It’s fair to say that Britain is renowned for having its share of “mixed” weather which, although certainly factored into the plans for the Foil Around Britain challenge undertaken by Steve Bowens and Simon Osborne, in reality – coupled with Britain’s notorious inshore tidal ranges – proved more of a challenge to the predicted schedule than planned…
Words Stephen Bowens
My friend Simon and I both live in Cornwall in the UK, and have strong connections to the sea through our work and hobbies. We have been friends for many years and are both experienced adventurers. Simon was the youngest person to sea kayak around Britain in 2002, and in 2012, we rowed across the Atlantic Ocean independently from any organized event.
After taking up the new and highly addictive sport of wingfoiling, we began going on “downwind missions” around the Cornish coastline. In November 2022, we wingfoiled from the Isles of Scilly to the mainland, a 43km crossing of some of the most notorious waters around the UK. Following this success, I suggested we should wing around Cornwall, to which Simon responded, “Why stop there?” So the seed was sown for another big adventure – this time to Foil Around Britain (FAB).
THE PREP
We are both very active in a range of sports, so we had a good baseline of fitness, but we felt that some additional training was needed for a challenge such as this. I wrote a gym-based training program to help increase our muscular endurance and stamina. This focused on compound movements, initially concentrating on strength and muscular endurance to reduce the risk of injury during the long sessions on the water. We didn’t use any machines, but we did use some equipment such as pull-up bars and rings, but it mainly was barbell and kettlebell work. We needed to develop all the muscles within each wingfoiling movement rather than isolate them with machine-based training.
After extensive testing of equipment, we opted to use larger boards than initially planned, going for 120-liter hybrids. This choice allowed us to stand and paddle in case the wind died, and it also accommodated the additional weight of carrying food, water, and safety equipment. Simon also opted to mount a GPS device on his boom, which allowed us to track our location when we were too far offshore to see the land.
Following a great deal of research and discussion, we decided to launch and land from shore each day without a safety boat. We thought that having a boat would be the logical choice, but they are costly, require a skipper, and to be honest, we wanted to be as self-sufficient as possible. We decided the best option was to have a Foil Drive unit on each board as our safety backup. We approached Dominic Hoskin for help, the European importer for Foil Drive, and received an incredibly positive response. Not only did Foil Drive assist us with equipment, but Dominic also provided valuable advice and guidance on some of the technical aspects of the challenge. We conducted a lot of on-water testing, including deflating our wing and using the Foil Drive to return to shore and paddling, towing, and prone paddling with our kit. The Foil Drive units were very impressive. We kept the unit on the mast and the controller in our hydration vest, so it was always accessible.
To travel around Britain, we worked out that we would have to cover a distance of 3000 to 4000 km. Owing to work and home commitments, we decided that our journey would begin in September 2024, and we aimed to complete the challenge within six weeks. We estimated that, under near-perfect conditions, we could travel about 500 km per week. However, it turned out the reality was quite different…
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A FALSE START
Our plan had been to sail clockwise around the UK owing to prevailing wind direction and tides and in order to tackle the notorious Scottish west coast before the winter weather came in. However, after spending the first three days heading into a solid northerly headwind from the north coast of Cornwall (unusual for that time of year) and with no change in the wind direction and a significant swell forecast for the next two weeks, we had to start all over again, this time from the south coast of Cornwall heading anticlockwise! So, on the 4th of September, we finally “officially” departed from Swanpool beach in Falmouth and wingfoiled 100km to near Salcombe in Devon, our first overnight stop, setting up our tents on the edge of a farmer's field.
THE CHALLENGES OF TRAVELING BY FOIL
A typical day’s ‘downwinder' involves choosing the start and end points based on the wind and tides. In this challenge, however, we had to start wherever we finished the previous day, regardless of wind direction or sea conditions. Tidal flows around the UK, especially around headlands and through channels, significantly impacted our progress, and we frequently had to wait for the tide to slow or stop in order to navigate safely around coastal features.
The ability to get on to foil was made challenging by the wind and tide conditions too. When facing wind against the tide, we found we could get up on the foil in very light winds but struggled to progress downwind. Conversely, when we had wind with the tide, we needed significantly more wind to get on foil.
DAILY ROUTINE
Each morning’s foil would start with making a call to the Coastguard to inform them of our plans for the day, the equipment we were carrying, and a description of our gear. Being in remote locations where wingfoilers are not commonly seen, particularly far offshore, we found that people spotting them in the water would occasionally call the Coastguard concerned for our safety, so it was essential for us to maintain a good relationship with Coastguard and ensure that they knew our daily activities.
When conditions allowed, we had long days, sometimes foiling for over eight hours. Upon arriving at our destination, often as the light was fading, we met our support driver and van and would quickly change to keep warm, pack away our kit, and then find somewhere to set up camp for the night. As we traveled, we frequently encountered local foilers, surfers, kiters, and sailors, all keen to help. We slept in outbuildings, carparks, gardens, and people's houses, and were even offered a hotel to stay in during the storms. We also received assistance from fellow foilers to help with kit repairs and AFS incredibly generously sent us a wing to replace one they could not fix!
THE JOURNEY & NOTABLE MOMENTS
There were many notable moments, and overall, we both agree it was a fantastic experience. There were, of course, some tricky points. One particularly challenging experience was trying to get to Whitby harbor. The wind and swell had been building all day, and we were only 5km from the finish. The swell had increased to the point where we could not see each other between the waves, and the harbor entrance was closing out. We decided to turn back against the wind and battled our way to the nearest sheltered bay to get off the water. We fortunately reached the safety of Robin Hood’s Bay as the sun was setting and had a bit of a long walk with our kit back up to the road to meet our support van.
Another episode saw us missing the tide around Swanage headland due to active tank firing on the military firing range, causing a significant delay in our progress. We ended up having to use the Foil Drive to get to shore and find a way up the cliff, then walk 40 minutes to the nearest village. Then a foiling high point was tackling the east coast of Northumberland in perfect down-winding conditions with the sun shining and a tidal race, which provided some amazing surfing. We surfed the swell for several hours that day.
We were also blown away by the kindness of the people we met in these coastal communities, offering us the use of their homes, gardens, and campsites, making us delicious dinners and giving lots of encouragement.
TIMEFRAME REALITIES
The realities of traveling by foil outlined above, together with being stranded for seven days due to storms on the East Coast, made it clear that completing a full circumnavigation in six weeks as originally planned was not feasible. As a result, we decided to set an alternative interim target of reaching Scotland, planning to return to finish the project later. On 6th October, having set out from Seahouses, some 50km away at first light, we arrived in Burnmouth, Scotland’s first harbor on the East Coast, tired but elated at having made such an incredible journey.
THE CAUSE
Simon’s circumnavigation of Britain by sea kayak, our row across the Atlantic, and our current attempt to Foil Around Britain have all been in memory of Simon’s brother Mark, who sadly died from leukemia when Simon was just nine years old. So far, the Foil Around Britain project has raised around £6,000 (just under $8000 US). We will be giving talks and doing additional fundraising over the next two months to get this total to as close to £10k as possible.
Link to the Just Giving page
www.justgiving.com/page/foilaroundbritian
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