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Wing thing any fun without proper waves?

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Bennis123
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Wing thing any fun without proper waves?

Postby Bennis123 » Sat Apr 24, 2021 11:10 am

So I live in Oslo Norway and have a longish drive to the nearest kite spots. I've been intrigued be the possibility to jump in the water with a wing anywhere close to the city for evening sessions after work. But is it any fun without proper waves? We'll get small wind waves here, but how big must the waves be to let go of the wing and surf?

I've found mowing the lawn with kite foiling to be quite enjoyable, but I have to say it looks a bit boring with the wing.

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Re: Wing thing any fun without proper waves?

Postby Peter_Frank » Sat Apr 24, 2021 1:22 pm

IMO it is fun without waves also, different than kitefoil and always things you can try to master.

And with experience you can "surf" even in one to two foot wind swells, so don't let your conditions stop you.

8) Peter

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Re: Wing thing any fun without proper waves?

Postby fluidity » Sat Apr 24, 2021 11:29 pm

For me its about tackling a new sport, designing and building my own foils and seeing what's possible. With kiting through the harness you can litterally harness the full power of a kite moving across the wind faster than you can. The physical exertion kiting is better than sitting in a coutch watching a thriller movie but not by a lot. Winging you can do with 2 wings in more wind range than would take 4 kites. The difference is the foil and your own physical input. When there's a lull and you would be sine waving your kite to capture more wind power, on a wing you engage with your whole body in pumping the kite and the hydrofoil. This is the clincher for me, I'm 54 and I spend a lot of time designing and building projects so I need my sports time to be properly active.

As far as excitement level, it all changes with your level of proficiency but you will never jump nearly as high with a wing as you can with a kite. Waves certainly increase the challenge and adrenaline input, so does moving down in foil size. For me a big part of the fun is my own input to make the best of any conditions be they super windy or barely enough to pump up on foil. Every time you are out in marginal conditions the challenge is to coordinate pumping and gusts and to pump through lulls. The reward may be mowing the lawn, but you had a burst of physical activity to get there and will likely need to do it again soon.

People get poetic about the being up on foil. In my own words, as you pick up speed the first thing you notice is the silence, the noise of the chop slapping under the board ends and it goes smoooooth. With a heavy front wing you will hardly feel the waves but with a lighter one you will tune into the waves far more obviously. This is a rythm under your feet that in time becomes just like the rocking of a boat in the swell under your feet that you will automatically adjust to. Some of the advantages of the foil do come in bigger waves for sure, I can cruise out over big breaking waves easily on my foil with only a 650mm long mast, it's much easier than windsurfing and it's much easier to recover and restart your gear winging than windsurfing when you down it in the waves.

Vs Kiting, there are limited places I can set up my kite and launch, land. Winging I'm catching up on visiting my old wind surfing spots too...

For your local spots with small waves you can make your starting board last longer too, I'm finally about to transition to the sinker board I've just completed, it will have bouyancy 20 litres less than my weight and is 5'6 instead of 7'6
I need this for the waves because the long board sticks out too far in front!

Bennis123
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Re: Wing thing any fun without proper waves?

Postby Bennis123 » Mon Apr 26, 2021 12:26 pm

Thanks for the answers! I'll give this thing a go! Do you think with some kite foil experience one could skip the first huge beginner board? I'd rather struggle a little in the beginning than have to buy a new board half way through the first season.

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Re: Wing thing any fun without proper waves?

Postby AGK » Mon Apr 26, 2021 1:50 pm

Bennis123 wrote:
Mon Apr 26, 2021 12:26 pm
Thanks for the answers! I'll give this thing a go! Do you think with some kite foil experience one could skip the first huge beginner board? I'd rather struggle a little in the beginning than have to buy a new board half way through the first season.
I learned on a 90 liter board (I weigh 80 kg) after a couple of years of kite foiling. I think it took me an extra 2-3 hours to learn to balance on the board on my knees (I'm moderately klutzy), which would not have been necessary on a bigger board. So my experience was that the 2 hours was definitely worth not having to buy and sell an extra board (still happily using the 90 liter board a year later). YMMV.

I also find foiling with a wing to be really, really fun and more of a flow experience than kitefoiling.
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Re: Wing thing any fun without proper waves?

Postby slowboat » Mon Apr 26, 2021 5:58 pm

Lots of fun surfing small wind swell with large, high aspect foils.

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Re: Wing thing any fun without proper waves?

Postby leeuwen » Tue Apr 27, 2021 9:47 am

Bennis123 wrote:
Mon Apr 26, 2021 12:26 pm
Thanks for the answers! I'll give this thing a go! Do you think with some kite foil experience one could skip the first huge beginner board? I'd rather struggle a little in the beginning than have to buy a new board half way through the first season.
I have no clue since I do not wingding. Some videos really stress getting a big board or you will be in trouble but those are usually sponsored.
I would personally try to rent gear for a session or two and then make up your own mind.
Alternatively you could try to setup a deal with the shop where you are buying so you can trade-in the big board for something smaller after set amount of time.

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Re: Wing thing any fun without proper waves?

Postby alowishus » Tue Apr 27, 2021 11:01 am

Peter_Frank wrote:
Sat Apr 24, 2021 1:22 pm
IMO it is fun without waves also, different than kitefoil and always things you can try to master.

And with experience you can "surf" even in one to two foot wind swells, so don't let your conditions stop you.

8) Peter
I’ve always wanted to surf wind swell. It has never been very satisfying for me with kite foil. Maybe I need to give winging a go.

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Re: Wing thing any fun without proper waves?

Postby nherbold » Tue Apr 27, 2021 2:47 pm

Bennis123 wrote:
Sat Apr 24, 2021 11:10 am
So I live in Oslo Norway and have a longish drive to the nearest kite spots. I've been intrigued be the possibility to jump in the water with a wing anywhere close to the city for evening sessions after work. But is it any fun without proper waves? We'll get small wind waves here, but how big must the waves be to let go of the wing and surf?

I've found mowing the lawn with kite foiling to be quite enjoyable, but I have to say it looks a bit boring with the wing.
For some people...philately is fun
There are plenty of people out there saying winging without waves is fun

Only way to know if it's fun for YOU is to try it...
Totally get your argument about it looking a bit boring (I concur) but to each their own.

Let us know your final verdict :thumb:

Bennis123
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Re: Wing thing any fun without proper waves?

Postby Bennis123 » Tue Apr 27, 2021 4:08 pm

I've decided to try :D I think I'll skip the huge board and maybe get something around 10-20l over my weight.

I'm struggling a bit with foil size though. 2000cm2 seems like the recommended size to start. I just wonder if it will be too big on the days we actually get a bit of waves here.

Also I own a slingshot hoverglide setup for kitefoil, but as far as I understand I'll have to swap both the wing, stab and fuselage, so not much to save by keeping everything in the same brand family?


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