I can relate to this video -- although, not about foiling but rather guitars. I'm age challenged so I rationalize purchases as a now or never thing. When your future is the present you either do it or live with the fact that you didn't!

Do you too have gear acquisition syndrome? What's your excuse?

Click on YouTube to see this video, which has been taken down on other websites.

Yes ... and no. I am getting older so there's no time to waste to have fun. In that context if I think buying some gear will enhance my fun and activities then I'm up for it.

On the other hand, I hate buying stuff and finding that I get no value or improved enjoyment out of it. That's been a problem with wings in particular. I've bought/demoed a few high end wings and found they didn't really offer any advantage over my trusty old wings.

It's a bit of a problem because the local stores don't like to provide high end wings to demo, and I am very hesitant to throw money after hype.

Select to expand quote

Gorgo said..
Yes ... and no. I am getting older so there's no time to waste to have fun. In that context if I think buying some gear will enhance my fun and activities then I'm up for it.

On the other hand, I hate buying stuff and finding that I get no value or improved enjoyment out of it. That's been a problem with wings in particular. I've bought/demoed a few high end wings and found they didn't really offer any advantage over my trusty old wings.

It's a bit of a problem because the local stores don't like to provide high end wings to demo, and I am very hesitant to throw money after hype.

Coming from a windsurf/kite background I made the mistake of thinking wings and board designs matter a lot. The foil matters far more.

No Problem with GAS, just with There is a limit on my budget syndrome......



After buying the last 12 months 3 boards, 5 wings and 3 new foils

Definitely suffer from this.
Love it. Have a bunch of different foils that have pros and cons depending on conditions. Old vs new as well. I've found a lot of the older foils I have that have been orientated towards getting going are still OK for teaching friends, so they still have purpose. Boards are a bit the same. Wings, well if a mate trashes an old wing that's a bit blown out, I'm not spewing. And putting them on a newer wing once they've messed around on the old one gives them a great idea on what the pro's and cons are for buying second hand.

My 2 cents worth....for what it is/isn't worth....it doesn't matter what you buy and the amount you spend, so long as you use it. If you don't use it, get rid of it.

That said, I suffer with buyers remorse almost every time I make a big purchase. Then over time I adjust and start to love my purchase.

FOILING, as addictive as crack and costs a similar amount to maintain the habit!

I've pretty much stayed away from GAS with wings and boards. My 6/5/4/3m SLS Slick quiver and one-size-fits-all 75l Cabrinha Code are actually going on 2 full years of use. I figure not many wingers can say that. I did buy another used 75l Code at a killer price to keep at my daughters place in Australia to avoid the oversize bag fee of our annual visits

Foils/stab's are the one category where I've been guilty of GAS. At least with Gong the net cost (selling old and buying new) has been quite reasonable, and I can actually say that the exact foil set I ended up with made a noticeable difference in my feeble skillset. Most importantly, I remain below the wifey eye rolling threshold.......so far

just stabiliser foils , the foil dealers must know this symptom, cause surely, they shouldn't cost as much as they sell for?
my latest 180 speed fixed the general malaise for near future .

Select to expand quote

Dspace said..
I've pretty much stayed away from GAS with wings and boards. My 6/5/4/3m SLS Slick quiver and one-size-fits-all 75l Cabrinha Code are actually going on 2 full years of use. I figure not many wingers can say that. I did buy another used 75l Code at a killer price to keep at my daughters place in Australia to avoid the oversize bag fee of our annual visits

Foils/stab's are the one category where I've been guilty of GAS. At least with Gong the net cost (selling old and buying new) has been quite reasonable, and I can actually say that the exact foil set I ended up with made a noticeable difference in my feeble skillset. Most importantly, I remain below the wifey eye rolling threshold.......so far

I am way more guilty of G.A.S. than Dspace ... but he did neglect to mention his recent foildrive purchase

3 1/2 years in and GAS gripped me cos I was so bloody excited by the sport!! I can honestly say I don't regret a single penny. At 51 I'm fitter, lighter and happier than I've been for years. I've made some terrible purchases along the way and have lost money. Others purchases I have bought used and 6 months later sold it for the same money. In the last year I've added prone surfing using Foil drive to the mix which has been unreal.

What I have learnt is Hand wings there's marginal difference between mid price and high price wings and I now just run with a 5m and 4m. Very settled on a 1 board Naish quiver 60L for 78kg. I had the previous 75L for a year. Foils and stabs is where I will always spend and update as soon as a new version is released. I can now use the same foils prone and Wing and have 2 front and 2 stabs and keep 2 low/mid aspect for my kids and teaching anyone. I find too many foils confuse things and I like building up Kms on a foil to get comfy.

I really only see big leaps in Foil design and tiny incremental improvements with hand wings and boards.

So I'll keep spending on foils and moderately spend on boards.

* This may make you smile. I had a really nice nearly new posh van. I sold it and got an ok van so I could bag some cash for my foil addiction!! I don't miss my posh van!!

Just let me say my collection of modern and classic dirtbikes has shrunk significantly over the past 18 months ??
Got it down to a "manageable" 5 bikes now

but I've got a garage full of wings, foils, stabs, masts, boards and a FoilDrive

I only have time for one bike (Africa Twin), because more often than not I choose winging or slapping over a bike ride. Thought of selling the bike to fund more gear, but I can't stoop that low.

Select to expand quote

Poida said..
just stabiliser foils , the foil dealers must know this symptom, cause surely, they shouldn't cost as much as they sell for?
my latest 180 speed fixed the general malaise for near future .

but have you tried the 140!? :P

Select to expand quote

AGK7 said..

Dspace said..
I've pretty much stayed away from GAS with wings and boards. My 6/5/4/3m SLS Slick quiver and one-size-fits-all 75l Cabrinha Code are actually going on 2 full years of use. I figure not many wingers can say that. I did buy another used 75l Code at a killer price to keep at my daughters place in Australia to avoid the oversize bag fee of our annual visits

Foils/stab's are the one category where I've been guilty of GAS. At least with Gong the net cost (selling old and buying new) has been quite reasonable, and I can actually say that the exact foil set I ended up with made a noticeable difference in my feeble skillset. Most importantly, I remain below the wifey eye rolling threshold.......so far

I am way more guilty of G.A.S. than Dspace ... but he did neglect to mention his recent foildrive purchase

Very true! In my defense I consider Foil Drive a very different category from winging, ..and I made a deal with the wifey to self fund the Foil Drive purchase with some additional post retirement paid work outside of our play budgets.

Did I mention that EACH annual 2-3 month 10,000 mile trip we make to Melbourne to see both daughters pretty much dwarfs everything I've spent on wing foiling over the last 4 years. Priorities!

Select to expand quote

MidAtlanticFoil said..

Poida said..
just stabiliser foils , the foil dealers must know this symptom, cause surely, they shouldn't cost as much as they sell for?
my latest 180 speed fixed the general malaise for near future .

but have you tried the 140!? :P

incremental steps next step going from blue to red shim on the 180 speed with the ma1000
I havent tried the 140 dart or the 205 surf.
There must be a point where you lose some bite in the pumping by going to smaller stabiliser foils?