Foilers for sale

Agreed sargesail what’s the point in onanistic sailing pursuits I don’t think I could take the self loathing after sailing as well.

IMHO, put simply there are factors that will limit the growth of foiling:
- Geography/accessibility - a majority of sailing clubs are based on waters that are too small the allow them. How far is a wannabe foiler who does not live near open water going to drive to find a suitable venue often enough to build his/her skills?
- Sailing demographic - a lot of us are too old/unfit to master foiling (other than in something like a UFO maybe,) but are still up to sailing older "fast" dinghies like the Contender/Fireball.
- Cost/fragility of kit
- in the future: culture - as the RYA webinars have said the younger generation is looking for accessible "experiences." The underlying suggestion is that they may not have the depth of commitment that would be required to master foiling and accept all the costs (time/money) of sticking with it.

But promoting foiling is no bad thing. It is spectacular and appeals visually even to the non sailor. The obvious analogy is motoring where magazines and TV shows test supercars we are never going to drive and motor cycling enthusiasts pile into watch superbike MotoGPs

Originally posted by Rupert Looking at one example of a young sailor from a sailing family, now aged 18... He grew up sailing small, slow boats on a pond fairly far south of Nantwich. As a kid, sailed Mirrors, Toppers, Fireflies, got his asymmetric kicks in Fevas. Became a pretty good sailor, with access to pretty standard instruction and race coaching, but never wanted the Laser squad route, unlike his Feva buddy. From there, became a DI, went to ProVela on the nice scheme they do, got a taste for foiling and fast boats, which had always fascinated him. Roll on a year or so, and he is working as an SI in Melbourne, sailing all sorts of things, from crewing a 420 to foiling Wasps, excuse the spelling, to doing some bow stuff on a yacht. He seems enthusiastic about each of them, and without them all his sailing life would be less full. So, maybe we should expect foiling sailors to see their branch of the sport as the future. But maybe they should take a step back and look at what they say and how it affects the mainstream sport bringing them their stars. And maybe us pond sailing seahuggers should see that foiling is something that appeals to, and is attainable for current youngsters. The price of a toilet might be out of reach, but buying stuff is so 20th century, isn't it? Oh, and so are forums, so I doubt he will see this post...

In terms of foiling I will probably look to get into a WAZSP assuming the new foil improves the boat and the international events are still appealing. However given I sail at Bassenthwaite I could only consider this as a second boat with a conventional boat such as a Solo what I would mainly sail. Foiling is not the future for most venues in the UK and requires a high skill level to get any enjoyment out of. 

Foiling is another blind alley like Formula Windsurfing was, hopefully the grass roots won't be destroyed by it like it was in windsurfing.