Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 11:35 pm
Ok I am going to eat a few of my previous thoughts and words here.
First some background I think is pertinent;
Competent windsurfer and kitesurfer, prior to session 1 I had Kitefoiled 7 sessions, windsurfed foiled for 15 minutes and tried Wingdinging for about 15 minutes in sub-par conditions last August on borrowed gear.
Rigged up a 1600 MFC foil on my FrankenSUP II (91L Starboard Pro surf sup with Martyman Foil box) and pumped up a mint Airush 5m Wing at Nimpkish on Saturday. Maybe 15 knots, I don't think anyone was really out yet. Wasn't expecting much. Pushed off right at the campo, hopped on my knees to the windline, easy stand up to feet and then popped onto the foil and cruised across the lake in relative comfort. WTF? The Foil part felt like kite foiling which I was familiar enough with. The Wing felt just like windsurfing which I was also familiar with. Turned around a came back. Blasted upwind, downwind, whereever really. Within 30 minutes I was gybing with touchdowns both ways maybe up to 50% of the time and after a little longer I foiled through a couple on my good side maybe just briefly touching after the turn to toe side on the foot switch (can you ride these toeside? I wasn't sure so I didn't try). Found some lake swell and dropped off one hand to figure out what this thing was all about and to my surprise I was sometimes connecting one swell into another with some pumping here and there. Passed it off to Bamfield Dave and then Tempy who were both upwind as well nearly right away. Hmmm... Now we are on to something.
By Day 2 things were getting super comfy after day 1 and only maybe 2 or so hours total Wingdinging TOW. Picking up swell rides that were lasting damn near 10 seconds when things really lined up. So after teaching a few more people I figured I'd try my upcycled ~70L FrankenSUP I with Martyman Foilbox (Same 91L Starboard Pro Surf SUP design but with 1.5 feet cut out and put back together). This sucker was a lot more work to get going on, but we are talking it took 10 seconds to get going instead of 2 or 3, and not helped at all because the deck pad was totally in the wrong spot so I was sliding all over poorly waxed deck way further forward then I expected to be. More of the same but a bit more manuerable and much more finicky with foot position. Did that for a bit and then handed it off again to Dave. Since it was on the same foil both Dave and I concluded the 91L was just a lot more fun with very little penalty on maneuverablity as it was just soooo easy. I'm pretty sure a properly designed stubby and wide board around 75L would be the ticket but both of these worked just fine. Basically if you took all the volume of the FrankenSUP I and put it in the right places.
OK so my conclusions.
- Yeah it's fun.
- If you know how to windsurf it's easy to learn.
- If you know how to Kitefoil it it's easy to learn.
-If you know how to windsurf and either kitefoil or windsurf foil it is DAMN easy to learn.
- If you don't know how to do any of that it is relatively hard to learn as the one person I tried to teach who had no kite or windsurf experience really struggled more than the rest.
- It's not fast, but it is flowy.
- You are not sending it.
- You can launch from stupid spots and swim in to whereever without hassle or worry.
- It's more work than kiting but less than windsurfing even in the harness. I think a harness of some sort would be really helpful when under or overpowered as it works your hands more than your arms.
- On the 70L board you will be kinda screwed though if the wind dies and you are a long swim from home.
- I don't see it replacing kiting at all except in the most particular of places or conditions. Like big ocean swell with not enough wind to kite surf and too much wind to surf-surf or offshore windswell or places like Renny where high tide causes endless fake and mound.
- It seems to make more sense than Windsurf foiling as there is a lot less gear.
Basically it seems like another fun option to add to the quiver to compete with your other stuff. The honeymoon stage is always max stoke so it will be interesting to see where it leads. I suspect some days it might seem more fun and other days other options will.
Day 1
Day 2
First some background I think is pertinent;
Competent windsurfer and kitesurfer, prior to session 1 I had Kitefoiled 7 sessions, windsurfed foiled for 15 minutes and tried Wingdinging for about 15 minutes in sub-par conditions last August on borrowed gear.
Rigged up a 1600 MFC foil on my FrankenSUP II (91L Starboard Pro surf sup with Martyman Foil box) and pumped up a mint Airush 5m Wing at Nimpkish on Saturday. Maybe 15 knots, I don't think anyone was really out yet. Wasn't expecting much. Pushed off right at the campo, hopped on my knees to the windline, easy stand up to feet and then popped onto the foil and cruised across the lake in relative comfort. WTF? The Foil part felt like kite foiling which I was familiar enough with. The Wing felt just like windsurfing which I was also familiar with. Turned around a came back. Blasted upwind, downwind, whereever really. Within 30 minutes I was gybing with touchdowns both ways maybe up to 50% of the time and after a little longer I foiled through a couple on my good side maybe just briefly touching after the turn to toe side on the foot switch (can you ride these toeside? I wasn't sure so I didn't try). Found some lake swell and dropped off one hand to figure out what this thing was all about and to my surprise I was sometimes connecting one swell into another with some pumping here and there. Passed it off to Bamfield Dave and then Tempy who were both upwind as well nearly right away. Hmmm... Now we are on to something.
By Day 2 things were getting super comfy after day 1 and only maybe 2 or so hours total Wingdinging TOW. Picking up swell rides that were lasting damn near 10 seconds when things really lined up. So after teaching a few more people I figured I'd try my upcycled ~70L FrankenSUP I with Martyman Foilbox (Same 91L Starboard Pro Surf SUP design but with 1.5 feet cut out and put back together). This sucker was a lot more work to get going on, but we are talking it took 10 seconds to get going instead of 2 or 3, and not helped at all because the deck pad was totally in the wrong spot so I was sliding all over poorly waxed deck way further forward then I expected to be. More of the same but a bit more manuerable and much more finicky with foot position. Did that for a bit and then handed it off again to Dave. Since it was on the same foil both Dave and I concluded the 91L was just a lot more fun with very little penalty on maneuverablity as it was just soooo easy. I'm pretty sure a properly designed stubby and wide board around 75L would be the ticket but both of these worked just fine. Basically if you took all the volume of the FrankenSUP I and put it in the right places.
OK so my conclusions.
- Yeah it's fun.
- If you know how to windsurf it's easy to learn.
- If you know how to Kitefoil it it's easy to learn.
-If you know how to windsurf and either kitefoil or windsurf foil it is DAMN easy to learn.
- If you don't know how to do any of that it is relatively hard to learn as the one person I tried to teach who had no kite or windsurf experience really struggled more than the rest.
- It's not fast, but it is flowy.
- You are not sending it.
- You can launch from stupid spots and swim in to whereever without hassle or worry.
- It's more work than kiting but less than windsurfing even in the harness. I think a harness of some sort would be really helpful when under or overpowered as it works your hands more than your arms.
- On the 70L board you will be kinda screwed though if the wind dies and you are a long swim from home.
- I don't see it replacing kiting at all except in the most particular of places or conditions. Like big ocean swell with not enough wind to kite surf and too much wind to surf-surf or offshore windswell or places like Renny where high tide causes endless fake and mound.
- It seems to make more sense than Windsurf foiling as there is a lot less gear.
Basically it seems like another fun option to add to the quiver to compete with your other stuff. The honeymoon stage is always max stoke so it will be interesting to see where it leads. I suspect some days it might seem more fun and other days other options will.
Day 1
Day 2
). He's on a very small board (70 lt) in very low wind (<8kn maybe??), and he shows us the "cork pump" technique to get flying. Basically, instead of porpoising the board pumping, you flat pump the whole board to submerge it (flat), allow it to "pop" back up and fly! Got to try this, in those light moments when struggling to fly!
