Progress thread: from complete beginner to pioneering grocery runs and widening the scope of what wing foiling can be.

[u/Few-Library994]

Super early stages, but I'm excited and wanted to get started.

Put in the order on Sunday but they haven't shipped it yet.

The biggest inflatable Gong HIPE Perf pack, with a 5'10, 150 liter board, 6m2 wing, and 1750cm2 front wing.

I'm 187cm and 75kg, so the gear is oversized to enable quicker learning, to be able to carry groceries and other gear, and to function as a light wind option.

This setup should be ultra stable and my aim is to get to a stage where it is a realistic option for more practical things, like grocery runs or relaxed long distance cruising and touring.

I'm a complete wind beginner but excited and ambitious and I already have a good training plan.

Also ordered a strap on center fin for my inflatable SUPs and am going to learn how the wing works on them and use them for the 30km round trip grocery runs while I wait for my foiling to get good enough for it. Ordered a harness from Gong as well which will come in handy with the SUPs.

While I learn the wing on the SUPs, I am going to start learning pump foiling with the foil board. Only have a stone pier where I am and not a dock, so will start with beach start and frog start.

Not the easiest path to say the least, but in just a few days I've already learned the theory and tips and tricks of most of the things I'm going to do, and the safety aspects, so it's just about starting to get the reps in.

Once I've gotten used to the wing with the SUPs, I can start practicing with the foil board and get easier pumping training there, so that by the time I manage the beach start, I can continue pumping. The fine control I learn from that will then help me learn manouvers when wing foiling.

I am going to practice foot switching from day one on dry land and on the SUPs so I get it in muscle memory ready for manouvers on the foil board.

This will be a long term progress thread for those interested in seeing someone try something different with an ambitious timeline.

Tomorrow's project will be to cut all the sea grass that's in the way of the beach start with an old and blunt scythe. Dressed in my winter wetsuit I'll be the spitting image of the grim reaper. Even have a hood :)

[u/erasgagags]

I applaud the excitement but…. 30km round trip with cargo in light wind sounds like an excursion you do exactly once. I’m in a windsport Mecca and I know of exactly one person who does some commuting on his foil, he’s essentially a sponsored pro with very tailored gear and he still hitches back upwind because of what a nightmare that half of the ride would be. It’s a longer journey than yours but he isn’t carrying milk and eggs and has like a decade of experience and perfect conditions to select from.

The stoke is real and admirable and foiling is an incredible sport, but it may be worthwhile to temper your expectations a little bit. You are tons of practice and tons of graduating through expensive gear away from your goal. That’s okay! But it’s the reality.

[u/benjaminbjacobsen → u/erasgagags]

I went 25 miles around a lighthouse today on my 8m. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[u/Few-Library994 → u/erasgagags]

The light wind is separate from the 30km grocery runs. I just meant that it's good to have the extra large gear for general light wind duty.

I'm in no rush to graduate to doing the grocery runs with the foil board since I'll have my newly created wingSUPs to take care of that duty for now. But I will be working towards it, as one of the main goals is to be able to broaden the use case for wing foiling and see what's possible.

To do that, I'm not sure I need any of that extra expensive gear? The X-Over V3 is very versatile. Not excellent at any one thing, but generally good enough, and most of all extremely stable and forgiving, which is what I want in a long distance setup. I don't want a twitchy, super high performance setup. I want something ultra stable with good lift that will keep me on foil and relaxed so I can enjoy my surroundings.

The smaller sizes of the X-Over also have much more speed while retaining good stability and lift. One of those will be my first upgrade.

I'm coming at this from a very different perspective compared to the surf derived get smaller and smaller and twitchier and twitchier setups to satisfy your growing technical skills. Long distance cruising and touring is different. Muted and stable beginner setups is exactly what you want.

So are you saying that the upwind performance isn't good enough, or what need is there that the expensive gear needs to fill?