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Faff said..OldGuy3 said..patronus said..
Doesn't matter, everyone will be winging.
Not sure about "everyone". Growth market, promotion, popular trending. Opening up a new population of never have windsurfed people to what we enjoy using a sail. Which is good. Personally wouldn't bother with wing foiling unless I lived somewhere with real waves to surf on a consistent basis. Have only wind foiled once "along side" with a wing foiler. I thought I was relatively slow on a foil. Winger was like foiling with a drogue dragging.
Windfoiling just another form of windsurfing that allows expansion of your skill range. Reduces beach butt days waiting for the wind to build. For those "purist". Saying no is like saying unless you wave windsurf you are not a windSURFER
Wingfoiling is getting faster. It requires much less physical strength and can therefore be taught at an earlier age.
Not so sure, judging by the GPS tracks published around here wings normally stay WELL BELOW 20 knots. Right now my FSW, that typically travels in the 23-25 knots range, and can peak to 27, passes them as if they were standing still. And really, even if they'll progress speed wise, who will want to do that? Anything above 23-25 knots with a foil is very scary, and it is dangerous, something not for a casual sailor!
And I am not so sure about the physical aspect. I see a lot of my friends being completely spent after one hour plus of winging. They do down winders (not sure why) and they are done after a single 5-6 km stretch, something that for a windsurfer is effortless.
Windsurf was pronounced dead when Kites came along. Now around here kites are gone and windsurf is still alive. Maybe this time wings will take over completely but I doubt it. Windsurfs have a lot of advantages: they float, they are very safe, they can go long distance, and they can go very fast. Hard to imagine that they will disappear.