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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Shared Knowledge for beginners

« on: June 22, 2019, 09:15:47 AM »

Maybe we can share some notes on hits and fails during the learning process. I have a few that may turn out to be all wrong but here goes.

A long wrist leash is not your friend. It is a lot more to reel in when you want to get started and if you are doing a leash uphaul style start from your feet then every second counts because you really feel at the mercy of the conditions until the wing is in lift position. Plus, in strong wind the wing has more room to get wild far out. I am going to get a short shortboard leash without coils and see how that goes.

With two leashes, tangles are a real issue. tangled up seems like the easiest way to lose skin.

If you are uphauling the leash from a standing position and you are starting on a beam reach, the board is going to want rotate to straight downwind as soon as you start lifting the wing. You can correct that once the wing is in lift position but it is an extra step. Getting up from a kneel with the kite already flying avoids that and the board is a little more stable due to forward motion. But, on a small board, getting up from a kneel without hands to help destabilizes the board. It is much easier on a bigger board.

For my gear the best carry position is with the wing right side up (flying position) with your fingers of the downwind hand through the wing's leading edge handle. That leaves the fingertips to also grab the board's handle. The upwind hand grabs the fuselage of the foil. That keeps the board, foil and wing off the ground with very minimal dragging.

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / The end of the beginning - SPG Wings (photo heavy post)

« on: June 20, 2019, 03:36:01 PM »

OK, not the end of the beginning, just the end of the waiting

. Its the beginning of the beginning.

First impression photos below. Well boxed, arrived with flat sides and square corners from S. Africa. Thanks Aramex!

Just unboxed, of course so no water time to tell of. The quality is excellent. Carefully sewn and reinforced. It feels like a very well considered construction. The strut handles have a stiff flat plastic inside which maintains their width when you grab them. There is a neoprene like outer and they are comfy and positive in hand. The 45 degree angle handles from leading edge to struts are very nice. more on that later. The strut ends are heavily reinforced for abrasion resistance. Good thing here in the rocky Gorge. The leading edge is also bomber feeling. The canopy has a square weave rip stop material and is nice and light. There is a Spectra leash loop (as well and two additional spectra loops about 1.5 feet off of the center loop). Overall it feels on par with the high end Naish kites that we owned (Pivots). They came with great backpack bags and leashes. Pumping a little 4 meter with a big double action pump is a real treat.

Of course we pulled them out to our slope and flew them a bit. Relatively familiar feel. They fly with a light finger hold on the center handle. It is odd but after nearly 40 years of windsurfing it still took a minute to adjust the mind to the new format. From the handle, my first intuition was to go far back with the other hand on the boom (err, strut). Do that, however and you are stuck. It needs to be a crossover to the strut. That, of course, works great. We mock jibed a few times from strut to strut. That felt really nice.

So far so good. Just add water.

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Uphauling

« on: June 07, 2019, 10:16:58 AM »

Until we figure out an easy waterstart here is a nice uphaul technique that allows you to use both hands to push up surf style. It looks like you could even pull the wing right near the downwind rail and use that to push off down on the leading edge with one hand for more stability. Like an inflatable ama

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Roll Handles for WingSurfing

« on: June 04, 2019, 05:03:26 AM »

Watching the early videos it looks like there is a real need for a roll control handle in sailing (winging?) position. The booms and handles aren't giving any leverage and there are tons of examples the wings rolling in the rider's hands/wrists. Roll control isn't an issue in Windsurfing due to the fixed mast foot and in kiting roll is easily controllable due to the wide line connection points. This is really unique to Wingsurfing. My first mod is going to be a little carbon bar lashed perpendicular to the boom strut at the front hand. I think that should add a lot of control while learning (and I will need all the help I can get

).

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Wingsurf Foiling - How low a Windspeed is possible?

« on: May 31, 2019, 03:42:08 AM »

For those interested in how light of a wind you might be able to foil in, check this out. This is zero whitecaps on a 4 meter wing. Sub 10 for sure, and he is pointing. Also a good showing of pumping up onto a foil in ultra light conditions. Pretty much what you would imagine for super light wind wave foiling. That is for sure possible. Very impressive.

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Random / Huawei

« on: May 20, 2019, 11:57:52 AM »

Here is an interesting article on Huawei if you want a quick look at the scope of the company and the potential impacts of the recent US ban.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/huawei-ban-poised-hit-u-s-chipmakers-stock-prices-drop-n1007721

Huawei is the world’s largest provider of telecom equipment.

In terms of smartphones, their rise has been incredible.

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / What's coming

« on: May 20, 2019, 05:40:49 AM »

We are starting to see some higher quality vids for this new gear. Stoked to be able to what is actually going on.

Here is a new one by Naish which shows some technique and light wind potential.

One from SPG which was deep in another thread.

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General Discussion / Grade A carnage

« on: May 19, 2019, 02:37:34 PM »

Waimea shorebreak. "It's pretty much a roll in".

https://youtu.be/GzGfZ8Y8Jsg?t=551

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Random / Any 1970's skaters out there?

« on: May 09, 2019, 05:14:58 AM »

Man does this bring back memories!

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Kai Lenny Wingsurf Foil - Day One

« on: April 22, 2019, 04:31:33 AM »

I imagine this will be be the first of many

. Looking pretty good for just hopping on. I am sure the kids will all show us how this is done.

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Random / Super Massive Black Hole

« on: April 10, 2019, 04:26:31 PM »

What an effort! This is spectacular.

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Random / Hood River Dump Time

« on: February 13, 2019, 03:04:52 AM »

Man, have we been getting pounded

. It looked like we were going to have a green winter but this last group of storms has been awesome. This is our Drive. A few more here: https://www.facebook.com/randy.strome