156 posts
As usual, I can relate to this struggle...over 25kts and its a full on battle for me.
I also have better success with a more downwind start using wave energy to get me up.
As I think about my failures lately in high wind and big swell, I believe the wind and wing (and how I handle them) are making more of a difference than I thought before...
I want to get up fast so getting to my feet and getting on foil I seem to sheet it too much too quickly, then lean to windward to counter the strong pull of the wing and I'm often done for and fall to windward (I'll rush my foot placement too, which doesn't help). OR, if I stay centered, instead of falling to windward, I get launched (perhaps onto foil, perhaps falling off downwind).
One thing I'm not so sure about is how the swell is affecting the wind in my wing as I go from peak to trough, and how I might need to time/compensate for that.
Also, for me at 63kg, I'm getting blasted off the water even with a 2.5m on big days, and the power is so quickly and fully on/off, I think a 2.0m is the call (which is really the point of all this...justifying another wing).
156 posts
Yes, the trend makes sense for winging (for me)...and I demoed a number of midlengths this summer, including the new one from Armie and it was amazingly good...many of this year's designs have thankfully sought to add some more stability on the water, to help with getting to your feet with a parawing, but that is great for (my) winging as well. I'd definitely would rather have the extra length per volume than a thicker board...for me this is a great time to be in the market for a new board for winging
