berowne said..
If the RSX or other concept can plane from 6 to 26kts with one board rig and a few fins that would be an amazingly versatile quiver.

sausage said..
I'm constantly surprised that whenever foils are discussed the elephant in the room is always ignored, that elephant being weed. Anyone have experience with even the smallest amount of weed on those things - i assume it would significantly affect performance? That said I suppose they wouldn't be too different to a 70cm formula fin catching weed.

Chris 249 said..
Obviously NP have better links to the IOC than I do, but going from published information it's hard to see why this board would have a better chance of keeping windsurfing in the Games than the current board. Low cost was one of the strong points of Olympic windsurfing; speed has never been a problem. Why will this class, which will require all current Olympic boards to be thrown away and all new fleets to be created, be cheaper? How well will it work in a fluky and puffy 5 or 6 knot day at Olympic lead-up events in Kiel in Germany, or similar places? How will it fit in with the IOC's emerging requirements for less specialised sports?

For all the enormous amount of hype around foiling, it's been enormously UNsuccessful when it comes to getting people on the water. The foiling America's Cup attracted the smallest field for about 50 years (apart from the D.O.G. matches, which also involved fast cats). The British kitefoiling champs had just 4 locals. Foilers of all types (cats, Moths, kites) attracted something like 60 sailors to British nationals, out of a total of about 3000 sailors or more who did nationals. The stats are pretty much the same in the USA. After a decade of huge hype, a country like the US gets just 12-14 foiling Moths to its nationals - and all that is after foiling's profile has been boosted by Moths (including the first mass manufacturer collapsing, losing millions) and the 1 billion dollars plus on the America's Cup, including spending millions buying airtime.

None of this is saying that foiling isn't fun, it's just that when it remains such an incredibly tiny sector of the sport when it's been around for a decade surely it should become obvious that most people just aren't interested. When the sport becomes so centred around something that most people are not interested in, it's headed for even more trouble in the future.

evlPanda said..




Haven't hit weed from a foil since about '92.

swoosh said..
RSX is also a horrible mishmash hybrid board that has no real relevance to what the majority of windsurfers do, the only people interested in it are the ones trying to get into the olympics.

swoosh said..well they've been around for 10years+, why don't you have one yet?

I assume you already have high wind gear, so a windsup would probably be better anyway.

*edit* back on topic, foils seem cool, I want one!

but olympic foil windsurfing seems a bit dumb, tho if it works would be epic.

swoosh said..







RSX is also a horrible mishmash hybrid board that has no real relevance to what the majority of windsurfers do, the only people interested in it are the ones trying to get into the olympics.

Aussie moth foil nats just run in Perth had over 50 competitors.

They should probably just race longboards/raceboards in the olympics, at least there are some people sailing those things recreationally, and they seem to meet the criteria for wind range, and are more accessible than the rsx.

Jacko51 said..
10 years how about 30.
www.seabreeze.com.au/News/Windsurfing/Rewind-30-years-and-windsurfers-were-foiling_10500999.aspx

joe windsurf said..
are foils actually faster than "conventional" boards ?
remember seeing AHD foils in videos with formula type board practically passing
somehow I am missing the point - besides the fun factor ...