FORESIGHT: Phil Martin

Offering his industry-level-insight into where the sport of foiling is likely to find itself in the coming years is Eleveight Co-founder and Sales Manager, Phil Martin…

  • I find it unbelievable how in all industries things are more quickly evolving and are becoming ultra-specialized these days. Just to make a brief comparison, SUP was here for a very long time, and we've seen people paddling on big boards for dozens of years, but it only started to explode around 2010. It's the same with foiling, which has been around for quite a long time – I tried one of the first Carafino kite foils myself, around 2005!
  • As a brand you now have to develop foils for kiting, winging, surfing, windsurfing, downwind… and even each of these sports have different needs within them! A few years ago one or two foils were enough to cover everything, but now you need to have such a huge range of products. There are no limits to foiling, and I think now we have reached a good development and performance level, so it will slow in terms of product development, but some evolutions will always come over time.

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  • Foils are now lighter and stronger, but there is still a lot to do. For me, the most interesting part will be to develop a foil that you can quickly assemble without screws and tools, but by also keeping its full rigidity and obviously not losing any of the parts while riding. Carbon fibers are also becoming better, and with high-modulus carbon fibers, we can now see a big difference in the stiffness of the products. The sport is still new and we have many things which we will see in development – both good things that stick, and things which will later disappear again.
  • New spots, new styles and their progression is in full swing, and we see only the tip of the iceberg right now. Yes, we are only at the beginning, but some of the Big Air foil riders are now doing almost the same tricks as Big Air kitesurfers riding with a twintip board, and that was something nobody could have imagined a few years back. Likewise, you see foilers riding massive waves, and also trying to get barreled.
  • Events play a big part in influencing trends in sports in general. Introducing foiling in each discipline will give opportunities, although I can see that it makes it more complicated for event organizers. As I said before, I am not yet sure that foiling in general will be mixed up with other disciplines, although there won't be limits to tricks and maneuvers. If you had described to me ten years ago about some of the Big Air tricks kitesurfers are doing today, I would have told you it is physically impossible, but they do it… it will be the same with foiling, and I can see some riders going massive with their foils. This really is only the beginning.

 

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