Hey don’t you think someone should start making inflatable DW boards so people can travel with them?? Is anyone making them? Or at least the 90 % of the board could be inflatable keeping a small solid platform where the foil attaches and the foiler stands…..???
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duotone and gong made them, performance not great
Probably not as a stand up paddle downwind board but definately serviceable as a wing and PW board. Get one cheap and play around with it. I find mine gets good around 22 PSI - the rated max is 20
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I love my Takoon Air Escape for winging.
For winging it does everything i want
a board to do. The extra safety aspect and less prone to damage is a big plus for me.
Don’t think i’d like as much doing paddle up…
Didn’t like the Gong DW inflatable board as much.
I think the lower profile of the Air made it feel better
Under 13lbs 7’2" x 19.5 (specs say 20.5 wide but its actually19.5)
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Friend of mine just had one made from some Chinese company who makes regular inflatable SUP’s he asked for dimensions and a template and they made it for like $250. not sure if he’s on the forum to tell more but for what is that’s not a bad price, try reaching out to some companies
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With or without the tracks?
it had tracks, they made him like an extended track plate, kinda looked like one of those stick on ones
I had an inflatable wing board from Lahoma. It worked well for winging, but it was heavy. In fact, I concluded, I could just downside boards to a smaller non inflatable and travel lighter with similar bag size.
Id say the same applies for DW boards. Get a shorter board for travel. Unless your racing, hopefully you’ll be riding somewhere with good conditions. It’ll be lighter than the inflatable.
The inflatable does win for travel durability. You don’t have to worry about it getting banged up or broken.
My 80L inflatable midlength fits in a bag with a pump, a foil, and a 4m wing and still fits under the airline baggage requirements. I’m very impressed with the form factor. I can’t imagine the scenario your talking about where they would be comparable.
I definitely think the mid length/DW shape is a good fit, allong with a smaller foil and a wing. The smaller foil is more sensitive and needs less force to control so it feels like there is less opportunity for flex in the board. Also it feels like a better fit for “sailing around” with a wing rather than trying to pump around or do true DW with it.
I order the special dimension from China factory, it looks good and someone can flat paddle up with big wing (arround 2000cm2), and even used in very light wind in wing foil.
We are not try use in DW due to in south of China is difficult to find the correct area.
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This is sick, you lose the contours but for what it is, awesome. The one I saw was considerably lighter than my dw board which really light weight and glassed way lighter than production boards
The performance of the best inflatable boards is lower than the worst composite board.
It’s might be easy to pack and travel , but you lost al the fun in the water .
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Honestly, the overall shape is FINE. I think if you made a composite board in that bubble shape it would be A ok. That bit with the track on the bottom you can feel when it hits the water which is a little annoying.
As far as that “you loose performance so why bother” this isn’t for taking to Maui or the gorge. If your spending time and $$$$ on a real foil trip then yeah - bring your real composite gear - the airline cost and extra work is a small extra on a trip that’s all about foiling. This is about “I’m going on a trip with the wife and kids and I’ll MAYBE be able to get a session or two in and if I’m lugging a 7 foot bag through airports and rental cars and then it doesn’t work out my wife will kill me if she can manage it before I kill myself” it’s not for Foil travel it’s for foiling while traveling.
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feeling this
For me the parawing is most exciting for this, where I can take a 4’5 board with straps on a trip and get in some fun without committing myself to the hassle of a 10’ bag along with the rest. I almost think a dockstart pocket board with straps and a parawing might be the answer
i also think it’s a better plan than a huge soft inflatable DW board
Is this being done? I’d imagine you need serious wind to get up on a true sinker with a parawing.
This is in 30+ and more of a neutral buoyancy board https://youtu.be/i4lCUdLcfWY?si=pYkutYaPyyBoIKiI
Yeah there’s this clip of it being done and another French one 30L in strong breeze
Not saying it will be easy, nor optimal, but a huge improvement on travelling with DW gear which limits to very few airlines, or wings which is obviously not worth the effort. Each parawing would only be an additional <1kg and negligible space, and simplifies the foils as you can just take a surf foil.
(Anyway I have a DW board in CT, and that’s almost the only place I travel to, so all relatively academic)
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