Author Topic: Interesting perspective; some good points from a vendor with sour grapes (IMO)  (Read 5221 times)

RideTheGlide

  • Peahi Status
  • *****
  • Posts: 620
    • View Profile
    • Email

https://www.mistral.com/confused-you-should-be/

Quote
With the development of the foil, this has created a contentious conundrum in water sports which has advocates wanting to bolt a foil onto anything that floats in the name of progress and the way of the future.

Quote
‘Wing Surfing’ is now the latest must do, revolutionary diversionary idea, seen as the best thing since bottled beer or sliced bread. But already the jokes have sprung up about it, with images of umbrellas being used, bed sheets and other amusing anecdotes. Add to this a foiling board and we have ‘Wing Foiling’, accepting you have to wonder if the evolutionary steps are in the correct order and as to whether those who can foil, will be satisfied with the lower limits of speed and elevation when compared to their option of Kite Foiling?
2017 GoPlus 9'9"
2018 Hydro-Force fastblast 12'6"
2019 BKC 12'

Admin

  • Administrator
  • Cortez Bank Status
  • *****
  • Posts: 6443
    • View Profile
    • StandUpZone
    • Email
It seems like the writer was asked to do a blog post to explain why Mistral will be the last company to offer a wing.  :)

The title should be, "Confused? You will be in 10 paragraphs".  This type of every thought is sacred writing is the result of teachers being shamed out of using their red pens.  What circular bunk.

Windsurfing did not fail because of complexity.  That is just repeated nonsense.  It ran its course.  The people who loved it stuck with it, advanced and wanted more advanced gear.  That happens. 

There are critics of everything.  If you listen to them you will stay in bed all day.  Something truly has no merit if it is not being bashed online (typically by a group that is desperately trying to justify their time investment in a waning activity).

There are plenty of women wing foiling already. 

For all the foil danger, where are the injuries? (yes, we have seen the one guy with the gashed head)

There is a correct order for something to be fun?  Who decides that?
« Last Edit: June 14, 2019, 11:14:53 AM by Admin »

805StandUp

  • Sunset Status
  • ****
  • Posts: 401
    • View Profile
Kind of reminds me when the CEO of AOL Time Warner held an All Hands in the wake of new competitors like Yahoo and Google and announced the future of information delivery in the wake of the internet is subscription models...  This is classic Clayton Christianson's innovator's dilemma and graveyards are filled with companies that are unable to evolve to new business models.

river

  • Peahi Status
  • *****
  • Posts: 819
  • @danyak101
    • View Profile
    • Wing Foil and SUP Instruction
    • Email
Classic article!  Such a bunch of BS.  Besides anything in the past that was cool had all kinds of people bashing it, and the "haters" are needed to make anything fun and different cool, because its the rebels that participate in sports and activities that certain groups of people like to hate on.  Its a human way of life.  They can hate and I will foilwing by in my yoga pants with my helmet on with a giant shit-eating grin giving absolutely 0 shits about their concerns.  LMAO 8)
Wing, Foil & SUP Instruction,Aerial Cinema.
#dreamitsupit rider looking for the magic carpet feeling...

RideTheGlide

  • Peahi Status
  • *****
  • Posts: 620
    • View Profile
    • Email
Kind of reminds me when the CEO of AOL Time Warner held an All Hands in the wake of new competitors like Yahoo and Google and announced the future of information delivery in the wake of the internet is subscription models...  This is classic Clayton Christianson's innovator's dilemma and graveyards are filled with companies that are unable to evolve to new business models.
There are also some headstones for companies that jumped on the next big thing too quickly and the actual big thing ran them over. I think the foil is an actual big thing and they should go ahead and bolt them on to all their floaty things. I am not sure whether the wing will be as widely embraced yet. They are sold out everywhere until August but I don't know how many Naish made to start with. It may still evolve some. It looks like a Skimbat mated with an iRig and this is the first generation. Will it change substantially? How quickly will the market saturate? I think those kinds of questions are keeping the small guys up at night.
2017 GoPlus 9'9"
2018 Hydro-Force fastblast 12'6"
2019 BKC 12'

Area 10

  • Cortez Bank Status
  • *****
  • Posts: 4057
    • View Profile
The article just reads like a tour around Steve West’s head. I shouldn’t think it’s a comfortable place to be. He probably dashed it off between complaining to his plumber that bathroom fittings aren’t as durable as they used to be, and shouting at the delivery guy for not calling him “Sir” like they did when he was one 30 years ago, and showed them all how it should be done.

Ichabod Spoonbill

  • Cortez Bank Status
  • *****
  • Posts: 2174
  • Hudson Valley, NY
    • View Profile
    • HVH2O
    • Email
I kind of agree with the article. I worry that foiling will become the face of standup paddling, kind of like high speed sailing became windsurfing. I think one of the things that lead to the decline of windsurfing is the sport's emphasis on the high end. It probably won't happen, and we can thank the relative inexpensive entry point of SUP for that and it's ease of learning.

For myself, I'm really not interested in that part of the sport. I'm more interested in practical equipment that gets people on the water. It makes me really happy to get new people on the water (and where I am there ain't many). For the same reason I'm not interested in high-end race boards either. I know the makes me kind of an outlier on this site, but most standup paddlers aren't going to be foiling, or racing on carbon race boards.

Before anybody flames me, I'm not objecting to any of this, but my heart is in just getting people on the water, not the elite part of the sport.
Pau Hana 11' Big EZ Ricochet (Beluga)

Area 10

  • Cortez Bank Status
  • *****
  • Posts: 4057
    • View Profile
The reality of SUP now is that it is beginners on inflatables that they bought at Walmart for 150 dollars. There are 500 of those in Europe for every one person who foils. So foils and all the other off-piste devices are so niche that they aren’t worth worrying about. Fine if you live in the right place, have the right income, and have the time to develop the skills. But for the rest of us, moaning about these activities is like moaning about ski jumping. Why bother? How is what these people are doing going to affect you?

Back in Roman times there are written reports by of the elders complaining that youngsters are racing their new chariots around the city too fast. That’s what you do when you get old and feel creeping irrelevance coming on: you start moaning about everything that the kids are trying. Don’t ask me how I know this :)

supfoo

  • Rincon Status
  • ***
  • Posts: 139
    • View Profile
Foiling will never replace anything, just another tool in the shed for me.

unclesaltdog

  • Waikiki Status
  • *
  • Posts: 32
    • View Profile
    • Email
Foiling will never replace anything, just another tool in the shed for me.

Interesting, I'm pretty much the opposite.
Foiling has made just about every other tool in the shed redundant ATM.
I'm sure there will come a time when some of the other tools start to get used again but ATM I am hunting down small waves for SUP foiling and lightwind for kite foiling etc.
If the wind starts to pick up then I start thinking of downwind SUP foiling, it is all revolving around a foil.

I surfed my regular surf SUP the other day and it just felt weird, I could hard stand on it let alone surf.

Oh and I had my first go of a demo 4mtr Duotone foil wing yesterday, there wasn't really enough wind to get my board up and foiling so I was just cruising around slowly on the water but I am keen to give it another go soon.
« Last Edit: June 14, 2019, 05:54:41 PM by wrighty »

PonoBill

  • Cortez Bank Status
  • *****
  • Posts: 25864
    • View Profile
Yeah, me too, though I still downwind on my Bullet 17. If I ever get downwind foiling going I'm pretty sure that will get dusty too.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

unclesaltdog

  • Waikiki Status
  • *
  • Posts: 32
    • View Profile
    • Email
Yep. downwind foiling is not easy, I was just starting to get it at the end of our season in Western Australia.
I kept reverting to my 14'er to get some enjoyment but I'm hoping that after spending a lot more time on the foil surfing that I should be good to go when our next downwind season kicks in.

surf4food

  • Teahupoo Status
  • ******
  • Posts: 1746
    • View Profile
    • Email
Foiling will never replace anything, just another tool in the shed for me.

Interesting, I'm pretty much the opposite.
Foiling has made just about every other tool in the shed redundant ATM.
I'm sure there will come a time when some of the other tools start to get used again but ATM I am hunting down small waves for SUP foiling and lightwind for kite foiling etc.
If the wind starts to pick up then I start thinking of downwind SUP foiling, it is all revolving around a foil.

I surfed my regular surf SUP the other day and it just felt weird, I could hard stand on it let alone surf.

Oh and I had my first go of a demo 4mtr Duotone foil wing yesterday, there wasn't really enough wind to get my board up and foiling so I was just cruising around slowly on the water but I am keen to give it another go soon.


Great for you and others but I don't think anyone, even the most avid foilers truly think foiling will ever replace non foiling for most surfers, SUPers, kiters, windsurfers wakeboarders or any other water users. It's expensive enough on top of everything else that's already expensive and requires WAY more commitment than most people have the time or inclination to put it.  Do I think it's a passing fad or trend?  Not necessarily, but the initial hype will die down and ultimately it will only be for the dedicated few.

surf4food

  • Teahupoo Status
  • ******
  • Posts: 1746
    • View Profile
    • Email
This piece is not complete BS as some are claiming and I think it's reflects the author's true analogy.  What ever actually happens in the long run remains to be seen.

peterp

  • Sunset Status
  • ****
  • Posts: 430
    • View Profile
When I started windsurfing around 1979 I eventually got so hooked that I thought I'd never do anything else. Around 1999 I tried kiting and 3 years later I had sold all my windsurf gear. When SUP came along it eventually replaced surfing and now that I'm foiling I'm barely touching the SUP's.

That's one journey and everyone has one. I'm grateful I have had the opportunity to try all these variations of having fun on the water.

I tried the Wing-foil back in Feb - I wasn't immediately hooked, but this was always the same with all the other sports - they never convinced me on first attempt.

It took me years to understand that it was the journey of mastering a sport more than the sport itself which was the driving force of motivation and excitement for me. Hence, for me, all these variations of the surfing theme have their place - it's all about where one is at with one's own personal journey. Once the learning curve has flattened out it's time to move on - for me at least.

The Foil is already creating a new journey for me - maybe the wing will as well.

If Steve and Mistral don't want to get involved, thats fine - but, if everyone had had that attitude, my journeys would have been much different.


 


SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal