Hi, I'm a long term windsurfer and finally took the plunge with wind foiling on a Slingshot Wizard 125, i76 foil and 90cm mast setup in January 2020. I'm totally hooked!!
I'm enjoying foiling so much I'd like to try out another format ... and wing foiling seems a good options as I love the - upwind and then cruise downwind - options on my Wizard setup. I'd be really interested to seem how much more of a cruise you could get going on ocean and wind swell without the weight of the sail, mast and boom on top of the board.
Set up options - (I'm 75kg)
BOARD - Could you foil on the Wizard 125 with a wing? The foil looks a long way back compared to the SUP foils that are more specific to wind winging. Has anyone tried it?
From research if I had to go a new board I'd consider the Fanatic Sky SUP 6'3 - seem like a good package and reasonably priced.
FOIL - All the wind wingers in Perth seem to use 650-750 masts - I've not seen anyone with a 90cm. Any reason why?
WING - I think the Duotones seem to be perfect with a bit more grunt, a boom (similar to windsurfing), and good upwind ability.
If you do wind foil and wing foil ... is there enough separation between the sports or do they cross over too much?
Any input wing foilers, particularly who wind foil, would be appreciated before I decide to invest.
One of the guys at my local wind foils. With the mast mount being so far back, I suspect the swing weight would be horendous.
The fanatic board will be good and you might get a good deal with fanatic bringing out their new range.
The duotone wings are great and you might get some great deals on the V1 models.
I started out wind-foiling with the original H2, i84 Slingshot setup a few years back now. This got me totally hooked on foiling.
The last 9 months i have almost 100% wing-surfed. I prefer the easy setup and free winging on waves and swells downwind. I'll get back on the windfoil soon once winter comes with light easterlies.
Board wise for winging anything less than 6'4" is good at your weight. I think the 125 Slingshot will work but it won't pump or feel that good.
I've used the V1 doutone's and the Naish's V1 and V2. You do get use to whatever set-up you ride regularly, boom or strut. For me I would only use a full inflatable rig, with lots of handles. I just prefer the simple setup. Get to the beach, blow and go. They really do rig up in 30 seconds. Inflatable is a little more foregiving in wipeouts. No hard parts to hit your body or board. My pick of wings are Naish v2, Ozone Wasp, Smik or F-one.
Enjoy.
Swan River, WA 24th May
You could definitely wing surf on the Wizard with Infinity 76. It would likely work better with foil in C position to move lift point forward, then remove footstraps and stand way forward. Now you'd be setup with less nose weight and more SUPish in weight distribution of the board. Quicker, more reactive.
Ultimately use this just to get the hang of it, then decide if you're all in with winging. Then get a true wing board, like Duotone 5'0 or whatever size is close to that. That is the future of winging.
Thanks for the feedback, I think I'll go with a 5m wing and try out the Wizard with the foil in position C. I'm leaning toward the Duotone as the boom will probably bring some familiarity in the hand.
The Wizard might not be perfect but it'll give me a good idea on the setup and allow me to get the general feel for things before I buy a proper Foil SUP.
From my progress over the last 6 months I recon I'd soon outgrow a bigger board and want to go smaller for a more direct feel and less swing weight. Hopefully I can use the Wizard as the beginner board so I can move straight to a smaller board and save myself plenty of cash on the swap over.
