Foiling Girlfriends
- The Launch Pad
- Aug 18, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 11
Gill and Heidi met and realized they had a shared passion for wing foiling. They had both tried it in various conditions in places like Mexico and decided that they were ready for some more lessons.
They had rented a boat from Key Harbour Lodge and came out promptly at 2pm for their first of three lessons.
We explored the island and then went back to the cabin to do paperwork and safety briefing. The wind looked pretty decent on a gorgeous southwest wind “Bay day”. We took some 4, 5 & 6 metre wings out to the point and started our land lesson.
There were definitely a few new tips and tricks that they were learning from me first on the foam “board” on land and then on the trickier rotating simulator. My goal was to get them both to be confident taxiing on the water so that could stay up wind.
I did a quick demo on the water while they were pumping up the second wing with me going through all the steps over the BB talkin headsets.
They both did a self rescue demonstration out on the water paddling a bit upwind. Very shortly after that I was cheering on their kneeling taxi demonstrations in both directions. I got on the Sea-Doo and headed out as they were both starting to stand on the foil boards and going back and forth.
A couple of upwind tows were needed but soon enough Gill was staying up wind completely and Heidi was having her first real successful taxi runs on her non-dominant side which had always been a challenge.
Their perseverance and energy was remarkable. That made for a pretty decent three hour lesson and we eventually headed back to the Launch Pad for a drink and debrief.
The next day started with an even stronger north wind than predicted. This time they both went out on their own 5m wings. Gill was on the WeCANfoil North 138l, with a 2100 foil under it. Heidi was on Jen's fanatic 142 Sky foil board with the 2000 foil under it.
I was busy chasing them back-and-forth as they searched for gusts. They were much more stable on the boards than the previous day. Heidi surprised herself with a couple nice low speed jibes. Heidi eventually got an awesome controlled foil run in her dominant direction heading towards Diamond Key resort!
I managed to get the whole thing on video which was very exciting to see how controlled Heidi was keeping the board just centimetres above the waves showing great skill without any traumatic overfoils or wipeouts.
Gill in the meantime was heading out into the wavier parts of the Bay very much feeling the gusts and how the board was getting close to foiling. She never quite got the board up on the foil but did manage to get very comfortable taxiing standing in both directions and did some very nice jibes as well.
So that was another 3 hour lesson!
We had another nice debrief and I shared some interesting history and a copy of the book about my grandfather Karl Spiess and his photography. We finished off making our plans for day 3!
Monday morning, the wind was not going to be foilable so it was time to do some TOW foiling. I put the tow rope on the starboard side of the 20hp aluminum boat and Gill started behind the boat. She was great at staying outside the wake and soon enough was having sustained foiling runs on the big wide Stingray 140 with the slow sling shot 99 on the 60cm mast.
I was pleasantly surprised by how many runs Gill wanted to do and eventually started in her non-dominant side just to make sure she was practising everything she could.
Heidi was pretty exhausted from her previous day but still got on the board to try a couple of runs as well. Interestingly the top speed when tow foiling is just 17km/h!
It was 1pm and time to wind up our three sessions. We sat together enjoyed a good lunch.
I was very pleased with how the women implemented all of the tips I had given like getting onto the board like a seal swimming on an ice floe. Or starting kneeling with their toes on the windward side, dragging the water to stay upwind. Or having both feet on the centreline of the board before standing up. Or using the wing like and elevator to help them stand. Or keeping their eyes glued on a spot on the horizon.
What a fantastic session with two amazing women. Looking forward to a return visit to work on more sustained foiling runs!
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