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duzzi said..Grantmac said..
Always fun to watch Duzzi try and talk his way around the fact that foiling is the first actual revolution in water sports for +30 years. Easily as important as the first planing hull.
I frequently think he's DLee with better meds.
But really, what sort of reply is this? You don't talk to people you have not even met this way. And yes, indeed, it is a revolution, and it took 40 years to make it happen. And that, decades of work, is the case for many technological advances. And that was the point about a possible Wing Weapon re-birth. It might happen as technology improves, in the same way that it happened starting from that lovely foil contraption from 1979 with its original windsurf sail!
But I somehow think you are not interested in conversation. It is much more fun to talk trash, isn't it. Still, please learn some manners, and try to keep this forum civilized.
In my opinion, if Magruder's 40 -years-old Wind Weapon idea never took off, it was not because it required an advanced technology, like the one we have to day. Windsurfing did indeed take off , after all, even when windsurfing technology was still in its infancy., with aluminium masts, 20 kg + boards and heavy, low-tech sails..
Magruder's Wind-Weapon idea could have taken off without today's technology. It was indeed very logical, yet it didn't. Why?
The stock answer would be " It didn't work". Perhaps . But then today's windsurfers sail on a wing, which is very similar to Magruder's contraption, except he connected the wing to a mast. It wouldn't have been ( and was not. ) a very high technological leap..
When I came across Magruder's idea, I had a sense of Deja vu, because I have tried Wing sailing myself to quickly give it up due to the difficulty of keeping balance hanging from an unsupported wing. It required the skills of a tight-rope walker. I said to myself" it would be perfect if I could have a mast to lean on..."
I think that people's resistance to change and to new ideas , rather than lack of an adequate technology has plaid a decisive role in the demise of Magruder's idea.
For one thing, very few people have the resolve (and the means ) to to go through the patenting process in order to commercialize their inventions., unless one invests money in marketing and advertising,
Perhaps, short of hearing first hand from somebody who tried Magruder's contraption ( must be an old-timer, like me..,) a Windsurfing wizard can tell me in theory what is the downside of using a wing connected to a mast. Not necessary? Low performance? Security?
Thanks
Francone