I am considering buying some AFS gear, but have been hesitant due to the difficulty in traveling with it.
Has anyone come up with a good solutions?
I travel a lot with the silks. I got a wide board bag (gong bag comes in two widths) and they fit well in there. I can get 3 wings, 2 foils, mast, board, pump, harness and wetsuit into the bag and keep it to 50 lbs. I find tools and hardware add a lot of weight and put me over the limit so I usually just throw that stuff in a carryon.
Before I had the gong bag I packed them in a huge bag I bought off of amazon but that solution was pretty awkward.
I have heard others use a body board bag for the foils and I also heard Afs was developing a travel bag, although no eta and no assurance.
I prefer keeping all my gear in a single bag and with the wide bag the foil size is actually no hassle for me.
Check out Ride Engine. They are selling off some of the wide board bags super cheap.
Or, probably could put together something decent off Amazon with an art portfolio bag and some eggcrate foam?
One thing I’d consider is limiting the weight of your board bag and not just for over weight charges… The times I’ve had damage to my boards has been with really heavy bags resulting from trying to fit most everything into the board bag. Becomes really awkward/difficult to move carefully and as a result thrown around with hard impacts. Honestly get the feeling baggage handlers get pissed with bags that heavy and intentionally man-handle them with a little extra venom. I now carry boards only with a few soft goods for padding, my foils, masts, hardware, tools, wings in a scuba roller bag with great results. Makes life way easier for myself as well during transit.
Perhaps consider the Enduro line which is modular
Wrap in high quality bubble wrap outside of the wing cover.
Set the wing at a 45°~ over the nose of your board so the wing tips are still supported slightly by the board. The fuse can then be flush with the mid section rail. Make sure the cinch straps in the board bag keep them in place.
I went through the same hesitation, but if you think through it, they will be fine.
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