Downwind foiling – aka downwinding – is the modern way to do a very ancient thing, “using simple rafts propelled by the wind to voyage from island to island.” There is a certain freedom that I’ve discovered on windy days, when the swell and sea line up, where my body becomes the sail and with the foil I can go for miles and miles.
Most humans spend the majority of their time in the water within a few hundred meters from shore. I have. And as a regular waterperson, getting out a bit further has changed the way I look at the ocean. To be propped on the shoulder of a rolling swell line from energy that’s traveled thousands of miles, while standing on a banana-peel-sized piece of curved carbon just blows my mind.
Last March, I stumbled into my first downwind session with an especially all-star cast of foil experts: Jack Ho, Cole Kawana, Gage Schoenherr, Matt
