Is wing foiling easier than kiteboarding?

Wing foiling and kiteboarding are both challenging sports that require a certain level of skill and athleticism. Wing foiling is more accessible to beginners than kitesurfing, as the learning curve is less steep. Wing foiling is less physically demanding than kitesurfing, although many kiteboarders learning to wing will tell you that the first three days can feel otherwise. Wingsurfing is considered to be less dangerous. However, kitesurfing is a more versatile sport with a broader range of board types available for riding for different disciplines: Foil, Park, Wake, Surf, and Wakeskate. A much larger variety of tricks adapted from wakeboarding are also incorporated into kiteboarding.

Wing Foiling can be adapted to a broader range of launch locations, making launches more accessible than kitesurfing, but shore break waves and surf can be more challenging to get out through with a wing foil. Ultimately, the difficulty of each sport will depend on the individual’s skill level and the specific conditions in which they are performed. What was your learning experience like? Lets us know in the comments below.

Photo Reno Romeu jumps over Olivia Jenkins and Jeremie Tronet at the Union Island JT Pro Center. photo courtesy Duotone

“Wing foiling is definitely easier to “tryout” out than the stages of kiteboarding because you stand on a big floaty board and don’t need as much initial control of the wing versus kite. As far as successfully going back and forth and becoming proficient at foiling versus kiteboarding it could go either way depending on the student.” —Shane Thompson, Head Tester

“Hmmm. Tough question. They are very different yet similar. To be fair and you were just starting out I would say kitefoiling is more difficult. Kite control and learning to foil is tough with a lot going on. Winging with ample wind to me is easier. I’m hoping to teach my youngest daughter winging this year.” —Les Achtymichuk, Gear Tester

“Wingsurfing is definitely safer to learn than kiting. There are many more accessible spots available for winging and easy to launch yourself as well. I’d say that the ability to launch anywhere giving you more options allows you more time on the water and therefore would learn easier.”—Martin Milne, Gear Tester

“On an SUP board you can be winging upwind in less than a minute. That is vastly easier than kiting. Now, introduce the hydrofoil, particularly in waves, your ease and speed of progression will likely slow down dramatically. As with kiting, good learning conditions can make all the difference. If you don’t have them readily available and worse, don’t spend concerted time at it, wingfoiling may seem a lot harder than kiting.”—Rick Iossi

“That’s a very good question…my gut feeling is that wing foiling might be easier for former windsurfers. I get a lot of people asking if they can skip learning to kite and get right to wing foiling if they have a background in windsurfing ?…. mind you, they still have to learn to foil.—Daniel Medysky

“I’ve witnessed fellow Kiters buy Wing Gear and spend MANY Hours to get to the point where they can actually ride! But once they get the hang of it they are going good,,,,,,but they can’t Wing Foil as many hrs in a day as they could Kite Foil.”—Rick Reeves

Check out Wing vs Kite. Four top watermen (Robby Naish, Evan Netsch, Jesse Richman, and Clinton Filen) discuss the differences between wingsurfing and kitesurfing.