Updating this thread with my info about 12 sessions in.
I’m 138lbs (63kg) rank beginner foiler. Bought a Gong rig to learn on and at my size haven’t been disappointed. Also in the states there’s a good resale market for Gong stuff so risk is low. I’m sure I might move on someday but for around $300 per wing and with the 3 different lines I’m buying a few to play with and learn on.
Started with the XL Surf or Rise model. It’s giant for me but was super mellow to learn on. If anyone my size is starting though, you might consider the L, as for me I struggled to keep it in the water. I’d not have known this was the gear until I bought a Curve (Pro) M wing which is about half the surface area after 8 or 9 sessions. Immediately I was stoked as the wing still took off and lifted but I could keep it in the water. For smaller guys or women, maybe don’t take their standard advice of “go XL to learn.”
However, I’m learning to wing foil now and the XL is reanimated to have as its stable and flies in almost no wind. I’m about to add another wing in between for small days without the rocket boost of the XL if there’s a set wave. I’m thinking Curve L for this as it will likely make a good high wind wing wing (weird) as well.
Longer term, maybe 6 months out I’ll test their high aspect wings before deciding to move on or stay.
As to the mast, at my size, who cares? I’m likely not going to flex anything, especially without the big wing. It was great to have the short mast (45cm) to start on and have the 65 to move up to. I’ll likely get a 75 or 90 for winging.
For another $100 I can have another plate and fuselage so I won’t have to break down gear for surf and wing. So for maybe $1,400 all in I’ll have 3 wings, 3 masts, and in all 2 complete sets of gear. If I like the wings and I want to add a carbon mast and fuse, I can for $500.
Could you do this with used gear? Sure, but you’d have to hunt and it’s harder to have a $200-$300 bump to try a new wing and you mostly have to choose aluminum or carbon up front. So maybe I could have gotten a starter set for similar price as my first rig, but few lines have 12 wings across 3 styles with aluminum and carbon options to try (maybe Axis At way more money?) so for my educational period this is good.
I can see that Gong might have been weird/bad when it was a China wing in 4 sizes. But all wings are Chinese and it seems that they have put some design time and money in now. If you’re a big boy in the States, maybe not. But if you’re looking to learn and experiment and you aren’t too heavy I feel like this is a decent path. If you hate it you can get almost your whole investment back. Anyone on here will tell you that the expensive foils are all over the place at bargain prices. Someone lost on those deals, right?
I’ll update this after a few months once I’m better and have ridden other foils. I’d be stoked to be wrong but I am not sure I would have taken the plunge without this deal and if I’d bought too big of a wing from many other brands it would have been an expensive mistake. As it is for $300 I got that sorted, learned something about wing size, and kept my big wing for winging.