Shaping legend Andi Widmann on his craft & opening up SUP foil downwinding through Indiana’s design

From its skateboarding roots, Swiss watersport brand Indiana Paddle & Surf Co., is a genuinely grassroots company – shaped and owned by riders. The brand takes an honest approach to board design, prioritising innovation and thorough testing over marketing and gimmicks. They work closely with shapers whose expertise comes from watersports like windsurfing and surfing, bringing the evolution of these sports directly into their process.

Every shaping design tells a story, building on the knowledge of past iterations to drive innovation and disruption. We caught up with German shaping legend Andi Widmann – windsurfer, surfer, snowboarder – to talk about his craft, emerging trends, and his work with Indiana –  and to take a closer look at the Indiana Foil Sweet Stick DW. This design delivers smooth transitions, minimal drag, and improved pumping efficiency. It’s one of the key milestones in Andi’s shaping journey, aimed at opening up SUP foil downwinding to more paddlers.

Hi Andi, welcome to TotalSUP! Could you share the story of how you first got into board shaping and what inspired you to pursue it as a career?

Hi Anna, thank you for having me here. I shaped my first board in 1981 at the age of 16. It was a windsurf board and I built it, because there were no such shapes on the market yet and it was cheaper. All my friends also shaped their own boards, but mine simply have been better and so everyone wanted my shapes.

Soon I found my passion in creating best performing boards, whether it be windsurf, surf or snowboards. I got so addicted to shaping, I just couldn’t focus on anything else and luckily was able to make a living of it. The sensation you feel when using a new board, which exactly performs like you wanted it to with a new design, is just unbelievable.

So over the years i shaped all kind of boards for every new watersport that came up newly. From windsurfing and surfing to wakesurfing, wakeboarding, kiteboarding with twin-tips or directionals. Next was SUP and finally all the different foiling disciplines, which more or less repeat all the sports before one level above the sea.

Indiana gear carries your signature – from race boards to foil boards, performance fins and beyond. Could you tell us how your relationship with Indiana began and how it has developed over time?

It started in 2014 when my Team Rider Alex was very fast on the Swiss SUP race tour with one of my first race boards. Maurus Strobel, the owner of Indiana, visited me and asked if I wanted shape some fast boards for Indiana. That’s how our journey started.

Maurus is as enthusiastic as I am about best possible gear, so it matched easily. In 2015 we started with a line of touring boards and some race boards, which we expanded over the following years.

In 2018 we added our first foil boards to the range, one for SUP-foiling in waves and one for kite foiling. I also made the first surfboards for artificial waves and for wakesurfing in the Indiana line.

In 2019, windsurf foil boards followed, along with additional race and wave SUPs. In these years we put a lot of effort in the SUP race theme, refining shapes every year and checking details such as the fin set ups.We were also among the first brands to introduce a hollow-construction board.  In 2021 foiling started to grow rapidly and I designed the first wing foil boards and foils. Since then every year, I’ve been coming up with newly developed designs for every need or new direction of foiling.

With the rise of SUP foiling and foiling in recent years, when did you first spot the opportunity to start designing foil-specific boards?

That was in 2017, and the result was our 7’8” SUP foil wave board, which we launched in 2018.

Are there any emerging trends in SUP foiling that influence your designs?

My designs are mostly influenced by the changes in the sport itself and new needs resulting from these changes. Certainly, like every other shaper, I keep tabs on all the new trends.

Very often I see things, that I have thought about already as well. But sadly I don’t have the time and the budget to try and test every idea that I have. So it’s cool to see others good ideas. If I see a possible benefit in a new design element, I think about how this might improve my board designs and in case it’s very convincing we possibly do a prototype to get proof.

We’d love to hear more about the Indiana Foil Sweet Stick DW showcased at the Boot Show Düsseldorf 2025. What was the concept behind this board, and did you see a gap in the market that it was designed to fill?

The Sweet Stick is primarily designed for sweetwater paddle downwinding. An inland based brand like Indiana has a lot of lakes around, so the concept of the board is to fit in between the close waves we have on the lakes. Therefore the Sweet Sticks are comparatively shorter than boards for ocean swell.

It has to be very stable in the chop and easy to get flying with only a few strokes. For best pump ability it has a lifted and pulled in tail that doesn’t catch.

Indiana offers the Sweet Stick in multiple sizes – from 7’0″ (95L), 7’4″ (106L) to 8’0″ (123 L). How should riders choose the right size for their skill level, weight, and typical conditions?

We even also offer a 7’8’’ (118L). Choosing the Sweet Stick size is the same as any other board size. Less weight and/or higher skill level allows smaller boards, less wind and/or wave power need bigger sizes.

You work closely with riders and incorporate their feedback into your board designs. Was there any particular insight or suggestion that significantly influenced the Sweet Stick DW?

The Sweet Stick was mostly influenced by the feedback of Indiana Team Rider Steeve Fleury. He is a 12-time Swiss Champion in SUP racing and I’ve already worked with him for many years. We worked a lot on volume flow, paddle and pump ability.

How do you envision the future development of SUP foil DW boards, and is there any particular innovation or disruption you’re aiming to bring to the market?

I dream of a design that is maximally user friendly so it will open the SUP down winding sport to a much wider market. This is hard work and it progresses only in small steps like refined rocker lines, outlines or rail shapes.

So I can’t really tell you any particular, specific detail I am working on. For the perfect board you need the ultimate harmony of all the shape details, not just one single fancy feature.

To find out more about Indiana Paddle & Surf, visit  Indiana Paddle & Surf

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*Images courtesy to Andi Widmann