With new free-ride windfoil boards becoming scarce, I thought it worth exploring whether a 2023 high-volume wing board could be adapted successfully for windfoiling.
Wing boards can be much less expensive than windfoil boards.

Questions;
Are wing boards built tough enough
Are the strap plugs useable
Is the deck profile and bottom rocker ok
Is the foil box too far forward
Is it a giant hassle to install a mast-base
???

Tested for 2 sessions so far
1st in 15 knots gusty offshore on the ocean - wasn't great, a few nice flights and a couple of wave rides but a lot of groveling trying to get flying in the messy swells - not used to balancing the no-nose after a year or so on a longer nose board and I couldn't deal with the inboard front straps.

2nd session 30-37 knot storm on the river was much better - I moved the front footstraps out and back.
Took off the rear straps to see if I could wedge my foot against the deck pad - worked ok sometimes but I think I will reinstall the half straps,
Had the foil-mast an inch too forward which created too much lift so my stance was mostly forward - I can still move the foil-mast 2 inches back so optimistic I can get the setup completely dialed in soon.

Stoked with the light weight of the board - just over 7 kgs
The slight concave deck is fine
Mast-base position is good
Simple flat bottom of the board and hard rails helps release well for a short board
Construction of the deck seems good - divinycell composite (not sure about the bottom)

Starting this thread to gather insights and ideas on potential modifications and for others to share any similar conversions - I don't have all the answers
Encouraging others to have a go - it's not hard to install a mast-base.

Who cares if the foiling brands don't realize how epic freeride windfoiling is - we can do our own thing



New 2023 X Winger 5ft 7ins, 28.5 ins, 115L Pro construction - just over $1k

Awesome JJ. I'm guessing all the wingboards have tracks further forward than windfoil?.

When I had this made, part of the brief was to take elements from his wing board shapes. It works, essentially a wing board with mast track and better strap placement....

Looks great. (Hope it lasts.)

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BullroarerTook said..
Looks great. (Hope it lasts.)

Had it over a year, plenty of hits....going strong

Interesting topic!!!!

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Mr Keen said..

BullroarerTook said..
Looks great. (Hope it lasts.)

Had it over a year, plenty of hits....going strong

I know yours has lasted, I was talking about Azimuth's.

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Mr Keen said..
When I had this made, part of the brief was to take elements from his wing board shapes. It works, essentially a wing board with mast track and better strap placement....

I have something very similar, essentially a wingboard with mast track, windfoil footstraps and a deep tuttle box.

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BullroarerTook said..

Mr Keen said..

BullroarerTook said..
Looks great. (Hope it lasts.)

Had it over a year, plenty of hits....going strong

I know yours has lasted, I was talking about Azimuth's.

My mistake
The deck and sail mast track would be my concern

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Eugenius 2.0 said..

Mr Keen said..
When I had this made, part of the brief was to take elements from his wing board shapes. It works, essentially a wing board with mast track and better strap placement....

I have something very similar, essentially a wingboard with mast track, windfoil footstraps and a deep tuttle box.

Nice Newind was also a reference when Mitch built mine

Nice one JJ, I converted a Kite Race board about 4 years ago, brand new with a board bag $400 delivered from Sydney??
Dropped a mast track in & connected it through the hull to the bottom of the board for extra strength.
Only had it out a couple of times before I left & it's in storage waiting for me to get back.
Back then I don't think winging was a thing so a wing board wasn't an option??

Good topic JJ and that's a cool looking set up! Obviously, I have been influenced by wing and DW boards. The Fanatic Sky wing has always looked right to me. Looking at the pic today it's pretty short on nose volume even for someone with no nose skillz.

Eugenius 2.0 that board looks sic! Thanks for posting, that brand was not on my radar.

Mr Keen your board has been one of favorite design of this new revolution! That pic really shows all the shape in the nose. Any chance I could get a model or drawing? No worries if it's proprietary.

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utcminusfour said..

Mr Keen your board has been one of favorite design of this new revolution! That pic really shows all the shape in the nose. Any chance I could get a model or drawing? No worries if it's proprietary.

Will try find it for you

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utcminusfour said..
Good topic JJ and that's a cool looking set up! Obviously, I have been influenced by wing and DW boards. The Fanatic Sky wing has always looked right to me. Looking at the pic today it's pretty short on nose volume even for someone with no nose skillz.

Eugenius 2.0 that board looks sic! Thanks for posting, that brand was not on my radar.

Mr Keen your board has been one of favorite design of this new revolution! That pic really shows all the shape in the nose. Any chance I could get a model or drawing? No worries if it's proprietary.

Ferreret, a fellow windfoiler who's also on this forum, sent me these photos, and I loved the concept.
I immediately contacted Riccardo, the shaper at Newind, and after agreeing on measurements, volume, aesthetics, and a (very competitive) price, I had the board at home in about 10 days. Superb service!

COMPACT nuggets!

Nice builds!!!

Eugenius 2.0, what are the measurements of your Newind board?
Also, what if the length between the foil mast front bolt and the mid point of the sail mast track? Looks super compact.

Hello Eugenius,
very nice boards, I would also like to learn more about length, width and volume of these. (Talamone is a great place!)
Kind regards,
Ara

I told Riccardo I wanted a board with a volume of about 100L for comfortable slogging if the wind dropped.
The board is marked 99L, but I think it floats a little less than that.
The board is 1.59m long, 65cm wide, and the distance between the foil mast front bolt and the midpoint of the sail mast track is 72cm.

My Quatro Drifter had lots of different ways to adjust the foot straps, so I could use the existing foot strap screw holes. Felt and looked good on land, but was not the easiest to ride. I only tried with a 80 litres size. A slightly bigger one would have worked fine.

Getting used to the board - cheers Mark for the pix

Simmer 720cm wing

It looks great!!!

Love the heavy cut back on the wave face in the 3rd picture!

For those of us running the mast base in a more traditional position, what's the difference in feel and stance?

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Paducah said..
For those of us running the mast base in a more traditional position, what's the difference in feel and stance?

JJ, Are you using your usual sail to mast distance? Can you even get to those dims on that lill nugget?

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utcminusfour said..
Good topic JJ and that's a cool looking set up! Obviously, I have been influenced by wing and DW boards. The Fanatic Sky wing has always looked right to me. Looking at the pic today it's pretty short on nose volume even for someone with no nose skillz.

Eugenius 2.0 that board looks sic! Thanks for posting, that brand was not on my radar.

Mr Keen your board has been one of favorite design of this new revolution! That pic really shows all the shape in the nose. Any chance I could get a model or drawing? No worries if it's proprietary.

Hey mate please don't use one of those SkyWings

they fall to bits on land and are not sufficient for a couple of seasons of normal winging.
i would hate to see you lose your foil

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Mark _australia said..

utcminusfour said..
Good topic JJ and that's a cool looking set up! Obviously, I have been influenced by wing and DW boards. The Fanatic Sky wing has always looked right to me. Looking at the pic today it's pretty short on nose volume even for someone with no nose skillz.

Eugenius 2.0 that board looks sic! Thanks for posting, that brand was not on my radar.

Mr Keen your board has been one of favorite design of this new revolution! That pic really shows all the shape in the nose. Any chance I could get a model or drawing? No worries if it's proprietary.

Hey mate please don't use one of those SkyWings

they fall to bits on land and are not sufficient for a couple of seasons of normal winging.
i would hate to see you lose your foil

Asking for a friend (63 kg) ... how about the Sky SUPs, same issue?

Circa 2019 I tried this JJ on a 6'4 sup.
pretty easy to drop a track in with the right skills.

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Paducah said..

Mark _australia said..

utcminusfour said..
Good topic JJ and that's a cool looking set up! Obviously, I have been influenced by wing and DW boards. The Fanatic Sky wing has always looked right to me. Looking at the pic today it's pretty short on nose volume even for someone with no nose skillz.

Eugenius 2.0 that board looks sic! Thanks for posting, that brand was not on my radar.

Mr Keen your board has been one of favorite design of this new revolution! That pic really shows all the shape in the nose. Any chance I could get a model or drawing? No worries if it's proprietary.

Hey mate please don't use one of those SkyWings

they fall to bits on land and are not sufficient for a couple of seasons of normal winging.
i would hate to see you lose your foil

Asking for a friend (63 kg) ... how about the Sky SUPs, same issue?

If it's the same purple with see thru vector net carbon - very much so
welll - the track install is marginally better but the whole board is very lightweight on the outer lam
if you added a fair bit you might be ok

From what I have seen, most brand use a rather weak layout. winG board don't sustain same load as winDfoil board. Thin, if any sandwich.
Converting is a way to use an outdated big beginer board, or a damaged board. It can be an unexpensive way to make a prototype to experiment some extreme architecture.

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baldy123 said..
Circa 2019 I tried this JJ on a 6'4 sup.
pretty easy to drop a track in with the right skills.

Pete - can you remember how easily it got up on foil?

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Mark _australia said..

Paducah said..

Mark _australia said..

utcminusfour said..
Good topic JJ and that's a cool looking set up! Obviously, I have been influenced by wing and DW boards. The Fanatic Sky wing has always looked right to me. Looking at the pic today it's pretty short on nose volume even for someone with no nose skillz.

Eugenius 2.0 that board looks sic! Thanks for posting, that brand was not on my radar.

Mr Keen your board has been one of favorite design of this new revolution! That pic really shows all the shape in the nose. Any chance I could get a model or drawing? No worries if it's proprietary.

Hey mate please don't use one of those SkyWings

they fall to bits on land and are not sufficient for a couple of seasons of normal winging.
i would hate to see you lose your foil

Asking for a friend (63 kg) ... how about the Sky SUPs, same issue?

If it's the same purple with see thru vector net carbon - very much so
welll - the track install is marginally better but the whole board is very lightweight on the outer lam
if you added a fair bit you might be ok

Will a few layers of glass over the track area help? Not a big winger but no sense in breaking things unnecessarily.