Rider of the Week: Bowien van der Linden

Rider of the Week: Bowien van der Linden

Name: Bowien van der Linden
Age: 21
Nationality: Dutch
Sponsors: RRD International
Home spot: Noordwijk, The Netherlands and Cape Town, South Africa

What made you decide to start Wing Foiling?
Last summer my dad and I decided to buy a wing, to be able to also have fun on the water with light winds, after the first time flying I was immediately hooked!

What is your background?
My parents are both windsurfers, so I started windsurfing and surfing at young age. When I was about 15 years old I also started wave and race supping competitively.

Where and when did you make your first experiences?
August 2019 at my home spot Noordwijk, Netherlands.

What are your goals in 2020 with wing foiling?
Getting better at wave riding, higher jumps, beating my downwinder record and in the process hopefully inspiring more ladies to get into this amazing sport.

Can you describe the feeling of being on a foil? What makes this sport so unique and special for you?
The feeling I have when being on a foil can’t really be compared to any other water sports I have done, I love it because it’s really free and fast. What makes wingfoiling special is that I can already fly from 7 knots but I can also go out in crazy winds and still enjoy it! Also it doesn’t matter where I do it I always enjoy myself: doing low wind cruising on a lagoon, freestyling , wave riding and crazy downwinders.

This sport is so new and developing very fast – what are your wishes to the industry? Where is potential to develop the wing foiling gear?
I see so much potential for the sport, I feel like I am progressing so much every single session and I see that everyone around me who is wingfoiling is doing doing the same, can’t wait to see the crazy tricks everyone will do next summer!

Your favourite move?
Waveriding and 360 carve

Your favourite wing foil spots?
I think every spot can be good for wing foiling due to the large wind window. Thus far my favourite sessions have been at BigBay and Sunset Beach in Cape Town. But I hope to find many more wing foiling spots this year!

Where do you see wing foiling in 5 years from now?
Well at my home spot, Noordwijk, and in the rest of the Netherlands there are not so many wingfoilers yet, I think this will change as more people will discover how much fun it is.

What´s your most used gear set?
RRD 3m or 4m Wind Wing with Dolphin 140 or 160 board.

Your best memory of wing foiling so far?
When there were 40+ knots conditions in Cape Town I did some crazy downwinders riding the huge windswell, making super long runs and getting really high speeds while holding the wing in the neutral position.

Follow Bowien van der Linden on Instagram.

Thank you for the wingfoildaily Interview Bowien. We hope that you can inspire many other wing girls to get into this new sport. Looking forward for more action pictures and videos of you riding in the Netherlands. As soon as the covid-19 crisis is over – we want to see some action! Keep on winging it.