THE ORIGIN OF WINGING AND WING FOILING
THE NEW SPORT ON THE BLOCK
Wing foiling is a new and exciting wind and water sport that combines three technologies: inflatable kite technology, handheld wing designs, and hydrofoiling. The beauty of the sport is its simplicity, ease of setup, and quick learning curve. Just pump up your wing, climb on your board and use the power of the wind to propel you across the water with the wing in your hands.
Before Wing Foiling
Coined as the modern crossover wind sport that borrows from windsurf foiling, kite foiling, and SUP foiling, wing foiling's origins can be first traced back to Slingshot. In 2011, Slingshot's Head of Sales, Greg Kish, was attending an on-water demo for SUP at Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City when he noticed a strong wind pick up. Seeing how many SUP paddlers began to struggle in the wind and choppy water, he saw an opportunity to spin up something new for windy conditions. The wing would allow riders to harness the wind and propel their SUP boards across the water faster than they could ever go under paddle power.
Our Wing Evolution
Slingshot Co-Founder, Tony Logosz, was the first to advance the inflatable handheld wing concept. Using inflatable kite technology, Tony introduced the first Slingwing prototypes in 2011, over 7 years before they would become commercially available. Foiling had not taken off yet and his first wings were meant to be used in strong winds with a surfboard, but because it required high winds and high performance, the invention did not make it into production. Yet the first photos of him screaming across the water with a wing in hand launched the sport to the public.
WING FOILING TODAY
Hydrofoils changed everything. Celebrated as a huge part of wing foiling’s foundation, it wasn’t until the evolution of foiling—along with the development of big performance foil wings (to provide lift and speed)—that wing foiling fully catapulted into existence. Transforming inflatable kite technology into a high-performance wing, Slingshot centered hydrofoiling around three components: lightweight size, safety, and floatability. Add a low drag foil into the mix and a whole new sport was finally realized.
