I for one would rent a different foil brand for a weekend to see how it performs.
In other sporting disciplines you can rent gear, snowboarding, surfing etc
Select to expand quotenorth_kiter said..
I for one would rent a different foil brand for a weekend to see how it performs.
In other sporting disciplines you can rent gear, snowboarding, surfing etc
Na, too much outlay for too little return. Would you be willing to pay $300+ for a weekend use?
it might be a better option than 4K outlay and then selling for 50% loss. Guess I'd want a couple of wings to try though.
Stand up shop in Freo does demos of all their foils. MR kite and sail www.mrkiteandsail.com.au/ does demos. GoFoils are available for demo here as well.
Quite sure if you are a regular customer most foil shops do it.
It would be great to have a test center that has different brands (on a holiday location), especially for the wings.
Go in for a week, try which you like best and find yourself the quiver you need. For foils this would be a bit more challenging because water conditions have a profound impact on the foil behaviour. The front wing that works fine in long period waves might not shine in short period, choppy breaks.
We had some testing events here, but the unpredictable weather made most of them a touch&feel instead of go-out-&-ride.
yes that's a good idea, a test centre with guaranteed wind/waves with a good range of foils and wings to mix it up for a week.
Trying foils is like dating right, the first couple of times is fun, all shiny and new, but then reality kicks in 
Also as mentioned previously having the conditions right when you do demo (if you're lucky enough to)
I do demos of all my foils (have quite a huge collection) for free, but to my customers only, and not to those who ask for advice and get all the details and then end up buying from other shops.
A successful demo is quite easy to do if regularly riding in the same spots as a customer. And crazy difficult if not.
If not shops, I think it would be great if the local brand ambassador/representatives would rent or lend different foils. If I could try a few foils I'm pretty sure I'd spend more money knowing that I like the feel of a foil and have a sense of how much breeze it needs at my weight, etc. They could even adopt a subscription model where you either pay by the month or year to be able to demo as many foils as you want. Probably a pipedream......
This is a great reason to support your local shop and not buy online at the cheapest price. Most shops will allow demos if gear is available, and distributors sometimes do road trips with vans packed with their gear.
Better still stick with brands used at your local, means you can swap gear with others and try prior to purchase. Axis, Naish and Slingshot dominate our local making it easy to swap gear. It also tends to be the gear supported by the local shop.
I'd shipped my gear back to Australia and at one of the local crews had organised a day on the water. They were kind enough to let me use their gear while they had breaks. On the proviso "you break it, you own it"
We've winged together for the last year and wind was probable 10-14kn and I was able to try Schwinn 1400, Armstrong CF1600 and HA925, F-One Phantom 1480 and Eagle 1090. I also used a 6m, 7m and 8m wing during the afternoon. Conditions were pretty much the same all afternoon so comparison was easy.
As it's not always easy to demo gear, it may be easier to arrange something like this locally.
What did I find after trying all these foils?? The gear I have ( Naish ) performs as well as each brand and size I tried on the day.
