stay salty

Leon
Schiel

At only 12 years old, Leon won his place at the 2022 F-ONE Next Generation wing foil camp through a contest on social media and has been making the most of it ever since. Curious, driven, and eager to improve, he loves riding big waves and is very focused on learning new freestyle tricks. Only a few months after the camp, he placed third in the U14 surf-slalom at the GWA Youth World Cup, and certainly intends on moving on up over the following years.

STAY EARNEST

Nationality ENGLISH Age 2010

HOMESPOT
I am lucky enough to live on Bournemouth Beach in the UK with various spots, from Avon to Chapman’s Pool

FAVORITE TRICK
Backflip

DREAM TRICK
Double backflip

3 REASONS TO GO RIDING
Freedom from being on the open ocean, lifelong memories on the water, and for the thrill of it

INSPIRATION
Chris Wolfe MacDonald, Hugo Marin

FAVORITE MEAL
Fish of the day with rice and salad and a peach iced tea at Josh Angulo’s beach bar in Cape Verde after a day’s riding

“ I love to see myself progress in all aspects of the sport, whether it’s wave riding, freestyle, and race. ”

Leon Interview

Can you tell us a bit more about your passion for wing foiling?

I love to see myself progress in all aspects of the sport, whether it’s wave riding, freestyle, and race. It is great to go and ride with mates whilst the stoke is high. I love going out in exceptional conditions with big waves, strong winds, exposed long distance etc…

You just won the lottery, what do you do first?

Buy a luxury villa in Cape Verde looking over the best waves in the world!

Favorite expression?

Go big or go home. Or, never piss into the wind!

What’s the most amazing thing you’ve experienced?

Apart from some hardcore perfect cross-off big wave sessions recently in Mauritius, a special moment was landing my first backflip in Cape Verde, which was off a really big wave. That was my dream trick when I started wing foiling so it was amazing to land a super clean one off a set wave after many belly flops.