Le Touvet
Damien tells his story and the Alpinefoil adventure
Behind every Alpinefoil foil, there is someone you can call. Damien Chaboud, founder and designer of the brand, tells you his story and a bit of the Alpinefoil adventure, from his first foil in 2007 to today. His full story is on his page: Damien Chaboud, Alpinefoil designer.
A tinkerer since childhood
At 8, Damien asked for tools rather than toys. At 10, he was already welding. Fascinated by everything that flies and glides, he built gliders, small planes and helicopters, before moving into technical drawing and then software development in a large industrial group.
2007: the first foil, in sheet aluminium
On alpine lakes, the wind is often too light. The first Alpinefoil prototype, made from 0.5 mm aluminium sheet, bent and welded, with a sliding mast to find the right balance, took him from 30 minutes to nearly 4 hours on the water a day. In 2010, he left his engineering job to work 100% on Alpinefoil.
From a garage to the Le Touvet factory
Home-built machines, the switch to pre-preg carbon, a second-hand machining centre brought back to life, sanding robots recovered from BMW production lines: Alpinefoil was built step by step, up to the 1,200 m² building in Le Touvet, at the foot of one of the world's most famous paragliding spots.
2026: the Pierra Manta, and sharing
Three innovation awards for the Pierra Manta, which takes pumpfoiling from 300-400 W down to 150 W. Rides of more than 5 km. And above all, the creation of the Alpine Lake Riders association and permission to pumpfoil on the Lac de la Terrasse, to share the passion with beginners. The real Pierra Manta measurements from our data loggers are online: Pumpfoil Analyst Pierra Manta.
See all the real data from our data loggers →
Call Damien
At Alpinefoil, the designer answers your call. For advice on your foil, wing or board: +33 6 73 19 37 23 (WhatsApp) or +33 4 58 00 57 80.