I'd love to see someone do a pocket wing up on a DW board rather than using a paddle. This might be a great safety feature and aid for down-winding. Being able to easily pull the wing out of the foiling equation and bring it back in when needed is a great plus and selling feature.

Interesting idea.

dejavu said..
I'd love to see someone do a pocket wing up on a DW board rather than using a paddle. This might be a great safety feature and aid for down-winding. Being able to easily pull the wing out of the foiling equation and bring it back in when needed is a great plus and selling feature.

There's a video on Instagram of Ken adgate doing just that.

MProject04 said..
I dont see how different this is to a trainer kite for kids...just remove the bar.. shorten the lines and connect two mini bars instead...200 usd instead of 500? Sew a pouch on a belt.. or am I missing something?

Of course full credit to Sam for his trials and innovation!

Yes this thought occurred to me when I first saw the pocket wing a while back. I was even thinking of getting a small foil/ trainer kite and giving it a go. One issue however is that your standard trainer kite isn't designed to be used on water. They have a closed cell and can fill up with water and don't usually have drainage. A single skin like the flysurfer peak could be a good option.
I really like the pocket wing concept but am wondering a bit about the design. Why doesn't it use a typical foil kite leading edge with cells like a flysurfer peak? Surely that would greatly improve upwind. Also he doesn't seem to have a leash? Also is the 2 handle setup the best option, surely you could get it to fly nicely on a single boom/ bar.
one other potentially massive advantage would be if you have the pocket wing stashed away really well in the pocket it would make getting in and out through a shorebreak or breaking surf a lot easier.

Velocicraptor said..
Anybody have experience with these who can advise to the wind range for each size? I'm kind of curious to try one. Folding it up and stuffing it away seems a bit cumbersome though. Also, seems critical that wind and waves are aligned - hard to see it working very well cross grained, but maybe I'm wrong.

I just got one and tried it once. It's a little tricky, harder to balance than a wing and can't really be pumped. I have a 3.4 and was close but couldn't quite get up in about 15 18 knots of wind on DW board and foil. No bumps when I tried, I think I could have gotten up with some bumps. The sock works well, fairly easy to stuff the wing and pull it out on or off the water. It's really compact and light so even if used along with a paddle it should be useful to get offshore to the better bumps rather than prone paddling for 20 minutes.. at least that's what I'm hoping, there is definitely going to be a learning curve first

I was wondering about the upwind ability. But second video posted above sure looks like he's heading upwind at Kanaha nicely...

JonahL said..

Velocicraptor said..
Anybody have experience with these who can advise to the wind range for each size? I'm kind of curious to try one. Folding it up and stuffing it away seems a bit cumbersome though. Also, seems critical that wind and waves are aligned - hard to see it working very well cross grained, but maybe I'm wrong.

I just got one and tried it once. It's a little tricky, harder to balance than a wing and can't really be pumped. I have a 3.4 and was close but couldn't quite get up in about 15 18 knots of wind on DW board and foil. No bumps when I tried, I think I could have gotten up with some bumps. The sock works well, fairly easy to stuff the wing and pull it out on or off the water. It's really compact and light so even if used along with a paddle it should be useful to get offshore to the better bumps rather than prone paddling for 20 minutes.. at least that's what I'm hoping, there is definitely going to be a learning curve first

Great to hear some seabreezers have actually tried it! Definitely interested to hear your thoughts as you get more time with it.
Good to hear that stashing it in the bag works well that could open up another use for it as a form of backup propulsion. If you're doing a long downwinder or going further offshore with a paddle or wing this could be used as a backup if your gear breaks.
interesting to hear this is effective in higher winds only. That makes sense to me as it doesn't look like it could generate a lot of apparent wind or have good pumping. 20 knots is usually when the bumps start to get good anyway so could still be a good fit for purpose. If they came up with one that could be looped and sined like a kite then there would be some really good low end potential.
here is another vid where the rider uses it just to get up and then stashes it away in the bag and has a really good run

DTee said..

Youngbreezy said..

JonahL said..

Velocicraptor said..
Anybody have experience with these who can advise to the wind range for each size? I'm kind of curious to try one. Folding it up and stuffing it away seems a bit cumbersome though. Also, seems critical that wind and waves are aligned - hard to see it working very well cross grained, but maybe I'm wrong.

I just got one and tried it once. It's a little tricky, harder to balance than a wing and can't really be pumped. I have a 3.4 and was close but couldn't quite get up in about 15 18 knots of wind on DW board and foil. No bumps when I tried, I think I could have gotten up with some bumps. The sock works well, fairly easy to stuff the wing and pull it out on or off the water. It's really compact and light so even if used along with a paddle it should be useful to get offshore to the better bumps rather than prone paddling for 20 minutes.. at least that's what I'm hoping, there is definitely going to be a learning curve first

Great to hear some seabreezers have actually tried it! Definitely interested to hear your thoughts as you get more time with it.
Good to hear that stashing it in the bag works well that could open up another use for it as a form of backup propulsion. If you're doing a long downwinder or going further offshore with a paddle or wing this could be used as a backup if your gear breaks.
interesting to hear this is effective in higher winds only. That makes sense to me as it doesn't look like it could generate a lot of apparent wind or have good pumping. 20 knots is usually when the bumps start to get good anyway so could still be a good fit for purpose. If they came up with one that could be looped and sined like a kite then there would be some really good low end potential.
here is another vid where the rider uses it just to get up and then stashes it away in the bag and has a really good run

Hey Youngbreezy. There is at least one pocketwing on its way to Perth, so hopefully be some local knowledge on how it fits into our local downwind conditions soon.

Hey Dtee that's exciting news! Please keep me updated I would be keen to hear how they go with it

I've been playing around with a cheaper 2.5m nasa star, EU based, less than half price, have to make your own handles.
www.born-kite.de/?language=en&cPath=21_23&cat=c23_Nasa-Star--5--Nasa-Star--4--Basic.html

My use case is a single broad reach out to sea on cross onshore days to make a good angle back downwind. I don't think this is useful for safety or upwind, here are some thoughts

Needs lots of wind, 15kn not enough, though it pulls hard

Launching a kite in very confused conditions while sitting is tricky. Easy when it goes right, but not always that easy.

Bridles have a habit of wrapping around the nose of long boards, need to shorten them. Shorter board easier

If the bridle gets tangled, hassle to unwrap in the water, kitemare

Kite is quite slow, tend to overtake it.

Standing on the board with only the kite pulling is tricky, harder than with a wing or SUP in messy conditions, this will be an issue for most people.

I'm tempted by a pocket wing as people seem to be having better luck
Another video of some success
www.instagram.com/p/C9KIAvpo7PA/?hl=en-gb

cornwallis said..
I've been playing around with a cheaper 2.5m nasa star, EU based, less than half price, have to make your own handles.
www.born-kite.de/?language=en&cPath=21_23&cat=c23_Nasa-Star--5--Nasa-Star--4--Basic.html

My use case is a single broad reach out to sea on cross onshore days to make a good angle back downwind. I don't think this is useful for safety or upwind, here are some thoughts

Needs lots of wind, 15kn not enough, though it pulls hard

Launching a kite in very confused conditions while sitting is tricky. Easy when it goes right, but not always that easy.

Bridles have a habit of wrapping around the nose of long boards, need to shorten them. Shorter board easier

If the bridle gets tangled, hassle to unwrap in the water, kitemare

Kite is quite slow, tend to overtake it.

Standing on the board with only the kite pulling is tricky, harder than with a wing or SUP in messy conditions, this will be an issue for most people.

I'm tempted by a pocket wing as people seem to be having better luck
Another video of some success
www.instagram.com/p/C9KIAvpo7PA/?hl=en-gb

Hey Cornwallis, thanks for sharing your experience. Does sound quite tricky!

I imagine the bridles setup on the pocket wing ( or similar kite) would be crucial to how usable it is. how easy they are to handle, how easily they get tangled or untangle, how easy it is to launch and relaunch. Ideally the bridles would be as short, robust and minimal as possible. Colour coding would also be very helpful for untangling. Can't see exactly what's going on with the five O pocket wing but hopefully will get some more info on it soon.


I just got a cheap second hand 3m trainer kite. I will try to rig it with the bridles directly to a bar. Not too sure if it will work as it's a closed cell foil kite and will fill up with water in a bad crash but it was only $50 so worth a try.

I recently received a 4.2 M pocket wing and 2.5, 4 and 5.5 NASA Star 5 wings. Of course as soon as I got them the wind has not been over 10 to 12 knots. Flying them both in light winds I noticed a couple of things. You can still steer the pocket wing when both handles are held together. The NASA Star does not turn if on handles and they're both together. The pocket wing is really easy to gather in and has a really shiny water repellent fabric. I find the NASA Star much harder to gather in on the bridals and does not Bunch up quite as small when it's been done. I found that the NASA Stars were much more steady and easier to turn and place in the wind window and pulled surprisingly hard for the size. I got the NASA stars to use on a mountain board on the beach when when I did not want to be using long lines. The 4 meter pulls hard enough to get me moving on the mountain board in 10 to 12 knots. Based on what I've seen so far it's unlikely I'll use the NASA Stars with my hydrofoil although I will give it a try. The pocket wing becomes much more stable once you learn how to fly it. To begin with I had trouble controlling it and then once I figured out how to deal with it and how to hold the handles it became reasonably stable and again pulls pretty good for its size. I'll be very interested to see if all this holds true in strong winds. Once I've had a chance to try it I'll come back.

You mentioned that the NASA star isn't designed to be flown off the bridles but that's not what it says in the description and in my experience flying them they work terrific off the bridles. The only downside in lulls the kite collapses downward to the ground. Maybe that's what you were referring to not flying well off the bridles . I would expect that the dropping in lulls could be stopped with longer lines . Since that only happens in light winds it's not likely to happen out in the wind you would use on a hydrofoil. Rarely does it drop below 10 knots in those conditions. Now that I have tried them on handles I will only use a bar in the future. I'm going to make a really short one and see if that solves the problem. Then it would allow you to steer it the kite with one hand. No significant wind forecast here for about a week which is always the case when I get something new and want to try it.

Well l find that flying the nasas one handed works fine but not on the bridles as the kite is too close to you so the air flow is disrupted by ones body so it collapses . That is on a skateboard or mountain board not on foil .

Youngbreezy said..

DTee said..
Hey Youngbreezy. There is at least one pocketwing on its way to Perth, so hopefully be some local knowledge on how it fits into our local downwind conditions soon.

Hey Dtee that's exciting news! Please keep me updated I would be keen to hear how they go with it

It's here. Fabric is very lightweight and it stuffs easily into the belt. Hoping I can figure it out on the river before the summer seabreeze starts. If I can get my prone up on foil with it, down winding will never be the same.

DTee said..

Youngbreezy said..

DTee said..
Hey Youngbreezy. There is at least one pocketwing on its way to Perth, so hopefully be some local knowledge on how it fits into our local downwind conditions soon.

Hey Dtee that's exciting news! Please keep me updated I would be keen to hear how they go with it

It's here. Fabric is very lightweight and it stuffs easily into the belt. Hoping I can figure it out on the river before the summer seabreeze starts. If I can get my prone up on foil with it, down winding will never be the same.

Hey Dtee did you get a chance to use it yet? If so how did you go?