Armie from Armstrong did an interview with the thefoilmagazine.com. See below for some exciting new things to come such as their new wing surfer hand held wing (the A-wing) and hints at the new High Aspect Foil Line. Good Breeze will be some of the first to receive these new A-wing and will keep you up-to-date with the new High Aspect line as it develops:
Armstrong Interview
Firstly, what spurred you guys into joining the wind wing market?
Winging is simply so fun! It’s light, easy to setup and makes foiling accessible for more people to experience the sublime sensation foiling delivers.
So tell us about the A-Wing set-up, and some of the technical highlights…
We have put a lot of time and effort into understanding what we wanted our A-Wing to deliver. This led our design process to create something powerful yet well balanced in a wide range of conditions.
Some key features are:
-Shear Web stiffened handle connection system for enhanced control and no energy transfer loss.
-Pre loaded LE geometry for maintaining our unique airfoil section when under load.
-SAIL101 leach tensioning Dyneema line.
-Aramid Reinforced Load Zones, to maximise structural integrity when wing is loaded.
What’s the optimum foil pairing to ride the A-Wing?
Any Armstrong foil depending on wind strength and experience level – I use the 85cm/33.5” mast, TC60 fuse HS232 stabiliser and HS1850, 1550 or 1050 depending on wind and wave energy.
We’ve seen some pretty stunning shots of the wing in action, and we’ve featured some here. Where did the majority of your testing take place, and who’s been feeding into the production process?
We have been in development for over a year, since being bitten by the winging bug while testing our HS foil prototypes and Wing SUP boards on Maui last summer. Many people have contributed to the design from legendary kite designers like Dano See to Olympic Gold medalist Sailor Jo Aleh and current America’s Cup winning sailors. Almost all of our testing and development has been done in the varied weather conditions of New Zealand.
How long was the testing period, and how many iterations did you go through?
We have made so many versions I can’t even remember how many… so many materials tested and ideas… I almost had to fire myself for making too many prototypes and spending too much cash on RnD. In the end, functional simplicity of design was the key and we are stoked with how the A-Wing has finally come out.
You’re claiming the A-Wing as one of the most powerful wind wings available. What work has gone into this, and what are we gonna notice when we get it on the water?
Light wind pull, handling and powered aerials are on another level. This is primarily because the airfoil section has been carefully developed by an internationally renowned sport wing designer and we have incorporated industry leading pre load geometry to the airframe = making it solid and the perfect designed shape when UNDER LOAD. This translates into the A-Wing meter for meter, being one of the most powerful wings available.
Tell us about the size range, and who should be riding what?
3.5m 4.5m 5.5m. They all ride a little bigger than their size compared to current wings due to the above – You need them all!
We’ve gone all out on wind wings this issue, and feature plenty in our ‘Buyer’s Guide’ too, including yours. What’s your assessment on the rocketing uptake of wind wings from both the industry and consumers?
It’s a revolution for foil sports because it make it easier and more accessible, it’s super fun from beginner to expert and is going to blow minds in the coming years.
As with any pretty new product, undoubtedly there’s going to be a bit of an arms race with wings now there are several in the market. In what areas do you think advancing tech can improve these over time?
The great thing is that there have been awesome products on the market for years like the rigid frame land Kite Wing, so we have a perfect springboard to start at a solid design platform. From here it’s mostly a matter of understanding the different loads involved and how these are transferred into energy for the rider, and combining this with manufacturing techniques and materials that bring it all together. It is a super exciting time and the future is wide open. We look forward to continuing to develop some really radical concepts and push the sport forward.
And while we have you here… any more Armstrong goodies in the pipeline that we should know about?!
We have also been working hard on our Foils, especially our Mid Aspect HS foil range with the HS1250 soon to be released, expanding our foil quiver, from the Low Aspect CF range to the 6 size Mid aspect HS range plus there will be one more set to complete our foil line-up…
Armie Armstrong.
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