Photo: Silvio Hesse
Sometimes a passion begins with a single moment – an image, an encounter, or simply that feeling that something new is waiting for you out there.
For me, it was more a chain of coincidences – and the saying: “When one door closes, another usually opens.” That's exactly how wingfoiling found its way to me.
I originally come from surfing. Even if my skills are limited, my enthusiasm for wave riding is huge. But life for surfers in Germany isn't exactly easy. Most good swells are far away, and they rarely occur on the Baltic Sea, which is closer to Berlin – and then timing is often crucial. With the start of the pandemic, it was over anyway: no travel, no sea, no surf.
So I got myself a surfskate to at least get a little bit of that surf feeling back. Longboarding also helped me to fill the void a bit.
One day I was longboarding with a friend on a windy day. He laughed and said: “Now all we need is a kite!”
Then I remembered something I had seen on a flyer from the shop where I bought my surfskate. It looked like a mix of a kite and a sail – but without lines or a mast, designed to be held directly. A “wing.” The idea of being pulled across the asphalt with such a wing wouldn't let me go. And with Tempelhofer Feld in Berlin, there was also the perfect spot to try it out.
The next day I told a colleague about my idea. His answer: “Dude, those things are actually for the water!” I had to check that immediately. On YouTube, I already found some videos about the then still relatively new sport of wingfoiling – and after just the first few clips, it was clear to me: I definitely want to do that!
Wingfoiling seemed to be the perfect complement to surfing. You don't need a proper swell, but you can also surf or foil waves if you want – even in the middle of the sea, long before they break. Thanks to the foil, a special fin that is designed and works like an airplane, the board is lifted above the water when foiling. This allows you to use wave energy more effectively and have hardly any drag because you no longer "push away" water with the board. This also means you need less wind and space – perfect if you are landlocked! Even on lakes in the middle of Germany, wingfoiling creates a special surf feeling that feels like flying over the water – and in principle, that's exactly what you're doing.
Many lakes that I never would have thought would be good surf spots are now. Lakes also have the advantage of being more accessible in many parts of Germany than the coast – and usually a bit safer, for example, without strong currents. The sea, on the other hand, continues to attract with often more consistent, stronger winds, waves, the smell of salt in the air – and that feeling of leaving all your worries far behind out on the ocean. Although that works quite well on a lake too – once you're in the foil flow. :)
First, however, I started on land – first with the longboard, then with the surfskate. Even then, I had a lot of fun and learned to control the wing. But one thing was clear: The adventure on the water was coming…
Photo: Silvio Hesse
How my first sessions on the water really went – I'll tell you about it in the article: From wobbling to flying – my first steps.
