Switch isn't too bad once you get used to it. But I do windsurf and Windfoil.

I am pretty comfortable downwinding now switch with the Wing, but I am hoping I will be able to do it now paddling also. This will be invaluable for long downwinders.

regards,

JB

Thinking of buying a wind wing thing, question is which one to buy.
Naish
Duotone
Slingshot
If anyone has any feed back it would be great.
Cheers
Scuba

Select to expand quote

scubaste said..
Thinking of buying a wind wing thing, question is which one to buy.
Naish
Duotone
Slingshot
If anyone has any feed back it would be great.
Cheers
Scuba

I think only JB has ridden one and he will say buy a Naish
Wait a few months and there will be demos available so we can compare.

Select to expand quote

hilly said..

scubaste said..
Thinking of buying a wind wing thing, question is which one to buy.
Naish
Duotone
Slingshot
If anyone has any feed back it would be great.
Cheers
Scuba

I think only JB has ridden one and he will say buy a Naish
Wait a few months and there will be demos available so we can compare.

I have also ridden Duotones wing, and to be honest it was quite good (not as good as Naish' though).

I am not going to go into a comparison or VS review as it would not be taken seriously anyway given my "bias". But there is some things about the Naish WIng-Surfer that were made quite clear to me after trying another brand.

Please note these points are acknoladging that I am used to flying the Naish WingSurfer, this is the first time on the Foil Wing, condition were really crap, and importantly the leash was not set up correctly on the Foil Wing.

Stand out points about the Naish Wing Surfer.
- The wing is super light.
- Setup/Rigging time is fast, like 20sec. and easy with nothing to attach. Just inflate and go.
- The Wing Surfer in incredibly stable and well behaved on the leash. You can literally just hang the wing on its leash and it will hover and await your commands. This is vital when getting up after a crash or starting off. Video below.
- The handles are awesome for allowing your hands, wrist and arms to align during flight and trim - no RSI or uncomfortable positions. (i.e. the wing doesn't fly relatively straight like a windsurf sail, you fly it on many plains and axis).
- The Wing-Surfer is super power, and the power is delivered instantly! The Luff strut reacts to your every trim to not only allow instant power but also instant depower. Luff strut also means you have the ability to partially depower/powerup without backwinding.
- The Wing Surfer has a super direct feel, responsive and immediate. Even with the handles, the wing is at your instant call with no lag or sag time.



I won't say a bad thing about the others, but I can say how good the Naish Wing Surfer is - It kicks arse big time!!

Enjoy,

Ride safe,

JB

First images of the Gong wings. 3, 5, and 7 m2. Patrice (100kg) is on the 7m2, with the XXL (100cm) Gong foil wing)
Wind during the shooting was 8/12 knts at the weather station.
Discussions on the Gong forum at www.gong-galaxy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=10552
Not much info for now "On line very soon, 3 / 5 / 7 m2 at a GONG price of course"

nice colas, looking forward to more details.

Select to expand quote

JB said..

hilly said..

scubaste said..
Thinking of buying a wind wing thing, question is which one to buy.
Naish
Duotone
Slingshot
If anyone has any feed back it would be great.
Cheers
Scuba

I think only JB has ridden one and he will say buy a Naish
Wait a few months and there will be demos available so we can compare.

I have also ridden Duotones wing, and to be honest it was quite good (not as good as Naish' though).

I am not going to go into a comparison or VS review as it would not be taken seriously anyway given my "bias". But there is some things about the Naish WIng-Surfer that were made quite clear to me after trying another brand.

Please note these points are acknoladging that I am used to flying the Naish WingSurfer, this is the first time on the Foil Wing, condition were really crap, and importantly the leash was not set up correctly on the Foil Wing.

Stand out points about the Naish Wing Surfer.
- The wing is super light.
- Setup/Rigging time is fast, like 20sec. and easy with nothing to attach. Just inflate and go.
- The Wing Surfer in incredibly stable and well behaved on the leash. You can literally just hang the wing on its leash and it will hover and await your commands. This is vital when getting up after a crash or starting off. Video below.
- The handles are awesome for allowing your hands, wrist and arms to align during flight and trim - no RSI or uncomfortable positions. (i.e. the wing doesn't fly relatively straight like a windsurf sail, you fly it on many plains and axis).
- The Wing-Surfer is super power, and the power is delivered instantly! The Luff strut reacts to your every trim to not only allow instant power but also instant depower. Luff strut also means you have the ability to partially depower/powerup without backwinding.
- The Wing Surfer has a super direct feel, responsive and immediate. Even with the handles, the wing is at your instant call with no lag or sag time.

I won't say a bad thing about the others, but I can say how good the Naish Wing Surfer is - It kicks arse big time!!

Enjoy,

Ride safe,

JB

Wow.. that hard hey.. So uphauling is that easy..

How did the Duotone compare in weight compared to the Naish?

Similar or noticeably heavier because it has a metal boom?

Patrice said in the Gong forum that the sail control is done by the angle of the line between the 2 hands.
If it is fully horizontal, the sail goes vertical, the bottom tip catches the water, block the board nose and you fall.
The more you open the angle (raise the front hand relative to the rear one), the more the sail goes horizontal.
You have to play with this angle to position the sail at about 45 degrees.

Select to expand quote

colas said..
Patrice said in the Gong forum that the sail control is done by the angle of the line between the 2 hands.
If it is fully horizontal, the sail goes vertical, the bottom tip catches the water, block the board nose and you fall.
The more you open the angle (raise the front hand relative to the rear one), the more the sail goes horizontal.
You have to play with this angle to position the sail at about 45 degrees.

Good to know colas. What happen to the 4m wing and I'm guessing you use 3m on strong wind and 5m on breeze days? Buy 2 for the price of one.

Select to expand quote

JEG said..
Good to know colas. What happen to the 4m wing and I'm guessing you use 3m on strong wind and 5m on breeze days? Buy 2 for the price of one.

I don't think Patrice ever talked of a 4m wing.
I guess we will have to wait for more feedback to know the real life wind range of sails. I suspect your pumping ability and foil size will dictate how small a sail you can manage for given conditions.

I must say that although I still think I will not wingfoil in the long term due to the specifics of my place, I am more and more willing to try it for the technical challenge, which seems interesting but not too hard.

JB thanks for all the updates. You said your board was a 2020 model and to wait for information. Can you give us an idea of the size and volume? You look pretty comfortable standing on it stationary.

People talk about how hard it is to ride switch. Are we talking about simply riding with your opposite foot forward, or the act of changing feet on the fly?

I am a natural foot but ride goofy ok. In kite foiling swapping feet on the foil is the easiest thing in the world. There's a trick to it and it takes a little practice. It can be practiced in non-committing moves. You don't have to do it all at once. I am thinking that riding wth a wind wing thing will give people the time to practice and explore these other skills.

Seems way easier to hold in depowered mode than I'd have thought. Sort of hangs out behind you if you hold the nose. That's cool.

Gorgo....I think switch issues is that these wings are marketed more to sup or surf foil riders, than to kiters or windsurfers. Most surfers don't ever ride with other foot forward... and while surface riding is fairly quickly learned, foil is a little more challenging. For me, I'd probably aim to use this wing in dominant surf stance, assuming toe side isn't too bad. That's mainly how I kite foil too except on long upwind tacks.

Colas.....gong pricing sounds good. It will be interesting to see if gong pursues similar market disruption as they seem to be aiming for with foils.

Select to expand quote

juandesooka said..
Colas.....gong pricing sounds good. It will be interesting to see if gong pursues similar market disruption as they seem to be aiming for with foils.

That's their intent. I guess they will have a similar price ratio than you can see with the kite wings. It may not be as disruptive as with foils, as the large number of brands competing early on, plus the mature technology, may keep the prices of other brands more in check than what we saw with the foils.

This looks a bit more fun.

JB does a self rescue with the Naish WingSurfer.

JB is like the stunt mannequin for planet earth on these wings.

That self rescue is MUCH more civilized that anything we ever had to do on windsurfers or kites.

Foil surfers Facebook group had an excellent post today from a guy who made his own. Resewed old kite and welded the bladders. A lot more pro than Iwhat I am aspiring to.

www.facebook.com/groups/foilsurfers/permalink/2395471233843464/

I noticed that group has 1100 members already....impressive for something not yet widely available. The kite and windsurf community mostly hate these things but seems there's some punters looking to give it a go

Mostly hated....but mostly never tried either

Select to expand quote

DavidJohn said..
JB does a self rescue with the Naish WingSurfer.

Just to ensure totally safety, I think it is important to also outline some parameters with self rescuing (these were included in the original post). I would only recommend these methods with the Naish Wing Surfer.




'Here's a video I quickly put together showing some self rescue methods for the Naish Wing Surfer.

PLEASE NOTE: These techniques are only recommended with the Naish Wing Surfer. If you are using a wing with a boom or one that does not have a lock off for the strut, I highly recommend not using the second method as in a rescue situation it is important to keep as much floatation as you can in case the worst possible occurs, plus you also want to avoid your wing sinking in the case of boomed wings. For wings with heavy Dihedrals, do not to use the first methods as the wing may not settle when being towed. Also it is obviously important to ensure your wing can stow a paddle like the Naish Wing Surfer.

In all cases I strongly recommend practicing self rescue prior to any prolonged use or journey's far form shore with your Wing Surfer.

Here is my final run from today as I literally milked the lasts drops of wind, pumping and carving my way closer to home. It was pretty amazing how far I actually got with so little wind. However I was still a solid km from home. My options were to drift in the next to nothing breeze literally holding the wing up (at least the Naish Wing Surfer is super light unlike some others that would have been near impossible due to their extra weight), or do self rescue and paddle home with my paddle that I had attached using the paddle straps.

Here it is, I hope this helps a few be more prepared and know they have options when the wind decides to go bad."

Just to be clear. I am not saying self rescue is not possible on other wings, but safety is key, and both these methods keep floatation and ease in mind with minimal/none things that can go wrong. I would personally be cautious when using a boomed wing of deflating the Leading Edge, as this removes the floatation and may also put your wing at risk of sinking if you were to roll off your board for what ever reason. Also some wings have heavy dihedrals which can make the wing hunt and sail back and forth. This may not be ideal in the first method of rescue.

But as you can see, it is so easy, simple and safe with the Naish Wing Surfer.

Thanks for posting DJ.

Select to expand quote

juandesooka said..
Foil surfers Facebook group had an excellent post today from a guy who made his own. Resewed old kite and welded the bladders. A lot more pro than Iwhat I am aspiring to.

www.facebook.com/groups/foilsurfers/permalink/2395471233843464/

I noticed that group has 1100 members already....impressive for something not yet widely available. The kite and windsurf community mostly hate these things but seems there's some punters looking to give it a go

I can tell you right now. Once you have a few goes at it, you will definitely not hate it! I am becoming more and more hooked every session.

JB

Select to expand quote

Beasho said..
JB is like the stunt mannequin for planet earth on these wings.

That self rescue is MUCH more civilized that anything we ever had to do on windsurfers or kites.

Hey Beasho, Thanks (I think ).

Yes the pack down is super easy. In this video I am riding a 6' x 28" 110ltr board. I am 6'2" and 85kg. the paddle home didn't take long either (see below for the home paddle part of my session).


Here is the full session for those that are interested. The wind was super light, and I did spend more time off the foil than on, but it was still very forth it - Wing Surfing is soo much fun!

that's awesome and checkout 0:19 in the background, that's the reality of wing foil that I am thinking about for us unskillful wannabe wind surfer

Dunno if a facebook video link will work, but here goes:
www.facebook.com/wingdotsurf/videos/vb.824898167887560/444472146370582/?type=2&theater

I am not interested in doing this ... but it shows some developing skills, with 180 and 360 degree pivoting turns. This highlights potential versatility....freedom of movement indeed, compared to windsurfer or kite. Add that flexibilty into some down the line wave surfing, and you might be on to something. I think we're going to be seeing a bunch more videos like this soon, as people start to figure out how they work and push the envelope.

Select to expand quote

juandesooka said..
Dunno if a facebook video link will work, but here goes:
www.facebook.com/wingdotsurf/videos/vb.824898167887560/444472146370582/?type=2&theater

I am not interested in doing this ... but it shows some developing skills, with 180 and 360 degree pivoting turns. This highlights potential versatility....freedom of movement indeed, compared to windsurfer or kite. Add that flexibilty into some down the line wave surfing, and you might be on to something. I think we're going to be seeing a bunch more videos like this soon, as people start to figure out how they work and push the envelope.

great skill there and to obtain that ability you need to be on the water almost everyday and that's nice comfort for some but the rest of us weekend warriors will do out best

Select to expand quote

DavidJohn said..

JB said..

hilly said..

scubaste said..
Thinking of buying a wind wing thing, question is which one to buy.
Naish
Duotone
Slingshot
If anyone has any feed back it would be great.
Cheers
Scuba

I think only JB has ridden one and he will say buy a Naish
Wait a few months and there will be demos available so we can compare.

I have also ridden Duotones wing, and to be honest it was quite good (not as good as Naish' though).

I am not going to go into a comparison or VS review as it would not be taken seriously anyway given my "bias". But there is some things about the Naish WIng-Surfer that were made quite clear to me after trying another brand.

Please note these points are acknoladging that I am used to flying the Naish WingSurfer, this is the first time on the Foil Wing, condition were really crap, and importantly the leash was not set up correctly on the Foil Wing.

Stand out points about the Naish Wing Surfer.
- The wing is super light.
- Setup/Rigging time is fast, like 20sec. and easy with nothing to attach. Just inflate and go.
- The Wing Surfer in incredibly stable and well behaved on the leash. You can literally just hang the wing on its leash and it will hover and await your commands. This is vital when getting up after a crash or starting off. Video below.
- The handles are awesome for allowing your hands, wrist and arms to align during flight and trim - no RSI or uncomfortable positions. (i.e. the wing doesn't fly relatively straight like a windsurf sail, you fly it on many plains and axis).
- The Wing-Surfer is super power, and the power is delivered instantly! The Luff strut reacts to your every trim to not only allow instant power but also instant depower. Luff strut also means you have the ability to partially depower/powerup without backwinding.
- The Wing Surfer has a super direct feel, responsive and immediate. Even with the handles, the wing is at your instant call with no lag or sag time.

I won't say a bad thing about the others, but I can say how good the Naish Wing Surfer is - It kicks arse big time!!

Enjoy,

Ride safe,

JB

Wow.. that hard hey.. So uphauling is that easy..

How did the Duotone compare in weight compared to the Naish?

Similar or noticeably heavier because it has a metal boom?

Good question DJ. It's a telescoping aluminium boom with a big stiff plastic attachment on the LE vs the central strut incl. bladder, hoses, hand straps made from heavy fabric material. My guess is a 200-300gr weight difference.
But what will may more important IMO is the seemly different behavior of the profiles when starting , while powered and overpowered what you can recognise on the youtube videos.

Select to expand quote

Paddlezz said..

DavidJohn said..

JB said..

hilly said..

scubaste said..
Thinking of buying a wind wing thing, question is which one to buy.
Naish
Duotone
Slingshot
If anyone has any feed back it would be great.
Cheers
Scuba

I think only JB has ridden one and he will say buy a Naish
Wait a few months and there will be demos available so we can compare.

I have also ridden Duotones wing, and to be honest it was quite good (not as good as Naish' though).

I am not going to go into a comparison or VS review as it would not be taken seriously anyway given my "bias". But there is some things about the Naish WIng-Surfer that were made quite clear to me after trying another brand.

Please note these points are acknoladging that I am used to flying the Naish WingSurfer, this is the first time on the Foil Wing, condition were really crap, and importantly the leash was not set up correctly on the Foil Wing.

Stand out points about the Naish Wing Surfer.
- The wing is super light.
- Setup/Rigging time is fast, like 20sec. and easy with nothing to attach. Just inflate and go.
- The Wing Surfer in incredibly stable and well behaved on the leash. You can literally just hang the wing on its leash and it will hover and await your commands. This is vital when getting up after a crash or starting off. Video below.
- The handles are awesome for allowing your hands, wrist and arms to align during flight and trim - no RSI or uncomfortable positions. (i.e. the wing doesn't fly relatively straight like a windsurf sail, you fly it on many plains and axis).
- The Wing-Surfer is super power, and the power is delivered instantly! The Luff strut reacts to your every trim to not only allow instant power but also instant depower. Luff strut also means you have the ability to partially depower/powerup without backwinding.
- The Wing Surfer has a super direct feel, responsive and immediate. Even with the handles, the wing is at your instant call with no lag or sag time.

I won't say a bad thing about the others, but I can say how good the Naish Wing Surfer is - It kicks arse big time!!

Enjoy,

Ride safe,

JB

Wow.. that hard hey.. So uphauling is that easy..

How did the Duotone compare in weight compared to the Naish?

Similar or noticeably heavier because it has a metal boom?

Good question DJ. It's a telescoping aluminium boom with a big stiff plastic attachment on the LE vs the central strut incl. bladder, hoses, hand straps made from heavy fabric material. My guess is a 200-300gr weight difference.
But what will may more important IMO is the seemly different behavior of the profiles when starting , while powered and overpowered what you can recognise on the youtube videos.

Not sure if this got answered, but the Duotone is 2.65kg and the Wing Surfer is 2.2kg. The Naish feels tighter and faster to respond as well as having IMO more power even though it uses and inflatable strut.

JB