This is a DRAFT of winging and wingfoiling - which seem to be hotter topics than windfoiling !! and was I inspired by this page:
https://wingsurfingmag.com/the-not-so-short-history-of-wing-foiling/
This idea started a long time ago with Tom Magruder and his "Wind Weapon"!
Yes, his sail or wing is attached to the board with a "pole" or mast (in 1986?)
I have written about this previously:
http://joewindsurfer.blogspot.com/2014/04/wind-weapon-original-kitewing-way-back.html
The next pic is Pete Cabrinha at the 1980 Pan Am cup in Kailua
- wing designed by the infamous Jim Drake!
It seems that in 2018 Flash Austin made 3.5 & 4.0m² "kite wings" from Naish kites and tried sailing them with a SUP foil :-)
NOT only was he successful, he was doin jibes man !!
... and not long afterwards ... Ken Winner, Naish and Sling Shot got into the "game" and inflatable wings were out by 2019 !! It only seemed natural that the wing went directly with the foil ... otherwise larger wings would be required !! or bigger winds :-(
Okay; so, why am I blogging about this anyway ??
Well, I have spoken to quite a few water-sport people who have gone from windsurfing (maybe even trying wind-foiling) to kiting and then onto wing foiling ... I also had the opportunity to sail with Bert on his Formula board with NS Warp 9.4m² sail , Philippe on his windfoil with medium front foil + 6.4m² wing and me on my AHD freerace SL1 140 with my GA GTX freerace 8.5m² sail.
Philippe was able to keep up with Bert and I lagged a bit behind
- will blame it on me not bein in the straps lol
I went to Sharks in Laval, while the wife was getting an ultrasound = NON, not for a pregnancy check - we are both over 60 lolol. Picked up a pair of RipChord booties and gloves. Also chatted about winging !! They have some nice boards there man !!
She suggested going for the middle size sail first - whether I get a board or not - cuz this can be practised on land - AND snow !! My dream is to be able to go out in any snow conditions!! obviously assuming there will be wind lol
As I started getting "excited" ... I looked up some prices - after calculating my windsurf sails divided by 1.5. Ideally my most used wing would be about 8.5 / 1.5 = ~ 6m². That's in the summer... and in the winter 6.2 / 1.5 = ~ 4m². Even if I was to consider one for the winter; are my boots n skis ready ?? Found a used wing for about $400, but new sails are more like 1K and boards go as high as 2K + foil !!
Switching over would require some serious windsurf sales/sails lol ...
Videos suggest that skis are "easier" than snowboards and suggest NOT in powder :-(
This webpage pretty much suggests I get a 7-oh for snow in light winds !!
