Do some wing handles cause a lot more pain than others? I'm a relative newbie (~20 sessions). I did not enjoy my first sessions at all, with my forearms hurting immediately, so stayed away for a while. I later had decent sessions with other wings (Duotone and FOne) without any forearm issues, and have reached the stage of controlled flights, some dry (but not foiled through jibes, and having fun winging. Yesterday, I took the same wing that I had used in my initial "no fun" sessions out again. My right forearm started hurting again in no time. There were a few other things I did not like about the wing, either. It felt nervous in the gusts, and even though it has four handles in the back, I could not find one where the back hand was in the right position (that seemed to be just between the handles). I switched to a smaller FOne when the wind picked up, and everything was fine again.

But to my surprise, I woke up several times at night due to pain in my forearm. That never happened with the other wings (or when windsurfing or windfoiling). I think the form of the handles is to blame. The thin FOne handles are fine, and the Duotone boom and Unit handles also felt great, but thicker and flat form of the handles on yesterday's wing seem to be a problem.

Has anyone else experienced similar problems with wing handles, or is that just me?

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boardsurfr said..
Do some wing handles cause a lot more pain than others? I'm a relative newbie (~20 sessions). I did not enjoy my first sessions at all, with my forearms hurting immediately, so stayed away for a while. I later had decent sessions with other wings (Duotone and FOne) without any forearm issues, and have reached the stage of controlled flights, some dry (but not foiled through jibes, and having fun winging. Yesterday, I took the same wing that I had used in my initial "no fun" sessions out again. My right forearm started hurting again in no time. There were a few other things I did not like about the wing, either. It felt nervous in the gusts, and even though it has four handles in the back, I could not find one where the back hand was in the right position (that seemed to be just between the handles). I switched to a smaller FOne when the wind picked up, and everything was fine again.

But to my surprise, I woke up several times at night due to pain in my forearm. That never happened with the other wings (or when windsurfing or windfoiling). I think the form of the handles is to blame. The thin FOne handles are fine, and the Duotone boom and Unit handles also felt great, but thicker and flat form of the handles on yesterday's wing seem to be a problem.

Has anyone else experienced similar problems with wing handles, or is that just me?

Back when I had straps for handles my fingers would hurt for a couple of days, nothing serious, just a dull pain when I tried to extend them out. Now that I have the Slick boom, that problem doesn't occur. Definitely feel more of a forearm workout with the boom but no pain. I usually have to remind myself not to muscle the boom (this isn't windsurfing) and to hold on loosely. So far so good.

I didn't notice such issue with Ensis, GA, RRD nor Ullman Ospray wings, all with handles.

Try relaxing your grip. I hook 3 fingers in to avoid being scrunched up and keep my arms as straight as possible.

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boardsurfr said..
Do some wing handles cause a lot more pain than others? I'm a relative newbie (~20 sessions). I did not enjoy my first sessions at all, with my forearms hurting immediately, so stayed away for a while. I later had decent sessions with other wings (Duotone and FOne) without any forearm issues, and have reached the stage of controlled flights, some dry (but not foiled through jibes, and having fun winging. Yesterday, I took the same wing that I had used in my initial "no fun" sessions out again. My right forearm started hurting again in no time. There were a few other things I did not like about the wing, either. It felt nervous in the gusts, and even though it has four handles in the back, I could not find one where the back hand was in the right position (that seemed to be just between the handles). I switched to a smaller FOne when the wind picked up, and everything was fine again.

But to my surprise, I woke up several times at night due to pain in my forearm. That never happened with the other wings (or when windsurfing or windfoiling). I think the form of the handles is to blame. The thin FOne handles are fine, and the Duotone boom and Unit handles also felt great, but thicker and flat form of the handles on yesterday's wing seem to be a problem.

Has anyone else experienced similar problems with wing handles, or is that just me?

Takuma WR, yes.

You can slide some short lengths of old paddle shaft over longer webbing handles (not as simple as it sounds). Largely solved the (mainly finger) issues for me. The best addition to your kit though will be a harness. If you're up and riding both directions, it's time.

Thanks for the responses. This was quite annoying for a day and a half, but seems to have resolved itself within 2 days. In hindsight, it almost seems like a small part of the muscle on the upper side of the forearm, about 5-10 cm below the elbow, cramped up. Weird. It is specific to the one wing, though. I had no problems in many longer sessions with several other wings. To the great relief of my wife, I finally got my own wing today, a Duotone Unit. Those handles felt fantastic when I tried the wing of a friend before ordering it. No i just have to hope that I don't get the issue with breakage at the handles that some have reported . Maybe I should have suspected something when the price seemed so good .. although not nearly as good as for the wing that has given me forearm issues.

Not sure which wing you are referring to, but the forearms hurting does not sound like a problem with handles, isn't it more like a result of riding with a too powerful or too big wing? With some of the wings you can move your hands further forward or back within the handles and that would change the amount of power you have in the wing, a lot. And with some wings you don't need to grab a handle and squeeze it tight, just keep your fingers like hooks, and hold the wing with your fingertips only. That would also make it super easy to slide your hands during riding, for fine tuning the power you have in the wing during different manoeuvres.

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Taavi said..
Not sure which wing you are referring to, but the forearms hurting does not sound like a problem with handles, isn't it more like a result of riding with a too powerful or too big wing? With some of the wings you can move your hands further forward or back within the handles and that would change the amount of power you have in the wing, a lot. And with some wings you don't need to grab a handle and squeeze it tight, just keep your fingers like hooks, and hold the wing with your fingertips only. That would also make it super easy to slide your hands during riding, for fine tuning the power you have in the wing during different manoeuvres.

The problem happened with a 5.4 wing. I've used an 6.0 FOne CWC that feels more powerful in similar and stronger wind without any problems. I also noticed the same issue twice in sessions that were a year or more apart (I rarely used the 5.4). So it definitely seems handle-specific.
You image actually shows how I think I held the problem wing. The handle is thin but relatively wide, so I could not bend my fingers around it; with other wings, I can, and the finger position is more similar to holding a boom, which I'm used to. Having to leave the fingers more open means the muscles remained more extended, which perhaps caused the problem. Or it could be something like the muscle or tendon rubbing on the bone underneath it, which does not happen with a more closed grip.

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boardsurfr said..

Taavi said..
Not sure which wing you are referring to, but the forearms hurting does not sound like a problem with handles, isn't it more like a result of riding with a too powerful or too big wing? With some of the wings you can move your hands further forward or back within the handles and that would change the amount of power you have in the wing, a lot. And with some wings you don't need to grab a handle and squeeze it tight, just keep your fingers like hooks, and hold the wing with your fingertips only. That would also make it super easy to slide your hands during riding, for fine tuning the power you have in the wing during different manoeuvres.

The problem happened with a 5.4 wing. I've used an 6.0 FOne CWC that feels more powerful in similar and stronger wind without any problems. I also noticed the same issue twice in sessions that were a year or more apart (I rarely used the 5.4). So it definitely seems handle-specific.
You image actually shows how I think I held the problem wing. The handle is thin but relatively wide, so I could not bend my fingers around it; with other wings, I can, and the finger position is more similar to holding a boom, which I'm used to. Having to leave the fingers more open means the muscles remained more extended, which perhaps caused the problem. Or it could be something like the muscle or tendon rubbing on the bone underneath it, which does not happen with a more closed grip.

Yes, could be, we are all different and our bodies are used to a different levels of stress after all. On the wings that I have (Ensis and KT) the handles are narrow and it would be easy to have fingers around the handles, yet at least with these wings I find it unnecessary. The hook method works much better for me - gives the precision and fingertip control and I feel better what the wing does. Love the feedback that the sail / wing gives both while wave windsurfing and winging. Only when jumping I grab the handles more tightly.

For me the problem with forearms starting to hurt only comes when being totally overpowered. Once moving the front hand further forward would no longer take the excess power out of the wing it's time to change to a smaller one. BTW, some wings do remain less powerful even in "overpower" conditions. And one wing with a smaller area can easily be more powerful than another model with more m2.

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Taavi said..
And one wing with a smaller area can easily be more powerful than another model with more m2.

Certainly true. But the 6.0 F One wing I used is a Strike CWC, which often is called quite powerful by more experienced wingers. I have not heard the same about the 5.4 I'm using. I don't want to mention the brand, though, because this is probably a personal thing. That said, the newest version of this wing has very different handles.

Its not just handle shape, but also handle placement which might be to blame. A lot of wing brands didnt actually put much thought in placement and just slapped a couple handles on it for the first (few) iterations of their wing. I know the F-One is meticulously balanced, and for the duotone ofcourse the boom allows you to find the exact balance point. If the handles arent balanced right the force on one of the hands becomes far greater.

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WhiteofHeart said..
Its not just handle shape, but also handle placement which might be to blame.

Good point. The wing has very narrow handles that do not allow moving the hands in the handle by more than a cm or so. That puts the front hand in a rather fixed position. The back has 4 handles right next to each other, but I always felt that my back hand should have been right between the 2nd and 3rd handle. Seeing that they now changed to 2 long handles, I bet I am not the only one who wanted to place the hand somewhere were they could not.