What is wingfoil, the latest in board sports?


You can do awesome wingfoil tricks – Zinou Guiri

  • In Aude, until Sunday, the Mondial du vent will host the first (and only) French stage of the Wingfoil World Cup. The forty best riders in the world will compete on a single course and a freestyle competition.
  • The wingfoil, the latest in board sports, allows riders to have the impression of sliding on water, thanks to a light wing, which they hold directly with their hands.
  • And you can practice almost anywhere, as soon as the wind is light.

Perhaps you have already seen these funny birds, in the Mediterranean: they hold their wing with one hand and fly on the water, standing on a strange board, equipped with a fin. Wingfoil, the latest in board sports, has experienced a real boom in recent years. This discipline (which is breathtaking) is also, until Sunday, one of the stars of
Mondial du vent, in Leucate (Aude).

The event, which can only be followed on social networks this year due to the Covid-19 epidemic, will host the first (and only) French stage of the Wingfoil World Cup. The forty best riders in the world will compete in two events: a single course, in slalom, and a freestyle competition. Because yes, we can do figures, in wingfoil. And it is even particularly spectacular. “Front somersaults, back somersaults, horizontal twists, vertical twists”, explains Nicolas Akgazciyan, who is among the competitors in the running at the Mondial du vent.

“These are sensations that I had never had”

This Aude rider, multi-award winning windsurfing champion, the English name for windsurfing, has fallen in love with wingfoil in recent years. “It’s a combination of several disciplines,” he says. Visually, it looks a bit like a windsurfing board, except that you directly hold a kite, similar to that of a kitesurf, in your hands. And we hold in the air, on a board, the size of which is roughly similar to that of a surf or a wakeboard, equipped with a foil. The rider is thus propelled by the wind, thanks to this particularly light inflatable wing, which he holds with handles.

You would almost have the impression of flying, between the sky and the sea. “The feeling is a bit like snowboarding on soft snow, it’s a smooth ride,” continues this champion. If windsurfing is a stony road, wingfoil is a road with asphalt. Bruno Messina, kitefoil fanatic, Creps trainer and instructor in schools in the region, was also passionate about this new discipline. First, a bit by chance. “And in fact, it’s great, these are sensations that I had never had, confides this Héraultais. I knew the feeling of being on a board with a foil, but being in direct, with the wind, it’s very pleasant. “

The wingfoil is one of the stars of the Mondial du vent in Leucate – Mondial du vent

We can sail “as soon as the wind is light”

And, the little extra is that you can practice “anywhere”, continues Bruno Messina, as long as there is a little background. “We don’t care that there are dikes, buildings… In a kite, it’s more complicated, you can’t get into the water just anywhere. It just takes some wind. But in Occitania, one of the windiest regions in Europe, we are particularly well endowed. In Aude, in particular, in Leucate and La Franqui, where the Mondial du vent has been held for nearly 25 years. It is here, in this corner where the wind blows to decorate the oxen, that Nicolas Akgazciyan trains. But the advantage of wingfoil is that you can sail “as soon as the wind is light,” he says.

And, according to him, the wingfoil, which allows you to go almost as fast as a windsurfing board, has “a bright future ahead”. “This sport can only explode,” notes the rider, who also teaches the discipline in a club he created a few months ago. It’s very accessible. It will appeal to windsurfers, kitesurfers, and even people outside the world of board sports. In children, as soon as they know how to swim, initiation can begin, with adapted wings, from the age of 7 or 8 years. “



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