Nathan van Vuuren and two of his best mates travel the coast of South Africa in search of epic conditions.

Never before has a photoshoot sounded, and looked, so fun. Nathan van Vuuren and two of his best mates travel the coast of South Africa in search of epic conditions to shoot the brand new Flysurfer TAO wing. As you’ll see in the pages that follow, they scored! Read on to hear Nathan’s story of the trip.

I've always enjoyed being in the water. Whether it was bodyboarding, surfing, or stand-up paddle boarding, my early memories always had something to do with the ocean. Growing up in South Africa, naturally, I moved towards wind sports, following in my dad's footsteps and trying out windsurfing. Learning to harness and use the wind to have even more fun on the water was incredible! After a few years of windsurfing, foiling emerged, and I was immediately obsessed. 

And then the next best thing happened, which was the wing. Pairing it with the hydrofoil gave me such a fantastic feeling of freedom. With similar dynamics to windsurfing, I took to it in a flash. Downwind wave riding and freestyle were my go-to activities when it was windy, but I didn't want to do it alone. Of course, my dad had started winging too, but I knew the stoke level would be much higher once I got some friends involved. Enter Tyler Flanagan and Jake Rankin, two of my best friends who got hooked on winging as soon as they tried it! I'm stoked to share the sport with my friends and even more excited that we got to do a product shoot together in our home spot in Cape Town, South Africa. 

I joined FLYSURFER when the MOJO was released. I tried out the wing right when it launched, and it was incredible; lots of power and very versatile, perfect for taking my foiling to another level. I was lucky enough to help with some testing on the new TAO wing, and the freestyle capabilities are out of this world. When FLYSURFER announced the shoot in South Africa, I was super excited. First, because our conditions here are so diverse, and second, it would be with a group of my best friends, which was a dream come true. 

When the time came, videographer extraordinaire Michi Leitner arrived with the first branded versions of the TAO. The team was completed by local photographers Ivan van Vuuren (yup, my dad) and Stuart Frazer, with some help from Luke McGillewie. The Western Cape is known to be windy, but in May, finding wind becomes a bit of a mission. But, with our local knowledge and Luke's proficiency in making bacon and cappuccinos (we'd all learned how to froth milk to perfection by the end of the trip!), we kicked off our first day fuelled up and ready to start the hunt for wind. 

Our first stop was Hout Bay, at Mariner's Wharf, known for its fish and chips and the gigantic elephant seal that hangs out on the docks, trading photo opportunities for fish. The harbour is full of colourful boats, but unfortunately, that means dirty water with what looks like a thin layer of oil on top. Luke tried to get me to go wing in the harbour in front of the boats, convinced it would make a really cool shot. The gigantic seal is always prowling the harbour, looking for throwaways from the fishing boats, so it was a bit of a negotiation. But, with nobody else keen to go, I hesitantly took the plunge. Luckily, the seal ended up being more curious than hungry! 

Seals weren't the only things that had our hackles up. While you don't often see sharks in the Cape Town area, some eastern beaches tend to have a little more activity. One day, we were having a session in Betty's Bay, with Tyler and I cruising behind Jake over the clear water, when we saw a shadow. The age-old question, seaweed or shark?!, flashed across our minds. Looking at Tyler, we had both seen it, and both had the same mission: Don't fall! Of course, Jake decided to fall and ended up swimming for the rest of the session. We didn't tell him something was in the water as we didn't want to scare him... ignorance is bliss, right?! Our session ended very quickly, and we all made it out of the water safely!

Most of the shooting period featured light winds. Luckily, we had a magical setup for the extreme light wind conditions. Sometimes, we'd be out in 7 or 8 knots and still make it work with the 7m TAO, thanks to its phenomenal low end. Paired with the Signature Pegasus, a super skinny board almost 8 feet long and the SPG Glide hydrofoil, we had the ultimate light wind killer combo! You could get going in even less wind with some pumping skills, and this ended up being our most used setup. Sometimes you must pay the price for a beautiful backdrop, and we were all up for the challenge!

There was a lot of travelling involved throughout this whole FLYSURFER mission. From the less explored Betty's Bay, which is quite far along the southeastern coast of South Africa, all the way up to the west coast, we saw it all! We covered a lot of ground and distance, and when a strong forecast came up for the last day of our shoot, we knew we needed to make the most of it. So, we set our alarms and tucked in for an early night, with the promise of wind dancing through our dreams.

Not too far from the winger's paradise of Langebaan, located in a protected bay with calm, crystal blue water, lies another beach with interesting backdrops for shooting and enough exposure to the ocean to get waves when the swell forecast is big enough. At 4:00 am, we started piling into cars, chasing that early wind and morning light. Tyler and Jake aren't fond of early mornings, but with enough coffee and energy from the rest of the FLYSURFER team, we made the most of it! 

Arriving before the sun came up, with just a hint of light on the horizon, we forced ourselves into our suits, still cold and wet from the day before. The cameramen were ready for whatever was going to happen, and we knew it would be worth it because the conditions were looking all time. Suited up, wings inflated, and Signature foils assembled to their boards, we ran to the water as the sun and wind announced their appearance.

We realised how cold it was once we got into the water. It was an icy southeaster, and our hands were freezing. I remember looking at Jake and Tyler and shouting, "Can you guys feel your hands?!" They called back, "No!! But we're going to send it anyway!!" So we would wing a bit, stop in the water to blow on our hands to warm them up until we could feel them again, and then wing some more. We did our best to look cool for the camera (cool, not cold!) and have as much fun as possible for the next few hours.

After a solid morning session, we took a food and coffee break and prepared for the next session. We were frothing when the wind started picking up from 15 to 20 knots, then 25, and then 30! We got to take out all the small sizes of the TAO, the 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5, and do all our freestyle tricks. Picture three best friends on the water amped up on coffee and egging each other on; it was one of the most fun sessions of the year! We were doing our biggest moves, backflips, 360s, 720s, frontflips, and anything that came to mind. The session was unforgettable, and Michi, while a bit frozen from being in the water with his camera, got some epic footage.

We were very, very tired after that session but fired up from all the fun we had just had. We knew we still had a few hours of sunlight left, so we returned to where it all started. There's a beautiful spot called Big Bay that's right by where we all live, and it's the spot we usually go to when it's windy. We were super amped to go out for a quick sunset session at our home spot to wrap things up. We drove back from Langebaan in record time to see solid waves and just enough wind and daylight to get that classic South African sunset shot. 

For the third time that day, we got into wet, cold wetsuits, pumped up probably the 20th wing of the day, and got into the water. We got some of the most incredible sunset shots we've ever captured, sharing party waves with the whole crew and sending massive airs off the faces of the waves with the TAO silhouetted against the orange sunset sky. We rode until we couldn't see anymore and then packed up, exhausted but hungry... very hungry! 

That evening, we celebrated the wrap of the TAO shoot over dinner with the whole FLYSURFER team and reminisced about the fun that was had; the cold, the warm, the tiredness, the hunger, and the amazing shots. What a week! This is the most insane experience I've had when it comes to wings, and I'm stoked I could share it with this awesome crew!

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By Nathan van Vuuren

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