Thought you guys might like to see some the latest R&D happening on Maui, boom mod to center strut... Took these pics today.. I don't want to say who or what but you can probably figure it out...the bottom pic is a close of the rear of the boom attachment

Wow that's pretty cool

Over engineering at its best handles work and are simple

Coming from a windsurfing background I really like the inclusion of a boom -- a nice compromise to the Duotone echo. The "boom" looks to be made out of carbon. I would bet this is a Duotone prototype -- no need for the line to keep tension in the wing. Keeping it simple is a good idea.

Keep it simple sailer! Think there on to something here, very simple and removable so that wing will really pack down small for carrying or travel,but then you have to find a place to pack a 1m or whatever CF paddle shaft type tube dunno, but for myself sometimes I kinda find my hand inbetween handles splitting em up so a continuous handle does kinda have some merit/appeal at least for me, being a kiter for close to 20 yrs not sure the stepdown stepup reducer in the strut is gonna pan out so well pinching down the bladder seems like might be a weak link there over time, and what's the cost? memories of the old Naish cults great high wind kites but the extra labor time to create the "W" LE was eventually scrapped but had a few years of success,will see thinking outside the box for sure

Why not just lash a paddle on to your handles along the center strut. Might experiment with that on my s1 naish while I am laid up with a knee replacement. Would be useful if you had to paddle in too

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tomooh said..
Why not just lash a paddle on to your handles along the center strut. Might experiment with that on my s1 naish while I am laid up with a knee replacement. Would be useful if you had to paddle in too

I've done that a couple of times and it works well.I just used 3 Velcro straps and strapped it to the handles,nice to have the paddle with you if you're offshore and the wind drops too.Only downside was the paddle shaft rotated a bit , but you could fix that I recon if it bothered you too much.

I'm still learning foiling so not much of an authority, but I'm coming from 30+ years windsurfing so I was partial to the boom idea. I sold my Duotone V1 because it flopped around so much from the dihedral shape, I replaced it with a Naish S25 3.6... intend to get a 4.0 Wasp or the Naish 4.6... I was going to get the Duotone Echo but after someone well connected told me the center strut adds stability and acts like a rudder , I started to rethink the idea of boom with no strut. The HotSailsMaui Hotwing has two small bars attached to a center strut, great idea but no inventory or I would have grabbed one... but here on Maui there is a lack of inventory in many brands because of Covid... My next door neighbor does kite repair, I may do a mod like this...

Seems really short too. I grab the second last handle on my 5 and have used the last handle.