Are monofoils the future of foiling?

[consumer]

The monofoil is an incredible innovation. No doubt will see more renditions and imitators.

Will it make conventional hydrofoils obsolete? Well, last time you were out did you see windsurfers? I rest my case.

[bragnouff]

Why are you reluctant to ride a monofoil? Too experimental? Happy with your existing ride? High aspect foils are your priority #1 re: new gear? Kite foiling is DOA in your books?

To be honest, for me it's COST. Of course I understand all the r&d involved, the difficulty in putting sthg new on market etc, but for me as a rider, that piece of kit is expensive. I can or could buy a full gofoil kit for the price of that monowing, and then I had options to swap a front wing to cover different foiling disciplines.
Which brings me to point #2 is that there's only one size, and it doesn't really crossover with winging or surf foiling. Not as an everyday driver at least.
Which leads to #3, being an add-on to existing quiver. And therefore competing for my attention in terms of usage and gear choice, with already quite a few great options that unjustifiably don't get enough use, like the zeeko spitfires.

That's my take on it. I enjoyed my 30mn of test, it ticked many boxes, easy and all, some wow factor, just as you pitched it, but not to the point of forking over 1k for novelty add-on to my kitefoiling.

[Flyboy]

I live in Hood River, OR, so if you can get a demo unit here, I'm probably not the only one who would be interested to try it (maybe there has been one here already, but I haven't seen it). Like I said, I am unlikely to buy one though, Just because even if it does what it's advertised for quite well, it's not really my primary focus in kiting. Maybe it'd be a good foil (or maybe by the then theT2 or T3) to switch to when I get tired of racing.

I would think that the swells in Hood River would be a perfect playground for the T1, actually.

[leeuwen]

Hey guys,

I have now over 40 sessions with my t1. And I can still not believe how fast you are able to learn new tricks. Especially tricks that a good rider isn‘t capable of learning because you aren’t riding every day and getting money for kiteboarding.

Can you quantify why it is easier and what kind of new things you are learning?
I only had a 10 minute session on a t1 but I would expect the opposite to be true:
I found it very maneuverable BUT I would argue the slower the board reacts to input the better for learning new things.
In general while learning I never think: I am limited because my foil moves to slowly to my input.
At the same time having less, especially, pitch stability makes a lot of things harder to do.

Compared to my 679 the T1 also seemed to need a little bit more power. Slow speed stability / stalling felt less predictable then my 679 setup. I am sure there is some getting used to part of that but it certainly wasn’t obviously better for me at these things.

Of course the T1 is a lot more maneuverable.
I am sure there is a market for that and some other benefits (and drawbacks) but I don’t think it’s a product that will replace the majority of the current foils. I think for that it would need more stability to cater to a wider range of riders and/or a very significant pricing advantage.
I currently see it as something that adds to the spectrum of possibilities just like a race setup. Some will like it but it is not something that’s going to be mainstream in its current form.

[evan]

Compared to my 679 the T1 also seemed to need a little bit more power.

Exactly what I was wondering. The whole wing looks like it should have more drag compared to conventional hydrofoil.

I always thought that the ones riding stables did this because of the extra maneuverability and less drag. But this design looks like it adds more drag than a stabilizer ever can.

So what's the point of it then if it only gives a different feeling but isn't more efficient?

[jyka]

T1 really looks inefficient. But sure it can be agile. It's like sailplane vs. fighter. Sailplane will glide well but isn't agile like a fighter.
I'm keen to test T1 and also others if we got more new mono foils to market. They would be good travel gear if/when they are lighter than classic fuselage-setup.
T1 is still just too expensive for me, I bet gong will beat the price later gong normal foil complete(without a board) is 309€ at the moment.

[joe f]

I am still absolutely loving my T1. The grin factor hasn't worn off at all and I have zero regret of taking the punt on it.

Everyone obviously has their own priorities and I don't think one foil can be perfect for anyone, but FOR ME the T1 ticks so many boxes and I can't actually think of anything that bugs me about it. Easily fast enough for me and the smoothest foil I have ever ridden, which really helps the enjoyment factor. Most of all, they are simply fun, fun, fun. No doubt bettered in specific areas by other kit, but I think they are tough to beat as an allround package.

Definitely worth trying if you can get your hands on one.

[ronnie]

I think you also developed the Crazyfoil canard foil?
Canard foils have some advantages, but their market has remained small - though they can be used for kitefoil, surffoil, SUPfoil and wingfoil. You listed several advantages for canard foils. Surfy feel, tend to sink on breaching instead of nosediving, both wings lift, good stability, manoeuvrable, takes off better and lands better from jumps, narrow wingspan etc. They are not good at pumping or windfoiling.




Monofoils have been around for a while - mostly people using a front wing without the stabiliser that it was designed to work with.




The advantage the Triton seems to have is the adaptation of the rear of the wing to give better pitch stability at the cost of extra drag? If so, then that is a bit similar to using an ultra short fuselage?

It seems your biggest advantage is that it has extra stability - but turns quickly, like any monofoil. The people riding monofoils in the videos above have very high skill levels - the Triton seems to lower the skill level needed.

The Triton design seems to me to have some 'stealth' cosmetics in the design, which could be improved by aiming for maximum functionality?
It will be interesting to see if a monofoil is more popular than the canard foil.

[rnelias]

It seems T1 is trying to solve problems that never existed...

It's a trap for folks trying to innovate in something.

I share the same thoughts of @bragnouff

[Windigo1]

It seems T1 is trying to solve problems that never existed...

It's a trap for folks trying to innovate in something.

I share the same thoughts of @bragnouff

Yep me too. I tried the T1 for 30 minutes it's nice but it's still a foil it's very twitchy that makes it turn on a dime but you loose stability. You are always correcting I'm sure you won't be able to foil for as long since it's more demanding versus a regular foil. I might get one if the price was reasonable but it's not like I can't ride my other foils it doesn't add a whole lot for me.