From flips to jibes, diver Victoria Chew aims to make a splash in wingfoiling

SINGAPORE – After spending six years plunging headfirst into a swimming pool, diver Victoria Chew found herself in unfamiliar waters in July 2025, when she traded her swimsuit and goggles for a wingfoil board.

Hailed as one of the fastest growing water sports in the world, wingfoiling combines elements of windsurfing, kitesurfing and foiling, with the winger standing on a board while holding on to an inflatable wing.

Having spent countless hours executing somersaults and twists in her previous sport, Victoria now enjoys the sense of freedom that wingfoiling in the open seas and wind brings.

“I really like the adrenaline and speed when I’m foiling – it’s very quiet and peaceful. Everything else just goes silent,” said the 13-year-old, who is a Secondary 2 student at Methodist Girls’ School.

The transition was challenging and she recounted having to start over from scratch, as she had no prior experience in sailing or wingfoiling.

But Victoria had two advantages compared to her peers – her parents Chew Ker Wan and Rachel Ng are former national windsurfers who also participate in wingfoiling.

Ng, 50, won a silver in windsurfing at the 2001 SEA Games and her medal collection includes three titles at the Asian Windsurfing Tour from 2002 to 2004.

Chew, 52, is also an accomplished local competitor, first picking up wingfoiling in 2018 before going on to become a two-time Singapore Foil Grand Prix champion and placed second in the 2025 Singapore National Sailing Championships.

The pair guide and coach their daughter, who trains up to five times a week at Changi Beach when conditions allow. Their elder son, Samuel, 18, is a national diver.

Ng told The Sunday Times: “My husband and I train her on a daily basis and I’m thankful that we are wingers ourselves. We roughly know how to coach and I’m very proud of her for taking the leap into wingfoiling.”

From Feb 4 to 8, Victoria will be one of three local athletes taking part in the first leg of the Wingfoil Racing World Cup Series in Hong Kong, with the event providing an opportunity for the Singaporeans to test their mettle against the world’s best in the sport.

Ahead of the meet, she also competed in the North-east Monsoon Grand Prix Series 1 on Jan 11, placing ninth overall out of 20 competitors.

Joining her in Hong Kong are nine-year-old Mason Lau and 13-year-old Malo Pichoir – the trio are making their World Cup debut.

At the NE Monsoon Grand Prix, Mason finished eighth overall while Malo was 14th after missing out on the first day of competition.

Victoria said: “I’ve done multiple races ever since I started my journey, learning more and more with each race. There’s always so much to discover and I’m excited to learn even more in Hong Kong.”

Mason added that he was excited to meet other riders and has set a goal to finish all his races within the allotted time limit.

Singapore’s young wingfoilers could get the chance to pit their skills against the region’s best in the future, with test events being held in Thailand and Malaysia to evaluate the sport’s suitability for inclusion in future editions of the SEA Games.

While it still remains to be seen if it will make an appearance at the 2027 Games in Malaysia, Chew V’Ming, a coach with the Singapore Sailing Federation’s (SSF) promotional and developmental arm ActiveSailing, noted that there are plans to include wingfoiling at the 2029 event on home soil.

With that in mind, the SSF is aiming to grow its talent pool here by making the sport more accessible.

He said: “At this stage, the SSF is quite actively making wingfoiling as accessible as possible to young sailors.

“We’re currently running weekly ‘board tasters’, for nine to 16-year-olds to come and try out the sport. We’re also working with schools to expose more young Singaporeans to it.”

While he noted that the national sports association currently lacks the resources for a national team as there are insufficient competitive wingers, Chew said it will support the athletes to the best of its abilities.

Part of the athletes’ race fees for the World Cup has been subsidised by the SSF, which also made arrangements for a private coach to travel to Hong Kong to support the wingers.

Chew added: “We want to be supportive regardless of the results. We are thinking long term because it’s not until four to five years from now that they’ll blossom into fully developed athletes.

“We will continue to guide and support these young athletes who are still taking their first steps on to the racing stage.”