The New Water Toys That Tech Moguls Love

Look past Crissy Field on the Presidio shoreline, and you might spot Ariel Poler, co-founder of Reveri Health, and some of his friends—10 to 20 small sails dotting the San Francisco Bay, riding a cargo ship’s wake. They’re not kitesurfing or windsurfing: They’re wing foiling. It’s a new water sport that’s made a real splash over the past couple of years, with wing foilers like Poler eagerly scrambling atop what looks like a small surfboard while holding an inflatable sail. Beneath the board, an upside T-shaped structure lifts the rider above the water’s surface.

Poler and his friends wing foil often—about four or five times a week—and know to monitor the incoming cargo ships. At this point, they’ve come to know which specific ships generate the good waves. “Right around the Golden Gate Bridge, we get on the wake of the cargo ship and ride it to Alcatraz,” Poler said. “It’s pretty fun.”