“This competition is the GWA Wingfoil World Tour and it’s coming to Tauranga, which is awesome. It’s all the top riders from the world,” he said.
Collins described the sport as being like surfing, but with a totally different kind of balance.
“With surfing, you’re only catching waves, and you have to wait for them. But wingfoiling … if you’ve got some wind, there’s endless opportunity. You can ride waves and [get] big air.”
While the sport is relatively new, its popularity is growing fast.
“I’ve been doing wingfoiling for three years. We got one of the first wings in the market; it wasn’t great, but we just got out there every single time there was wind,” he said.
“I’ve done so many sports before and tried to find my groove, my sport, and I’ve finally found my buzz. Every single time I go out wingfoiling, I come back smiling.”
Collins says there’s no shortage of great spots for wingfoiling in the Bay of Plenty.
Josh Collins from Whakatāne riding his wingfoil.
“Mount Main Beach is where most of the waves are, but when it gets really rough and the waves get too big, I like to hide in the bay in the harbour and go to Kulim Park at high tide,” he said.
“Ōhiwa Harbour is a really good place to learn how to wingfoil - that’s where I learnt how to wingfoil. Coastlands Beach in Whakatāne is really fun, and Ōhope Beach is really good for waves.”
The future of the sport looks promising, with organisers hoping to see it become an Olympic event in the future.
“I just want to take it to the next level. I want to compete in the world tour and eventually take it to the Olympics. That’s absolutely my dream,” said Collins.
The Wingfoil World Tour runs until Friday, March 10 at Mount Maunganui’s main beach.
