longwhitecloud wrote: ↑Fri Sep 11, 2020 6:12 am
...ride in gusty winds or spots unsuitable for kiting, ride more confidently in cross offshore, ride waves with no worries of slack lines, ride waves without needing wing at all - wing out freeride in.
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I am an addicted kite foiler and my wingding skills and experience are growing quickly.
What I quoted above is true. The bits I left out are bollox. There is no way I would give up kite foiling for wingdinging. I have added it to the mix, a) because I can, and b) because there are very real niches that wingdinging can fill. You left out the ability to ride out thunderstorms and squalls with less risk.
Wingdinging is not cheap. Wings are stupidly expensive for what you get and the range of use is not that great. The light wind wingding capability is hugely exaggerated. The huge boards and foils that you need to wingding are very expensive and bulky. My full carbon freeride board and foil costs about the same is a wingding foil setup with a couple of wings, then you add in the board cost.
Setup is not all that quick and easy. The configuration of my kite foiling gear is very quick and easy to assemble. It all fits in the boot of my car. The kite is always dry at the end of a session.
Wingdings are always wet at the end of the session. You can't put a wingding down and expect it to stay there. You have to tie it to something. You can't easily walk to the packing area with a board under one arm and the wing floating upside down.
We are in hard lockdown at the moment. The wingding has been a saviour because I can ride in stupid offshore conditions and not attract too much unwanted attention. The days the wind lines up for kite foiling have been pure magic. So much flow and power and speed. Wingding can never match that.
PS When I go kiting I am always scanning the beach for children, dogs, elderly, people in general. It's quite liberating to just walk onto the beach with the wingding and head on out.