The million dollar question! The easy answer is to do what you love and to challenge yourself in my view.

Like you I grew up windsurfing buying my first board in 1977. It was a great time as it was the first time everyone could have their own mini sailing boat. With time the sport quickly progressed becoming much more specialised and expensive as well as technical. Kiting was a natural progression and with today's equipment is much easier to learn than windsurfing. The hurdle for most is getting over the early kitemares and feeling the kite without looking at it. With time foiling has really taken over, in sailing, windsurfing, kiting, surfing, sup and now wingfoiling. Foiling is coming along real fast and the equipment is interchangeable with all sports so somehow we all speak a common language and it brings us all together.

These days I mainly wingfoil. It is simple, and I think the easiest windsport to learn. What I like is that it brings together people from all backgrounds and in these early days where we are all on the learning curve, there is an openness to helping each other. It is has a huge wind range - I can get up in 10 to 12 knots and go all the way up. I dont need great conditions and what is normally crappy conditions are great for foiling.

I still have my kites, collecting a little more dust than I would like. Enjoy your kiting, respect other users and remember we are all here to have fun.

You're asking this in the kite forum not the ding forum, so I would expect answers skewed that way.
Based on my observations:

I don't see any need to windsurf unless you already have the gear and the skills and the trailer needed to lug the gear around, and like going really really fast in a dead straight line until you reach some land where you can stop and change direction. Ding is clearly a huge evolution from that.

Ding is the king at the moment. Like SUP was 10 years ago it's super accessible for the whole family and massively trendy. However despite being easier to learn it's not as good as kite foil in almost every situation. The gear is big and heavy in comparison, the fat leading edges look like primitive 1st gen kites. .

Kite is the best wind foil. Pocket boards are superb, having no swing weight allows you to carve around in a way that massive floaty ding boards never will. Feels like flying looking down, just water in front. Having your power 25m above and being able to loop allows you to make the most of better wind than surface wind, and generate far bigger power spikes. Not having your face blocked by a huge sail is so much better, I couldn't handle doing my sport looking at a dacron wall. Tiny light gear compared to two trips to get your ding from car to beach. No leashes compared to 2 leashes to tangle when you stack.

If you live somewhere with consistent stronger wind, large running swell, and a tricky launch spot, and chase pure depowered downwind wave riding, ding beats kite for sure. In any other situation, if you have the skill, kite.

Haven't kited in ten years, but recently I have been getting a bit of a kite itch.

Lots of our flat water kiters have seemed to have switched to the wing, but at our primary wave riding spot the kites remain plentiful.

I think you're right on most points. Kiting in surf in Vicco is the next best (or better) thing to surfing. But getting to the ocean facing coast requires a bit more commitment and a much longer drive unless you live down there, so most of us get by on windswell in the bay.

Wing foiling seems an advantage in unbroken rolling waves way out to sea and in cross/off conditions and ability to fully depower. But most wingers I see just go back and forth in a straight line in the bay, or sometimes try to ride some windswell. I never see them in open ocean beaches (they would get probably smashed by the shorebreak) but would do well in outer reefs or protected pointbreaks (I still don't ever see any though).

I'm told winging is easier to learn, most poleys tell me they're too scared of a kite. Those that kite probably stopped progressing and needed a new challenge and/or were already kite foiling and/or have preference for lighter winds

Kiting imo gives the closest experience to surfing a wave, and you can quickly move around, get close to and turn in critical sections of a breaking wave, smack a lip, drop a floatie, jump etc.

I've been a passionate wave kite surfer for quite a long time, then got on the foil three years ago and used it a lot in waves up until the end of last season. I love riding waves and will try anything to ride what little waves we have here in WA. This season I started wing foiling and spent a lot of time "mowing the lawn" whilst learning and my early attempts at wave riding were tough, I ended up downwind despite being super confident with kite foiling in waves. Like everything, takes a bit of time to get into something so I kept trying as I liked what I saw other wingers doing. Recently it all come together for me and I got the right set up and skills to ride some waves. I'm now hooked and definitely disagree with those who don't think it's close to surfing. I'm my opinion I've never felt more connected with the wave than on a wing foil. With Kiting you're never quite sure if the kite is pulling you, and looping to keep it in the air when on the wave inevitably pulls you somewhere you don't want to go. It's kite first, board second with kitesurfing. Not that way with wing foiling. It's board first, wing second. Connection with the wave is wonderful. I still love a good downwinder on the surfboard, hard to beat, but on smaller days and staying in one spot, winging is way more fun. If you like getting power from what we have in the ocean here is WA, winging is the way to go. My 2 cents worth anyway.

Winging is great if you don't like throwing buckets or hitting lips & you're not dealing with the inside reef at Gnaraloo.

Flying Dutchman said..
Winging is great if you don't like throwing buckets or hitting lips & you're not dealing with the inside reef at Gnaraloo.

Rad photo hahaha
Thats so hilarious its like how kooky kiters made windsurfers look

Theres a ladder dingers and your on the faaaaaar bottom
"Traditional" surfing being ontop of course

NAKA said..
I live in Mid West WA and there is usually plenty of wind and waves. Watching the wing dingers for me looks like their mowing the lawn and emptying the catcher. When you talk to them on the beach they are absolutely frothing and bragging about how exhilarating it is. I'm going to have give it a go, but not before I turn 70 and that's still 9 mounts away.

I like to describe wingfoiling as doing a yoga pose on one foot in 30 knots.
Looks dreadfully boring to the observer.
But to the person doing it, it's anything but static, like most sports, the best make it look effortless (too effortless for many watching).

^^ I'm glad you said that, Mr or Ms Vodka might rethink if they have ever seen aerials like that at Gnaraloo with the kiters making windsurfers look kooky

Cool story. So what you meant was back then kiters made you look kooky.

BTW - GPS Team Challenge that's been running for years.

www.gpsteamchallenge.com.au/

vodka said..
Taught windsurfing for a few seasons matey even built a simulator on some far flung honeymoon island for it useing casterwheels from a stolen office chair from out the back of the police headquarters

Fat cops
broken chairs

The only thing that actually impresses me with windsurfing tho is logging gps runs to compete ona global ladder. We do this with paragliding and rockclimbing the fact that its not done with the other sports is kind of hilarious its not hard all the old men already logging tracks just need someone to throw up a server and battle country to country state to state daily tables etc etc have a squiz
www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/daily-score-pg/#filter[date]=2022-03-29@filter[date]=2022-03-29

If you want a log you could join GPSFormula or www.gpsformula.com/discipline

You all talk like you have never seen what happens when a camera on a tripod gets set up on a kite beach?