Foiling or Hydrofoiling is where a single or set of wings are attached below the bottom of any water based craft. These wings generate lift as you move forward and allow the boat or board to fly free of the water’s surface with just the parts of the Hydrofoil still in the water.

First of all, there is the feeling! With everything out of the water, everything goes silent. With no feedback from the surface of the water you truly feel like you are flying.  The feeling is best described as being closest to when you first get planing on a windsurf board and then some. This really does take it to another level. 

The performance advantage comes from the wind you need (or lack of). When windsurfing you’d normally need over 10 knots to get planing and even then, you’d be using pretty big sails. With foiling you can get flying in as little as 6 knots and you can use much smaller sails than you normally would.

In these conditions with most of the kit out of the water and drag massively reduced, you can convert even the smallest gusts of wind into pretty impressive board speed

The key element to foiling is being comfortable in your footstraps. This means you’ll already have the skills of adjusting stance to the conditions, be comfy in the harness and you should have all the techniques you need to create flight.

If you are happy blasting along in a straight line then maybe it’s time to try flying along in a straight line.

To start with it’s not the difficulty but the difference that needs getting used to. As you take off for the first time you’re getting new types of feedback in an unfamiliar way.  As you adjust, your windsurfing ability quickly comes back to you as you learn that it’s all the same techniques just used in different places.

With good conditions we’d be looking to get your first flights within a couple of hours then moving on to sustaining flight and beyond.

At the Aeolian Village Beachclub with Neilson, all the kit you need is provided. If you’re looking to get your own set up you don’t need too much specialist kit. The foil itself is the key item, they come in a variety of sizes but the most important thing is that it matches your board.

Most foils fit boards through a specific type of fin box; a deep tuttle box. The tuttle box is commonly found on larger slalom, freeride and formula boards. They are usually pretty good for foiling as increased width of a board gives you more control and higher volumes mean you can get out in the lightest winds. 

Neilson will have some foil specific boards and foil ready boards. Here the fin boxes have been further re-enforced and have a large array of footstrap positions giving you multiple tuning options. You can even get foil only boards, which see super sharp rails and very flat decks designed around the idea you’ll spend all your time above the water.

Any sail will do, although a few tuning tweaks may well need to be made especially when it comes to harness lines, which you tend to use on a much shorter setting when foiling.

Aeolian Village Beachclub is great for foiling for a number of reasons. Firstly, there is wind. Whilst you need less wind to be able to get on the foil, when you’re learning to have more breeze really helps. You get a much quicker feel for the problem you’re trying to solve if you can get feedback more quickly. 

The water at Aeolian Village tends to be really flat as well. Even though you’re flying above the surface, flat water allows you to adjust your ride height more easily to changing wind conditions rather than any swell or chop. 

It’s deep! The fin section of the Foil which is called the Mast can be up to 95cm long which means shallow water can be a bit of a challenge. The steep shelving beach of Skala Erresos, means you can launch more easily and when you have got it mastered show off your skills close to shore without the risk of hitting the bottom.

Along with all the Neilson Foiling kit, I’ll be flying out with some extra toys meaning over the week those on the clinic can try a variety of kit to get flying. I’ll also be bringing all my usual camera equipment and Bb Talkin’ intercom headsets, so we can coach in flight.

The first few days will be spent getting everyone out on the water and achieving their first flights, understanding how to take off and encourage the kit onto the foil. We’ll then move on to more sustained flight and cruising above the surface touching down as little as possible. As you master these skills we can look further into transitions on the foil, with tacks and understanding how to achieve the full foiling gybe. 

We’ll also review kit setup, the types of foil available and how best to tweak and tune equipment for the conditions you’re sailing in and for best success.

With the kit we have, we can still foil in pretty windy conditions. But if the conditions go too extreme we have the best fall back ever of being able to go windsurfing normally, still with lots of coaching and tuition.