I know there is a new foiling section , but it's kind of a reverse question.
I understand there are a lot of happy foilers who want to talk about there new expensive toy ,
but,
Are there people out there that gave it a good try and didn't like it and why ?

Why do you windsurf?
Me, from a motocross, roadracing, surfing, and snowboarding background..go fast (to my senses], carve hard, jump high..that ain't kiteboarding or windfoiling.

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Imax1 said..
I know there is a new foiling section , but it's kind of a reverse question.
I understand there are a lot of happy foilers who want to talk about there new expensive toy ,
but,
Are there people out there that gave it a good try and didn't like it and why ?

Dont know about not liking it, but i know windsurfers who tried it and werent completely fascinated by it.

I like it because its a new learning curve. But the reality is its not as fast (i dont think it ever will be) as normal windsurfing.

I'm kind of interested like a lot of us would be , but would it get boring after the initial flying sensation ? I understand the slightly lighter wind thing but I have a raceboard that happily planes in even lighter wind ( although not as fast ) . When I watch foiling, it doesn't seem that exciting standing so rigid and silent.

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Imax1 said..
I'm kind of interested like a lot of us would be , but would it get boring after the initial flying sensation ? I understand the slightly lighter wind thing but I have a raceboard that happily planes in even lighter wind ( although not as fast ) . When I watch foiling, it doesn't seem that exciting standing so rigid and silent.

That i cant answer.

But the sailors that are doing it over here in WA have all gone "full retard" on it. Most of them dont really do much normal sailing now, from what ive seen. (Happy to be corrected on that) so theres gotta be something past the initial buzz. Some of them are getting quite good at it too.

i think even when youve got to the stage where you can do steady flight, youre still having to make micro adjustments to maintain it, so in that way its more challenging than normal windsurfing.

ive really only just started, so im still living the honeymoon phase.

In WA it's become a them and us thing

Foilers have their own clique and conversation with non foilers is looked down on

At the start,the Darth Vadar brigade were still in to a bit of 'normal windsurfing' but that seems to have changed of late.

Ive done a pysops on myself regarding foiling - telling myself it's too expensive.

It might well be a better sport than windsurfing - just too lazy to find out.

Foiling is great in light winds for me.its throws a different fun factor in to sailing.l took it up for a challenge . I much prefer to be out on a slalom board & a 7 MTR sail blasting in 20 knots. for me that's traditional windsurfing .l don't think l will fully commit to foiling but l find it a bit additive.

Looks to be a lot of $$$$ to find out if its good bad or indifferent.
Boards are not run of the mill, and the foils are mostly (from what I can gather) deep Tuttle design. Be interesting to see if a lot would put out that sort of coin to just find out.

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mineral1 said..
Looks to be a lot of $$$$ to find out if its good bad or indifferent.

Well unless youve got a friend with a foil set willing to let you have a go...

If youve still got a soul left to sell, then i'd say its well worth the sell. I fear there's not too many in the windsurfing crowd with a soul left to sell though.

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mineral1 said..
Looks to be a lot of $$$$ to find out if its good bad or indifferent.
Boards are not run of the mill, and the foils are mostly (from what I can gather) deep Tuttle design. Be interesting to see if a lot would put out that sort of coin to just find out.

Mike my foil was $1000 new and a mate gave me a board, it's doable

I've just started but managed to get my first lengthy runs fully foiling on Saturday, and it's all I wanna do at the moment. I race slalom in summer and have all the good race gear, but right now I'd rather be on the foils as the sensation of flying is awesome. I picked up a second hand set of NP AL RS Flight foils for under a grand and just plugged them into my biggest slalom race board. I'd recommend buying a cheap set and having a go. If you don't like it you can always sell the foils coz there's always people looking to try. :)

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Imax1 said..

Are there people out there that gave it a good try and didn't like it and why ?

I did, tried it a lot and hated it, sore muscles I didn't know even existed, massive stacks, scared like sh!t when it would take off, friends (bastards actually) laughing at me.... could only do it for 30 mins then I was knackered.....
Does that sound familiar ? Just like learning all over.

And now I'm so addicted I got myself a 5.7 (never ever had one) to go foiling in 20 knts....

So worth trying if you like challenges and learning a new sport (for which you have basics)
definitely recommend jumping on a good mate's gear a couple of times.

The thing about foiling is you are carrying a portable 1m wave everywhere you go. On flat water and small chop you can bank and carve and swoop off that 1m wave any time you want. In bigger chop and waves you can add that extra 1m on the top (that's when it gets scary).

The price seems expensive at first, but that's what used and cheap gear is for. Once you get into it then you won't care and the premium gear works so much better. It's not so expensive when you consider you're doubling your water time and probably halving the number of boards and crap you're carting around.

It's hard to learn, but effortless to do once you've cracked it (that's a year or two down the track, not the "I can get up and go along" stage.)

I was tempted and still am, but I thought I'd wait till next season to let the products mature and consolidate a little more.

my only concern is that it will be like my Skiing vs snowboarding experience. I had been skiing for a long time and was competent but then took up snow boarding and felt frustrated that I couldn't do on a snow board what I was capable of on skis and couldn't keep up with my ski buddies.
Then theres the other problem of having to work through the pain curve....

I dont think foiling is a form of windsurf . It requires a foil,LOL, the board is not in contact with the water.

I have not tried it, I have not tried kiting, nor bungy jumping , somethings I feel I dont need to try to know I wont like, like running barefoot thru fire.

When the wind is light my preference is a windsup, sail gently around and look at fish .
ONE indication I see is the growing number of nearly new boards with foils that are for sale. Of course I see a Ferrari or 2 for sale also.

Right now, there's someone sitting in a dinghy, watching a windsurfer go past and thinking, "I'll bet those things aren't all that. The falling, the expense, the bother."

For foiling you need a certain level of skills to learn it properly. Maybe this fact puts off guys that now sell their foilgear.
I for myself am also selling my foilgear, but not because i don't like it, but because i got so much fun, that i invested in my "second generation" board + foil.
I went the crossover board way, using a SUP/Windsup/Foil Board (Custom) and a Manta Alufoil, learned on that and now have a new board (custom again) and a carbon foil (Aeromod).
For light wind it's so much more fun for me than big slalom gear, and i sail a board i also (wave)SUP!
For me there a two "foilmodes" now, more the racing side when i use my (biggest) 7.2 Goya Mark and then the more playfull Freewave mode when on my wavesails Goya Banazi 6.3 and smaller, where i can carve on waves, even ride small windbumps with a sheeted out sail, lilke with my wavegear on a solid 2m wave.
For me foiling is not either/or, ist still windsurf with 6.3 sails and smaller, but it brought a lot more fun and options in my lightwind sailing.
Alex

P.S: If anyone is interested in my 1st Generation foilgear, i'd ship allover europe.

Was Kitefoiling first, the went to windfoiling, then back to Kitefoiling. Found windfoiling big and cumbersome.

I tried it for the first time last month when my friend lent me his gear. My background is decades of slalom and bump 'n jump, as well as kiteboarding/kitefoiling. I am now obsessed with it to the point I went out and got my own windfoil almost immediately, it's all I want to do now. Your mileage may vary!