On May 20 we officially opened the Foiling Experience, at sailing school De Randmeren. Tesse, 15-year-old member of the sailing school, got the chance to test sail the Flo1.

Tesse started sailing when he was 7 years old. He sailed competitions in an RS Feva and recently switched to a Laser. Tesse had never sailed a foiler. Moths and monohull foilers always ­­seemed difficult to him. “I knew the principle of foiling and more or less how it works. I didn’t have any expectation beforehand, except that it would go pretty fast.”

His first run on the Flo1, Tesse had to get used to the boat. “There was not a lot of wind, I got out of the water just a little bit, but did not really fly. I couldn’t get the foils down properly.”

In the second run, Tesse was more comfortable with the foiler. The setup had been tweaked and now seemed exactly right. “The second run felt good right away. Just like any boat, it takes a while before you have the feel of how the boat reacts to the wind and how to set the sail.” Once he got the hang of it, Tesse was visibly enjoying himself. He became more confident with every run and made some spectacular manoeuvres. After 40-50 minutes he got off the boat with a big smile on his face.

How easily you can handle the Flo1 depends on the type of boat you are used to, according to the youngster. “Having an easy-to-sail monohull foiler definitely makes the step from normal sailing to foiling smaller.” No surprise that he would love to continue sailing the Flo1, for the fact that it goes incredibly fast. “The feeling is just unmatched, the moment that the boat goes totally quiet while you are speeding over the water is like nothing else.”

Since the day Tesse sailed the Flo1, the Aeronamics team has received an informal application. “If you need anyone to sail any demos, I’m your guy.”

We meet again soon, Tesse!