So here it is: ‘No Blue Skies’…written and photographed for the nascent but superb Foiling Magazine (issue #4). My first foray into surf journalism. And about time too.
‘No Blue Skies’ refers to the hardy experience of immersion into Cornwall’s mid-winter seas. Atlantic contrast to the tropical blue waters and skies of foiling’s epicentre in Maui.
Better still, it’s a completely free double-issue digital edition – so you can read it in full here from page 111. Two double spreads, 12 photographs and 2000 words. If you’re not hooked by the time you’ve finished, you can have your money back 😊
I started foiling two years ago – and it’s almost completely replaced surfing and SUPing ever since. It’s hooked me up with a group of fellow foiling obsessives here in north Cornwall, loosely named the Kernow Foil Crew.
Foiling – or hydrofoiling to give it its full name – is an evolution of surfing where you add a hydrofoil to the base of a surfboard (or paddle board). You paddle into a wave as you would normally…and then the magic (& mayhem) starts: the foil catches and lifts…you’re elevated 1-2ft above the water. Everything goes silent…and you accelerate into hyperspace. Essentially it’s a sensation of flying, not surfing. Very fast. Very floaty. Very fun.
In truth it’s been great shooting this commercial photography for Foiling Magazine – essentially documenting my new foil gang. Luckily I finished the photography just before Covid-19 lockdown – and writing the text gave me something to work on during lockdown itself.
Don’t ask me about the dangers of photographing in the water as a super-sharp foil wing heads straight at me at 30kph, hoping vainly that my water-housing will mitigate some kind of limb-severing trauma…
Even harder has been seeing my foil mates progress steadily and then overtake me, as I miss sessions by photographing rather than foiling. Guess who’s the foil kook now?