WILDWEST

Balz Müller. Famara, Lanzarote. XXL conditions, a 4.4 R4D, a Psycho 86, and a shifty off the gnarliest peak on the coastline.

Famara rarely turns on like this, and even when it does, it’s not for the faint hearted.

The standout moment; a massive shifty off the peak of a fat wave at the heaviest point of the spot. Full commitment, real consequences.

What makes Balz different from the rest of the freestyle pack is range. Probably the most innovative freestyler on the planet right now, and he’s not content doing tricks in flat water. He’s taking freestyle moves into XXL wave conditions and making it look like it belongs there. That crossover between freestyle and wave; the ability to read a big open-ocean wave and then throw something radical off the lip; that’s where Balz operates and where very few others can follow.

The Gear

There’s a reason Balz co-developed the R4D with SEVERNE. He needed a sail that could handle exactly this kind of session; foil freestyle one day, full-power freemove the next. The R4D is a 4-batten foil freemove sail, but here it’s doing duty as his wave and freestyle crossover weapon in proper heavy conditions.

The Psycho 86 underneath is pure freestyle DNA. Ultra short, reduced swing weight, narrower widths with parallel rails for explosive acceleration. Developed with Dieter Van der Eyken, it’s built to rotate fast and pop hard. Balz takes all of that and throws it at open-ocean waves.

Balz has been pushing what’s possible in windfoiling and freestyle for years; running the RAD Flight Club community and stacking clips like this. XXL freestyle crossover is where the discipline is headed, and Wildwest makes a pretty strong case that Balz is already there.

Balz Müller rides the R4D / Psycho 86 combo.

More Severne news