X Marks the Spot

Being in the right place in the right time is often a result of fate, but in James Jenkins’ case, it was the skills he’d honed and the acquaintances he kept that led to an opportunity that has changed his life for the better…

Words: James Jenkins
Photos: Devin Yarde / Foil-X

Every now and then, you experience some-thing so euphoric that you have to look around and pinch yourself at how lucky you are. I was sitting on a ski in the channel when I saw my best friend Cole Cutter (Call Sign Throttle) drop the rope on a swell way out-side of the reef. The wave hadn’t even come close to breaking – it was just raw energy from thousands of miles away, and Throttle was flying silently over what seemed like a gentle giant. As the wave started to stand up, I watched him send it straight down the bowl into a bottom turn followed by a massive ex-plosion of whitewater.

He aced the wave, and then glided right into the channel for a cold beer. The feeling I got from that 30 seconds of time from when he dropped the rope to when we were sharing a brew in the channel encompassed so many years of work, passion, and chasing a dream. To be able to share sessions like this with friends and stoke people out by putting them on the waves of their lives makes me feel like the luckiest person on the planet.

Stoke-brokers, as we like to call ourselves, is a term I learned from my mentor, Captain Lance Moss. I met Captain Moss when I was a young kid and an intern at his surf and fish operation in Central America. His camp was always based around the highest level of ser-vice, hospitality, and making sure the guests had the best possible experience. After interning, I went down to Lance’s camp each summer between school years to surf guide. Once foiling started to grow, I was fortunate enough to learn early on, and I brought my first foil down to Central America to teach Lance and the crew down there. All of a sud-den, foiling gave us a new perspective. We were looking at such a familiar coastline with an entirely different lens. It was as if we were at the front end of surf exploration all over again, scanning the coast for waves we could ride on foil. For a few years, we shared foil waves with each other that had never been ridden by another human. At the time, there was no other place in the world offering all-inclusive, guided foil expeditions, and we decided to run our first one. With 20+ years of surf and fish guiding experience, it was a no brainer for Lance and his crew to expand into foiling. After having our first crew of guests, we knew we were onto something really special.

Throughout the last decade or two, surfing and the use of jet skis have had an oscillating pattern. For a period of time in Central America, Lance was spearheading the use of skis in the surf with the purpose of getting super barreled and keeping everyone safe. Then things started to shift into less jet ski usage and more paddling surf sessions. Despite this decline in tow surfing sessions, Lance had gotten pretty damn good at driving a ski in the surf – an invaluable skill. Over my years as a surf guide, Lance taught me how to drive, and once foiling came into the picture, we had a new reason to use that ski driving knowledge. For a while, it was just the two of us towing each other into waves and looking after each other, then we started to teach our other guides how to foil and drive. After a few years, we had assembled an extremely skilled squadron of jet ski pilots. In big surf, you need people you can trust, and we have that trust in our team.

Foil-X was born. We started hosting people for week-long, all-inclusive foil expeditions throughout Central America. The combination of the hydrofoil and jet ski is a cheat code that allows for a ridiculously high wave count and for people who haven’t surfed much to ride waves that would otherwise take 10+ years of surfing experience. It blew our minds how well our guests were performing in conditions that they had never experienced before. On a recent trip, our friend Ashley was constantly on the biggest waves of the day and riding them perfectly. Prior to this trip, she had never been on anything bigger than knee to waist high.

When people ask what we do, the analogy we give them is a heliskiing operation for foiling. You get taken to the top of the mountain with the best conditions by jet ski and dropped on the wave, then picked up at the bottom and taken back up again. Our guests get hundreds of waves per week while eating the best food and having the vacation of a lifetime. All the years of guid-ing experience and hospitality that Lance and our crew has allows us to provide a trip that goes beyond just putting the guests on good waves. It is that “surf trip” experience full of good food, drinks, and camaraderie that people who haven’t been on a surf trip get to experience.

After running expeditions in Central America for a few years, we didn’t want to stop there. Now, our goal is to operate in as many locations as possible around the world from Fiji and the South Pacific to the Caribbean, Indonesia, and more. I have spent time guid-ing in Fiji and throughout the Caribbean, and my goal is to keep exploring new places to find foil waves. It all comes back to that pinch yourself feeling I get countless times when I’m sharing sessions like this one with my best mates and new friends that join us on Foil-X trips. If you’re reading this and are looking for that pinch yourself moment after your legs are noodles and you’ve just spent a week riding countless foil waves, and hav-ing the best experience ever with good people, join us for a Foil-X trip.