After one year in secret development, Gong unveiled its (half-) inflatable foil board, the "Hipe" (to pronounce with a with French accent ;-) )
It combines a rigid large carbon plate for the foil connection with an inflatable body, and folds in a small suitcase.
5'3" x 27"9/16 x 110l
it is an intriguing idea ... great for travel or limited space. I can see this being potentially good for a surf foil, where extra flotation may help in catching tiny waves. iSUPs are POS for surfing, but for a foil, once out of the water the board doesn't matter.
My worry would be stiffness and durability. The carbon plate looks decent. I wonder if it would be better to have the back third of the board be regular board construction, housing the foil, then the inflatable part is the rest of the board above the carbon plate?
Tell them they can send one my way, I'll give it the extra special treatment, see if I can break it -- solid Canadian R&D testing, no charge. 
Now all we need is a fold up foil so we can leave it all setup between sessions. Just pump and go.....
Select to expand quotecolas said..
After one year in secret development, Gong unveiled its (half-) inflatable foil board, the "Hipe" (to pronounce with a with French accent ;-) )
It combines a rigid large carbon plate for the foil connection with an inflatable body, and folds in a small suitcase.
5'3" x 27"9/16 x 110l
Disclaimer: I am a Gong ambassador.
What is the weight?Is there other sizes?
Price/when is it available?
Very interested.
My Naish inflato Foilboard gets here in 2 weeks 
Looking forward to getting it on the water.
JB
At my height my stance will probably almost fit on the plate so stiffness won't be an issue.
Cant wait to see this.
Colas, tell those guys I bought a Gong XL and am foiling SoCal on it thanks to your forum posts.
No details yet on the availability and weight (other than "the same as for a rigid board"). Only one size for now, and only front straps. Info will be posted on their forum and facebook group. Based on the initial reactions, the demand will be huge. As always, if it sells well, it is likely that other models may comes for the V2.
They worked a full year testing prototypes secretly (their boat was useful to keep tests away from competitors eyes), and are so satisfied with it that they have filed a patent for the building process.
On the video I was impressed by the rigidity of the board/mast connection in tight turns. Beryl Bisseau just told me that for him "it was like a rigid board for turning and pumping, and in the waves its behaviour was exactly the same"
Beryl: "turn et pomping tout pareil qu'une planche rigide, dans les vagues le comportement est exactement le m?me"
Surfcowboy, thanks, but my role is just to advise people in general. I have no incentive in gear sales. Well of course, selfishly, I would like Gong to do well enough so that it continues building fun toys for me to buy ;-)
Edit: Patrice just told me: "It's incredible. At 15PSI you cannot feel the difference with a Zuma (Gong hard board). And the shape of the rails allows to fly earlier than a Lemon"
in French: "c'est vraiment bluffant. A 15PSI tu ne sens pas la diff?rence avec une Zuma. Et la forme des rails permet de voler plus t?t qu'en Lemon."
These things look great! Will it have two compartments just in case there is a puncture? If not, you would need to rely on the wing to float everything back to shore. Personally, I'd wear a personal floatation device when riding an inflatable board.
Select to expand quoteJB said..
My Naish inflato Foilboard gets here in 2 weeks
Looking forward to getting it on the water.
JB
Tell us more!
Select to expand quotedejavu said..
These things look great! Will it have two compartments just in case there is a puncture?
No, but I guess on such small boards paddling with half the flotation will not do you any good if you are alone far from the coast.
If you plan to go far from the coast, I guess you should plan for failure, both from your gear and you, and practice self rescue techniques.
Select to expand quotecolas said..
After one year in secret development, Gong unveiled its (half-) inflatable foil board, the "Hipe" (to pronounce with a with French accent ;-) )
It combines a rigid large carbon plate for the foil connection with an inflatable body, and folds in a small suitcase.
5'3" x 27"9/16 x 110l
Disclaimer: I am a Gong ambassador.
Looks awesome! Totally going to buy an inflatable for Travel. New F-One rocket airs look ace too... new 5'4" size is 120ltr.
Select to expand quoteJB said..
My Naish inflato Foilboard gets here in 2 weeks
Looking forward to getting it on the water.
JB
Naish have an inflatable? Tell me more....
And it is now pre-orderable on the site. Planned availability August 10th.
7 sizes to choose from, from 4'8" 48 liters to 7'5" 200 liters
The same price as the cheapest Gong hard construction (wood2x), and a tad lighter.
Two thirds of the price of the high end Gong carbon boards (PVC carbon sandwich), but a bit heavier.
The shapes differ a bit between sizes: the bigger ones are more streamlined.
Note that the resulting board is quite cheap, considering the price of the high quality materials: just the 2.5kg pre-preg carbon plate would amount to about 500 euros to manufacture by itself in small quantities. The benefits of direct manufacturing and sales and economies of scale.
They have more volume for the same length than hard boards because thickness cannot be tapered at the tips. So, if length is important for you (for the row effect for SUP foiling for instance), you may have to get more volume than a rigid board.
Range:
Note: the graph above depends a lot on the level of the rider for the Wing and SUP use.
Select to expand quoteJB said..
My Naish inflato Foilboard gets here in 2 weeks
Looking forward to getting it on the water.
JB
Can you tell us more about this option ?
Select to expand quoteFilow said..
The website has trouble na ? Impossible to connect to some pages
They have just published it now, so maybe you have to retry in some minutes as some pages may be still being updated.
Otherwise just email me (colas@nahaboo.net) or PM me the urls you have problems with to see if I have the same issues from here.
Select to expand quotemurf said..
5'3 7.5kgs hmmmmmm.
About the same as the Fanatic Sky 5 4
Select to expand quoteFilow said..
Clearly heavy toys.
Definitely not heavy for production boards with a stiff mast connection. Just shop around, you'll see.
Be wary of the weights published on web sites, though. Not all brands have an history of posting true weights (or even, like Gong, with weights often lighter than stated on the web page). I was comparing with other stated Gong weights, I cannot compare to other brands.
But sure, there is a reason high end expensive carbon versions will keep existing.
No, you can say it is heavier than carbon boards. That's true.
But a sweeping "Clearly heavy" is frankly debatable, especially if you do not substantiate your claim.
For instance I just saw this week a brand by has just announced inflatable foil boards designed by a well known foiler, without carbon but with a center strip of fiberglass on top and bottom... 9.6kg stated on their site, and the price of a full carbon sandwich board.
Witch brand is it ? I missed this.
what I mean is that gong is making good products for sure but i believe as a standard customer for different brand that we don t need the gong stuff of other brand stuff to be justified on a forum this is just a place for riders to speak about their experience not an adverstising panel
Select to expand quotecolas said..Filow said..
Clearly heavy toys.
Definitely not heavy for production boards with a stiff mast connection. Just shop around, you'll see.
Be wary of the weights published on web sites, though. Not all brands have an history of posting true weights (or even, like Gong, with weights often lighter than stated on the web page). I was comparing with other stated Gong weights, I cannot compare to other brands.
But sure, there is a reason high end expensive carbon versions will keep existing.
Honestly, I don't think it's so heavy for an inflato. Lightweight inflatable SUP boards are often wobbly and tend to be less reinforced and fragile.
I've been using inflatable boards from many brands, like ULI, C4, Naish, Starboard, Redpaddleco, RRD, F-One, Gong...and it depends also of the use of it.
If your goal is to paddle with it, weight is an issue...but if you windsurf/kite/foil with it, the lighter isn't clearly the better !
If you tried one of the nice RRD windsurf airboards, you know that they can get a little heavy, so do the Starboard's.
I'm currently windfoiling a 7'11 F-One Matira with a tuttle box which is a good compromise...but sometimes it can feels a little too light in heavy winds, even if it's not really an issue.
So I'm sure Gong has made some good choices as they have a few other brands with inflatable foilboards to compare with, before launching theirs.
Time will tell ... ;)
Select to expand quoteFilow said..
what I mean is that gong is making good products for sure but i believe as a standard customer for different brand that we don t need the gong stuff of other brand stuff to be justified on a forum this is just a place for riders to speak about their experience not an adverstising panel
My post just bring information, which I feel is needed because part of it is gathered from French sources, and most people here do not read French. I think people read this forum to get information, be involved in discussion, read or get feedback, etc. An new inflatable foilboard is quite an interesting news, as there are not many on the market. As are new kind of fins, new kind of leashes, etc... Gong or not. I will "promote" innovative inflatable boards here if I feel they are unknown, Gong or not, e.g: www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/Review/Inflatable-SUP-with-a-small-tail?page=1
You issued statements about an objective quantity, the weight, so I answered. I wont say that this model works better or not than another one, that's subjective.
Feel free to post info on your brand, just like JB did above mentioning that Naish was also having an offering in the works, which is the kind of info I think people are interested in reading.
Select to expand quotecolas said..Filow said..
what I mean is that gong is making good products for sure but i believe as a standard customer for different brand that we don t need the gong stuff of other brand stuff to be justified on a forum this is just a place for riders to speak about their experience not an adverstising panel
My post just bring information, which I feel is needed because part of it is gathered from French sources, and most people here do not read French. I think people read this forum to get information, be involved in discussion, read or get feedback, etc. An new inflatable foilboard is quite an interesting news, as there are not many on the market. As are new kind of fins, new kind of leashes, etc... Gong or not. I will "promote" innovative inflatable boards here if I feel they are unknown, Gong or not, e.g: www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/Review/Inflatable-SUP-with-a-small-tail?page=1
You issued statements about an objective quantity, the weight, so I answered. I wont say that this model works better or not than another one, that's subjective.
Feel free to post info on your brand, just like JB did above mentioning that Naish was also having an offering in the works, which is the kind of info I think people are interested in reading.
I appreciate colas' posts as a source of information about what is out there. He clearly states his role in the brand and he certainly has the right to give his opinion.
Select to expand quoteemmafoils said..colas said..Filow said..
what I mean is that gong is making good products for sure but i believe as a standard customer for different brand that we don t need the gong stuff of other brand stuff to be justified on a forum this is just a place for riders to speak about their experience not an adverstising panel
My post just bring information, which I feel is needed because part of it is gathered from French sources, and most people here do not read French. I think people read this forum to get information, be involved in discussion, read or get feedback, etc. An new inflatable foilboard is quite an interesting news, as there are not many on the market. As are new kind of fins, new kind of leashes, etc... Gong or not. I will "promote" innovative inflatable boards here if I feel they are unknown, Gong or not, e.g: www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/Review/Inflatable-SUP-with-a-small-tail?page=1
You issued statements about an objective quantity, the weight, so I answered. I wont say that this model works better or not than another one, that's subjective.
Feel free to post info on your brand, just like JB did above mentioning that Naish was also having an offering in the works, which is the kind of info I think people are interested in reading.
I appreciate colas' posts as a source of information about what is out there. He clearly states his role in the brand and he certainly has the right to give his opinion.
Sure I Agree
Looks interesting great for travelling plus I am getting sick of $2000 boards that fall apart and then get waterlogged heavy and hard to dry out. 7.5 kg seems light enough to me and they should be fairly robust.
Select to expand quotetomooh said..
Looks interesting great for travelling plus I am getting sick of $2000 boards that fall apart and then get waterlogged heavy and hard to dry out. 7.5 kg seems light enough to me and they should be fairly robust.
You are buying the wrong $2000 boards if they are doing as you are say.
Our 5'10 x 107L production board is 5.5KG approx and as tough nails won't get water logged and is crazy hard to even put any form of ding into it. ??
7.5kg or heavier these days just for a board that size just sounds ugly and when in foiling the weight of the board can make a difference I would hate to ride something like that.
I was wondering when the Inflatable foil boards would start to show up and it looks like the wait is over.
I was never a fan of inflatable SUPs and to be honest I don't think inflatable foil boards will float my own boat either but for those who love inflatable toys I am sure this will be a must have. I myself just don't understand when you would need a inflatable board for foiling? The boards are already smaller enough to transport in small cars and fit on any planes so going the size excuse just does not seem right, I don't care want anyone says but the performance will not be as good as a hard board so why would someone go this way?
I know why companies do it as they are super cheap to make and can be quick money but why anyone would want to buy one is out side my thought process.
Just my thoughts anyway, I have been wrong before so maybe I am way off on this and they will take off but I hate pumping stuff up after 15 years of kiting and I am happy to never have to pump stuff up again.??
( I am a gong gear owner by the way )
