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Maddlad said..mr love said..
My prediction for 2026
Windsurfers continue to jump to winging. As they improve on the wing they will spend less and less time on fin and many will give up fin all together. I see it happen all the time.
Windfoilers will also jump to wing..both freeride and racing. If it were not for iQ foil being an Olympic sport windfoil racing would be in trouble.
Freeride windfoil will become even more niche, manufacturers will dump it as the market is not there.
Wingers in windier / wavier places will jump to parawing....its the hot thing at the moment.
No way. Winging is lame imo. Most wingers have no idea what they are doing, no idea of sailing safety rules (port/starboard etc), and are generally a giant nuisance (with some exceptions of course). Windfoiling is much better as its more related to sailing/windsurfing and if you're on good race or slalom foil gear you get the feeling of flying in anything from 8 knots up. If i wanted to hold a blow-up toy above my head i'd go winging.
Interesting topic , Having owned a dedicated windsurfing shop for more than 25 years I have seen a lot of changes, In all that time I have never seen a sport grow so fast , maybe it is because it combines the best of a few sports. The compact gear like kiting , the lower wind range from the foils but you are still hanging on to a boom so has a windsurf feel . I find a lot of windsurfers now wing in winds less than 20 knots and windsurf in winds above that . One thing I know for sure is if I just sold windsurf kit now the shop doors would be closed .
