Hey everyone! I Learned to wing foil in the Gorge last summer. (Lived there for two years) Spent some time recently in Tampa bay but Im moving to ATL this month. Ill be south around Fayetteville. Where do people foil around Atlanta? Is there a “windy season”? If so when? Thanks in advance! Looking forward to meeting some of you!
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The most popular place to wing foil, windsurf, wind foil & kite is at Lake Lanier, north of Atlanta. We're now in the windy season running Nov. - April. Look under Wiki: Places to Windsurf in the menu at the top of this page for places to sail.
We have a friendly group and welcome sailors new to the area. Please check this website for postings in the Forum section on when & where we will be sailing.
Barrett
Tzuk95
Welcome! We had 2 wings and 2 windfoils today up at Vann's Tavern on Lanier.
It's a long way from Fayetteville but if you crave company you'll be making the trek pretty frequently. West Point will be a lot closer to you and it's a decent sized lake. We go down there every so often if the weather pattern or temps favor it but that's more occasional. There are some locals (windsurfers) there so you may not always be alone. West Point is a touch smaller but still quite open and much less boat traffic than Lanier which is a nice thing come April and May.
You can also use Lake Juliette but I'll let moredownhaul pipe in on that since I haven't been there in a long and he's a local.
As Barrett said, we try to post here when and where we are going. It's always more fun with others.
Again, look forward to meeting you!
Thanks for the reply! Looks like Lanier is just over an hour drive. So not terrible. Looks like everything is an hour drive around Atlanta until rush hour. Lol
Ill be there later this month so Ill keep an eye out for when and where I should be heading out.
Welcome! I’m also relatively new (moved from SF last year) and am working on picking up wingfoiling (kiting at Lanier is unforgiving!). Let me know if you decide to go up and would be great to learn a few tips.
Fellow Atlantans -
Tried kitesurfing lessons in the Tampa area and was able to get flying after a few hours, but that was all I had time to do back then. Yet, that was enough to get me hooked on the wind+water combination. Assuming Lanier is not friendly to kiters, I would love to try wingfoiling. After reading the forums, I may still need your advice, please. Is there a way for me to take a couple of lessons to try wingfoiling out before I invest in my own gear?
Thank you!
Albro, welcome. Away for a bit, sorry for delayed response.
Lessons for winging, unlike kiting are recommended but not mandatory.
If you are willing to travel, you can grab lessons in Florida, obx and elsewhere
If you want to do it on your own, you can get some wing time with a SUP, big flat windsurf board etc. You can try the foil behind a boat or jetski if you haven't foiled before. Probably more important to ne comfortable with wing, though so you can sail around and not get blown downwind.
Lots of good tutorials on YouTube as well. It's a pretty safe sport but a helmet and impact vest are smart. You don't want to land on something and get hurt.
Don't overlook local wingers for advice- try to come out when others do and you can pick their brains
Thank you. I loved [albeit short] experience with kitesurfing, but that was all of my exposure to the winged sports. I did a bit of wakesurfing and that was fun. Also I am an avid snowboarder, but I presume it is not relevant.
Traveling to FL/OBX is not an option any time soon, so I guess I will have to shop for my own equipment hoping it all is going to work out.
This video compares kitesurfing to wingsurfing. The narrator is a kitesurfer and indstructor. The upshot is wingfoiling can be more of a "do it yourself" project with few lessons needed. My guess is most of the locals here (and in most places) did learn to wingfoil on their own because there really hasn't been much wingfoil training infrastructure in place. Most probably came from other wind or water sports. That said, below is contact info for a instructor in Florida (who is well known for his windsurfing instructional videos.) Maybe Neil also knows where to look for instruction.
What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.
Albro, most of the locals here are self-taught.
If you hit a hard stumbling block or just want to shorten the learning curve, lessons are great. Until you can travel, you definitely can float around and get used to the wing. We aren't going to have that much wind until late August or early September so no rush. Do plan on buying a proper wetsuit for the cooler fall temps so you can take advantage of the winder cool months
Case in point, pretty sure none of the three wingers in the Tuesday thread ever had lessons
https://windsportatlanta.com/comment/55166#comment-55166