Wingfoiling is the latest craze in watersports

“Foiled again!”

That was the sentiment among a group of watersports enthusiasts at Waialae Beach Park on a sunny, breezy day recently. It wasn’t an expression of disappointment or frustration — it was an expression of exhilaration, excitement and joy.

They’d gathered at the beach that day to go wingfoiling, the latest craze in the wind and on the water. Its popularity has been literally soaring in Hawaii’s waters over the last year as people have found a new sense of freedom and fun in the sport.

“Just last summer was really the first time you could even buy them,” said Robert Stehlik of Blue Planet Surf, one of the main dealers of wingfoiling gear in Honolulu. “And now they’re coming out with second-generation wings. It’s this brand-new sport.”

>> PHOTOS: Wingfoiling is the latest craze in watersports

Stehlik runs a Whatsapp messaging group for wingfoilers that’s gotten so popular that he’s had to turn off the notifications because “there’s so many photos and messages. It’s all over Oahu, but they’re on the North Shore and the West Side. It’s a nice community. Nobody’s real ego-driven or anything. Everybody’s doing it for fun and not to be competitive.”

When the conditions are right, just watching wingfoiling is to sense its graceful majesty. The rider first kneels on a short, thick, buoyant board. Extending from its bottom side is the foil apparatus, consisting of a long, blade-like “mast” about 2 to 3 feet long, which is attached to small device that looks like toy airplane, with a small front wing and an even smaller rear wing. It’s built out of space-age, carbon-fiber material for strength and weight, but the magic is that if it is propelled through the water with a bit of speed, those wings generate a tremendous amount of lift.

The rider holds a large, half-moon shaped inflatable wing overhead and pumps it like a bird flapping its wings, gaining speed, and eventually the rider stands. With another few pumps, board and rider rise above the water, appearing to glide above the surface. If there are waves, the rider can simply lower the wing and effortlessly swoop in and around the wave face, staying “on foil” — the term for when the board is above of the water — the whole time, powered by the wave.

Jason and Kaori Timbresa have become avid wingfoilers over the last six months, taking advantage of the pandemic-induced time off while on furlough from their jobs at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. They took lessons from Stehlik and were “fascinated at how he got up and just went straight out,” Jason Timbresa said.

Timbresa, who surfed professionally in Japan, started learning to foil in February from Jeff Chang, a team rider for Blue Planet, who gave him tow-in lessons, where the instructor pulled him with a Jet Ski. It then took about a month for Timbresa to learn how to manipulate the wing to catch the power of the wind. “After about a half a year, going like every week, trying to spend as much time on the board as I can,” he was able to make turns consistently, staying up on foil all the way through the turns, he said.

His wife, Kaori Timbresa, started learning from her husband about a month later after he started. It was challenging learning from her husband initially, but now she is a confident wingfoiler. She said it does not require unusual strength, although her experience growing up surfing in her native Japan has made her “very strong.”

“I like to do it everyday,” she said. “Wingfoiling is the best. No need to wait. No need to fight everybody (for waves).”

The Timbresas now frequently wingfoil at Waialae Beach Park or off Diamond Head, and keep their eyes on the weather reports to check for wind. “I think it’s the only thing we want to do,” Jason Timbresa said. “As soon as the winds are like 15 to 20 (mph), we’re out there. It doesn’t matter if it’s the junkiest conditions, we just want to go out.”

Stehlik, a devoted windsurfer back in the day, said wingfoiling provides a thrill unlike other watersports.

“I like to think of it as almost like having superhuman powers,” he said. “It’s like having a Superman suit or being Spider-Man. It’s so fast and quiet and smooth. You’re flying over the water, not touching it. Once you experience that, you just want more of it.”

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TRY IT!

Blue Planet Surf

1221 Kona St. Info: 596-7755, blueplanetsurf.com

Foiling requires commitment, especially from your wallet. Robert Stehlik, Blue Planet Surf’s expert on wingfoiling, said foils can range from $600 to $2,000, and riders might want several wings depending on conditions, and boards can range from $600 to $1,400. Wings are in the $700-$900 range. Blue Planet has package deals.

There are two aspects to wingfoiling: Foiling and using the wing. Blue Planet can connect you with someone to teach you how to foil, then teach you how to use the wing. Blue Planet has also posted extensive videos on YouTube giving guidance on wingfoiling.

Although its shop has been closed, Blue Planet has been filling phone orders during the pandemic.