coffeeking wrote: ↑Sun Sep 16, 2018 3:39 pm
Not sure if it's a UK thing, but they just don't seem to be common at all - I've seen them all over the internet for years but never seen them here. Never seen a foil windsurfer either. Personally I can see why, we have very gusty wind, most beaches I ride at are rocky or weedy and have fairly heavy atlantic chop rolling in. Horses for courses, I guess.
I am not sure if the windsurfer foils will sustain any growth,
I myself have a long history with windsurfing(1976 to 2000) and have seen all the different offerings and used, abused and raced most of them, but after getting up close to the foil windsurfers and picking them up to look around them and then sailing alongside the same with me on my foil board I have many doubts about their market appeal,
Just trying to get them to the water is a big job, when at Como a few weeks ago I could not believe how heavy the board with foil attached was and how huge it was, carrying it to the water takes two people, and that's just what was happening, then theres the rig to carry in, it really is a problem to get onto the water,
and how you tackle any shore break is a mystery to me, but when they get up and flying they do move along very fast and close to the wind, however turning is slow and wide, and by the amount of failed attempts I witnessed, very hard to do.
I have as yet never watched a you tube video of anyone launching and landing a foil windsurfer, is it because it looks so cumbersome, I believe it may be.
but that said there was one guy on lake Como with race numbers on his sail that was pushing me for speed and upwind angle, but he was always losing out as he was slowing down so much in the turns and in the lulls he kept stalling the foil, and then as the wind kicked back in it was slow to rise again and get back up to speed.
As yet I have not seen any here in the uk, but I have been told there are a few around. one or two in the west kirby area.