From page B1 // The thrill of flying

“It’s tipping in every direction you can think of, and you’re trying to figure out how to catch the wind, and everything’s – it’s like layers and layers and layers of it. You’ve only got the foil, the board and the wing. But each one of them seems to have like 100 dimensions.”

Stalker loved the power of kiting, but thinks she can get more years out of wing foiling. She doesn’t have time to do both, so she’s selling her kiting gear. The enjoyment of learning the new discipline is part of the decision. “It’s fun to try something new.”

Stalker, a former academic, poses a research question: how do you learn this complicated stuff?

“You say to yourself, what is the driving force here?” It’s a really strong community, she says, so could that be it? “Or is it that learning is something people inherently enjoy?”

That prompts the obvious question: what’s the driving force for her?

“It’s just me. It’s just me keeping going, that’s really all it is.”

It costs about $6000 for the basic gear, divided more or less evenly between foil, board and wing. The cost will be a barrier for some, but there are other factors at play as well. Stalker is deeply aware of the larger context.

“One of the important things for me to say is that me being able to do it is not just about me loving water and being close to water and, you know, having good lessons or whatever,” Stalker says.

“You know, for me, it’s because I’ve had a life of privilege. I’m white, I’m middle class, I’m educated, I’m heterosexual, I’ve had good medical care in Canada, and here, I’ve got medical insurance, all the aspects of my life have added up to a retired woman who can do this kind of stuff.”

For others, it’s beyond them because those variables have blocked them.

“I know that some people think that it’s just luck, or that, you know, you can make it if you try and it’s just up to you to make these successes in the world. But that’s not how I see the world.”

So Stalker is enabled by her privilege – and irritated by those claiming her as inspirational. “The women who cut off their hair in protest against oppression against women in their country, those women are inspirational. I’m just doing something that’s fun for me to do.”

She does try to greet women wing foilers, though, especially if they’re new to it. “Because I know that sometimes it encourages them to see that somebody else is out there trying.”

There’s a community of women who support each other. That said, a lot of the men are also super supportive, she says.

There’s another lens for looking at older wing foilers. “We are the baby boomers who don’t want to give stuff up. You know, I don’t know anybody – maybe it’s who I hang out with, but I think all of us want to continue to be as active as we can, as engaged as we can, as interested and interesting as we can.”

Back in Raglan, up by the car park, an older participant is pumping up his wing. Meanwhile, Marek Kaniewski is packing up, still joyously feeling the wind in his wing as he carts it up the beach, holding it aloft. Ian Hardie is heading home back across the harbour in the direction of a red buoy.

Keith is out there somewhere, flying.