Wingfoiling will replace kites as the most popular water sport same as kites replaced windsurfers.
Sorta, for the lazy.
I still like windsurfing best.
But I windfoil and sometimes wingfoil.
Kiting for one season, but rocky launched and downwind poles favor windsurfing even over wings.
Hope not. I think it makes average kiting/windsurfing/surfing days super fun. I doubt i'll be on a wing in prime windsurf/surfing days!
I'll drive 2 hours for even fairly marginal wavesailing (windsurf) conditions over winging near home. Although the at home conditions are far better on a foil, either wind or wind.
What the compact nature of wing gear permits is to take my foil gear and wave gear rather than having to choose.
Grant, I think that might be the thing. If you've got both with you, and you are solid at both and can have fun, it'll be interesting to see how many times you rig the other gear up.
Im not sure how this will play out but I will say that the windsurfing guys at our spot do take longer to rig and I wonder if that won't end up being the deciding factor.
Though I will say, in ultralight wind windsurfers have more fun and when short break is rocking I could see choosing a kite. The good news for all is that it'll both bring more people to the water and likely ease the crowds at kite launches by spreading people out. And both kinds of manufacturers will have a new revenue stream. So maybe a win, win, win.
I never windsurfed but kited since 99' and wingding'd for 2+ years. Kiting will always have a place for huge air and freestyle maneuvers that you can't really do with a foil and a wing. And kitesurfing in ocean waves is way more radical than winging in waves as far as cracking the lip with extreme prejudice and throwing mad buckets. I feel more zen out on the wingfoil. For me its just an evolution of sports in my life. My twintip kiting freestyle game topped out a long time ago. I grew tired of going out and doing my same 3 or 4 tricks over and over. Lightwind kiting AKA Mowing the Lawn, gets old almost immediately. Enter the foil. Kite foiled for 3ish years and it completely re-invigorated my desire to kite. I quickly saw the limitations of kitefoiling and tapping into wave energy. The kite never goes away(unless you crash it). Enter wingfoiling. The solution to riding swell with nothing pulling you around that you have to worry about keeping in the air while surfing. I live and wing in Reno, NV where its mountain lakes with decent wind. Foiling totally opened up surfing knee to waist high wind waves. It made it super fun. It is 1man(or woman) tow in surfing. When its waist high(15-25mph wind), I can fly upwind, flag out and ride swells all the way back. This is a game changer for me. As I get better at winging, I am able to go out in lighter wind which opens up a ton of more days. Mowing the lawn on my wing is still exciting for me because its like powder skiing in that it is butter smooth carving for miles. Not sure I will ever grow tired of this feeling. It also goes well with my aging body/knees. And I don't miss all the string and sketchy launch/landings that come with kiting. I spend a lot of time winging at a small urban pond that isn't really suitable for kiting but its 5 minutes from my shop. It has not been good for my business! I haven't touched my kites for 2 years.
Here's a shot of the spot I ride. Take note of the crowd.
Yeah, I didn't mention that our crew here in LA has been riding a little County lake like that that sits in a mountain pass so it gets decent wind when the ocean is calm. Can't launch a kite there. The feeling is pretty great, even if you're just cruising. Well said.
i hadn't even thought about Reno/Tahoe, of course. My wife is stoked by all the vacation spots this has opened up for us. lol
30+ windsurf years under the belt and most of it wavesailing I really like the variation.
I live in the Netherlands, northern Europe, where we mostly have wind generated short period beach breaks I get a bit bored by wave-sailing in anything less as well powered 4.7 as its really searching for a bit of energy in the wavers for a proper hack.On holiday,s in Oceanswell I still love it, but the wing thing opens at home whole new possibilities in what and how the waves to ride.
Conditions that are wavesailing outright boring are now really exciting. Full replacement i,m not sure about, but so far I see the wingthing taking a serious chunk out of my windsurftime.
I can rig my waveboard faster/easier than pumping a wing and assembling a foil.
But like Jeroensurf we mostly have short period windswell, at least it's a reef break so we get some power once its <5m.
That said I'll take the wing over a bump and jump or freeride windsurfing session.
My kiting mates are hardly kiting anymore and just Winging. I still love wavesailing and in good waves and x-shore conditions it is still the ultimate buzz for me. But Winging has taken over for my local conditions which is a lot of 12-22 knot days on flat water or small swells.
I also have a Windfoil race set up with the Starboard foil and 9.0 Severne Hyperglide2 but I find that it is very technical and I struggle to find the time to rig and then go racing or for long upwind/downwind runs. The ease of Wingfoiling helps a lot when you only have time to snatch a short session.
I recently got a 95L slalom board and 5.5 speed sail as doing do much Wingfoiling I miss the speed of windsurfing in high winds!
It definitely has the same vibe as 2001 where kiting was just exploding. I was just learning to windsurf at the time and it seemed like all the windsurfers were turning to kiting and not looking back. I'm stubborn so I just stuck with windsurfing and 4 years ago started windfoiling.
After my 5th session on Winging I sold all my windfoil gear/board as winging seems more fun than windfoiling, I just have a better connection with the foil and swell than I ever did Windfoiling.
I can't ever see giving up wave sailing though, really don't want to be in head high waves with my wingfoil, much rather be able to aggressively charge with my wavesailing set up.
Strangely enough, it seems like the windsurfing to winging skills are more readily transferable than kiting to winging.
DC
With the next generation. People who already windsurf or kite will continue to some extent. But how many kids and new folks will bother to learn those sports? Here on Maui, I'm not seeing too many kids taking up windsurfing or kiting. Everyday I'm out winging I see new people trying out the sport, both young and older.
