Great to hear a foil designer who actually has a technical handle on what is going on 
Trying to make the sport easier through foil design - probably a fairly practical decision, but pretty limiting from a marketing perspective. Pretty much confirms my suspicion that Armstrong doesn't have the best gear for high end riders. Seems to me that a successful brand should have the best performant gear to hang their hat on, but make their money on the gear that everyone can access. I love the quality and the mechanical engineering in the system - just wish they had better wings.
Select to expand quotejondrums said..
Trying to make the sport easier through foil design - probably a fairly practical decision, but pretty limiting from a marketing perspective. Pretty much confirms my suspicion that Armstrong doesn't have the best gear for high end riders. Seems to me that a successful brand should have the best performant gear to hang their hat on, but make their money on the gear that everyone can access. I love the quality and the mechanical engineering in the system - just wish they had better wings.
Haha obviously you have not tried one.
Select to expand quotejondrums said..
Trying to make the sport easier through foil design - probably a fairly practical decision, but pretty limiting from a marketing perspective. Pretty much confirms my suspicion that Armstrong doesn't have the best gear for high end riders. Seems to me that a successful brand should have the best performant gear to hang their hat on, but make their money on the gear that everyone can access. I love the quality and the mechanical engineering in the system - just wish they had better wings.
Windsurfing went down the road of super high perfo, very specialized gear.Did not work that well, then kiting happened of course.
I think a big part of the recent (10years?) boom in surfing comes from the shapers finally understanding that the market for 25l potato chip shortboards is microscopic.
Add 5 to 10l and make them fun in crappy waves and the market becomes huge.
I agree with Armie, this race for HIAspect, thin foils is a dead end IMHO.
Select to expand quotejondrums said..
Trying to make the sport easier through foil design - probably a fairly practical decision, but pretty limiting from a marketing perspective. Pretty much confirms my suspicion that Armstrong doesn't have the best gear for high end riders. Seems to me that a successful brand should have the best performant gear to hang their hat on, but make their money on the gear that everyone can access. I love the quality and the mechanical engineering in the system - just wish they had better wings.
I think " trying to make the sport easier through foil design " sums it up not "trying to make the sport harder through the most high performance foils possible " I'm sure down the track Armstrong will come out with the some competition foils , but I recon Armie is working on making them as user friendly as possible and maybe it's just impossible to make user friendly high aspect foils. Also seems having the "best performance gear to hang your hat on " isn't the formula for foil marketing either,
look at some of the biggest foil makers, Naish, Slingshot,NP etc none are interested in competition performance foils.
I think Armstrong could hang his hat on having the" best surfing performance foils "
Select to expand quotekobo said I think Armstrong could hang his hat on having the" best surfing performance foils "
Yep
Select to expand quotejondrums said..
Trying to make the sport easier through foil design - probably a fairly practical decision, but pretty limiting from a marketing perspective. Pretty much confirms my suspicion that Armstrong doesn't have the best gear for high end riders. Seems to me that a successful brand should have the best performant gear to hang their hat on, but make their money on the gear that everyone can access. I love the quality and the mechanical engineering in the system - just wish they had better wings.
No Idea 
