Wing Foiling Gear Progression | A Coach's Perspective
In the video and below, REAL Pro Coach Brendan Guthrie will walk you through the gear progression of wing foiling, from beginner to advanced.
If you are looking for tips on gear progression for other areas of foiling, please follow these links: Surf Foil Gear Progression; Kite Foil Gear Progression.
Beginner Wing Foiling Gear
The key for a beginner wing foiler is to maximize the size of board you are using and size the foil based on wind speed. It is better to go with a bigger board and big foil, paired with a small inflatable wing to learn control and balance without having to go fast to get on foil. More stability at slow speeds will make winging easier. MA 1750 or 1475 with 135L 6’1 board or similar unless always light wind or heavy rider then go 2450. Pair with the 725 mast 70cm fuse and s1 300 tail, flow 235 or glide 220
Foil: 1550-1850 Armstrong MA Foil
Board: 6'1" Armstrong Midlength FG
Intermediate Wing Foiling Gear
As you get comfortable and achieve stable rides on foil in both directions and learning to gybe, you can start to think about what is next for your gear progression. Most people prefer to add different sized wings to expand their wind range and wing foil in lighter or stronger winds. If you have a quiver of wing sizes, now you are ready to start considering whether you want a smaller size foil board or to size down your front foil wing. Most people will want to ride between the 80L-105L if they are sizing down from the 135L. Your beginner setup will now become your light wind setup when needed paired with a bigger S1 foil and large wing. If you are between board sizes the best thing to do is swing by our REAL Rental Shop and compare two sizes side by side, prior to purchasing. If you are comfortable with the board, you have and want to change to a different foil, you can either drop down to the smaller S1 foil or switch to the MA or HA wings. For winging, I generally recommend going to the MA1475 or MA1225 or the larger HA wings 1180-880 sizes. Another change would be to size down the tail stabilizers to have a more reactive feel and increase maneuverability and speed.
Foil: Armstrong A+ System MA Mid Aspect Foil
Board: Armstrong Wing FG Foilboard
Advanced Wing Foiling Gear
Advanced wing foilers should be comfortable riding at higher speeds, either utilize footstraps or getting out in the surf. You can gybe easily and start working on tacks or first jumps and can ride in waves while flagging out the wing and want to focus more on performance. Whether you are pushing the limits on waves, racing on a course or learning freestyle tricks, your foil setup needs to match the performance demands. For most freestyle riding you want a small board that you can get started on easily with footstraps and a foil that recovers well on landings and can reach high speeds. I recommend going with the smaller MA 1000, MA 800 or MA 625. If you plan to ride more in the ocean on bigger and are not as focused on airs, consider the HA 880-480 foils, smaller Midlength boards 65-38L, Small Wing boards 70-34L or the larger Foil Surf boards 48-28L. It will also help to go with a longer performance mast 795mm –1035mm and sizing down to the smaller tails.
Foil and Board Package: Armstrong A+ High Aspect (HA) Surf Foilboard Package
Foil: Armstrong A+ System High Aspect (HA) Foil
Board: 34L Armstrong Wing FG Foilboard
If you have questions about your foiling gear, call us at 252.987.6000 or email us at REALpro@realwatersports.com.