Messages

1

Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: 2023 New Wings Thread

« on: January 27, 2023, 12:05:37 PM »

O.K. You like to wing foil race against other racers at your local yacht club on weekends.  You and Paul usually place in the top 3 or 4 racers out of 15 in every race.  One day Paul turns up to race with the new Ensis wing and he now dominates each and every race.  His new wing (he has three) costs several thousand dollars each.  He's rich and you aren't.  Your enthusiasm to race now begins to wane along with the other racers. 

In this video the rep won't say what the limited edition costs, only that the lesser model is between 1,500 and 2,000 Euros.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hI2vDIOKOI

It's inevitable... Cheque book racing has always existed which is why I only really took part in one design racing (sailing). Even in one design racing, there are areas where the professional/wealthy can manipulate their performance by using grey areas of those rules... It's why I'm not terribly interested in wing racing. It'll end up being a constant spending cycle to be on the fastest kit...

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Foil SUP / Re: Longer Fuselage for Stability and Pump

« on: January 09, 2023, 05:39:50 AM »

EastCoastFoiler - do you think that your setups are inherently more pitch stable than one which has more stab lift with mast further back. I understand that in a static state the two setups (forward with less stab lift, and back with more stab lift) achieve the same centre of lift, but I don't know if they behave the same once in use?

I currently positive shim my setup (799 and 899 with 325P on CS ADV fuse) for more pitch stability, and I enjoy the way it rides that way but would be interested to see if I can remove the shim but still keep the pitch stability and possibly increase glide too! Should add this is for winging but the physics will be similar...

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Intriguing Beings Podcast - Ralf Grösel - the future of wing/kite production

« on: January 05, 2023, 01:19:11 AM »

Well, with the technology Brainchild is developing, you could have your wing match those favourite boardies!

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Intriguing Beings Podcast - Ralf Grösel - the future of wing/kite production

« on: January 04, 2023, 09:21:51 AM »

Link...

https://www.tonicmag.com/sup-news/2022/11/brainchild-is-reinventing-the-way-we-think-about-production/

https://youtu.be/45dLcbNwb-c

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Intriguing Beings Podcast - Ralf Grösel - the future of wing/kite production

« on: January 04, 2023, 05:56:25 AM »

A fascinating insight into where the production of out inflatable toys could be headed and it's not in China... The Brainchild laboratory seems to have totally reengineered the manufacturing process with sustainability and cutting edge technology at its core. One example is a proprietary cloth welding technology that does away with all seams save for one on the leading edge which is only there to facilitate repairs. Another being the use of white cloth exclusively which is then printed rather the use of coloured cloth. It's long, but worth a listen...

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Foil SUP / Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!

« on: December 22, 2022, 12:16:41 AM »

Just for context, the Casey Downwind Elite 6'9 which is 111L is 6.7kg, and costs almost double the Cruzader (well in the UK at least)...

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Foil SUP / Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!

« on: December 21, 2022, 11:42:52 AM »

Just because...
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wc4eLNi0NIs&feature=shares

I was just watching that one on Insta
I am guessing that is the 6'x 18"  92l Cruzader,smallest one.
Looks super responsive in pitch, would love to give that one a try with the wing to see how much advantage it gives on getting going and how much playfulness you give up vs a flat,shorter shape.

Not sure, but there was another video posted recently which showed the board details at the end and it was the 6'6 x 19 112L. Either way, shows what can be done, although no footage of Malo actually paddling one slowly in non foiling mode, which would be good to see too...

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Foil SUP / Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!

« on: December 21, 2022, 09:03:26 AM »

Just because...
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wc4eLNi0NIs&feature=shares

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: 2023 New Wings Thread

« on: December 20, 2022, 11:56:01 PM »

These videos are already dated. As of this year's AWSI Ocean Rodeo already announced other members of Aluula family of fabrics.

They were already at around 70GSM leading edge and strut material, almost as stiff as the Aluula Gold but much easier to handle and work with.

Their new 5M wing is suppose to be around 2LB! stiffer and more durable than anything on the market with
a canopy material that puts everything else to shame. I'm sure it will come with a steep price tag but it might be worth it for supposedly tripling the life span of every wing I own now.

Yup, agree with all of that! Wondering if the RSs will last long enough to build up the 'investmemt' fund for the next gen highly durable wings...

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Foil SUP / Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!

« on: December 20, 2022, 11:41:55 PM »

No one I've seen is riding these things as sinkers. The boards are deep from the first third to the tail, and 7' X 19" boards are in the 120l range. And those are the small ones (though I've seen a few 14" wide ones). I'm sure someone will try a sinker barracuda, but they don't really make sense. From seeing how people are riding these things I think the days of tiny boards and sinkers are numbered. Given the way the boards can be constructed the nose (the front third of the board) probably weighs a pound or two. Overall they're practically weightless. A sort, wide, thin board is mostly skin (heavy), and a long, narrow, deep board is mostly foam. They turn like a lunch tray, foil smoothly, and get up on foil with a breath of wind. There has to be a downside, but I haven't seen it, other than they probably aren't for geezers like me, though I just ordered Mark Raaphorst's latest ideas in a board with similar dimensions (7' X 25" 125l) that he's aiming at geezers like me. I hope to see it before I'm 77. Mark has a hideous waiting list.

That's a really interesting observation and one I hope to explore personally! I've got my finger ready to pull the trigger on 6'6 x 19 Gong Cruzader as soon as they come into stock. The original idea was to use it for learning paddle ups and eventually deflate DW'ing with a paddle but it sounds like the winging potential could be way bigger than I thought. I do love my sinker though!

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / 2023 New Wings Thread

« on: December 20, 2022, 01:59:28 PM »

Seems a good time to start a new thread! I watched as much of the content I could find coming out of AWSI and the main thing that caught my eye were the new materials coming into wings.

Props to Mackite for pulling this together, which I found to be a great little summary of the state of play (although didn't cover everything):
https://youtu.be/4vp0f2zhMfU

Also from Mackite was this on light wind wings, which I found interesting:
https://youtu.be/fjC7ehPfGW0

I'm not in the market for wings at the moment. The Takuma RSs are doing it for me! Still looking forward to seeing what gets released this year though...

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: New Winging specific boards from Naish.

« on: December 03, 2022, 02:28:42 PM »

Having said the Compact doesn't float my boat, I've just seen the Bullet (no idea when it was released) and this shape is much more to my liking. Narrower and a bit longer (although the 65L Bullet is the same length as the 60L Ultra at 4'10), and way better suited for HA foils if you ride them. I reckon these would be more versatile than the race label it's been given too. Just thought I'd balance my previous comments with some offering a bit more love!

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: 3D dropstitch

« on: November 30, 2022, 11:28:57 AM »

Haha! Well done on finding the website. Great stuff!

All we have are pictures, so there is only speculation, but if the material is stiff enough and strong enough then the amount of material to create a wing's inflatable leading edge could be small enough for the weight not to be prohibitive, and the aero gain massive. Thinking more of a speed / race application, but there's been a massive debate in the road cycling world over the last 5-10 years over bike weight vs aero drag, and aero benefits seem to win out most of the time. This could be a similar story.

But even from a board perspective... An inflatable with a carefully designed and sculpted underwater shape would be a compelling product too.

All speculation, but that can be fun!

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / 3D dropstitch

« on: November 29, 2022, 02:40:32 AM »

This could have been posted in more than one forum but this is quite exciting technology assuming cost isn't a barrier for boards and maybe wings as well?!

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lucarizzotti_moulds-foilingindustry-connect-activity-7003260193660661761-FWB-?utm_source=li_share&utm_content=feedcontent&utm_medium=g_mb_web&utm_campaign=copy

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Reedin Super wing

« on: November 09, 2022, 07:59:25 AM »

Just resurrecting this thread as I'm starting to see the SWX discounted and am looking for a 30 knot plus wing and think a 2.8 SWX would work well on paper. Now people have had time to use and reflect on these wings, can anyone give any real world feedback on the 2.8 specifically? I know from experience sizes within ranges don't scale as you would expect so don't want to assume a review of a larger size holds true for a smaller one.

Thanks!