Board is the most overlooked piece of wing foiling gear. When you make the wrong beginner wingfoil board choice it creates a cascading list of issues which will slow down your learning curve tremendously. Board is your wingfoiling foundation. You need it to be forgiving, stable, and balanced. So please, please, don’t grab the first one which fits 20-40 litres above your weight rule of a dumb! (pun intended)
“30 liters on top of your body weight” is NOT the same for someone weighing 60kg /132lb and for someone weighing 90kg / 198lb.
Fill out Wingfoil Gear Finder and we will calculate which boards fit you. You will receive recommended Volume, Volume Range, and Size Range that will take any guesswork out of the equation. On top of that you will receive a list of boards which fit those parameters. These parameters are calculated based on inputs you have provided in the Wingfoil Gear Finder questionnaire so make sure you have provided correct data. If you will have a hard time selecting the board yourself – feel free to Contact us.
What should a beginner know about wingfoil board volume, size and width?
Volume
Volume represents the weight in kilograms that board can carry without sinking. So if the board has a volume of 80 litres, it will stay afloat on the surface as long as the weight it carries is below 80 kilograms. It is important to understand that if there is 85 kilograms of weight on the board, the board and the weight will not sink to the bottom, but rather submerge to the level where equilibrium is found between gravity (weight) and buoyancy forces. Volume is the multiplier of boards length, width, and thickness, thus all of those parameters matter when selecting the right board.
Why does it matter to you? Your board is your foundation and you want it to be as stable and as easy to balance as possible. You want your beginner board to be able to effortlessly carry you and a significant amount of volume over your weight. Thus we can say that Size (Length) and Width of the board are equally important as the Volume. You, as a beginner, will need all the room to dance you can get.
Size i.e. Length
Length of the board is very often overlooked, but together with width it makes a whole lot of difference in your progression. Longer board will be more stable, will provide more room for kneeling, foot placement, and be more forgiving. If you are less athletic or looking for more stability – go for longer boards, if you feel confident go with shorter ones. Length becomes more important the taller and heavier you are.
Width
Same as length, wider boards provide more room for error, and are more stable. It also becomes more important the taller and heavier you are.
Note that it is usually beneficial to sacrifice an inch or two of length for more width because it will make for a more stable board but also be aware that although more stable – wider boards will generally need more power to gain speed. Longer narrower boards gain speed with less power so they are easier to unstick from water surface.
Should I get Inflatable or Hard board?
Both will work, and people are learning on both every day.
But performance wise hard board has more advantages. To put it plain and simple – inflatable boards cannot be shaped as precisely as hard ones. Because of their refined nose, tail, rail, rocker and bottom contours, as well as smooth finish materials, hard boards are more stable when taxi riding, easier to gain liftoff speed, easier to unstick from the water surface, and more forgiving during touchdowns. Which is a lot when learning.
If you will be opting for an Inflatable board, bear in mind that those boards usually get their volume from being thicker than hard boards of the same volume. This means that you will get a significantly shorter and/or narrower board for the same Volume. Wingfoil Gear Finder takes that into consideration so any selection suggested by it is safe for you. On the other hand inflatable boards are easier to store and transport because of smaller length. But do note that those do pack in pretty large bags which can take up the entire trunk space of a small car. They are much softer than hard boards which might not sound like much but you as beginner will be kneeling, falling and hitting the board a lot which will be much more painful on hardboard. Last but not least inflatable boards are cheaper.
Generally speaking if you are looking for best performance and have no budget or space limitations you should go with a hard board, but if you are limited with space and/or on a tight budget inflatable board will serve you well. You can and you will learn wingfoiling on an inflatable board, same as many have before you, so just ignore those bitching about it.
How to select the best beginner wingfoil board?
For watersports novices, and especially those less athletic and/or suffering from poor mobility our recommended beginner wingfoil board selection process is as follows
- Go to www.wingfoilgearfinder.com/#calculator to calculate the board size which fits you.
- your results will consist of Volume, Volume Range and Size.
Volume – This result gives you recommended board litres you should be looking for in your new board. Don’t use volume as your only parameter when choosing the board, because boards of the same volume can have huge differences in size. This is our recommended volume for someone of your experience, size and local conditions
Volume Range – in order to give you more choice we provide you with the Volume Range that works for you. If you are less athletic and/or looking for more stability – go for boards in the bigger range, if you feel confident and are very athletic go with smaller range.
Size Range – gives you a range of boards that fit your height because getting up on a 5’8″ Board is NOT the same for someone 5’11” / 180 cm compared to someone 6’5″ / 195 cm. Same rule of thumb applies If you are less athletic and/or looking for more stability – go for longer boards i, if you feel confident and are very athletic you can opt for shorter boards.
- click on the SHOW BOARDS button from Your Rig results
- then use Filter sliders and options to narrow down boards Volume, Size, Width, Type, Brand, etc. according to your needs.
Use Compare button to select the boards for comparison and easily compare boards which interest you. Product button will take you to manufacturer product page, and Search button will open Google search for the given product so you can look for the availability of those products in your area.
You will apply similar tactic to your wing or foil choice.
Happy hunting!
