It’s the debate that’s raging across our beaches. Judge John Carter presides over the hearing as an assembly of professional windsurfers voice their opinion on foiling, for and against!

- John Carter

  GONZALO COSTA HOEVEL

That first moment when you plane and rise into the air is really magical because the board stops touching the water and all the noises you were having before from chop and waves disappear. You are suddenly in a world of silence, what I like a lot is whenever you hit a gust you really accelerate. You feel that increase in speed much more than on a slalom board. The foil has minimal resistance with the water so the gusts make it fly. The sailing is much more intense. With foiling we are able to plane in much lighter winds. We can easily sail and race in 6-7 knots. Foiling is also less effort than slalom. It is not so heavy on your body. On a foil session I can sail for hours and hours. You don’t want it to stop! In slalom after one or two runs full power you’re tired, it’s a tough work out.

With a decent beginner’s foil, learning is not so hard. You just take your regular windsurfing stance and a smaller sail and you will learn pretty quickly. The best tip I can give is to not lean so far out as on a normal windsurfer, you stand more upright and stay on top of the board. You control the lift with your front foot. Instead of leaning back and putting pressure on the back foot like in slalom where you are trying to keep the nose of the board up, you do the opposite. Lean forward and control most of the balance with your front foot. That is more or less where the front wing is so you feel all the fin power from that position.