RYAWINDFOILING:
HIGH
FLYERS
WORDS AND PICS: RYA AS THE RYA’ S PILOT FOILING COURSES LITERALLY TAKE OFF, TRAINER SAM ROSS MEETS THE WINDSURFERS WHO HAVE FOUND THEIR HAPPY THROUGH LEARNING TO WINDFOIL. The RYA has been working with teams of instructors to develop a fun and effective introduction to WindFoiling.
The RYA First Flights, Sustained Flights and Performance Flights courses help get you set up and flying in as little time as possible. To start, the RYA First Flights course gets you up and out on the water for the first time for that all-important‘ money shot’ photo.
Next, you’ ll look at stance and height control on the RYA Sustained Flights course. The aim is to get you foiling more comfortably, sustaining height and flight in the harness as well as foiling on different points of sail.
With RYA Performance Flights you’ ll be focusing on getting round the corners more effectively and gybing without touching down, as well as pushing the angles you can sail.
There has been a fantastic uptake in centres offering the courses this year, with many people‘ returning’ to the sport because WindFoiling gives windsurfers access to something they may have felt was missing.
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For many, this is lighter winds. We aim to teach the initial courses in over 10 knots. Once you have the skills you can push the wind minimums down to as little as 6- 8 knots. While ultra-light winds may require some more specialist kit, it’ s the 10-15 knot range where many are finding maximum gain. What was previously 8-9m freeride weather is now 5.5-6.5 foiling weather.
WIND
uk
SURFING