The US’s Cash Berzolla won his first title in 2024 when he clinched the GWA Wingfoil World Tour in the pure surfing Wave discipline at the season’s final stop in Ibiraquera, Brazil. His exuberant style and risk taking have made him one of the world’s most viewed wingfoil athletes on social media. Based on Maui, the 18-year-old is leading the Hawaiian charge on the world tour. Berzolla explained to Ian MacKinnon how he developed his unique style, why so many Maui teenagers are storming the scene, and where he sees the evolving discipline going.
Ian MacKinnon: Congratulations. How does it feel now looking back on landing your first world title?
Cash Berzolla: It feels amazing. Honestly, I’m still lost for words. But completely blown away and I couldn’t have asked for a better result. It was an awesome year of fun travel. We got to go to some amazing spots. We scored great waves. Great conditions. Some not so good conditions, too. A little bit of everything. But it was well worth it.
IM: Would you take us through the highlights of the year for you?
CB: Starting off in Cape Verde I got second to Malo Guénolé. Even though I got second, it was probably one of my best competitions ever. The waves were so great. We were neck and neck, with Malo leading and me in second.
Luckily enough I came out on top in Dakhla [Morocco]. Malo made a mistake, I believe in round three, so that put him in ninth place. That gave me a little bit more breathing room headed into Brazil. I think I just needed a fifth in Brazil and that’s what I got. It wasn’t my best contest and just squeaked it, I think, by 20 points in the end over Malo.
‘Full force to win’
IM: Looking to the coming season, what’s your plan?
CB: I really want to compete [in 2025] and we’ll see how it goes. I’m looking forward to seeing what stops we have. I believe it’ll be similar to this year and I’ll go full force to win. But more importantly, I want have fun and show the world what’s possible in the wingfoil Wave discipline.
IM: Where do you think the wingfoil Wave discipline will go?
CB: It’s hard to say where wingfoil Wave riding will go. I think there’s so much to be done with it. It’s really an area that hasn’t been tapped into yet. I’m looking forward to seeing where we can push it and where it goes. But I think it’ll just end up having the craziest content on the earth, with social media and stuff like that. It’s such a great opportunity to show people around the world what is possible with it.
IM: We’ve seen in the last few events a lot of your buddies from Maui advance deep into the events. Why is that?
CB: Hawaii in general, and Maui in particular, has been a mecca for watersports forever. I think we all started wingfoiling around 2020. So, it’s been about four or five years now. You can practise because it has wind every day there, so if you want to go try something, you can walk out of your house, drive the beach, and you’re there, trying it in a matter of a few minutes.
‘Throwing spray’
For us it’s really accessible and that’s what makes it easy and helps us push each other living on Maui. You’re surrounded by so many great watermen and waterwomen that it pushes you to get better. That’s what I think drives us. It’s cool to see so many of my friends in the competition. I actually got to share the final in Dakhla with Otis [Buckingham], who’s my best friend and I went to school with. It’s something we dreamt of forever and it’s just so cool.
IM: Do you think there’s a distinctive style that differentiates Hawaiians and Europeans? Like wing out foil slides?
CB: The surface style, for me at least, comes from surfing. I grew up surfing and I wanted to incorporate that a little bit into the foiling. For me surfing’s about throwing spray. So when it came to foiling in the beginning I couldn’t do that at all [throw spray]. Your foil is under the water. So you weren’t throwing any spray. So, trying to incorporate that in my style was important to me and luckily I was able to figure it out with the help of some friends and we started doing it on the water and I think that is a part of the style now.
IM: Where do you stand on using the power of the wing to do tricks, like aerials, on the wave?
CB: I think the rule book might change for the 2025 season and we’re going to start maybe seeing a little bit more of an allowance in terms of powered up tricks on the wave. You’re going to see more airs, crossing sections, and maybe even flips off the lip. I think that’s going to be really good for the sport because it’s just going to make it more dynamic and interesting to watch. So I think it’ll go that way for sure. I think it’ll make the competition really interesting and I think we’re going to see some more people [in the sport] and new people on the podium for sure.
images: Svetlana Romantsova
