The Bass Strait is a notoriously treacherous piece of water stretching 240km from Tasmania to Victoria, Australia. After just a year of wing foiling, Andrew Englisch attempted to become the first person to wing across it. Read on to find out all about his epic adventure…

I was shattered. Drifting in the middle of treacherous Bass Strait, my body was falling apart. My arms and legs were cramping, I was freezing cold and my heart was pounding. I had lost sight of my support boat in the three-meter swells and driving rain. Here I was only a few hours into my world first attempt to cross the Strait on wing foil, broken and defeated. The journey had barely begun and I felt like a complete failure.

When I decided to take up wing foiling less than twelve months earlier, I couldn’t have imagined that I would be in this predicament.

My journey began during the COVID-19 pandemic. My hometown Melbourne had the dreary honour of being the world’s most locked-down city totalling 262 days during which I was unable to work in my film-making business, depressed and without purpose. Lying on the couch searching for another show to binge, I stumbled across The Americas Cup racing in Auckland and watching the 75-foot foiling boats fly above the water at 100km per hour instantly captured my imagination. The next day, after researching the technology, I discovered wing foiling and decided to give it a try. I bought a new setup, watched a few instructional videos, and headed down the coast.

On my third attempt, I popped up on the foil, travelled approximately 4.2 feet, and crashed back into the sea. Definitely not the world’s longest flight but I was hooked! The sensation of flying effortlessly above the waves was addictive and after that, I headed out every day and practised. I went out in strong wind, no wind, big swells, mushy waves, good and bad conditions, and quickly began to go further and further staying out for hours at a time. My mental state of mind improved and my life took on a new focus. Then one day on a chilly winter southerly after being out for 3 hours and clocking over 60kms, I gazed out at the horizon and thought “imagine if I could just keep going, imagine if I could get to Tasmania!”. It was such a crazy thought because I had only been foiling for a few months, but I jumped in the car, raced home, burst in the door, and announced to my family “Guys, I’m going to be the world’s first person the wing foil across Bass Strait from Tasmania to Victoria”. They looked at me blankly for a few seconds, cracked up, and said ‘Whatever’… They thought I was being ridiculous.

Ridiculous? Possibly. But I was committed, and also thought a world-first adventure would be the perfect way to celebrate my 55th birthday and raise money for the mental health charity Waves of Wellness. The plan was to cross Bass Strait from Tasmania to Victoria, island hopping past Flinders Island, Deal Island and hopefully touching town in Wilsons Promontory 4 days and 240km later. Our support boat was the ocean research vessel ‘The Abyss’, an ominous name for the journey.

Six months later I was at the top of Tasmania drifting in the middle of Bass Strait, completely broken and struggling to see how I could finish the journey. My support crew and the skipper watched on helplessly as I flayed around in the three-meter windless swells. My whole body was aching and despite hours of attempts I couldn’t get going in the 10-12 knot breeze. I felt like a complete failure and retreated to my support boat to massage my aching muscles and ego and try to regroup for the next day. Lying in my bunk I was riddled with doubt when my phone began to light up with messages of encouragement and support from my family and friends. It seemed my bleak first day had sparked huge interest and I was also getting bombarded by the media who were interested in covering my journey. My spirits lifted. Tomorrow would be a new day.

I awoke to the sound of wind whistling through the rigging and jumped up on the deck to see a white cap filled harbour and a steady 15-20 knot breeze. Things were looking up.. We backtracked to where we had finished yesterday, I suited up, attached all my safety gear, pumped up the wing, and jumped in the water. My heart was pounding and I was anxious. Could I get going? Would there be enough wind? Would my arms hold out? I put my head on the board, took a few deep breaths, steadied my nerves, and lifted the wing out of the water. Instantly the wind picked me up, I gathered speed and started to foil. Yes! The next few hours were incredible as I blasted past remote deserted islands, rode the 10-foot swells, and only touched down once before we reached our destination for the day, 60kms later at the top of Flinders Island. Redemption.

Buoyed by the success of the previous day, I excitedly prepared myself for the next leg between Flinders and Deal Island. This would take us deep into Bass Strait where a broken wing or lost support boat would potentially be fatal. I was also warned of ‘extremely aggressive wildlife’ which wasn’t ideal when I could be floating in the ocean for hours at a time and had already seen a few fins. Luckily the wind direction was ideal, and I flew across the waves following the gulls and flying fish, humbled by the beauty and ruggedness of this remote landscape. After three hours Deal Island emerged out of the mist looking like Jurassic Park and I glided past the towering sea cliffs and magnificent coves, landing in our last anchorage before the final push to Victoria.

Day four and Victoria was only 80 kms away and within reach. Just a five-hour blast and I would hopefully touch down in Wilsons Promontory. Unfortunately, the wind was light and my thoughts took me back to disastrous day one. I was so close but if the wind didn’t increase, I was going nowhere. Desperate to get going, I put up my biggest 7-metre wing, jumped in the water, and started pumping to catch the marginal breeze. I barely managed to get going and for the next few hours battled to stay up, using every muscle to fine-tune the foil, wing, and board. Every wave I would almost come to a stop, pump like crazy, and get going onto the next wave. This continued for hours until the wind completely dropped and I flopped back into the water. Head down, I waited. I was only a few KMs from Victorian territorial waters but with no wind, there was no way I could make it. As I lay in the water with my head on the board, my support crew saw a pack of fins circle me as I lay unawares. They were relieved when the suspect creatures jumped out of the water to reveal themselves as a pod of friendly dolphins rather than a great white. 

After an hour of dangling in the strait and monitoring the weather radar, the skipper yelled out that a line of wind was coming in. I quickly jumped back on the board, caught the gust, and continued the final leg. The wind kept building, swells increased and I was in complete flow riding the waves all the way into Wilsons Prom to my welcoming family and mates. Despite a shaky start, I felt so proud to have completed the journey. Not bad for an ‘old bugger’.

On March 3, 2022 Andrew became the first person to Wing Foil across Bass Strait, successfully raising almost $10,000 for mental health charity Waves of Wellness.

Please visit - https://www.gonewiththewing.com.au to find out more

Andrew Instragram - https://www.instagram.com/englisch

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Gone With the Wing - World First Adventure
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