I'm not sure it would be much lighter. However, some weight isn't too bad when it's nuking with strong sidewinds. Sometimes the wind will get under the nose of the board and redirect your line.

danish said..

foilthegreats said..
Any inflatable downwind sup boards available? Imagining a Kalama Barracuda type but inflatable for easy travelling. Probably would be lighter and offer better swing weight too.

Stiffness is the biggest issue. Had some infltable foil sups made few years ago, and most of all remember the energy which was lost in the takeoff.

I believe the technology has gotten much better over the last few years. I tried to find but remember a major brand launching an inflatable Wingfoil board with the track and stance area being a solid piece for stiffness sake.

Here I started a thread awhile ago on inflatable wing boards , this was pretty well all of them which you could use for downwind . Technology now they are stiff but as mentioned above a lot are a 50% stiff fixed plate and they really don't pack down that well and pretty heavy . www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Wing-Foiling/Wind-Wings/Inflatable-Wing-Boards

I've been using a 4'8 80L Gong Hipe Pro for the last week winging on Swiss lakes. It's got the carbon plate. Hard to exactly compare to my 70L Starboard Carbon Wingboard because I'm on fresh water but gee there isn't much in it. This is a fraction less than 5kg and super stiff, touchdowns are fine and it seems to get up to speed in a very similar fashion to a hard board. Cheap and carefree chucking in the car etc. Cost me less than 700 euro delivered to my mate in Switzerland, for easy travel it's almost a no brainer. Can imagine a longer downwind style board wouldn't be nearly as good as a hard board though.

frenchfoiler said..
Please no, can we keep at least the dw foil pure and far away from inflatable non sense. Sorry but I hate inflatable.

Absolutely not. Why do you care about the construction of other people's boards? Nobody is forcing you to ride them. The only gatekeeping will be from the sport itself, not the cost of entry to purchase an overpriced eggshell board. I can't wait to kook out on an inflatable DW board.

Hmm actually funny you bring that up, used it in Tarifa a few months ago and kinda hated it when it was even a tiny bit underpowered, sold it and vowed to never get another inflatable wing board . It did feel very light though

I believe a inflatable CAN be lighter than a hard board where It counts especially when it comes to long foil boards.

Liter to liter my 5" thick, 5'11",single stitch,130 liter Hipe First is about 15lbs (6.8kgs). No straps light duty "beginner board". So that's light for 130 liter board. But for a 5'11" board it may only be average.
Thing is, probably 70% of that weight is in the base plate area. If so, the swing weight could be much lighter than a equal weight hard board. So if you stretch the board out, and the base plate is the same, the swing weight could be a lot less.

Obviously the shape of a hard board can somewhat equalize this difference like the kamala's low volume nose...

I still don't think id want a inflatable for real downwinding because id want the best touchdown recovery possible and ZERO chance of board deflation. But for lightwind winging or "flat water start" it could be better that a hard board.

Hdip said..
I am sure this is on that MASSIVE wingspan foil though.

Yes, you can see it on the vids: 186cm, as wide as he is tall :-)

Haven't seen any specs posted for this one yet, it'll be interesting to see.

Have been looking at the gong website (and cruzaders) both just before the video appeared and in the days after that. Have never seen details or even announcement on their website. Sure you're not mistaken with the regular Cruzaders?
The rigid's should be back in stock mid-july.

Blog post about the board: www.gong-galaxy.com/en/magazine/news-en/the-cruzader-in-a-backpack/

Decided to pre-order one. Train all summer and then decide about the next step (going for rigid & slightly smaller -or- stick with it because it works just fine for this OK-amateur).

Grantmac said..
Really hoping V2 comes with footstraps.

Each to their own but I know I would absolutely hate to be stuck in foot straps when down winding. There is no way I would take a punt on one without having the option to try first however they would be fantastic for travel if they worked ok.

I'm definitely getting one , I think this is the answer to one travel board that does all , Wing , DW Sup or prone , Surf Sup. My only issue is that fat nose , just wish there more nose rocker in the last 300mm on the under section only . I can see that pushing water in the first couple of strokes IMHO , regardless this is a take my money moment for me. Props to Patrice for always being so innovative.

colas www.instagram.com/p/Cstw_5JoA9Y/
www.instagram.com/patrice_guenole/

Wow that is a big foil