Ten Reasons Why Wingsurfing is Going to be the Biggest Water Sport on the Planet
Issue 8 / Mon 24th May, 2021
Wingsurfing looks set to dominate the watersports landscape; Rou Chater looks at ten reasons why he thinks it will be bigger than kitesurfing and windsurfing in a few years…
It’s been a wild ride the last two years, from my first meeting with a wingsurfer at the Naish 2019 Launch in Tarifa to being helplessly addicted as I am now. I firmly believe the sport will overtake both kitesurfing and windsurfing in terms of popularity, and I don’t think it will take long either.
A bold claim, maybe, but one I am happy to stand behind. You’d have good reason to ask why I make such statements about a sport that is still in its infancy.
No1
If we think back to 2019, the sport of wingsurfing was a bit of an oddity, something we had seen come out of Hood River and Maui, championed by Tony Logosz and the legend Robby Naish. In Europe, Raphael Salles was pushing hard with the F-ONE brand getting fully behind the sport, but it still felt somewhat peripheral. A growing concern rather than a sonic boom; however, that is precisely how kitesurfing got going in the late ’90s and with arguably the same protagonists. Let’s call that reason number one why I think it will boom; it’s almost a case of history repeating itself…
In my role, I’m privileged enough to have some incredible conversations with a few very influential people. I also get to judge the barometer of the masses through our considerable audience across our titles. Chatting to some of the legends of the water sports industry in 2019 and talking to them now, there is a marked change of tune among the unconverted of the sports fledgeling roots.
The simple fact is that EVERYONE behind the scenes is now onboard with the wing and the possibilities it offers. Just about every brand in the watersports industry has wingsurfing on their radar; if they aren’t already making bank on the product, they are in the process of getting production organised to cater for the growing market.
Much like kiteboarding was the great reset for the windsurfing industry, a time of innovation that allowed new brands to usurp the status quo. The birth of wingsurfing allows the kite and windsurf brands to once again duke it out at the birth of a sport to try and gain a dominant foothold.
This allows brands many of us won’t have heard of to steal huge chunks of market share simply by having great equipment, without perhaps the weight of years of massive marketing spend. There are brands in the wing industry that are totally new, and there are established brands that are late to the party and scrabbling to keep up with demand.
Anyway, I digress; the sheer interest in the market from the establishment and the new guard points to a massive growth in the sport. What do they see that perhaps you might not be? I appreciate many of you reading this are already the converted, but I expect some are just trying to see what the fuss is all about; well, let me try and explain why I love it so much, to the point I’m rapidly starting to call myself a wingsurfer first and a kitesurf second.
No2
The next reason, and perhaps the biggest is safety, yes there are sharp pointy things under our feet, but compared to strapping yourself into a kite, the wing wins hands down. It has the complete stop switch of windsurfing, just drop the wing, and the power ends. We never had this with kiting; in the early 00’s it was arguably the sports biggest enemy.
So many windsurfers decided to give it a try and ended up braining themselves or just being plain terrified. Yes, in recent years, kitesurfing has become a lot safer, but the premise is still to strap yourself into a kite that, with a few wrong moves, can and will kill you. That might sound alarmist, but it’s sadly the truth.
The wing has a huge safety aspect, which means for parents with young children, it becomes a no brainer, much like windsurfing. Except unlike windsurfing, you don’t have to haul a heavy sail out of the water when you start, you have a wing, and it flies. When it comes to safety, the wing wins hands down… All those young kids are going to grow up someday and share it with their kids; basically, we are on an unstoppable curve with this sport now.
No3
The learning curve is fast, especially if you have some foil experience; however, I believe the sport is in danger of getting hung up on the high-end foiling side. For sure, that’s the pinnacle we all strive towards, but the bread and butter for this sport will be the millions of paddle boarders looking for a tool to play with when the wind is too strong for paddling, which let’s face it is pretty much most days.
Millions of paddleboards have been sold worldwide, and when you add a centre fin and a wing, you suddenly have a whole new boardsport to teach people, and the learning curve is faster than Lewis Hamilton hunting down Max Verstappen on the Hangar Straight at Silverstone. Paddleboards are wide, packed with volume, and super stable; add a light wing and a bit of wind, and we have one of the easiest, most accessible watersports ever invented.
It’s second, perhaps only to SUP in terms of ease of entry, and we all know how big that became. Not only are there new entrants who can be enticed to take it up, but millions of paddleboarders who already have half the gear they need. As word spreads, the potential is huge.
Stepping up to a foil isn’t that difficult; yes, of course, it will be wobbly as hell to start with, but thanks to surf, kite and wind foiling, we have some incredible kit to use already. Even though the sport is still in its infancy, the gear is phenomenal. Jump on a 160l SUP board with a massive foil on the bottom, and you’ll crack it pretty darn quickly. Especially when you compare it to other foiling sports, it’s easier than surf, kite and wind foiling by far, and the skill set is transferable.
No4
Wings take up less space than kites on the beach and on the water; it’s similar to windsurfing, which suddenly means you can launch and ride at spots where you can’t kite. Plenty of locations banned kitesurfing but allow windsurfing; well, there is no reason for them to prevent you from winging, so the number of places you can ride is exponentially larger than where you can kite.
No5
You don’t need a bar or lines, or a mast and boom… This still feels weird to me, like I have forgotten something when I get to the beach, but the fact you don’t have a bar and lines has numerous advantages. Firstly there is the cost element, then the set-up, which is far quicker, then the fact you don’t need any wind to hold the wing in the air; you can do this with your own arms. Relaunching is as easy as picking up the wing and sticking it in the sky.
At the beach, I just grab my foil, screw in a few bolts, pump the wing, and I am good to go; I don’t even need a harness. I also don’t need a launch or have to worry about launching, ever. As an ex kite racer, I would often go kiting when no one else was at the beach, self landing and launching 18m inflatables became second nature. So much so that I’ll take happily self-launch in pretty much any conditions. Self landing in 30 plus knots isn’t so much fun, though, and there are a few beaches I kite where I wouldn’t self land without a tether set up; there are too many rocks, and it’s too sketchy.
The wing means I can go to the beach and never have to worry; I can always launch, no matter what. Where I kite, I’m often the only person on a huge stretch of coastline, so that is an important factor to me these days.
No6
I can ride conditions I would never normally kite, offshore, no problems (not recommended unless you are an expert), and if the wind drops, well, I can roll up the wing and swim in. I’m not going to get dragged out to sea, pack down, and have to swim back, dragging what feels like a dead body. I can easily pack down the wing in seconds and paddle the board back with ease.
No7
Gusty, shitty conditions have never been so much fun. I cannot express this enough; it’s incredible in shit conditions. These days for me to have a good kitesurf, I need it to be 20-25+ knots, with decent head high clean waves. Even though I’ve moved to the wild west country of the UK, these conditions don’t actually align all that often. I’ve had one good kite session this year; I’ve lost count of all the amazing wing sessions I have had.
No8
You can go places you might not consider on a kite. I like to travel when I am on the water, downwinders, upwinders, coastal cruising, circumnavigating islands, you name it, I’m into it on the kite. On the wing, it’s just easier. Coming round the lee of anything on a kite is sketchy; it’s so easy to drop the kite and get into trouble; with the range and gust handling of the wing, this makes places you can’t go on a kite or windsurfer accessible.
We’ve been riding underneath huge cliffs, round offshore islands and just about wherever we feel like. Sometimes we’ll even paddle out around a headland to a wind line, ride for an hour or two and then paddle back. It’s truly almost limitless the places you can go. Inland waters are also incredible on the wing; all those lakes you would never kite on as the launch was sketchy or the wind was gusty just became your playground…
No9
It’s insanely good fun; it might not look like it; in fact, a lot of people dismiss it as looking boring, and I won’t lie, it won’t ever beat down the line waves at a reef break or boosting massive jumps in a storm. However, the guy riding a wing is likely having more fun than most people on an average day at the beach. Most of us mow the lawn with the sports we do, and as Robby Naish said, “wingsurfing is the best way to mow the lawn”. I’m grinning from ear to ear every time I hit the water. Just writing this has me scoping the forecast and getting amped for the next session; it’s as addictive as kiting when you crack it, and it’s more fun in a wider variety of conditions.
No10
It’s incredible fitness, hard work though it may be at the beginning, you’ll utilise a set of muscles you didn’t know you had. You’ll burn more calories in a session than any other water sport out there, and you’ll be building muscle and getting toned at the same time. It sure beats the hell out of lifting heavy things at the gym…
There you have it, ten reasons why the bastard love child of windsurfing and kitesurfing after a drunken one-night stand is likely to eat its parents. If this article hasn’t convinced you, then perhaps there is no hope! However, I urge you to try it, and give it some time to let it get under your skin, just don’t blame me when you find you’ve got even less space in the garage; the bonus will be even more time on the water!
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By Rou Chater
Rou Chater has been kitesurfing for over twenty years, paddleboarding for the last six years, and was there testing the first wingsurfer from Naish in Tarifa when it arrived on the continent. He is passionate about riding waves and exploring new places. As the publishing editor, he oversees everything at Tonic but also our sister magazines IKSURFMAG and IMB. He's been on the water since he was born and has never looked back, in the winter you'll find him chasing swells in the Caribbean and during the summer he can be found all over Europe at various SUP, Kitesurf and Mountain Bike events getting features for the magazines.
