For the second time in 3 years of wing foiling I took a board rail hard to my ribs, this last time I was wearing an impact vest (O'neill Slasher Comp), but while I don't think anything is broken, I've been in a TON of pain, have had to (try to) sleep sitting up, and am not foiling for what seems like quite a while...ugh...

So, what are your recommendations for the best rib protection...I'm willing to put up with some extra gear/fuss/expense to avoid this again...right now leaning toward the wingman bundle vest/harness (despite the $$$$!)...

www.wingman-products.com/product/wing-foil-harness-wingman-vest/

I fully sympathise with you, I did this 3 times last year finally cracking a rib.
I wear the Wip impact vest with thick side padding and if not I would have cracked my rib fist time. Yes all on the board rail, never done this before or since.
Your's is most likely cracked going by the description.
I finally had a physiotherapist check mine who confirmed it was cracked and healing well, all good now.
I've just got to get my shoulder fixed now which resulted from over protecting the rib.

I've also been using the WIP Impact vest and it's the most solid one I've seen at a reasonable
price. The waterman vest looks a step up.
WIPs got a new model of the Impact Vest that's slightly more beefed up but it was a little bulky for me.
in my early days, I was using a mountain bike chest/back protector instead of a vest. That surprisingly worked pretty well although I didn't take any big impacts when I was using it (and I also wanted the safety of a flotation vest so quickly shifted to the WIP vest).

I've done that surfing, it's miserable!

Patagonia used to be the gold standard IMO, but these days there are a ton of options out there. Ion makes a really good production version of the wingman harness vest that has a lot of rib protection (I own one). I think their vest tends to fit a little on the smaller side so you may want to see if you can try one on or order one size up.

As others mentioned WIP has a great line up as well.

I use the so?ruz 50n. Crashed many times, hurt none. It also floats you while not being restrictive and it has mounting for a harness hook as well as a strap on the back for waist leash. Also it has a little pocket where I store a torx tool.

surfwear.sooruz.com/webshop/en/wing-development/4974-lifevest-gilet-fifty-ce-norme-50-newton-1019279018936.html#/2-size-m/11-color-black/1372-thickness-19_mm

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kiwiupover said..
I've also been using the WIP Impact vest and it's the most solid one I've seen at a reasonable
price. The waterman vest looks a step up.
WIPs got a new model of the Impact Vest that's slightly more beefed up but it was a little bulky for me.
in my early days, I was using a mountain bike chest/back protector instead of a vest. That surprisingly worked pretty well although I didn't take any big impacts when I was using it (and I also wanted the safety of a flotation vest so quickly shifted to the WIP vest).

Which WIP impact vest?

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pacoz said..
I use the so?ruz 50n. Crashed many times, hurt none. It also floats you while not being restrictive and it has mounting for a harness hook as well as a strap on the back for waist leash. Also it has a little pocket where I store a torx tool.

surfwear.sooruz.com/webshop/en/wing-development/4974-lifevest-gilet-fifty-ce-norme-50-newton-1019279018936.html#/2-size-m/11-color-black/1372-thickness-19_mm

Using the same and can recommend it. Value for money.

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windsurph said..

kiwiupover said..
I've also been using the WIP Impact vest and it's the most solid one I've seen at a reasonable
price. The waterman vest looks a step up.
WIPs got a new model of the Impact Vest that's slightly more beefed up but it was a little bulky for me.
in my early days, I was using a mountain bike chest/back protector instead of a vest. That surprisingly worked pretty well although I didn't take any big impacts when I was using it (and I also wanted the safety of a flotation vest so quickly shifted to the WIP vest).

Which WIP impact vest?

They just call it "impact vest". www.forward-wip.com/produit/impact-vest-50n/

I have these 2. The black one has side protection that can be removed or added to which I did. The green one has a removable hook which works well. I also use a crutch strap that goes through the loop under the hook looped at the back.

I have the top Impact vest also. It's my second one and it now has decent impact protection on the sides. In between I had the Kompact vest, which I preferred over the original Impact vest for its better side protection and body hugging fit.
I would have preferred the Wing Impact vest, or another Kompact, or the Wing Neo, but I took what the shop had. I've still been able to weave a wing hook into the vest which works fairly well.

Sounds like a bruised rib! Hurts way more than a fractured or broken rib. In my experience an impact vest wont fully protect you against bruised ribs...
Had a recent experience where i paddled over a small wave on my 9'0 longboard jsut before it broke and slapped the water on the other side. Not the biggest impact, but apparently landed just right to bruise my ribs on the left side...

To compare; i've hit the rail of my wingboard with my chest on multiple occasions without impact vest and never injured myself. Guess its mostly down to luck haha! Of course an impact vest will lower the chance that you injure yourself, but its never going to be zero.

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tvesurf said..
Sounds like a bruised rib! Hurts way more than a fractured or broken rib. In my experience an impact vest wont fully protect you against bruised ribs...
Had a recent experience where i paddled over a small wave on my 9'0 longboard jsut before it broke and slapped the water on the other side. Not the biggest impact, but apparently landed just right to bruise my ribs on the left side...

To compare; i've hit the rail of my wingboard with my chest on multiple occasions without impact vest and never injured myself. Guess its mostly down to luck haha! Of course an impact vest will lower the chance that you injure yourself, but its never going to be zero.

I think this is pretty likely on track...my first rib-to-rail was without any protection, it sucked, so I got a vest that had good padding all around with complete coverage...despite wearing that, my second rib-to-rail was worse. I have also had some kind of similar falls that didn't do much.

So I have this vest and I like it pretty well - comfortable and good coverage (but a pocket and hi-viz would be helpful):

I'm a little wary of some of the vests with bigger gaps in coverage, and/or big edges or buckles right where I've had the worst injuries (like that Forward WIP seems to have).

I remain curious about the Wingman stuff, not sure I'll pony up for the privilege of testing it out ...

I like these longer vest since unlike the other short vests , some of them mentioned earlier, this cover whole rib cage.

I tried a Forward WIP impact vest.really didn't fit me too well and it felt like wearing a buoyancy aid..too much going on with it too. It was returned. I'm going with the Slasher Comp vest.I have the version without the lower padding too.you don't notice you have it on. Not convinced the WIP one would save my ribs any more than the Slasher comp.

I've been happy with Ride Engine Defender. Doesn't fit beer bellies very well though!

Mystic here. Very happy with it, but recently discovered it's much more effective when I wear it. Coming up on 6 years of winging (since Sept 2019) and not one serious rail hit until yesterday trying out a friends Zapple Foil Drive trench board in dead flat water. Serves me right!