[00:00:00] Welcome to the Wing Life podcast where we talk about wing foiling and the
[00:00:10] lifestyles of those who enjoy this great sport.
[00:00:13] All right.
[00:00:15] Hey Willow, thanks a lot for joining me in the show today.
[00:00:17] I'm super stoked to talk to you.
[00:00:18] Awesome.
[00:00:20] Thanks, Luke.
[00:00:21] So, so stoked to be a part of it and thank you for this conversation today.
[00:00:24] Nice. by not having straps that just add this new dimension of difficulty to it that can be so exciting and especially with their triple front roll which is I would say one of the hardest tricks in kiteboarding it took me years to be able to do and there's still only a handful of people that can actually do them. It's yeah just a it was an epic day an epic achievement to land it on the first
[00:01:44] time ever which is possibly the video you've it and recently I've been getting back into it. And yeah, it took me years to be able to do the triple.
[00:03:00] I think it took not so long to do first front roll,
[00:03:04] but from the first to the second, because that's what he grew up with, you know, being from Durban, South Africa, it's a lot around sports about surfing, about being in the ocean. And that's really what he wanted
[00:04:21] for us. And my grandmother was born in a professional surfer and just travel the world surfing and he's like no come on dude just try it like Mauritius is one of the best spaces for
[00:05:40] it you have to give it a go so eventually I was like okay so at the age
[00:05:45] of 14 I went down and I started and you know, I always dreamt of being a professional stuff, of being a professional in the ocean and just living that dream. And pretty much soon after I started card surfing, like around six months or so, I told my dad, no, I need to get sponsored. I broke my card that I bought for about 100 euros. And that's all I could afford
[00:07:03] at the time, but I saw the little things that I of cutting, that's when I met Corb, who's been my main sponsor since almost 10 years. That's kind of where it all began. Oh man, that's awesome. Congratulations on that, by the way, because you've really, you put in a lot of work. Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's what it's about.
[00:08:21] I really strongly believe in that 10,000's an interesting question because for me what I got to a kite surfing because everyone helps each other. You need someone to help you launch, help you land, watching out for each other, helping you on the water. And I think through that, it really got me excited and really hooked to embrace kite surfing and to its maximum. Yeah, that makes sense because I windsurf
[00:11:01] and my brothers are kite boarder
[00:11:03] and whenever I've gotten in trouble on the water,
[00:11:06] it's been the kighters where you probably get the most injured
[00:12:21] because you pushing yourself and maybe not thought to myself, so would speak to myself basically and say, you know, like, unless you're going for like, number one, be the best in the world or world, you know, champion, like, what's the kind of points of like, just following it, you know, to be in the top 10. I mean, some people that's their motivation, it's epic, with him as you know, South African remushers are very close. So he would send over prototypes and all the surf foils and you know, I just really got hooked on the surf foiling thing. And then I think it was when I saw like a lot of people
[00:15:00] when we saw Kyleni get into it and really like
[00:15:04] do some pretty epic things, you know, the first jumps
[00:15:07] and showing the speed that you don't get anywhere else besides a wing foiling, of course, flying on top of a wave and surfing a wave and not feeling the chop, but still feeling the energy, you know, and you can be riding a one foot wave and banking a huge carve or a turn and it feels
[00:16:22] like you're going down and carving on a six foot face, you every single rock is on the face, every single section, I know the way it's so well. So getting onto a wing and going out and riding those waves, I know it like the back of my hand. So it's been pretty epic to experience all of a sudden getting onto a wing, getting pretty good quite quickly
[00:17:41] as I've already surfed and kite surfed and surfed.
[00:17:44] It's now just like kind of unlocking a new discipline
[00:17:46] of water sports and just straight away getting And that's why plenty of people come here, you know for for the wing foiling and then funny enough This is the the busiest I've ever seen it with wing foilers. I was down there the other day and I counted I think it was like 40 or 45 wing foilers and LeMorn is not an easy spot because you have it relies a lot on the tides so if it's too low obviously you just hitting the sand all the time and
[00:19:03] Sometimes there's also some coral on the lagoon so you might scratch the foil
[00:20:02] I have that we all have for this community. I think that's what makes it the most special.
[00:20:04] There are definitely, and I think it's what's so cool actually about wing foiling
[00:20:09] or what, one of the things I love the most about it is that people feel safe
[00:20:13] and, and, and less intimidated to learn compared to card surfing sometimes
[00:20:19] as card surfing can be quite intimidating.
[00:20:21] Um, especially for young, uh, young people wings. And since the beginning, I mean, I'm not a good snowboarder or anything like that. I've done it like twice in my life. I love it and I love the feeling
[00:21:41] and I can just imagine with the wing what can be possible.
[00:21:44] And I'm sure we're gonna see some pretty crazy things
[00:21:47] one day.
[00:21:48] I have one or two things in mind and how you want to give back to that community and help. So I'd love to hear a little bit more about that and maybe the projects that you're working on right now. Yeah, for sure. Thanks for, I'm stoked that you see it and that people notice and it's something that's very close to my heart is that's one of the, the most things I'm passionate about, helping people, giving back and empowering people
[00:23:02] is one of the things that I think are, yeah,
[00:23:05] I think that, equipment, for example, wetsuits, surfboards, kites, wings, foils, whatever it is that we can take to places that are rural like in Madagascar or Mauritius or South Africa, mostly working in African region for now, hopefully one day the whole
[00:24:20] world, but you know for now focusing on the places that we can have the most
[00:24:23] impact today and one of them is obviously Mauritius and this is where inspire the younger generation, the generation that kind of needs it most. And yeah, on this, alongside that, we obviously supporting local organizations here that there's another organization called soft surface, which we give a lot of the equipment that we get, obviously get donated to serve to serve as they look after a bunch of kids and local kids from Tamarin
[00:25:44] Bay, which is the main surf community of Mauritius. our center and absolutely crushing it, doing card loops and back rolls and wanting to get sponsored, wanting to compete. It's so crazy to see how far kids can come with a donation, whether it's support, whether it's a helping hand, whatever it is, that continues. That person will pass it on to the next person and that person will pass it on to the next
[00:28:21] person.
[00:28:22] It's a never ending cycle of giving.
[00:28:24] And so that's what I live by and that's what I always make sure he gave me this card and he said if you ever want his email that he wrote something, he said, if ever you want to go further in your card surfing, you must just send us a message and get in touch. And straight away I sure. Awesome. Have you seen a big change in the kids? Generation wise on Mauritius, it's a smaller spot. Have you seen people more staying indoors rather than enjoying? Has there been
[00:31:00] that kind of a shift there?
[00:31:01] Yeah, I mean, I chat a lot about it to one of the best destinations on the planet with the best wage you can become literally the best card-surfer ever. And somehow they're not interested but there are more and more kids getting into it and
[00:32:24] it is difficult because card-surfing is obviously and wing clothing itself is also quite an your dreams are, you know. So yeah, I'm still waiting for that kid. I've told it to a couple. None of them have contacted me yet. So see them again, but they will be for sure. And I'm waiting for it. Oh, I think it's definitely going to happen. And maybe, yeah, it might take a little bit of time to find the right one, but it'll definitely happen. Hey, let's talk about your
[00:33:40] school. When did, when did you launch that? Yeah, so I mean, you know. And it's the same with wing foiling. You know, with wing foiling opening up at the moment, it opens up so many possibilities for people that never would have thought they would ever get, let's say, a wind water sporter try, you know. Cutsurfing for a lot of people, especially women, can, you know, in the first time, be
[00:35:00] quite scary as, you know, if you're a light, if you're a very light person, you know, you
[00:35:04] can be scared that the wind's gonna take you and everyone thinks that you're gonna fly
[00:35:07] out of the tree. I never wanted to be that Carter for that or that wing for that eventually, you know gets old I mean, I'm still only 24 but gets old and starts a school and kind of retires in their school, you know And it kind of works and that you know for me it's about like pushing it and you know creating new ways to maybe find to teach or to experience the sports and offer and people to enjoy the sports and you know bringing in like the
[00:36:23] Youngness that I have and the the excitement and drive that I have into this. I think is my mission and spot where it's super safe, quite shallow but still deep enough for wing foiling, especially if you're just having beginner lessons on a short mast. And then once they start to progress, they can use the whole lagoon which is, it's kilometers wide that there's plenty of space for even a couple hundred kitesurf as a wing foiler
[00:37:41] to all enjoy themselves.
[00:37:43] And then once you start to get a little bit of credos for that. You are still young and you're not retired at the VTS, but I think it's pretty cool that you're
[00:39:01] choosing to do that even for this for right now. realize, you know, just what card surfing and also wing foiling and surfing and everything, you know, when I say card surfing, I'm meaning everything and I'm all like, you know, there's so many things that I learned from those sports that, you know, like it just, it's a sense of everything,
[00:40:22] you know, it's a sense of, that just getting out on the water. There's so many little things around it that, like you said, the spiritual connection that you have with it, the motivation that you get from it, the drive that you get, the struggle, the suffering, all of that, it's just all a part of it. And I guess that's what gets everyone hooked in their own ways.
[00:41:42] Yeah, I think that's for me, for the biggest thing that enabled me is I didn't think I could succeed
[00:41:45] in other areas of my life.
[00:41:47] And then through the trials and tribulations because we had talked a little bit about the kids in Mauritius before and the fact that you had seen a bit of a change in them and that you were hoping that more and more and more of them would find something that would drive, deliver passion. So as spokespeople for passion, I think you're doing a pretty sweet job. Thanks, bro. Yeah, it's definitely, I think, one of my main motivations.
[00:43:01] You know, there's a couple key mentioned before about my mentors really guiding me and giving me support and advices and pushing me through the last couple years. I want to continue that with the next generation of people coming up. So yeah, there's a lot to do and a lot to give back and that's definitely one of my
[00:44:25] key pillars of motivation for sure. for example, either kart surfing and wing foiling, and then it goes straight back into that moment. So I think about it every single time of the first time I went upwind kart surfing 10 years ago. And I can just see the face, the excitement, the stoke on the people's faces. And that for me just like, it's just such an unreal feeling.
[00:45:40] So I really think like teaching, when you teach,
[00:45:44] you learn a lot about yourself, about how to teach, more behind the scenes stuff at the center and obviously I'm at the beach as much as possible on the water and also the water at the center. My two brothers are pretty much running it. They're managing it. They're both younger than me but they're both super motivated and it's so cool to, like definitely on my list now. I saw some of that and I would love to come out. Anytime man, if you want to get over there and anyone else that's wanting to get over to Mauritius, just come. It's such an amazing place. There is so muchI, and I tried out the new wing and I loved it. It was really cool, it pumped well, the skinny boom that I had was really good. And Michael Fenuf there, he's gonna be coming on the show as well to talk about your detail as well, but let's start from your perspective, because I know you've been heavily involved with it.
[00:49:42] Yeah, so it's definitely an amazing new line,
[00:49:45] and Michael will definitely elaborate more the vert foil range which is obviously our carbon mask, very small high aspect foils and in all that kind of setup is more progressive line, hence why it's called the Halo Pro. It's an Alula wing that is extremely light, very rigid, it's such an amazing wing for freestyle
[00:51:02] but even for waves, you know, I'm not too because you know it's one thing looking at a wing and seeing oh yeah the shapes good and you know how it how it looks it looks good but the one thing when you get onto the ward and actually feel how it rides is a totally different experience so yeah I absolutely love it I love the new mini boom in the beginning I really was not for it I was
[00:52:21] almost against it because I was like it's too much windsurf style and I've pro level boards obviously because they're quite small. We will sometime next year be having two bigger sizes in a slightly more not downwind shape but a little bit longer kind of skinnier boards so around 63 to 75 liters if I'm not mistaken. That will come out sometime next spring but you
[00:53:42] know the board is obviously for me it's one on the spots that you're going out You know and Mauritius be lucky to have very stable winds around 15 to 25 knots Depending on the day. So, you know, it's it's pretty predominantly it's pretty good conditions You know see I can go out on a 45 or 38 leaderboard and feel confident You know that getting in and out is not going to be an issue, you know
[00:55:02] Because the winds blow from morning till night almost
[00:56:05] We've stuck to the keeping the smallest one is 700 which to be honest for most conditions I ride in big or small it covers everything you know for me
[00:56:09] I love having a foil that doesn't feel like it has a speed limit
[00:56:12] I love going as fast as I possibly can you know so if I'm dropping into a big wave medium-sized wave small wave
[00:56:18] I want to have as much speed as possible so I can bank the hardest turns
[00:56:22] They really feel the G's the G force when banking those turns I'm not sharing anything but as soon as it's out, you know that I'm you know full on and call like yeah Sharing all the latest equipment nice and I think last time we were talking We were trying to rebook this this part of the the show but some big swell came through Mauritius so obviously you're getting to ride all this stuff in that
[00:57:42] Well, how does it feel just to go back to a little bit of it you how does it feel to do a banking turn?
[00:57:46] on a wave that big and
[00:58:45] Obviously my go-to thing to do but Marisius has banned jet skis and as soon as the waves get ready big It's just too dangerous for the boat
[00:58:47] But in the past you know with with
[00:58:50] Let's say when we did the photoshoot for this equipment that's just got released
[00:58:55] Which was in May we had really big days, which you probably have seen maybe in the campaign
[00:59:00] and
[00:59:01] You know
[00:59:02] It's exactly like you said, you know
[00:59:03] It's the gears becoming more in tune with the know, you still have that fear inside you. That's just how you deal with it and so by eliminating, you know the the thoughts of is my gear gonna break am I am I gonna be Worried that you know when I crash that I don't know my foil is gonna disappear We're gonna get ripped off my board and eliminating all of those things make you makes you
[01:00:21] 100% focus on the moment when you know, is just to remain calm. And obviously since I've been doing this for so many years, I've started to realize more and more that it's all in my head, you know, because my body is strong. I know I'm fit enough, you know, I know I eat well, I've been eating vegetarian most
[01:01:41] of my life and being big in the last couple diving and you know that's 100% a mind game you know you're diving either the ocean 20-25 meters you are basically a swimming pool on top of your head you know and the pressure down there and knowing to keep calm to keep you keep yourself in the right place your head in the right place and not to panic you know if the current gets
[01:03:03] strong down there or if it gets dark or there's all of these little things that you have to kind of assess that it doesn't really just come down to what your body looks like or what you're eating. There's so many things to it. And so for me, I think that the main thing is all kind of understanding what's going
[01:04:21] on in your head.
[01:04:22] Okay, fair enough. things you know mental I'm very exactly it's all mental you know I've run quite a few marathons which you spoke about and you know I think you know running is a such a good way to to practice just that and fighting the mental gain and you know I always call it a David Goggins you know calls it training for life you know you know it's literally training to to face any obstacle that comes your way
[01:05:44] and that's why I run that's why I surf that's why I that have that fear, you know, especially going into bigger waves or even small waves It can happen can happen literally a knee deep water if you really if something really happened, but you know really learning to focus Hold your breath relax be calm and really Learn to pre-dive even if you're going one two five ten meters underwater
[01:07:02] there's so much that goes through your head and you really just have to zen it out calm it down and
[01:08:04] You could double it easily, you know, it's it's just it's crazy. It's honestly crazy
[01:08:09] It's so funny how your your mind plays tricks on you. It's insane
[01:08:12] Well, yeah, even like a 10-second breath hold if you're not used to it You're freaking out and you're thinking you're gonna pass out and yeah
[01:08:17] No, exactly. And I mean I have way more
[01:08:20] Then it's it's funny to think about because just the other day there was another big swell on
[01:08:24] Last Wednesday and I went surfing
[01:09:25] those situations where you feel prepared and myself have so many sessions where I don't go in feeling, you know, you go out, ah, it's a small day today, nothing's going to happen.
[01:09:29] And those are the days when things actually happen and I've had my scariest moments, you
[01:09:32] know. But going into something when you feel prepared is helps, yeah, hugely. So, yeah,
[01:09:40] it's a very interesting thing. It's all, I that we all have to push those barriers. And behind those barriers could be something pretty awesome. It doesn't have to be fear or death or anything insane. Yeah, 100%. Like, without a doubt, anyone is capable of doing so much more than we think we
[01:11:00] can. And, you know, I really love David Goggins' method on a lot of things in life. And one of his
[01:12:03] of run last not knowing how far you can go. So I think it's definitely important to set your goal, to set your breath hold, what you
[01:12:07] want to get it at in a month from now.
[01:12:09] And then you know what you have to do.
[01:12:11] You have to practice.
[01:12:12] And so that's for me been one of the main things why I've loved running is because running
[01:12:17] has really allowed me to challenge myself, to push myself beyond that.
[01:12:22] I hated running.
[01:12:23] I never thought I would ever run a marathon in my entire life. that listens to it. So yeah, don't estimate the value that you're putting into the world by doing what you do. I appreciate it, man. Absolutely. Yeah, we're a small team. And yeah, it's pretty much volunteer at this point. So it's nice to see people reach out and say, Hey, thanks. I learned something or just for them to enjoy like talking with you or talking with the other people
[01:13:41] that I have on that they send some questions sometimes. So I appreciate it.
[01:13:44] Yeah, thanks.
[01:13:45] For sure, bro. Definitely. 100%.