Hi Chuck!
I started windfoiling last June on a friend's rig. Since then I picked up an old 122L 243x73 Starboard slalom board that I run with a Windance PowerPlate and Foil Works foil. It's a copy of the Slingshot Fwind1 windfoil. Earlier this year I upgraded the front wing to a Slingy 84cm Infinity and it keeps me on foil in the lulls, plus it's even more stable than the already stable H2 clone Slingy wing. This was not a necessary upgrade, but nice to have especially on the really light days. With a couple quick change outs of a wing and shorter fuselage I can use the foil for kitefoiling too.
I've put together a Craigslist sail quiver and have ridden everything from a 3.7 in HR to to a 6.5 locally. I have a 7.3 I'm likely going to be using in the summer when winds get lighter. It's nuts that a big board like this would be completely unsuitable with a 3.7 for fin sailing, but was just fine for foiling in 30mph winds.
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
Some of the best days I've had on the water in years have been on otherwise marginal 12-15mph wind days locally. These are now the days I hope for. I've been sailing with a harness from my second day onwards, it just extends my sessions. If anything, I come out of the harness on when overpowered or when pointing directly downwind.
Check out this run from Locarno to the East pilings, I did two of these runs in one session, I wouldn't ever have dreamed of doing it with a fin, I was kind of in shock of how easy it was:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oht_mkItNWII hope to see you out there this summer!