The free surface effects on the aerodynamic performance of 2-D wings are investigated based on the potential flow approximation. The wing is represented b source and vortex distributions on the wing surface. The steady free surface effect is taken into account by source distribution on the free surface and the velocity potentials of air and water flows are obtained. Using three different techniques, namely, positive image method, inverse image method and source distribution method, numerical results are obtained for wave elevation, pressure distribution and lift coefficient with various foil sections. The wave elevation calculated by the inverse image method is shown to be very small even at higher speeds so that the free surface effect on the performance of wings is regraded negligible. However, the wave elevations by the positive image method and source distribution method are relatively high at higher speeds and accordingly the free surface effects on wings can not be neglected.