Pittwater Life April 2023 Issue

Sporting Life
Sporting Life
Windfoiling keeping Will’s
head way above the water
At 16, Will McMillan has
his aim clearly set on the
2024 Summer Olympics
in Paris.
Not that the Avalon-born,
Barrenjoey High School-educated
teenager – affectionately
nicknamed ‘The Beast Mark
II’ by excitable commentators
(The Beast is an established
superstar of the sport) – has
any need to travel to any
more exotic locations.
In his first year as the
youngest windfoiler on the
Professional Windsurfing
Association (PWA) circuit,
Will has already strutted his
stuff on some of the most
beautiful lakes and oceanic
locations in the world.
Windfoiling – also called
foil windsurfing – is the
evolution of traditional
windsurfing onto hydrofoils,
leading to high energy
action that has made it
a darling of TV audiences
(hence its inclusion in the
Paris Olympics).
“It’s very quiet compared
to traditional windsurfing,”
Will says, when asked
what it is like to be racing on
a windfoil in an international
competition.
“On a traditional windsurfer,
you’re sailing through the chop
and there is significant noise
as the sail and board bounce
around.
“On a hydrofoil, you’re above
the waves. So it is very
silent, smooth and quite
peaceful.
“We’re powered by the
wind, so we need to be
strong to hold the rig and
board down as we travel at
speeds of over 50km/h.
“The sail generates the
power which transfers to the
body, down to the feet and
finally to the board – there is a
lot of leg strength required.”
It makes for spectacular, telephotogenic
racing, and is easy
for non-sailors to admire with
the racing formats.
Windfoiling is increasing in
popularity, presenting challenges
for traditional sailing
clubs desperate to keep
up the old “blue blazer
and a G and T when the
sun’s disappeared over
the yard arm” approach.
That may have endured
since Arthur Phillip
ventured north to name
Pittwater after the British
Prime Minister William Pitt the
Younger in 1789.
But just like skiing gave way
to snowboarding, Will represents
the transformation of
an ancient human skill to a
younger generation.
At 188cm tall and 107kg
(and still growing), Will knew
windfoiling would be
the only option he had
to fulfil his lifetime
dream of becoming a
sailing Olympian.
“The Finn (class)
was at the Tokyo
Olympics and perfect
for bigger sailors
like me, but it was
dropped for Paris,”
Will explains. “So I
had no choice.”
The son of an
Englishman and a
Thai mother, Will
grew up with sailing
as a critical part of
his childhood.
As a kid, he
dreamed of racing
for Australia in the
America’s Cup one
day if another Alan
Bond came along to bankroll it.
But as he grew taller and
heavier, his options shrank.
“I got a bit too big for sailing,
or what sailing I can do at my
age,” he says.
But then windfoiling
emerged, which requires precisely
the strength, dexterity
and sailing prowess he possesses.
As Will explains it, windfoiling
as a concept was invented
before the turn of the millennium.
Back then, no-one could
find a way of mass-producing a
windfoil at a reasonable price.
“Between 2018 and 2020
44 APRIL 2023
The Local Voice Since 1991