Wingfoil - Beginners & Learning in Cornwall

 

The appeal of Wing Foil / Wing Ding / Wing Surf seems to be enormous and we can help you easily progress. The following will help guide you easily into the broad based choices you will need to make to speed your learning.

 

 

The appeal of Wing Foil / Wing Ding / Wing Surf seems to be enormous and we can help you easily progress. The following will help guide you easily into the broad based choices you will need to make to speed your learning.

#1 - Get some lessons - 

You will help yourself immensely if you get all the necessary shortcuts to learning the necessary wing skills and then complementing it with an understanding of foiling - Finding Flat water and good wind will help you here. Our partners at Stithians Activity Centre offer the best conditions and have a huge selection of the best gear along with experienced qualified instructors. Click here for their Wing / foiling courses.

#2 - Moving on - Hire or Buy?

If you are keen to progress under you own steam then our first recommendation would be to get 3rd Party insurance - One it is a pre requisite if you want to join as a member Stithians Lake but it also makes sense - If you are a member of the RYA you may well already be covered or British Kitesports offers a policy widely regarded as being one of the best : Join here

Hire - a good starting point and well worth considering is Stithians Lake where they offer hourly / day / group supervised packages.

Buying - assuming you have a wetsuit we would recommend a good fitting helmet and an Impact vest as a sensible investment giving you confidence and protection.

#3 - THE GEAR  - If you are unsure why not message us.  We have extensive stocks of perfect packages and often have great condition & well priced used or demo gear that will help you build a package to compliment you.

 

  • Wing  - When learning power is your friend.  Your body weight again will determine what size would work best  - Less than 70kg you may consider a 5m - 70-85 kg a 5.5m - 85kg + maybe a 6m - There could be other considerations but this works as a general rule of thumb - A good alround wing with hard handles or a boom would be a great starting point and this is a piece of equipment that you will keep for the duration of its life unless you decide to specialise in a certain style of winging.  

  • Board - Our best advice is look for a board with around 20-30 litres greater volume than your bodyweight in kilos - So if you are 75kg we would suggest you consider a board around 100Ltr.  (95kg = 125ltr) - As it is your first board and you are looking for some stability to get you going then don't go too narrow - eg consider the Sky Style rather than the mid length  Skybrid.   A waist or hip leash is the ideal connection to keep you connected to your platform. ** As this is a platform you may grow out of quickly it is certainly worth considering clearance or used gear.

  • Foil - The options may seem endless but you will need a Mast (75 to 90 cm) and fuselage (65 to 75 cm) which can be made or Carbon or alloy - then select a foil set of Front Foil and Stabiliser on the basis of your body weight.  between 2200 cm2 and 1500cm2.  A medium or low-aspect wing (wider chord relative to span) gives more lift at low speed, which helps you get up at a lower speed and is more stable. **Ideally choose a system with many opportunities to upgrade foil options and invest in a mast and fuse that will carry on into the future, whereas the foil sets are the component you will grow out of sooner so look at clearance or used sets as these can be picked up very reasonably.

#4 - Progression and future proofing your first set up.

  • You will certainly carry your chosen wing through your journey on developing new skills.  You may however want more opportunity to compliment this with smaller sizes for stronger winds or a bigger size for lighter winds..  

  • With refined skills a large board may begin to hinder your performance with unnecessary weight and size - moving down in size to something closer to your body weight in volume and considering a 'mid length' style board should help you take off earlier and with mastering gybes and tacks.
  • If you are happy with your foil mast and fuse your are probably well on your way to needing to part exchange or purchase a foil set that is smaller and  faster through the water.  Move towards medium or higher aspect foils allows more lift and less drag at little expense of stability.  The additional speed they provide means you can improve on flight time and makes for a looser more manoeuvrable feel.