7M Airush/Starboard wing

[PonoBill]

I thought about the echo, the boom is an easy fix--carbon fiber paddle shaft. Mighty long though.

[pafoil]

Better wait for the echo V2 if you are planning to use it in strong winds, there is a lot of pressure in the rope attachment point in the middle of the bar.
Just, my personal opinion.

[Supfool]

OP has got some really valid points, his post activated me from my dormant lurker state.  I have a 5m Freewing, it too has the ridiculously fat leading edge, huge luff panel and windows and bag that require a Masterclass in folding.  It's my only wingding so I have nothing to compare it against other than windfoiling, which is life. The wing while supposedly grunty is a jokeshow compared to windsurf sails, but I imagine they all are having no battens among other refinements.  What shocks me is how good the high end is on the wing, and while I have heard good things about the 7 I chose to buy a 6.2 from another manufacturer when the time came for a bigger wing, as I am familiar with the law of diminishing returns that affects sails kites and in all likelihood, wings. Also the 7 is so expensive. One thing I was skeptical of with the 5 was upwind ability given the fact luff panel and leading edge were so huge just like on a kite school kite.  Sure enough I struggle getting upwind with it, then again it could also be that I am always a bit underpowered, hence the need for the 6.2 which I am yet to ride.  From what I am hearing about 7s in general is that they work best with harnesses and lines, something I am happy to get away from.  For now I am sticking with a 7m windfoil sail for lightwind instead of a wing, I still think manufacturers need to perfect their bigger sizes as they seem to always be an afterthought in the lineup for manufacturers who do all their r&d in fantasylands like Maui and the Gorge with focus on 3-5m sizes.

[Surfside]

I've been very happy with the Takoon wings. Where I live I use the 7m most of all.

Takoon tested highly here:
https://takoon.com/blogs/news/windsurf-magazine%20
The 7M Takoon has the best published lowest wind range 7-18k.
Starboard Freewing Air 7M = 8-20k
Gong Superpower 9M 8-15k
F-one 6M 8-20k
Slingwing 6.4M 8.7-17.4k
Anyone tested the low end of the 6M BoardridingMaui?

After three month wait, I received an email this morning that my Takoon 7 has shipped. Yay!
At 215lbs and lack of skill, I was unable to get the F-One 6m going at 8 knots, Gong 9m will get me flying at 8 knots. Will see if this 7m Takoon will get me going at that speed.

[surfcowboy]

You guys are tempting me with these low wind speeds. Short guys have it good because we can be lighter but we make bad masts for tall wings lol.

[Supfool]

Regarding the leash attachment in this wing, the recommended larkspur/knot is absolutely foolish.  It seems Airush got their inspiration from kite and bridle attachments.  It works great in that application where it is constantly under tension, but is terrible for a wing leash that is never under tension other than when the kite is flagged out on the leash.  My workaround was to feed the leash through the leash mount loop then larkspur it to itself. This will never come loose and fly away.  I can't believe Airush chose to use the setup they did.

Well I tried uploading a pic of my knot to this old forum, but nothing.happens when I do, so you will have to play with it until you figure it out, which isn't difficult.

[peterp]

Regarding the leash attachment in this wing, the recommended larkspur/knot is absolutely foolish.  It seems Airush got their inspiration from kite and bridle attachments.  It works great in that application where it is constantly under tension, but is terrible for a wing leash that is never under tension other than when the kite is flagged out on the leash.  My workaround was to feed the leash through the leash mount loop then larkspur it to itself. This will never come loose and fly away.  I can't believe Airush chose to use the setup they did.

Well I tried uploading a pic of my knot to this old forum, but nothing.happens when I do, so you will have to play with it until you figure it out, which isn't difficult.

Repeat: All you have to do with a larks head knot is pull it tight once....The guy at factory who assembled PonoBill's wing didn't and Pono Bill forgot to check it before pumping up - that's all there is to that story.

Where does this nonsense, that it only works on kites because its under constant tension, come from? When you attach pigtails to your kite there is absolutely no tension and if you forget to pull them tight before you leave your kite, to get to your bar, then yes, they might fall off, as kite is flapping in the wind before you get it launched....but that doesn't happen - if you just pull it tight, once...

[Supfool]

Lol you can trust it if you want, but I am not risking losing a  $1000 wing because it's using a knot that could easily back off if it snags on mast or under any other day-to-day  bumps that the wing is subject to.  Evey time I kite I attach detach my kite limes and can redo the knot.  I shouldn't have to do this with a leash for a wing that I never detach.

[Dwight (DW)]

It’s not nonsense. Bridles falling off when “new”, popped onto my radar when I got into foiling. Take a new kite, go foil with it, bridle might fall off on day one. It happened to me.

Take a new kite, ride it with a twin tip, no problem because much higher loads lock that new bridle.

So after my bridle falling off, I started to notice things. Like Cabrinha bridles having sliding sleeves to lock every larks on the bridle.

So as a safety system, not the brightest move.

[PonoBill]

2 big pluses for me with 7m SB wing as big as that sucker is pretty darn hard to catch a wing tip with it and that diesel low end can’t be beat so far for me.My Ensis 6m comes close though really like it too but for some strange reason on lighter days seem to catch a tip more easily than my 7m SB yeah go figure.Just got a 5.2 Ensis for Xmas present to myself looking forward to trying it out soon.say give a chance you might be surprised down the line

I'm using it, I don't love it, but it's got a lot of grunt in light wind. I haven't been catching the wing tips much, but when I do, I still can't save it. The whole wing gets pulled down, then the end of the strut touches, and if I don't just bail the board runs into the canopy. It only happens when I'm on the surface pumping to get up, so not that big a deal, it's just something irritating I haven't been able to overcome.

I've been using it in silly light air in Mission Bay, I don't think it's even been more than 7 or 8mph in the gusts. I can't turn downwind to jibe at all since my board speed is higher than the wind speed, so it's been good tacking practice though the tacks are on the surface. I'm not going fast enough to coast through the tack. My left knee is screwed, so I can't pump much, but I mostly do that surf foiling. I'm a little more than a year past my usual knee appointment to get it shot up. CBD helps a little but wingfoiling as much as I can is the best medicine. It helps keep it loose. I guess this really is a geezer sport.

Peter, if you want to use a larkshead for leashes, be my guest. Having a knot that can be easily released on a leash I never have to remove makes zero sense to me. I did tug on the harness line before I inflated the wing. Not my first rodeo either.

[Dontsink]

For those light wind gybes i find it helps a lot to put the wing flat overhead as soon as you enter the turn.

[PonoBill]

That assumes you have enough wind to hold the wing up while you’re turning downwind. That’s the first thing I tried but it hasn’t worked well. I think the larger problem is my irritatingly hardwired insistence on switching feet which slows my jibes down. I’m working on it. There’s wind today though it’s gloomy and cold. Time to go hit it.

[peterp]

Airush have modified the leash attachment as per pic. You can now either hard-loop it or use the larkshead knot which admittedly only makes sense if you are switching the leash between wings as I've been doing.

[paddlur]

2 big pluses for me with 7m SB wing as big as that sucker is pretty darn hard to catch a wing tip with it and that diesel low end can’t be beat so far for me.My Ensis 6m comes close though really like it too but for some strange reason on lighter days seem to catch a tip more easily than my 7m SB yeah go figure.Just got a 5.2 Ensis for Xmas present to myself looking forward to trying it out soon.say give a chance you might be surprised down the line

I'm using it, I don't love it, but it's got a lot of grunt in light wind. I haven't been catching the wing tips much, but when I do, I still can't save it. The whole wing gets pulled down, then the end of the strut touches, and if I don't just bail the board runs into the canopy. It only happens when I'm on the surface pumping to get up, so not that big a deal, it's just something irritating I haven't been able to overcome.

I've been using it in silly light air in Mission Bay, I don't think it's even been more than 7 or 8mph in the gusts. I can't turn downwind to jibe at all since my board speed is higher than the wind speed, so it's been good tacking practice though the tacks are on the surface. I'm not going fast enough to coast through the tack. My left knee is screwed, so I can't pump much, but I mostly do that surf foiling. I'm a little more than a year past my usual knee appointment to get it shot up. CBD helps a little but wingfoiling as much as I can is the best medicine. It helps keep it loose. I guess this really is a geezer sport.

Peter, if you want to use a larkshead for leashes, be my guest. Having a knot that can be easily released on a leash I never have to remove makes zero sense to me. I did tug on the harness line before I inflated the wing. Not my first rodeo either.

Bill think any big wing or any wing for that matter especially in our HW weight class in 7-8mph going to suffer,wait till you get 12-15mph day or better with the 1150 F and 420 R be big improvement.SD county is hard for windsports I hear but come January might start some clearing frontal winds might improve next month or so

[PonoBill]

Bill think any big wing or any wing for that matter especially in our HW weight class in 7-8mph going to suffer,wait till you get 12-15mph day or better with the 1150 F and 420 R be big improvement.SD county is hard for windsports I hear but come January might start some clearing frontal winds might improve next month or so

I had a nice session today on Mission Bay in flukey winds. When I got there the wind looked pretty good with a bunch of wings and kites out. I pumped up my 6M and put the 1150/390 on a short fuselage with the 76CM carbon mast I just bought from Admin. Shoulda pumped up the 7M.

The wind died dead just as I got ready to go, everyone cleared off the water but one wing foiler, wandering slowly back and forth, but I went out and wandered around with him, barely able to get the 6M to fly, never mind foil. I came in, considered leaving, and just as I was about to pull the plug the wind picked up and the diehard wingfoiler got up on his foil. Back out, had a pretty good session though there was a lot of pumping involved. Went for about two hours, and then after two full passes with mucho pumping and no flying I gave up, as did most of the other wingfoilers. I put the wing away first (the truck was a flight of stairs away) and when I went back for the foil the wind popped back up. I was soooo tempted to go get the 7M, but my back was aching from all the light wind nonsense, so I gave it up and went home to hot soup and a nice glass of wine.

There are some pretty good wind foilers doing it on Mission Bay. Everyone I saw is better at light wind than I am, and I consider myself above average. Of course, what I consider light wind in the Gorge and on Maui is probably a great wind day here.

I am so fucking spoiled.