Messages

196

Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Foil time at Green Point.. vid.

« on: May 13, 2020, 10:21:18 AM »

So it looks like Green point is North of Sydney but your profile says you’re from Melbourne. Is that where you travel to wing?  Looks like a nice spot.

There may be a Green Point north of Sydney but my Green Point is just up the road from where I live in Melbourne.. (Brighton Beach)

Ok, found it. Cool.  I remember watching a handful of kite foilers at Brighton Beach when we were last there. My older daughter has been in Australia for a year and half and worked at Kite Republic (St Kilda) for awhile as an instructor and kite school manager.  She’s closer to Perth at the moment under lockdown. My younger one and her Australian boyfriend are relocating back to his hometown of Melbourne this summer (from London). Anyway, assuming this mess clears up enough we are planning on making another serious trip that way come November. All the wing and kite foiling gear is absolutely coming with me, baggage fees be damned!!

197

Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Foil time at Green Point.. vid.

« on: May 12, 2020, 02:29:29 PM »

So it looks like Green point is North of Sydney but your profile says you’re from Melbourne. Is that where you travel to wing?  Looks like a nice spot.

198

SUP General / Re: Some good news

« on: May 10, 2020, 11:28:45 PM »

The good news about Oregon is that there are so many possibilities for outdoor adventure that for the most part, nothing gets crazy crowded--nothing remotely like the east coast. The ocean beaches here stretch for miles, and a crowd is when you can perhaps see a hundred people if you look way off in the distance. And ten people in the water--it's always cold. The coast is about 360 miles long.

The Gorge gets pounded a bit, but the Gorge is 80 miles long and from Astoria (on the ocean) to the beginning of the Gorge is another 100 miles of wide river. The Willamette River, which runs through Portland takes a lot of the watersport load off the Gorge.

We can spread out.

Bill, you might not want to generalize the “east coast” too much. There are numerous  east coast locations that don’t see the same density of beach/park crowds as some of the well known tourist destinations near metro areas.  Even during the peak of tourist season my home spot (Outer Banks) has many miles of both ocean side AND  sound side beaches that remain pretty isolated. Even our busy life-guarded beaches are really low density compared popular beaches beaches closer to metro areas.

FWIW the OBX is reopening to visitors on May 16. I’m sure the local kite/surf industry (Real, Kitty Hawk Kites, OceanAire and others) are desperate to get some seasonal income going again. The beaches here never closed during the shutdown despite the bridges being closed to any non-resident,.....and creating a national bru-ha.

We can spread out too, and the water/air combo Is already in the 120-135 range

199

Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Axis Foils

« on: May 09, 2020, 11:27:51 PM »

That looks pretty easy, Wouldn't work for me though because the main reason I went to the Axis over GoFoil and everything else is the fuselage. Super solid and precise wing mount, excellent stabilizer mount.

Completely understand. Axis has super quality well thought out parts. But that clunky Gong foil wing has helped me progress faster than the other front wings I’ve tried so far.  The Live2Kite guys also told me Adrian was testing a slightly larger version of the 1010 (guess that would be the 1115 Phil’s mentioned), and that the 1010 itself was hopelessly backordered. Oh well, the Gong/Axis combo works great for now, and lots of new gear appearing on horizon to feed the addiction

200

Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Axis Foi

« on: May 09, 2020, 01:31:25 AM »

My success for the day was finally getting rid of my spongy Gong Al mast and replacing it with a nice stiffy 19 mm Axis mast.  Night and day  difference in feel and control, and especially noticeable on a really choppy day like today. Happy camper. I added a 3.3m echo to my new wing order for the really cranking days!

So Dave, the 19mm Axis mast just drops into the Gong fuse slot with no machine work?
If so that opens up a lot of interesting options

Nope, machine shop required to go from the (spongy!) 14.5 mm width Gong mast to the 19 mm Axis. I never knew what a really stiff mast felt like since that Gong has been all I’ve basically ridden. I just got used to the “wobble”. Amazing difference. Ordered a 68 and 90 cm Axis mast to go with my current 75cm. It’s definitely not light compared to my Moses stuff, but what can I say, love that XL pro, and the foil rig weight doesn’t bother me for now.

If I wanted to really geek out, I could have a much lighter fuselage made (the Gong fuselage is just heavy, clunky straight bar stock) and adapt it to my Moses carbon surf masts. Easily shed a bunch of weight. Maybe a summer project.....

Also really looking forward to trying the new Gong Veloce foil wings. That XL will be 1600 sq cm with just 1.35 liters of volume. I want one!

201

Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Ensis Wings

« on: May 08, 2020, 04:37:15 PM »

6/9 knots with 3.5 Wing and 2100 foil front wing.. the guy is really skilled, what do you think about that?

I have the same Moses foil rig. To bad I can’t ride it 1/100th as well as Balz, but he is always an inspiration to us feeble mortals. He could ride circles around most people with a bed sheet and sticks

202

Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Axis Foi

« on: May 08, 2020, 04:09:46 PM »

Booked a trip down to Rodanthe for the week leading up to July 4th.  Staying 1/4 mile from Real.  Let's try and meet up for a session!  We can swap wings around and I can take notes on tacks 

Sure! Hopefully the sea grass levels will still be minimal by then in the sound. Then again the ocean should be a lot warmer. Good time for some downwinders...

Well I rode the 1000 yesterday, but I let you down. I was too chicken to trying a tack with my 2.8m. Plus it was cold. 74 degrees! Felt like Winter.

No worries . Must have been much of the east coast. It was blowing 22-35 here today and yep, colder water. Plenty overpowered on the 4m, and crazy things tend to happen when I try to tack well overpowered.  My success for the day was finally getting rid of my spongy Gong Al mast and replacing it with a nice stiffy 19 mm Axis mast.  Night and day  difference in feel and control, and especially noticeable on a really choppy day like today. Happy camper. I added a 3.3m echo to my new wing order for the really cranking days!

203

Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Toeside - check, Jibes - check, Harness time?

« on: May 07, 2020, 04:19:53 PM »

Ouch!

204

Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Axis Foils

« on: May 05, 2020, 01:27:29 PM »

Next high wind day I’ll try tacking the 1000 with my new 390 tail.

In the mean time, VB_foil needs to come down and let you try tacking his Armstrong HS1550 

Ok, cool. Maybe these new Duotone Echos will up my speed some as well.

205

Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Axis Foils

« on: May 05, 2020, 05:36:27 AM »

So I have a question on the 1000 and 1010 wings. Is anyone in the 170# and up range tacking (not jibing) to both sides (toe-to-heel and vice versa) on this wing and consistently staying up on the foil throughout the tack?

Never tried with those. But can rank them in two categories.

The 1010 will stay airborne at a slower speed than the 1000. Then pump back up after a fail easier.

The 1000 will glide farther “when banked”. So if enough wind, the 1000 should carry more speed, farther through the eye, without wing power. The 1000 is my 18+ wind wing.

So Dwight, here is what I’m grappling with. I ride a lot in these gusty 17-30 mph ish conditions. Good ole OBX.  And I think in the higher winds I should be riding a smaller wing than my 1900 sq cm XL pro.  So I rig my smaller Moses 790 (1550 sq cm, Mid aspect ratio and thin profile). It works great for general riding and jibing. Jibing always seems to be a no brainer regardless of foil or wing-a-ding for me since the “windage” is helping to keep the speed up. 

But with tacking it’s just the opposite.  It’s like I’m not carrying enough extra speed going into the transition with the smaller 790 wing to compensate for the higher stall speed and screaming headwind, so I end up coming off the foil easily.  Turning into a 25-30 mph direct head wind while tacking is like riding into a brick wall!  Even with a couple of extra mph going into tack, that head wind slows me down friggin fast regardless of how “glidey” my foil is.  For some reason that XL pro has just enough high end and low end to get me through the tack on the foil (albeit, with a pretty tight turn) so much easier.

I watch really good wingers floating around on tacks effortlessly but they seem to be doing it in what seems like far more tame winds, perhaps on far more efficient wings than my XL pro and more efficient wing-a-dings than my well worn V1 Duotones. I keep thinking I want a foil like the 1000 that’s easy to carve, but I want it even thinner (less volume) and one notch up in size at around 1500-1700 sq cm. Maybe that is what Axis is working on. I listen to Fanatic talking about their new HA winging foils and Patrice at Gong also talking about his new HA Veloce foils and think, ok maybe that’s what I’m looking for.  Mostly I think I have too much bloody time on my hands geeking on this wing stuff, and that my skills are lacking!

Here are some tacks I’m talking about where the XL pro keeps me up on foil. I just can’t pull them off as easily with my 790.

206

Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Axis Foils

« on: May 05, 2020, 01:12:10 AM »

So I have a question on the 1000 and 1010 wings. Is anyone in the 170# and up range tacking (not jibing) to both sides (toe-to-heel and vice versa) on this wing and consistently staying up on the foil throughout the tack?

207

Classifieds / Re: Naish 5.3m S25 Wing a ding

« on: May 03, 2020, 05:58:37 PM »

Sold

208

Classifieds / Re: Naish 5.3m S25 Wing a ding

« on: May 02, 2020, 07:18:54 AM »

Hopefully enough pictures!

209

Classifieds / Re: Naish 5.3m S25 Wing a ding

« on: May 02, 2020, 07:14:15 AM »

Couple more

210

Classifieds / Naish 5.3m S25 Wing a ding

« on: May 02, 2020, 07:11:38 AM »

Sell for $770 including shipping in the continental US.

Have a “good-as-new” 5.3m Naish S25 wing for sale that has all of 90 minutes of riding time on it. Purchased right down the road from Real Watersports. Decided to sell since I decided to stick with the Duotone boom style wings (have new Echo’s on order). Just my preference since boom wings are all I’ve ever used.

Absolutely no flaws as you would expect. Includes a storage bag, wing leash, Naish pump and kit bag (I’ve never even opened it).  Naish is supposed to be providing new longer bags to avoid plastic window creases but dealers don’t have them yet.