FranP said..
Interesting to see how rocker and width are evolving lately - I think we're starting to see two clear directions:
A. Wing-driven boards
Wingfoiling still favors relatively narrow boards with flatter rockers, since most of the pumping power comes from the wing rather than the board pump-oscillation. That keeps things efficient and fast to release.
Typical "mid-length" shapes still dominate here (roughly 5'8-6'5 length ? 18-21 width), relatively flat bottom, low kick tail.
B. Parawing focused boards.
Lots of discussions about "more volume in the nose", but it looks like there are other relevant trends.With parawing (or more foot-driven pumping), stability becomes more critical - you don't want to be constantly fighting balance. The pumping energy comes more from the rider (foil up/down oscillations), so boards tend to have more rocker in both nose and tail (like a banana).
Dimensions are similar in volume vs wing boards but shift slightly: around 5'6-6'2 length ? 19-22 wide, with a more "banana" rocker - similar to the kind of shapes Ken Adgate has been popularizing, and the new KT Arc.
Curious where this converges. do we end up with two distinct board categories, or a hybrid that does both reasonably well?
What do you guys think ?
Ken's pw boards are mostly around 5'10" and 19 wide with very even foam distribution and certainly not what I would call more volume in the nose.
I think the more volume in the nose has come from pw foilers trying to go too short. My experience is that for a one board quiver we will be best served by a board around 6' minimum and probably up to 5" longer for those that are heavier or need more stability.
just make them light so the slight length isn't a factor
They are not bad and probably better than some can do switch with other brands, but not great. Send me your bad days where your a getting a little over powered.
