Hailing from Newquay, Cornwall, the capital of surfing in the UK. Tom is a talented surfer who turned to prone foiling just a year ago. He is currently blowing up the internet with his near daily foiling content.

Hailing from Newquay, Cornwall, the capital of surfing in the UK. Tom is a talented surfer who turned to prone foiling just a year ago. He is currently blowing up the internet with his near daily foiling content and we just had to find out more!

Hey Tom, welcome to Tonic Mag! We get the impression you’re even more foil-brained than we are! How long have you lived in Newquay? Could you tell us about your surfing career before you picked up a foil?

Hi Jack, thanks for having me and guilty as charged. I have lived in Newquay all my life, as far as England goes down here in Cornwall is pretty dreamy. I shortboard surfed from a really young age. Some sponsors here and there. I had a nice setup working in a family restaurant for quite a while. Fitting in around it a couple surfs a day, every day, for as long as I can remember. 

Hard not to be jealous of that! What inspired you to first try the foil? 

2 words - Adam Bennetts.

What was the learning process like? 

I went in at the deep end and bought a UniFoil Hyper 170 to learn on. I mentally prepared myself for catastrophic failure knowing full well I'd given myself a mission with that choice. I was also determined to learn in the surf and not behind a boat/ski. Looking back I think that was really beneficial to be in that headspace of setting the bar really low. For my first foil sessions, I was very lucky to be able to go with the UniFoil UK distributor called Zoltan who has since become a very good friend. I remember meeting him in the car park and seeing a foil assembled in person for the first time. I couldn't get my head around the scale of it! I asked him if he was sure that was the right length mast, I was terrified before we even got near the water!!!! I had listened to so many of Eric's Progression Project podcasts however that I felt like I had foiled in a past life! On the first few waves, I just concentrated on keeping the foil low in the water. I felt like I had flying in a straight line pretty sussed by the end of the first session and was frothing like never before.

What has your progression been like since then? What were the most challenging things to overcome?

The first thing I set out to do was learn to pump. I had a thought that if I can learn to pump it will give me so much time on foil that I can build up comfort fast. I didn't even ride waves much to start with. I was always trying to hop off the wave instantly once on foil and pump during the first few weeks. For me it felt like the most challenging part of foiling was the refinement of technique at the more advanced stages. The devil really is in the detail. I don't want to hit a ceiling. I watch footage back and pick myself apart constantly. 

You wouldn't be the first or last to do that. Congrats on signing with Unifoil & Amos! What is your favourite setup right now? 

By far the Vortex 150 gives me the most exciting feel I've felt so far. I love its twitchyness in the roll. We get a lot of surf here as well and that Vortex makes it feel safer to put it up in more critical spots with speed. I am so excited for the new Vyper wings which I'm meant to get my hands on any day now. Pretty confident they are going to allow that little bit more glide and efficiency without sacrificing too much control and roll. Amos gear is also due with me imminently! 

I’ve seen some awesome clips of you recently breaching the wing in your top turns. Is that the focus right now? What else are you working on?

Being a surfer I see a section and want to maximise it by doing a surf style manoeuvre. I'm just trying to get a really solid surf style foundation and then see how it morphs from this point now. Trying to get more dynamic angles whilst keeping technique composed with no wobbles even when your legs are screaming from being up riding for so long.

Who do you look to for inspiration?

I can't lie about this but the only reason I started foiling is because of Adam Bennetts. About 1000 lightbulbs went off and exploded in my head when I saw the first clip of him on YouTube. It was the one to the music Heat Waves by Glass Animals. I had been watching a lot of foiling previously but the style just did not appeal. Even now I believe the degree of difficulty in what Adam's doing is so far beyond everything else I am seeing. He also really makes foiling look cool and appeal to a surfer as much as it's possible to do. 

You're not wrong about that YouTube clip! Do you find the surf community welcoming of foiling in Cornwall? Are you starting to see more surfers taking it up?

Foilers and surfers don't really mix much in Cornwall. Fistral beach acts like a great fly paper and attracts most people there. The next beach on the other side of the headland is foil heaven. I've not experienced anything negative so far. I think there's a tonne of foil-curious surfers. 

How often do you pick up a shortboard nowadays?

I was still picking it up regularly, like a few times a week on the better days. However, the last month I've not picked it up. Just recently I feel like my foiling is completely replacing all the feels I was getting from surfing.  

Are you a part of the Kernow Foil Crew? It looks like a cool community of like-minded people?

Yeah! Such a great bunch of respectful and helpful people. It's such a good thing to have people here with so much information and advice. Also, it can be quite lonely through the winter here so it's nice to keep the froth levels high foiling together. 

Any interest in taking up wingfoiling or downwind SUP foiling?

Kind of yeah. If there weren't so many days of prone foilable waves I would have probably been doing it already. If there are flat days it's nice to rest the legs! I have just been loaned some wings and a wing board so il give it a go in the next few days. I heard it's frustrating to start!

Frustrating but worth it.. in our opinion anyway! Do you think there is any potential for prone competitions taking place here in the UK? Perhaps like the Foil Surf Racing League or a skill-based comp? We’d place our bets on you, Tom!

I'd love to do a Foil Surf Racing League! I think we could make that happen. I don't know how you would even begin to judge a wave riding skills-based foil comp at this stage. The subjectivity of that would probably give me a massive headache. There seem to be so many variables and options I don't even know where you would begin. The subjectivity is bad enough in WSL heats sometimes, foiling will certainly be many factors of difficulty harder to judge. I'm very open to the idea if someone manages to figure out practical criteria. 

Are you a family man Tom? What is the secret to getting the work/life/family balance right?

I have a girlfriend called Christine. We help each other out a tonne. Christine loves foiling and is very supportive. She is also responsible for all my recent clips. We sold the family restaurant last year so Christine and I work on a few things together. I'm pretty free to smash out the foiling and am focused on living a flexible life from now on. 

Finally, tell us about your Cribber sessions...

It was fun towing into some big lumps on the two days I have tried it. The speed was unreal. The smallest wing I owned, however, was the Vortex 150 and for going those kinds of speeds all I could do was hunch over my front foot like a goblin and hope for the best! Certainly not going out there again until I get a wing way smaller. 100% want to go again though.

Thanks for taking the time Tom!

Videos

A foil session in Newquay with Tom Earl
Sunny spring evening hydrofoiling in Newquay, England
By Christian and Karine

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