Many passionate surfers compare surfing to flying. With foil surfing technology, you get one step closer to that comparison. According to Laird Hamilton, one of the pioneers of the technology, it feels like flying. The real revolution of the technology, however, is that you don’t necessarily need waves to go foil surfing – which would mean that completely new, previously unsurfable spots could become surf spots.
Surfing without a wave – how is that supposed to work??
Now it gets physical and technical, so pay attention. First of all, you need to know that a foilboard isn’t just a conventional surfboard – what makes it special is the hydrofoil part. The hydrofoil is an additional wing at the tail of the board, where the centre fin would normally be.
At low speed, the board sits on the water surface as usual and the hydrofoil (the fuselage) is completely under water. As speed increases, for example when you’re towed behind a boat or paddle into a wave, the hydrofoil creates a lift effect and you “take off” from the water surface. Above a certain speed, the lift is so strong that the fuselage comes out of the water too. Thanks to the unusual shape of the fuselage , the water displacement doesn’t increase with rising speed – it actually decreases. This allows the foilboard to keep moving without any additional energy input.
The pioneer and the newcomer
So who comes up with such a crazy idea? The pioneer is considered to be Laird Hamilton. The American grew up on the North Shore of O’ahu, so surfing played a big role in his life from childhood. Before long, it was no longer enough for Hamilton to “just” surf normal waves. He discovered big wave surfing surfing and is considered a co-founder of tow-in surfing. This made it possible to surf waves that had always been considered too big to paddle into. The surfer is strapped to the board and towed into the wave by a jet ski . Today Laird is a legend in the surf scene and is highly respected for his innovations.
The rising star of innovative surfing is Hawaiian Kai Lenny. Like Laird, surfing has always come first in his life. At just 26, he is a multiple SUP racing world champion and has recently specialised more and more in foil surfing. In the following video, Lenny surfs 11 consecutive waves, bridging the distance between them by gliding on the foilboard.
The controversy around foil surfing
With all these advantages, foil surfing must have lots of fans. And in a way it does. In recent years foil surfing has arrived in the mainstream surf scene, and the boards are becoming more and more affordable. Especially at top surf spots such as the coasts of California and Australia, you see more and more hydrofoil boards in the line-up. And that is exactly where many surfers see the problem. Hydrofoil boards are not easy to surf, even for experienced surfers, and take a lot of practice, as they react quite much more balance and finesse erfordern. Kombiniert man einen unerfahrenen surfer and a crowded line- up, the knife-like blade of the hydrofoil quickly becomes a dangerous projectile. After a few nasty accidents, surf legend Jamie Mitchell spoke out on the subject: “Foils are dangerous… very dangerous and don’t belong in public surf zones.” In Sydney there have already been discussions about banning hydrofoils from public surf spots, as they pose a danger, especially in crowded conditions.
To sum up, foil surfing is absolutely mind-blowing as an innovation, as it opens up possibilities surfers never imagined. However, the wonderful feeling of flying should be enjoyed with caution, as it also comes with certain risks, especially for inexperienced surfers.
Want to start with classic surfing? At the surf camp on Fuerteventura in El Cotillo you can surf all year round in mild temperatures – with a German-speaking team.