Great post Adam. It's pretty rare to read a reasoned analysis of pros/cons from someone who can do both!
That's quite interesting about the positives ... makes perfect sense at Sp Banks/Jericho. I am over there every couple weeks to work at UBC and jealously read the daily reports of midday foiling fun, which is always over by 530 when I can get there. I've tried a few times and swam more than kited. I can appreciate your strategy that you'll try on marginal calls if the consequences are lower. But not for me ... never got good enough at windsurfing for it to be a realistic goal at this point. Though I am intrigued by the surf wings for the same reason....big surf foil with a handheld wing seems like nice potential for light wind play time options.
I'm surprised to hear that windfoiling is easier than kitefoiling. And especially that downwinders are easier. There are a half dozen windfoilers here in South VI, a few in 2nd season that are becoming competent, and few others still in beginner stage. I've yet to see any of them do a downwind turn, much less actually go for an extended downwind run. I thought maybe it wasn't actually possible. So, I expect I'll be seeing more and better action by end of summer season. Or maybe it is they are not yet using the big wings....I believe biggest they are on is the H2. Perhaps I'll loan my Infinity 84, see what they can do with that!
adam2 wrote:
My reasons for giving windfoiling a shot were as follows, many are specific to Jericho/Spanish Banks:
-I got tired of being tortured by 15mph SW/W wind in the evening during the summer that was just too sketchy to kite/kitefoil off Dog Beach after work with a high tide
-No hassles from lifeguards during the summer at Locarno with the windfoil vs. kitefoil
-The Locarno windsurf launch is always deep even at low tides, I don't care about tides when I go windfoiling.
-I can't always get out on the good days, days that would be a swim home with the kitefoil are a comparatively pleasant slog home on the windfoil. I'm more inclined to sail long reaches when I don't have to worry about my kite falling out of the sky in a failed kitefoil jibe
-People are still literally giving away used windsurfing gear suitable for foiling, 90s era monofilm sails work really well for foiling in the bigger sizes. I would not have done it if I had to jump right in to dedicated foiling gear.
-Downwinders on the big Infinity wing are absolute magic, I find a windsurf sail depowers better than a kite downwind as I don't need to worry about line tension to keep a kite in the air. I just flag out the sail and go, it feels like a SUP downwinder.
-While kiting is easier than windsurfing, windfoiling is significantly easier than kitefoiling imho