Is it not a little strange that a heap of brands seem to all hop on these fads at the same time?
It's as if they are all owned by the same people. Or their owners are just using the business as a way to fund or deduct for their "toys".
I think they are mostly after windsurfers and SUP people...
The second is likely to be their primary market, exceeding kiters and windsurfers by large margin.
And yes, most kiters don't think highly of this "novelty"..
It may work for some in "no kite flying" zones, I suppose.. but otherwise.. why bother?
So the motivation is money? Is there really that much of a market for these things? How much money are we talking about? Surely you would wait for someone to go first for a while no? Or is the first mover advantage so big?
It all seems quite weird actually, especially considering how long this idea has been around. It seems quite orchestrated.
Eventually the motivation is always money. However, I do not believe that Duotone or any other company is treating this product seriously. It basically is meant to fill a potential gap in their product portfolio before this gap is even there. It's a race for getting a piece of the cake right now, although everyone is very uncertain about how big that cake actually is or might become.
My feeling is that the wing is currently rather treated merely like a toy than a serious product like kites or windsurf stuff.
a couple of weeks ago we launched the first Wingsurfing related website in the world https://www.wingsurfmag.it (in Italian but we'll provide English translations for all relevant articles ASAP). We're currently testing the Duotone Foil Wing 4.0 with a Starboard Hyper Foil 6'6'' (and Hypernut Foil 6'10'') + GoFoil IWA. Wingsurfing/Foiling is so damn fun and we are very impressed with the Duotone Foil Wing so far! We are going to publish its complete review in a matter of a few weeks. Stay tuned!