Hey Peter,
Time to quit pontificating and just get some gear and go for it!!
If you want a decent performing low cost foil just to give it a try, I’d highly recommend the Gong XL pro with the basic 80cm Al mast. It’s 1900 sq cm with reasonably high aspect ratio and low profile (wide speed range and decent turning). I still love mine even though I’ll switch to the Moses 790/1100 as my first upgrade.
Experienced kite foilers seem to be able to start winging on smaller boards as well. I’m just an intermediate kite foiler (78 kg) and started on a 5’8” 114l SUP foil board for winging. Already downsizing to a 5’1” 90l board. My entire wing foil rig (board and foil rig) with the new board and a Moses 790 foil will weigh only 5 pounds more than my 120cm Grove Skate/Moses 633 rig. And that’s for a knee start wing board. It’s not all huge and clunky as some would make it out to be....
Compared to Gunnar and Horst, I’m a slow learning extra klutzy ole guy and finally up to the stage of working on my wing foil tacks. Still in the pain stage of 360’s. I get that it all generally looks slow and boring in flat water, but I could care less since I’m having heaps of fun! Video is the Gong pro XL and the 5’8”, 114l board.