The Naish Wing-Surfer

[Janus]

perhaps we can ad lines to the wingsurfer..

[cor]

I don't think those wings are meant to replace a kite. It's rather a "wind-paddle" for SUP in case there is any wind. But yeah, the concept itself seems to be very limiting. You will probably never be able all the cool stuff that you can do with a kite, for example high jumps or radical cutbacks on a wave.

I also don't think it's really comparable with foiling. Problem with foiling is that the equipment is bulky and that it was very expensive until the big companies caught up. But - and that is why foiling is now trending - foiling fills an actually huge gap with kiting - Fun in lower winds - and also it has great potential for using it in the waves and doing big air.

Those wings however do not fill any gap. It's just a toy for ppl usually doing SUP. But people will buy it now that it's hyped by all the big companies. After a while, when everyone has realised that this concept is even more limited than windsurfing, every wing will be on gumtree and ebay. It will become a niche product though and it will find it's place in the market and on the beaches, even if it is very, very small.

[drsurf]

I don't think some on this forum have realised how big SUP is in many places. There would be 50 times more SUPs than kitesurfers and windsurfers combined on the East Coast of Australia. Anyone can SUP so people buy them so the whole family can use the board. There are even SUPs for hire here that can carry half a dozen or more people standing at the same time Super SUPs! In our small coastal area we even have a SUP warehouse. Man they are everywhere.

Moving a SUP requires a paddle and paddling can be slow and tedious especially if there's wind. This is where the Wing-Surfer comes in, don't paddle, let the wind do the work. I think the nature of the Wing-Surfer appeals to SUP owners as an easier way to move the board, and when the concept is relatively new, it has a cool factor as well. I think a lot of the Wing-Surfers will ultimately be sold to people who will never use them for foiling, just moving the SUP and maybe catching some small waves. Setting up a Wing-Surfer is also easy, not much pumping, no lines, safe and portable.

Now this may not sound exciting to members of this forum but I don't think we are where the money is. Ordinary folk with a SUP are far more numerous and they'll think the concept is fantastic and buy Wing-Surfers as fast as they can be made until the market is saturated. There will no doubt be a lot of marketing buzz around these "revolutionary" wind wings and there will be mass produced wind wings being sold in department/sports/outdoor stores and online for much less than they are currently.

So you may not want one, but your girlfriend/partner might...

[Peter_Frank]

Foiling didn't really catch on at the start. Only when it became more efficient and practical did it start to really grow.

The wings look inefficient and awkward now, but they have room to become more efficient and handle better - and riders will become more skilled, switch stance etc.

I don’t think foiling caught on because it became more efficient and practical. I think it caught on because the big boys like LF, SS, Naish, etc. started making aluminum setups designed for beginners and priced them relatively cheaply.

IMHO, the wings will never catch on. It’s not a problem with the equipment design. It’s a problem with the equipment concept. Why use a wing when a kite is so much more versatile? This feels like a step back, and my prediction is that the brands pushing it will drop it in short order.

True, it could very likely be a bus heading for a dead end

Peter

[junebug]

I don't think some on this forum have realised how big SUP is in many places. There would be 50 times more SUPs than kitesurfers and windsurfers combined on the East Coast of Australia. Anyone can SUP so people buy them so the whole family can use the board. There are even SUPs for hire here that can carry half a dozen or more people standing at the same time Super SUPs! In our small coastal area we even have a SUP warehouse. Man they are everywhere.

Moving a SUP requires a paddle and paddling can be slow and tedious especially if there's wind. This is where the Wing-Surfer comes in, don't paddle, let the wind do the work. I think the nature of the Wing-Surfer appeals to SUP owners as an easier way to move the board, and when the concept is relatively new, it has a cool factor as well. I think a lot of the Wing-Surfers will ultimately be sold to people who will never use them for foiling, just moving the SUP and maybe catching some small waves. Setting up a Wing-Surfer is also easy, not much pumping, no lines, safe and portable.

Now this may not sound exciting to members of this forum but I don't think we are where the money is. Ordinary folk with a SUP are far more numerous and they'll think the concept is fantastic and buy Wing-Surfers as fast as they can be made until the market is saturated. There will no doubt be a lot of marketing buzz around these "revolutionary" wind wings and there will be mass produced wind wings being sold in department/sports/outdoor stores and online for much less than they are currently.

So you may not want one, but your girlfriend/partner might...

I’ve been wrong before and I will be wrong again but I just don’t see hoards of recreational SUPers buying this thing so they can putter around in chop on windy days.

[Peter_Frank]

Must say I don't believe in it either, eventhough the big brands do

But let's see, either the wrong bus, or the right one.

Peter

[Kitenuovoman]

Wow i Remember the fantastic innovation of Google glass... super success

[juandesooka]

The Tut-Tutting on here reminds me of the reaction of the foil race community when Liquid Force released its inexpensive "fun" foil aimed at the intermediate recreational market. The shock, horror, and disgust, "who would ever want such a POS heavy slow foil" etc. See where the market ended up, and notice most of the haters from that era have now crawled back into their caves and shut up about it. Because the fun won out over the perceived "cool".

Kiting is super fun. But in some situations it is limiting and limited. Same for windsurfing. Same for SUP and same for SUP foiling. If you want to focus on the negatives, you can pick apart the lame aspects of all of these -- and always mindful that the haters in the other tribes are skewering what you do just as effectively as you are skewering them. Think you're pretty cool on that kite foil? Have a look at the comments on any kite / foil post on Instagram's Kook of the Day if you want to see just how "rad" the surfing community thinks kiting and foiling are.

For all the talk on this forum about kite "surfing" in waves....I've been waiting a long long time to see video that actually looks cool enough that I could show surfer friends so they'd understand the stoke. There isn't and likely never will be -- because foiling looks goofy as hell and being brutally honest, most kiters have no idea about actual surfing and it shows. Yet it feels great doing it, we leave the water blissed out even if it looks like crap, and that magic is almost impossible to convey to someone who hasn't also experienced it.

New toys, new possibilities for having fun, open your mind and be open to new experiences.

[jkrug]

the naysayers have these things on ebay before they're even available. good, maybe i can pick one up cheap.

[tegirinenashi]

...there will be mass produced wind wings being sold in department/sports/outdoor stores and online for much less than they are currently...

I assume next spring this wing will be shelved next to $99 SUP at Costco, priced accordingly. Then, I'm going to buy one. To use on a skateboard for crappy wind days.