After witnessing the winging onslaught in the San Francisco Bay Area I have started to wonder if it might be possible to imporve our beloved "fins". What I think is good about winging is its free-ride appeal. It is slow, but it is also easy and it has a large wind range. It would seem that windsurf development got stuck somehow into high performance ... great, fast, extreme but still with limited range and very hard to handle. Is there something that can be done bring in some new ground braking development?
Maybe fins? Almost by chance I have been playing with very large fins set up with my FSW 90. 25 + 11 sides. with 5.4. That is quite massive at my weight but I am surprised by the increased uptake in upwind and low end. I loose about 1 knot of top speed, but my range of use is larger.
So, retractable fins? Dagger boards are retractable, is there a way to have fin boxes that do the same? Maybe just for the sides?
Hybrid foil-fins? Yes, they disappeared quick, but that might be because they did not show any advantage in racing conditions. Could they work as freeride range extender devices?
Board shapes? A modern 95 can handle the same wind of on old (say pre-2010) 85. Is there something more to do. Shorter, longer, wider in the tail ... whatever! Or shape shifting? Is it so hard to make a board tail that can change shape while sailing?
OR SOMETHING ELSE. I am no engineer. ANYTHING to make windsurfing EASIER AND RANGIER?
Put all the fins on it you want, nothing is going to make a planing board ride open ocean swell or get through lulls like a foil.
I guess the Windsurfer LT / One Design is close to what you ask. One setup that works in a large range of conditions. People are enjoying it. It's not for me though.
Depending on where you live, you can probably get away with one board and two sails on the same mast/boom. You'll compromise a bit but it will be less of a hassle, cheaper, and makes you a better sailor. Not even talking about the "what should I rig" dilemma :D We all started with one rig and board. Then we couldn't get going in lower wind's while others were flying so needed a bigger sail etc.
Retractable fins or other "high" tech would not make the sport more accessible, probably makes it worse as it would be more expensive and not even talking about the maintenance hassle of something like that.
I think you should see wind foiling and more particularly wing foiling as an evolution of windsurfing. Admittedly winging is much more accessible (transport, rigging, range, learning) than windsurfing although I still enjoy the fin so will keep windsurfing.
So my take is that windsurfing is fully developed. There will be small things like auto adjustable extensions recently and some trends like stubby noses or we might go back to long and narrow for a few years just because brands need to change something in order to sell gear.
There's probably no incentive for any brand outside the Windsurfer LT to design a board and sail that works in all conditions as they would sell less as a result.
If people want that, they can buy the LT.
Electric motor assist would seem like the thing everything else has going on.
Just enough to keep the forward momentum on those superlight days or kick you onto the plane on the marginal days ?
Foot button on the deck / push button on the boom or flow sensor in the hull to make it automatic ?
Motor integrated into the board jetski style, so no extra drag from a propellor ?
Must be able to fit an e-foil motor to a fin and give it a go ? Surely somebody has done it ?
At my local we get people using all types of equipment. First on the water are the kite foilers. They only need 6 to 8 kts to get flying. The wing dings and windfoilers are next when the wind starts to gust over 10 kts. The rump of kiters and windsurfers join the fun when the wind starts gusting over 15 kts. The windsurfers mainly use bump and jump gear in the 1m high wind swell with max sail sizes of 7.5. The windsurfers get out about every 3rd or 4th session that the foilers get out. I can't see any gear advancements that would change this ratio.
The big change of lately is the transition by wing foilers to downwind foiling. They get out as soon as there is some wind blown swell.
An expanding and reducing fin. Start your speed run with say a 21 speed fin and as the speed increases the fin becomes smaller ,till it hits cavitation then changes to a cavitation foil. Off you sail to the new world speed record. Sailing back the fin returns to the 21 you started with.
Maybe the same with sails too
The "Tinkler Tail" is an adjustable tail section. Invented in the late '60s for surfboards and applied to windsurfing in the '80s. Rear foot pressure adds rocker for waveriding and the rocker goes away when you head back out. You can use springs of different strengths to tune the feature. Very popular on fiberglass/polyester boards at big wave spots in the '80s, and Mistral came out with a not very popular production version.
Reefable sails such as Multisail have also been tried, and so have retractable fins.
In all these cases you add versatility at the expense of weight and complexity. But I don't think that's the big problem. I think the big problem is that systemically we LIKE having a lot of stuff, and having to choose which is best optimized for the day, and "having" to come in and switch gear when a board is too big or a sail too small. It's our spouses and significant others who don't like it.
I'm a decent golfer (8hcp) and know that I score almost exactly the same when I carry 9 clubs as when I carry the maximum 14, but in a competition I'll always carry 14.
As someone that's recently started windsurfing I think there are quite a few barriers to entry - these probably also exist for winging to some degree. I'm not sure that further technological developments are the main issue.
1) Cost. I spent around $4k getting set up from roofracks/wetsuit/board/sail etc. I can afford it now, but one of the reason I didn't get into the sport when I was younger was there was no way I could justify that.
2) Classes are hard to find. There weren't any classes running that I could find at this time of year. I think some of the clubs run "junior" training but I'm 50 and would feel like Kramer in the karate class.
3) Classes are expensive - $200/hr.
4) Not that many shops locally
5) Too many different types of boards/ sails /masts etc. Its like building a PC from scratch - lots of ways you could end up with the wrong gear that doesn't fit or isn't suitable. Took me ages to read through forums and other posts before deciding what I needed. Even then I took the advice of the guys in the shop that know what they are doing.
Any of these could put someone off getting started. If there was a regular place you could just turn up and rent a board to give it a go for say $50 - and get a few tips, I think that would bring a lot more people into the sport. Also need to really try and get the younger generation into it - like they do with sailing. This isn't profitable in the short term, but keeps the sport growing in the long term.
And all of that compares with mobile gaming...
I love to see innovation and how foiling has grown. But the sad part is seeing equipment prices becoming crazy expensive. Plus then there is the potential of all the hype of foiling and the their design/developments impacting the traditional sail and board technology that fin users like. I appreciate the brands that come out and actually admit in their new release years that it's unchanged from previous year. And don't try to flog it as it's so much better!
Can we see technology and innovation? 100% I'm all for it. But for example is a higher aspect sail that's great for foiling going to cross over and be user friendly on a board/fin combo if it keeps going that way.
My Windtechs have an adjustable tail for comfort and to extend the range and control. Unfortunately he doesn't make them any more.
I don't know why this hasn't sold. Cheap as chips..fast , exhilarating, super comfy and safe / controllable in chop. Fantastic fun doing bearaways in chop and they kill it going upwind- planing or subplaning.
www.seabreeze.com.au/Classifieds/Windsurfing-Boards/~kpsxt/2019-WindTech-Silver-Bullet-257-cm-90-litres.aspx?_page=1&search=0BZmezxV2puL8xf0vkBgnapXtUTF8zZC
Minor improvements have been to footstrap screws and fin bolts. Using Torx instead of crosshead which chew up. Just dont overtighten the footstrap screws as that is possible now.
Which leads me to footstrap plugs. Same old plastic/resin holes you can destroy if you move the straps and dont get the screw going down the previous cut thread properly. Moving the straps can be beneficial for all types of windsurfing as conditions can vary. When I get a new board putting the straps on always makes me nervous as if you muck it up its a load of hassle to fix.
At one point, BIC/Fanatic had a quick release system like a d'zus motorcycle fairing arrangement. There must be a similar reliable setup which could be designed for boards.
www.speedyfasteners.com/products/dzus-quarter-turn-fastener-d-ring-handle-zinc-studs-no-receptacle
I think most brand's wave sails go up in approx 0.3/0.4m increments. Its up to the buyer to decide on what sails they buy. My smaller sails are 4.5, 5.2, 6m. I used to have 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.7.
For larger sails, I now have 6.5, 7.5 & 8.5. Ezzy do have 7.0 & 8.0 but I dont need them. Edit: Previously I had 2007 5.6/6.5/7.6/9.0 Naish Redline freerace sails. I missed the 6.0/7.0/8.2 sizes and mostly it was fine. 5.6 to 6.5m was the biggest jump in use, too much really, I would have been better off with the 6.0.
Some brands have kept the 0.7/0.8m increments, but I think the range from each has gone up so you dont need to change up or down so often. I generally sail for 1.5 hours on average and its rare to change sails during a session.