The Foil Festival Fehmarn is Europe’s largest beach event for foil sports: from June 6 to 9, 2025, the south beach on Fehmarn was once again transformed into a mecca for wing foil, pump foil, SUP foil, e-foil and wind foil fans. Over 50 exhibitors presented their latest models – from boards and wings to e-foils – and visitors were able to test them for free. We from Stand Up Magazine wanted to hear from organizer Torsten Schultze how he sees the current trend and whether he is afraid of market oversaturation.
Aloha Torsten, thank you very much for your time. We have just looked at the pictures from the last festival. It seems to have been a success. Before we go into the current events here. Could you tell us something about the history of the festival? How did it all start? What was the point at which you realized that the sport was big enough to start a festival?
I’ve already seen it in the nineties. How Laird Hamilton, Mike Walze and co. used foils under wakeboards with fixed ski bindings to surf big waves in Hawaii.
Then in the 2020s, or I think it started in 2018-2019, you could see how SUP Foil looked like fun at first and then, I think it was Klaas Voget who actually told me that he was putting something like an inflatable windsurf sail on a small SUP Foil and the first pictures came out, I thought it could be something. There’s a sport that’s here to stay.
Then I saw a winger on YouTube who did a mega high jump on Gran Canaria in Pozo. An action that usually only windsurfers do.
That convinced me even more that the sport has potential. I then bought a SUP foil and a SUP foil board at the 2020 surf festival and tried it out myself with a kite wing that I still had in the shed. I live in Heikendorf on the Kiel Fjord, not far from spots that are actually uninteresting from a kitesurfing and windsurfing perspective, and then experienced how these spots were taken over by wingfoilers within 1-2 years. That was the point where I realized that this sport is fun in bad conditions, little wind and for spots with few or bad waves and needs its own festival. In the first few years, it felt like a new brand came onto the market every week. In 2021, our first foil festival already had 25 manufacturers on the beach.
Very interesting, now in the present, how do you see the foil trend today compared to your beginnings?
I would say that the foil trend is unbroken and new brands are still coming onto the market. I think the euphoria in the industry is a little less strong than it was 2-3 years ago after the corona period when there was virtually no material to buy for the many people who want to practice the sport on their doorstep.
The sport itself has split into many facets. What started with SUP downwind foiling and SUP foil surfing (if we leave out the deeper history of foiling) now has many facets. We’ve been wingfoiling since 2020, dockstarts have been invented and SUP downwind foiling has made its way onto inland waters thanks to technical achievements. And now we’ve recently introduced parawing. Can you put this into context for us?
Wingfoiling is the introduction to other foil sports. If you compare foiling to skiing, then wingfoil is like freeride skiing and a blue run groomed slope. I would compare pump foiling with dockstart to telemark. Same terrain but only for experts. Not so suitable for individual athletes. Downwind SuUP Foil is the untouched deep snow slope that is best tackled with a mountain guide and only perfectly equipped and well prepared. The great freedom.
The Parawing also belongs in this category.
Wow, that’s a great comparison. I often think of powder slopes when I’m downwind foiling.
When you look at the visitors to your festival, who are the people who came to Fehmarn to visit?
It is primarily water sports enthusiasts such as windsurfers, kiters and SUPers who have recognized wing foiling as the water sport that they can enjoy the most.
I see a lot of families with a water sports background. So dad was a windsurfer or kiter and with foiling the family has found a sport that everyone enjoys equally. I see lots of kids whose parents are already active windsurfers, surfers and kiters. I see a lot of women, mothers who didn’t do windsurfing but maybe SUP and now totally enjoy wingfoiling. I would say that wingfoiling is more for women than windsurfing. Foiling, like surfing, has the potential for a family to do it together for life.
Which of the different types of foiling is most popular with visitors?
Wingfoiling is No. 1, followed by pump foil, then downwind SUP foil. This is clearly due to the availability of time and money.
What about new beginners and young people? We are always told that only those who have already tried other water sports, e.g. windsurfing, start new sports? And when young people come along, it’s always their children. Does this coincide with your observations at the festival?
I see a lot of new people on the beach, especially when I’m pump foiling. Some of them come from skateboarding, snowboarding or are surfers. But most of them are familiar with water sports.
– Learn pump foiling with boot Düsseldorf –
📸 Foilfesival
There is a lot on offer for visitors and looking at the flags on the beach, there was no shortage of exhibitors. What trends are you noticing with your commercial customers?
“Parawing and downwind SUP foil are clear trends.”
Here again the question, or rather what we are often told: The market is oversaturated. How do you see the relationship between visitors, exhibitors and product range? Are there enough people coming to absorb it all?
It is undisputed that many manufacturers who have produced windsurfing, SUP and kite equipment are now also producing foil equipment. But there are also new brands that previously produced foils and are now expanding their production facilities to include boards and wings, such as Armstrong, or brands that have been brought to life by distributors, such as YAYU. The Foil Festival sees itself as a platform for all foil water board sports and is now also a meeting place for athletes, developers, stores, water sports media, etc.
In 2021 we had 25 brands and just over 100 testers. At the last Foil Festival there were 500 testers and 50 brands. I think that’s good growth and a good ratio.
You already have the dates for next year, what can we expect? Will there be anything new, will everyone be back?
We always hold an industry meeting on the last day of the event. All the manufacturers were positively impressed by the quality and number of testers. Next year there will be a flea market for foil equipment and in the evening program we will offer one or two singer-songwriters the opportunity to create a great atmosphere on stage. We want to make the daytime program even more exciting with Super Sessions, comparable to the Tow-In Session, which is a highlight at the Surf Festival. There will again be races, regattas and a small range of surf clothing manufacturers behind the dyke
Thank you very much for your time, I am already looking forward to next year.
Me too. Thank you.
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