I think they could be onto something here, could be an awesome cheat code for down winding.
As I said recently in a foiling chat group.
Yes they may help people get started downwinding however that is also nuking conditions.
I'm still on my downwind journey but with practice and the right board, it's possible to paddle up even for an old bloke like me in around 15knots.
Paddle is the way, people have to just commit if they really want to downwind there is no easy shortcut IMO
i hardly touched my wing last season in any real Seabreeze, only if it was too onshore or offshore for the paddle.
This is another slightly longer video where he stashes the kite then deploys it again, it also looks like he might be able to go up wind.
Select to expand quotetightlines said..
As I said recently in a foiling chat group.
Yes they may help people get started downwinding however that is also nuking conditions.
I'm still on my downwind journey but with practice and the right board, it's possible to paddle up even for an old bloke like me in around 15knots.
Paddle is the way, people have to just commit if they really want to downwind there is no easy shortcut IMO
i hardly touched my wing last season in any real Seabreeze, only if it was too onshore or offshore for the paddle.
Yeah I hear you mate but imagine if you could be on a small board and small foil, you could kite your way up wind. Stash the kite in a pocket and foil free downwind, redeploy kite as necessary.
I have been daydreaming about this all arvo and I really think there's something to it. If you had a purpose built pocket kite with a suitable stash pocket it could work well. Something designed to be simple, robust with easy flagging/stashing, a pouch on a belt/harness. In the video the wind is nuking but those small foil kites like the flysurfer peak do generate a lot of power (obviously the long lines help). Its conceivable that a purpose built pocket kite could generate ample power for even light wind conditions, especially if you could sine the kite or loop it like a normal kite. Upwind should be good too. Another advantage would be that when the kite is stashed it would be a lot less vulnerable than a wing not much chance of being damaged by the foil in a bad crash and would probably be a lot easier to get through a shore break. Not to mention no bladder to pop.
Anyway maybe I am just getting too excited and overthinking it. Although it was only a few years ago we saw the first video of Flash Austin wingfoiling with a small hand made wing, at that time it was only possible in nuking winds and not great upwind, look where it is now!
Obviously not saying this is the next wingfoiling as it has a much more limited range of usefulness but for the upwinding downwinding I am usually doing it could work great.
www.instagram.com/reel/CvAE0viLGWw/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Things are heating up in the pocket wing department!
The inventor is Sam Reynolds @samnokaoi on instagram. The pocket wings he is using are his own prototypes, he will be putting them into production in the near future.
Pretty cool!
They are going to be produced by Five0 wind sports in Maui. Producers of the Dynamo wing.
Easy enough to make yourself. Have a mate who uses these backcountry skiing. fits in the pocket and surprisingly grunty.
pdj.home.xs4all.nl/nasaplan.htm
