THE RIGHT GEAR FOR WING FOILING WHAT TO CHOOSE

TOTAL BEGINNER

If you haven't been attracted to board sports yet, but Wing Foiling caught your attention, we have these tips for you:

• Get a floaty and stable board! See below for the right board and foil depending on your weight
• Play with your wing on the beach to get a feeling for the wing handling and positioning in the wind. For the right wing to choose from check out the Duotone Website
• Try foiling separately from the wing. If you know someone with a boat or jet ski, try a session being pulled on a calm day with the right instructions. You start at low speed. Therefore, a well motorized rubber dinghy or even sailing boat already works. Half an hour behind the boat can make all the difference in enjoyment and being hooked on foiling or giving up after trying with the wing straight away and failing.
• When you start your first attempts with the wing on the board getting a ride upwind gives you more space to play and can also be a game changer for your progress
• For tips on Setting-Up your equipment also check out the Duotone Academy APP
• Wear protection (Wetsuit with long legs, boots, impact vest, helmet)

NEWBIE

If you're into water board sports, you have a big advantage over the total beginner as you can read wind and waves and have an understanding for the balance on your board. Even if you're good at the sport you do - you're going to start at Kook-level with the wing. Depending on your watersports background, we have different tips for you.
 

YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN ON A FOIL YET

Even if you feel familiar with the wind and a boom in your hands, the foiling part is something completely new. Nevertheless, with your experience in watersports your learning curve will most likely be fairly steep. So, our recommendation for you is slightly smaller and more advanced gear over the recommendation for the total beginner. Still our advice would be:

• Try foiling separately from the wing. If you know someone with a boat or jet ski, try a session being pulled on a calm day with the right instructions. You start at low speed. Therefore, a well motorized rubber dinghy or even sailing boat already works. Half an hour behind the boat will help you to get an understanding of what's happening under your board, where to place your feet and how to keep the board in flight-mode.
• Once you add the wing, you already know what's coming and how to respond once the board lifts out of the water.
• For the right wing to choose from check out the Duotone Website
• Wear protection (Wetsuit with long legs, Boots, Impact Vest, Helmet)

YOU'VE ALREADY BEEN ON A FOIL IN ANOTHER SPORT, so you know what to expect.

• You come from foiling on a SUP or prone surfboard: You basically just need to learn to steer the wing, as the rest (stance & balance) is pretty much the same with or without a wing in your hands. With this experience you are ready to go.

If you've been windsurf- or kite-foiling, you need to get a feel for a centered stance riding a foil without the extra help for stabilization of the windsurf rig or the kite. To get there, we have the following tips for you:

• You come from windsurfing: Steering the wing will be relatively easy for you, as it's not that much different from catching the wind with a windsurfing sail. Just try to hold the wing at around a 45° angle, with the front of the boom or handle above your head. Regarding the right-wing design, you will most likely feel familiar with the boom system (for the Duotone Slick check out this link) as it feels closer to the sensation of holding on to a windsurfing rig. Your main task will be learning the free balance of riding the foil without the stabilization of the "third leg" (the mast). You can try straight away with the wing but try not to lean back as much compared to windsurfing and to keep your feet and weight really centered over the board.
• You come from Kiting: Many kiters have more problems to steer the wing compared to windsurfers, as you steer your bar totally different to a boom, which transfers the power of the wind directly into your hands. If you can find an old windsurf board with a daggerboard, try a few runs with that to understand how the wing works and how to catch the wind most efficiently to generate drive. Once you figure out how the wing works, you're ready to wing it on your foil!

INTERMEDIATE

You're in this group if you've had your fair share of wing sessions and manage to safely foil along. You make it through your first jibes and tacks on your foil and are already working on different jibe variations or even carving 360's. Now you figured how nice it must be to carry less board around once you're up in the air - and on the beach too ;-). Entering the Intermediate group can happen within days, weeks or a few months, depending on your skills and your wing time.

• Our medium sized Sky Wing  as well as the Sky Free TE or bigger Sky Style TE are specially designed for this group and beyond - depending on your weight, of course. You are already hooked on Winging and ready to enter the next level! To make it as easy as possible for you to further progress, we would like to make some comments on board and foil size.
• Don't underestimate the importance of volume and buoyancy. As an intermediate you're probably following the different channels for wing foiling and some of the best guys are using surf foil boards with under 50l of volume. If you want to step up your game and want to ride what the 'pros' ride, you should consider Wth every liter less volume you will need more wind to get moving. A board that you just sink needs a lot of power in your wing to get up and out of the water. So, a bit more volume will make a huge difference for gusty conditions or lighter winds in general! Boards that you sink need a lot of technique to actually get on them. Most of the guys you see riding surf foil boards are pros or semi-pros in other watersports or foiling-disciplines and are exceptionally skilled. A bit of extra volume that keeps you on the surface can make all the difference! You may finally have a good day on the foil, rather than just sinking and never getting the board out of the water.
• The same applies to foil sizes. Our High Aspect Wing Sets and bigger Aero Free Sets are designed to get you up on the foil earlier, stay up on the foil throughout your maneuvers and make sure you get more out of your time on the water.
• To level up your riding the Duotone Wing Academy App is the ultimate tool!