Titouan Galea interview

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Join Robert Stehlik as he interviews with the the current Wing Foil World Champ, Titouan Galea. Learn more about the man who is one of the first professional Wing Foilers as he pushes the sport forwards from both a kit point a view but also in terms of development of the sport as a whole.

Titouan Galea needs no introduction, he’s the current world champion wing foiler. He talks to me from his current home in Montpelier, France all about wing foiling, advanced technique tips, including back flips and 360 spins, equipment, and life, enjoy!
Interview Transcript:
Aloha friends, it’s Robert Stehlik, welcome to another episode of the Blue Planet show. On this show, I interview wing foil athletes, designers, and thought leaders and ask them in-depth questions about Wingfoil equipment and technique. I’m also trying to get to know my guests a little bit better, their background, how they got into water sports, what inspires them, and how they live their best life.
I’m a visual learner, so I’m adding visual content that you can watch on YouTube, but you can also listen to it as a podcast on your favorite podcast app
Today’s interview is with the very first wing foil world champion, Titouan Galea from new Caledonia. If you’re into wing foiling as much as I am, you’ve probably already seen the videos of him doing crazy moves on jumps, back flips on the face of the wave, big airs, riding big waves in New Caledonia and other places. Really impressive stuff. And of course also being able to pull these moves off under pressure during competition and winning the last couple of world championship events. Titouan breaks down some of the most advanced moves for us, Step by step. We also talk about his background, how he grew up in new Caledonia and now lives in France and about his board, foils, wings and what the future holds for him.
So without further ado, please welcome the talented Titouan Galea.
All right. Titouan, thanks so much for making some time to be on the Blue Planet show. How are you doing today?
Great, thank you for inviting me.
Yeah. Awesome. So here in Hawaii, it’s it’s 10 o’clock in the morning and for you it’s evening, right? Eight o’clock or something like that? And you’re in Montpellier France. Is that right?
Yes
Okay. But originally you grew up in new Caledonia. So can you tell us a little bit about, your background, how you grew up and how you got into water sports?
Yeah. Born in new Caledonia and my father was doing windsurfing and kiting, yeah. Maybe around 2000. So yeah, he teach me when, so thinking like surfing when I was about like eight or nine and yeah, I’ve been projects learning where mainly and some other places yeah, since.
Maybe I was 12. I started doing it quite often. Studying wave kite surfing mostly. And then what else I’ve done? Yeah. Foiling came like maybe six years before. Maybe seven. I started with kite foiling on my own when I was about 18 years old and yeah, just one year after I moved to France and I joined the French team of kite foiling.
So I’ve been doing lots of wind sports and yeah. Then the wing for the game. So two years ago, and now I’m doing a few other sports most of the time. Pretty much. Yeah.
Awesome. Congratulations on being number one in the world right now in the rankings. That’s pretty impressive.
How old are you now? 24
actually, I actually had to look up new Caledonia. I’ve never been there, but just for people to know where it is. So this is New Calidonia and Australia and Hawaii is here. And then this is new Caledonia, right?
There’s a place nearby, which is very famous. Is Fiji. exactly the same swell, like Cloudbreak receives So yeah, we have same waves as other spots, so yeah, it’s really nice space. And actually it’s much more like it’s windier in New Calidonia then. Yeah. Most of the time it’s yeah. When you’re in New Cal. So what’s the prevailing wind direction.
So what is the prevailing wind?
So yeah, Southeast is like this way, right along the coast. For the surf, is it better on the south shore? On the north shore? Both?
Yeah, cause it’s windy almost everyday. It’s tricky. Sometimes a winter and a bit north is so we have good surf on the west coast.
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