Is Windsurfing easier than foiling?

Michael reached out as he had a real interest in learning to wing foil. The staff at Northline Sports suggested that before he buys all the gear that he take a lesson. Thanks Northline for the great recommendation!

He called early on Wednesday morning and as luck would have it I didn’t have any lessons scheduled that afternoon. I said “if you can get here at 2 o’clock, it’s a nice windy day and I will be glad to teach you”.

He got in the car, drove up to Key Marina, rented a boat and arrived at 1:50. Even on the dock I could tell he was eager to learn more about the sport of wing foiling. We spent some time on the balance board in the new Launch Pad building going over the basics.

He had tried foiling behind a boat and found it a challenge. We walked out to the point with the WeCANfoil demo gear. Michael was quite successful on the foam “board" on land and on the wobbly simulator.

I had thought about getting him to go windsurfing first as he was windsurfing instructor back over a decade ago. Michael was more interested in the wing and foiling so I left him practicing on the simulator while I grabbed the Sea-Doo with my new rescue sled attachment. It was nice for me to do a little demonstration on the gear showing some jibes and a tack while we kept chatting over the bbTalkin headsets.

Michael started the on water part of the lesson with a well executed self-rescue demonstration. Then he started taxiing - going in his dominant direction on his knees with a couple of attempts at standing up.

I towed him upwind and he was more comfortable in the much less wavy bay taxiing confidently back-and-forth on his knees. The North Seek Prime 6'4" board is easy on the knees and we didn’t even need any kneepads. The transition to standing proved elusive for him on the mid-sized 138 L board. Michael is even taller than me with a very muscular frame.

Eventually he was pretty tired and just sailed on his knees down to the dock. I had a surprise in mind though. We walked back to the point where I needed my 4.2 m Duotone Now sail and windsurf board taken back to the dock. He got on and loved the big Viper HD board and found it quite comfortable for doing tacks and jibes. He windsurfed confidently the whole time and was talking about how enjoyable windsurfing can be with a big board and a small sail in a decent amount of wind. His muscle memory was definitely showing.

I went out and did a little bit of freestyle showing how fun windsurfing is and how much there is still to learn in that "old" sport. Even though wing foiling is absolutely the bomb for so many reasons, there is still a spot for windsurfing.

I hope Michael makes it back to the Launch Pad on another windy day. I'd like to have an even bigger foil board (WeCANfoil North Seek 6'10" or Duotone Sky Start 155l?) so we can get him more comfortable standing. Or maybe I'll insist he start practicing winging and standing up on a windsurfing board for his next session.

We spent the next hour or two chatting about foiling, construction projects and life. I even made him some Ramen to warm him up for the boat ride home. Looking forward to next time!