Wings and Hydrofoils
Winging in Alberta
"Winging" is a new sport taking over many local beaches and lakes in Alberta, Canada, and the world. You can see wingers using the wind to power their standup paddle boards or floating above the water using hydrofoils. Wether on a SUP or a hydrofoil a wing is required. The wings come in different sizes to adapt to the wind conditions, where strong winds are suitable from smaller wings, say 3m, and light winds require bigger wings such as a 5m. The 'metre' reference addresses a general 'square meter' area of the wing. So a smaller surface area works for higher winds.
Winging is generally easier to learn than kiteboarding. In a light breeze, a person can inflate and hold onto a wing on the beach or in a park to get a feeling of how much power the wing can generate and how to increase or decrease the power generated by the wing (less surface area exposed to the wind (i.e. the wing held into the wind like it was a plane = less power, vs. a wing held into the wind forming a 'wall' for the wind to push against = more power). Winging is great in Alberta for skiing/snowboarding on snow and ice, accessing lakes with tight beach access with minimal launching area, and winging in locations with more unpredictable winds as compared to kiteboarding.
Shred Kiteboarding carries Eleveight brand wings, wing boards and hydrofoils. Eleveight is a leading kite manufacturer in the kiteboarding industry. We also carry Delta brand hydrofoils, Delta hydrofoils creates top-of-the-line hydrofoils for maximum performance. Some of the Delta hydrofoils are also suitable for hydrofoil surfing, wake-surfing, kiteboarding, and hydrofoiling with a wing.