September 5: Winds, Whims, and a 2450cm² Foil

Last week, I took my SUP out to Shichirigahama and lucked into some unexpectedly sick waves.

It was my first time SUP surfing in forever, and I had an absolute blast.

Still, I was itching to get back to wingfoiling.

My pinky finger—which I messed up back on July 25—isn’t 100% healed yet.

But it’s finally at a point where I figured,

“Yeah, I can probably hold a wing without hurting myself.”

It had been way too long since my last proper session on the foil.

I needed to fly this week.

Plus, I had a brand-new secret weapon waiting for me:

A massive 2450 cm² front foil.

It’s noticeably bigger than my old 2000 cm² setup.

The forecast called for 3 to 4 meters per second—about 6–8 knots.

Honestly?

Pretty sketchy for foiling.

But if it hit a solid 4 m/s, paired with my 6m² wing, the huge 2450 foil, and some aggressive pumping, I figured I could totally get up on the foil.

With that high-key optimism, I headed down to Enoshima.

Though, fair warning:

This story doesn’t have a grand climax.

If you’re short on time, feel free to skip to the end.

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Low-Key Wind Deficit

When I got to the club, my buddy A-san was already there.

He’s always super chill and in a great mood, so just hanging out with him is a vibe.

Looks like he was planning to hit the water, too.

The problem?

The wind was straight-up dead.

“Man, taking a wing out in this is basically asking for self-torture...”

In light wind, windsurfing is tough.

But at least the mast bears the weight of the sail, so you’re mostly just balancing.

Wingfoiling is a whole different beast.

If there’s wind, the wing lifts itself.

But when the wind drops?

You’re stuck holding a heavy 6m² wing in your arms the entire time.

It gets exhausting real fast.

On the flip side, once a wing foil actually gets up and flying, you can ride on way less wind than a windsurfer.

That’s the magic of wingfoiling.

But with the morning wind looking like this, my arms would be dead long before takeoff.

“Screw it. SUP day it is.”

I left the wing gear behind, grabbed a SUP with A-san, and paddled out past the breakwater just to chill.

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Wait... Is It Actually Blowing?

Out on the water, there were basically zero waves.

SUP surfing wasn’t happening.

So we just floated around enjoying the scenery.

But out in the open water, I started feeling some breeze.

“Wait a second...”

It looked like a steady 3 m/s, with gusts hitting maybe 4.

Could my new 2450 foil handle this?

Just then, I ran into A-san out on the water.

“Hey, A-san! It’s actually kind of breezy out here. Might be doable!”

The catch?

We didn’t bring our wing gear.

Paddling back to the club, walking up to the lockers, and heading back down to the beach would take a good 20 minutes round trip.

Then rigging the foil and blowing up the wing would add another 30–40 minutes.

Total time wasted:

About an hour.

And we had just paddled out.

“What do you think?”

We debated it for a bit.

Deep down, though, my mind was already made up.

I was doing it.

“A-san, my bad. I’m gonna go grab my gear.”

I jumped on my SUP and sprinted back to shore.

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A One-Hour Round Trip for Nothing

While I was packing up my SUP, A-san paddled in too.

“Guess I’ll join you.”

So back to the club we went.

We spent the next 20–30 minutes sweating through the wingfoil setup.

I made sure to grab my prized new 2450 cm² giant foil.

Armed and ready, we marched back down to the beach.

Total time invested:

Roughly an hour.

“Alright. Time to fly.”

I looked out at the ocean.

...

Not a breath of wind.

Where did the breeze from ten minutes ago go?

Total ghost town.

We stood there on the shore, shooting the breeze and waiting for a puff.

Nothing.

Zero.

Zip.

“Yeah, this ain’t happening. Back to the SUPs.”

Defeated, we rigged the SUPs back up and paddled back out.

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The Ultimate Troll Wind

Sure enough, the moment we’re cruising around on our SUPs again—

Poof.

The wind comes back.

“Are you actually kidding me right now?”

It looked like about 3 m/s, gusting to 4.

Exactly like before.

The wind was literally playing mind games with us.

Take out SUP → Wind blows.

Rig the wing → Wind dies.

Take out SUP → Wind blows again.

“Fine. Whatever. We’re going for it.”

I paddled back to shore again, grabbed the wing setup, and headed out.

By the time I hit the water?

The wind was dying down.

Again.

I had a bad feeling.

But at this point, I’d lost count of how many times I’d walked back and forth.

I had zero energy left to keep swapping gear.

So I just decided to send it.

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The 2450 Got Up... Barely

Unsurprisingly, the wind was way too light.

The wing felt heavy.

Just getting moving was a chore.

Whenever I caught a tiny puff, I started power-pumping.

Pump the wing.

Pump the board.

Pump harder.

Nope.

Not enough juice.

We literally only needed one more meter per second.

Just one!

If we had that, the whole vibe of the day would’ve been completely different.

Still, there were moments when the massive 2450 foil felt like it was right on the edge of lifting.

That alone gave me a glimpse of what this thing might be capable of.

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TL;DR: I Mostly SUP’d All Day

I stayed out there and grinded for a bit.

But spending 90% of your time drifting while holding a heavy-ass wing isn’t fun.

It’s just a workout.

“I’m out.”

I ditched the wing, paddled back in, and finished the day on the SUP.

SUP.

Wing.

SUP.

Wing.

SUP.

What was I even doing with my life today?

Honestly, who knows.

But that’s just how it goes sometimes.

I ended the session just floating around and enjoying being out on the water.

So it wasn’t a total loss.

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Too Depressed to Blog About It

Not gonna lie.

I was pretty bummed.

My finger was finally feeling good enough to wing.

My shiny new 2450 cm² foil was ready to rock.

The wind even teased us by showing up for a hot second.

But every time I actually grabbed the wing—

It vanished.

I didn’t get any real foiling in.

And I was so annoyed that I didn’t even want to write a session log that day.

But if there’s a silver lining, it’s this:

The 2450 cm² foil definitely feels like it wants to lift at super low speeds.

With just a tiny bit more wind—say, a steady 4 m/s—the 6m² wing plus the 2450 foil and some good pumping could be an absolute cheat code.

Today was just the teaser trailer.

Next time, the wind isn’t playing me.

I’m gonna fly over it.

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P.S. Apparently the beach shack wraps up its season tomorrow.

Kind of a bummer.

But that means the beach will be wide open for launching.

Can’t wait for next week!