Jon Mann is an engineer from the Netherlands who discovered his passion for foiling in 2019 after a series of kitesurfing and wakeboarding injuries. During rehabilitation from a knee injury, he began kitefoiling and quickly tripled his time on the water the following year. As his skills progressed, he transitioned from kite foiling in waves to prone foiling, wing foiling, and eventually downwind foiling in 2022, inspired by the Voyager Foiler community on Instagram.
Today, after logging countless kilometers downwinding, Jon proudly represents Code Foils and Appletree Surfboards as a team rider and serves as an ambassador for SurfEars.
Aloha Jon, thank you for your time. The last time we saw each other was during the Maui2Molokai Foil Race. I remember having an interesting conversation with you about the growth of Downwind Foiling and Foiling in general. Can you describe your local scene in Holland where you live?
The downwind scene in Holland is very young. Over the last few years interest has grown and in the last year especially the number of people learning to SUP foil downwind has started to grow. We have a whatsapp community with around 100 people who are either interested or just getting started and a group of 20-30 foilers downwinding regularly across the country. It’s awesome that we are all connected, meaning you can find buddies wherever you are in the country. Those who are learning tend to go to the big lakes (Markermeer and Ijsselmeer) where the bumps are more friendly and uniform and there’s a crew in the south doing runs on a few rivers / waterways where they can get wind against tide, which also gives super friendly bumps.
📸 – Frederique Haver
Last but not least we have the north sea, on a good day its world class. Lighter winds can give beginner friendly conditions, southerlies bring strong winds and big steep bumps and northerlies bring longer fetch faster bumps, so plenty to challenge riders of all levels!
It’s awesome to see how the sport has brought people together and the stoke amongst everyone as they progress!
We know Holland is good for Kiting I am sure with all the wind you guys get there must be a ton of downwind runs?
For a country without a dedicated wind season (no trades) we get a lot of wind: we are known for wild storms, have one of the highest concentrations of professional big air kiters and host the Megaloop challenge (the most extreme event in kiteboarding). However, a significant portion of our windy days are in the 14-18 knot range. I’d say it’s possible to downwind almost every week if you are a competent downwind foiler (I think I have actually downwinded every week when I’ve been in NL and when I’ve been away the guys also kept going)
On the lakes we have runs for every wind direction ranging from 5-35km and on the North Sea we have one continuous beach along the coast with good access every few kilometers, which means you can do runs as short or as long as you want. Recently myself and a good friend Kjell de Bruyn did the majority of the coast from Hoek van Holland in the South, to Huisduinen in the north, foiling 115km.
Its been a few months since the M2M and it looks like you’ve been busy participating in some events and races. How do you see the European SUP Foiling scene as whole? How is the growth and how is participation?
The European SUP foiling scene is really thriving. The Med Gliders crew in the South of France has built a really awesome community and you see more and more groups of downwind foilers all over Europe. Events wise I’d say there are 3 ‘major’ events in Europe at the moment, Crozon and Saint Tropez in France (which are part of the new Downwind Foil World Tour) and attract around 100 foilers, and also Barcelona which had around 50 racers. There are also smaller, more community focused events popping up like the downwind meetup organized in Denmark and the Dutch Downwind event I am organizing in November. These are smaller events, aimed at getting people together rather than high level elite competition, but I think they are really important for the growth of the sport and community allowing the sport to be accessible to all levels.
Lets talk a bit about gear and Foil Brands, you are representing CODE a Core Brand from Australia. How did you get in touch with the Aussie Boys / How did you meet?
When I was learning to downwind I joined the Coach Casey Club. As I got better and started sharing my learnings and helping others in the group, James asked if I wanted to stay in the community and keep doing what I was doing (sharing learnings and helping people out with their questions – this eventually led to me becoming one of the other coaches in the Casey club too). When I decided I wanted to do M2O in 2024 I had a chat with James about trying out the foils and after trying them I immediately decided I wanted to ride them regardless of whether or not there was an option to be an ambassador for the brand (luckily there was). Not long after that I met Dan at the Barcelona race and Ben and Marcus when they came to the Netherlands after the BOOT show in Dusseldorf in January (hats off to them for jumping into the North Sea in January for some downwind runs in 6mm wetsuits). They are such awesome people and I’m honoured to be a part of their team.
That’s cool, we are all like minded people around the world. When you first tried the CODE gear in your territory how did it respond to your local conditions since it was developed in Australia where the waves are bigger and longer?
So I initially wanted to try the foils I’d consider for M2O (the 860R and the 770R at the time) but there wasn’t an 860R for me to try. So my first ride on a Code foil was actually on a 980S which blew my mind with how easy and intuitive it was to ride. I must say for North Sea shorter period bumps, the S series is so good, that I only really ride the R series if I’m training for racing. After 2 mind blowingly good sessions on the 980S (second one being a 55km run), I gave the 770R a crack. Having previously had some shockers when downsizing my gear, I was so happy with how easy it was to ride that I sent James a message straight away that I wanted to ride Code! Both the S and the R series are great for the conditions around Europe, super versatile and the choice really comes down to the feel or style of riding you are after.
On that note what is your favorite set up suitable best for the Dutch waters?
Probably either the 850S / short fuse / 142AR for surfier runs or the 770R / medium fuse / 120R as an allrounder which covers the majority of our conditions in the Netherlands.
Also if people are interested about riding CODE where can they go to Demo some gear and by some?
If people are keen to know more about Code in the Netherlands they can reach out to Wakestyle. The Code site also lists all the retailers globally so people can find the closest shop to them. Additionally I’m always happy for people to message me on instagram (@jon_.mann) or via my site (nextstepswatersports.com) with any questions they have. I’ve done a few quiver reviews on my blog too where I’ve challenged myself to ride 3 foils only for a month and might help people with choosing their next foil.
Speaking of Dutch Waters, who will be the first to foil the SUP 11 City Tour stage by stage? Just kidding but not, somebody will be doing it some day.
I would definitely put that in the pump foil category rather than sup foil category – so if anyone was to do it it would be one of the long distance pump foil specialists. But I think with the narrow, shallow waterways (with weeds) it would be pretty hard for the specialist long distance pump foils to be utilized.
Anyway, we can’t under rate the appeal of Flatwater Pumpfoiling. We just saw SUP Flatwater SUP Foil Racing in France. I think you were there too? Holland has so many cool flatwater spots besides the ocean. What do you see in Pumpfoiling and is CODE ready to enter that space?
Yes in Saint Tropez the L.A.S.T. event organizers put on a dock start and flatwater paddle up pump competition. This was a great way to fill the event waiting period. It’s exciting and easy to watch, gives the riders a chance to hang out and get to know each other, and lets events hold longer waiting periods to maximize the chances of good conditions.
The dockstart event in Crozon was really successful last year, and this year the crowds were even bigger with exciting and close racing. Pump foiling is great because it’s super accessible without any dependence on wind or waves. It’s crazy to see what some of the pump foil guys are doing, the places they are starting and the performance aspect is mind blowing too (guys pumping for 4 hours, or going for max distance in an hour).
I definitely think, Code already has pretty suitable foils for pump foiling, especially the pump foil racing side of things, with the S and R series foils but I definitely think Code is ready to enter that space as the discipline develops with more specific requirements.
Lastly now that we have winter on our doorsteps. What are your foil plans for the winter and are you already thinking about going back to Hawaii in 2026?
My race season is over now that the French events are over as I won’t be going to Australia for the Western Australia leg of the Downwind foil world tour, so I’ll be doing a bit more fun downwinding. I love winter downwinding (all you need is some good neoprene) but I’m definitely keen to go to Hawaii next year so at some point I’ll be turning my focus and attention to training for that again!
Thank you very much Jon for your time.
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