Surfing’s latest evolution, wing foiling, is a rising trend in water sports on Georgian Bay and beyond.
Story and Photography by Jessica Crandlemire //
It could be said there’s a little fairy dust sprinkled in most of the surf culture around the Great Lakes. After all, so many have said the waves couldn’t be ridden, but the surf community in Georgian Bay is alive and thriving. Now the newest, revolutionary twist on many boardsports is the addition of a hydrofoil.
A hydrofoil is a lifting surface that operates in water the way a wing operates in the air, allowing a board or watercraft to rise and virtually fly above the surface. Today, boards equipped with the hydrofoil include surfboards, kiteboards and windsurf boards. As quickly as the sport has taken off, this technology and how it is being used is rapidly evolving. Riding a surfboard with one of these foils attached to it is a fun new way to enjoy our region’s biggest playground, while maybe bringing more attention to the Georgian Bay community.
For the uninitiated, wing foiling refers to riding a board with a hydrofoil attached to the bottom, while generating power through the use of a handheld inflatable wing. The wing is similar to a windsurfing sail, except that it uses an inflatable leading edge instead of a rigid mast.
Greg Sturch, known locally for his professional skill as a chiropractor, but also for his intense love of the sport, explains that to some degree, “you can be your own wind.” When the wind dies down, he says, you can pump the foil beneath your board, which pushes water off the back of the foil and propels you forward until the next gust.
“The moment you doubt whether you can fly,
you cease forever to be able to do it.”
J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
“Our community of ‘foil frothers’ is small but growing,” says Sturch. “Anytime there’s wind, you’ll find a friend rigging at the beach.”
While wing foiling is a relatively new sport, popularity is gaining quickly. And although it may seem to be a niche market at the moment, Sturch insists that it shouldn’t be. He says the addition of the foil actually makes the board more approachable by lessening some of the biggest obstacles in lake sports such as the inconsistency of waves, wind, and the chop of the water.
“Foiling completely opens up the water. You don’t need to surf where the wave is breaking anymore, you can surf anything, and do it for as long as you want,” says Sturch. “If you match your foil with the speed of the waves, you can surf the waves out in the open water, endlessly if you choose. Some people travel long distances, hundreds of kilometres, with just a foil board and a paddle or parawing. The feeling is comparable to snowboarding in deep powder. It’s amazing what foils have made possible. When there’s no wind, you can hop on your foil off of a dock and pump around, too. There’s always a way to get in the water.”
“Foiling completely opens up the water. You don’t need to surf where the wave is breaking anymore, you can surf anything, and do it for as long as you want.”
Greg Sturch
Is the sport itself expensive? Cost can be a little prohibitive initially, but because the sport has developed so quickly, the technology is also advancing rapidly and creating a large market of second-hand equipment.
If foiling piques your curiosity, there are places you can go to try it before you commit. Blu Wave Board Co. is a Canadian board manufacturer that was initially focused on SUP. The owner, local surfer and paddler Aaron Pilon, started wing foiling in 2019, and today the business offers SUPs, surfboards and other wing foil gear and accessories. Blu Wave ships coast-to-coast and has a brick-and-mortar location in Wasaga Beach, a block off the beach at Beach 3. Their instructional arm, Blu Wave Academy, provides paddling and surfing lessons as well as guided excursions and has recently added wing foiling lessons.
For aficionados, Dan Tricco is a priceless resource. Well known in the local surf community, Tricco began travelling and windsurfing as his passion early on, chasing waves around the globe. “Windsurfing was my life,” he says. Eventually he settled locally and got into the windsurfing manufacturing business. Today, he builds and repairs all types of boards out of his Nottawa shop, Tric Carbon. The space is specially lit to help him follow the patterns and lines carefully when coating a board. He dons a full uniform of a protective suit, gloves, respirator and hat to shield himself from the fiberglass dust and resins.
When asked about the demands of his industry, Tricco explains there are so many good production boards now easily accessible to the masses, but people who know what they want or have specialized needs come to him. Also, a large part of what fills his days are repairs of all kinds (boats and boards included). And the foils themselves are delicate and expensive. Getting into the water, into position, and launching, all need to happen very quickly. A wrong move or slow reaction may cause the foil to crash into the rocky bottom. Next stop: Tricco’s for repair.
Wing foiling is growing fast. There is now a world tour with multiple disciplines from racing to freestyle, wave riding and downwinding. Our local community is vibrant and welcoming. The next step for growth, say enthusiasts like Sturch, is to address the lack of launch sites along the Georgian Bay shoreline, where public access has been increasingly restricted.
We have this incredible resource that people travel from all over the world to visit. It seems like an obvious win to encourage this growth and the ripple effects it provides.
