The World of Wing & Foiling - Terminology Explained
There has been a recent number of new categories to the wind and watersports world recently ever since the innovations of using a hydrofoil attached to boards which only requires little to no wind at all. We are hearing so many different names and terminology of each sport on the beaches of today so what do they all mean. WIng Foil, Wing Surf, Wind Foil?????? each style sounds so similar but the table below give a more definitive description on the equipment used for each of the individual categories. I wonder what will be the next innovation.
DEFINITIONS:
| WING FOIL | Wing foiling is the art of riding a hydrofoil board whilst using a handheld wing to harness the wind's strength. The board used has a lot of volume between 60-110ltr as its need to float and the front wing on the hydrofoil tends to be a larger type from 1200-2250cm2 dependent on ability |
| WING SURF | Wing surfing is also a sport using a handheld wing to harness the wind's strength but is specific to any type of board without a foil such as surfboard, SUP and even Twin Tips as recently seen. Having said that, nowadays most people use the term "wing surfing" collectively to refer to the same practice as "wing foiling." |
| KITE FOIL | Kitefoiling is also the art of riding a hydrofoil board, but as the name suggest a Kite is now the weapon of choice. This is the alternative to kitesurfing when the winds are much lighter. The boards and foils used are generally much smaller than that of WIng, Sup or Wind foiling |
| SUP FOIL | SUP Foil is a sport in which you ride a SUP (Stand Up Paddle) board with a hydrofoil attached instead of a fin. The board is able to ride above the water as a result of this. As with conventional SUP no wind is required but, waves are, and this creates the power needed for the foil to generate lift |
| WIND FOIL | Wind Foiling is very similar to windsurfing so having those skills would benefit. The boards have a high volume like those used by SUP and Wing foilers but has an attachment so a windsurf sail can be mounted to harness the power of the wind |
