Over the last 3 years, we have introduced 5 generations of wings that were widely distributed. Our V2s should therefore be called V5. The V2 is the second generation of our range of 5 models launched in 2021. So our 2022 range.
150 to 200 prototypes are needed to obtain an improvement in performance that justifies a renewal of the range. Developing a new range is therefore a costly and long work. This work leads to significant differences for those who are used to the previous version. In the hands of someone who’s using a wing that’s two generations old, it’s a revolution.
It must be understood that within 5 generations, adding all that we know from our experience in windsurfing and kiting, we have made a phenomenal leap forward. We progress twice as fast as in kiting, and even more than we did in windsurfing. Just look at the evolution of tricks and the use of wings: the leap forward is spectacular from year to year. It would not be possible if the gear didn’t evolve at the same rhythm.
We must not confuse evolutions and visual revolutions. An evolution in performance is not something that is plain to see. And the visual revolutions in wing architecture are now behind us. There will now be choices for different programs, choices of accessories, but in almost a thousand prototypes over 4 years, we have seen a very broad spectrum of possibilities.
What do we have left to develop?
More adequacy with your growing expectations. For this we have a Team Pro which adds up the world firsts, and a R&D Team which collects the flight hours. Making a wing more in line with your needs has several aspects. Performance is one of them, essential for many of us. Ease is another. The solidity, the weight, the speed, the heading, the safety… etc…
On each of these aspects, we provide a constructed response that translates throughout our range.
- A Plus will be super simple, almost automatic, light and smooth, but with that power that gets you quickly off the ground without having to pump.
- A SuperPower will deliver a crazy amount of energy in a record-breaking compact wingspan. Always more power, but with a hollow ten times more stable for heading upwind and transmitting this power as linearly as possible. It is the most powerful wing on the market with a breathtaking top speed in 15 knots. And it is also the one with the smallest wingspan on the market for any surface!!! So the one with which it is the most efficient to pump. Useful in light wind 😉
- A Pulse that glides through the air like no other wing, with its concept of semi-flexible fiber battens to hold the hollow. We cruise at high speed, in slalom mode, ever closer to a blade.
- An ever stiffer Droid to overpower as little as possible and compact to never touch the water. Its square tips keep its shape away from the water, and in violent landings, the volume of the pointed tips gives you a little support that prevents you from falling. It’s a real freestyle animal.
- And the Neutra which always offers more pep and control, ultra manageable by its rounded Leading Edge which rolls in the air (or in the water). Its wingspan remains moderate so as not to catch the water and emerge from moves/curves with maximum fluidity.
Our evolutions
In the soft evolutions that we bring, it is necessary to note the enormous evolution on our handles whose volume was divided by two. We keep a moderate center distance on each handle so that your hands control the Wing directly, without inertia. Long handles suggest that we will move our hands over them at will, which is false because they slide and inexorably get closer, and make the piloting less precise, less lively. We prefer to place our handles in the exact place of their usefulness, with very precise rules of position with regard to the hollow of each wing in each size. We also prefer almost rigid handles because they don’t crush so you can grab them easily, you don’t sand your hands on the batten in backwind sailing, and you have an immediate reactivity from the wing. Their softness doesn’t hurt the board or your hands, and that’s cool when you spend a lot of time in sessions like we do.
The hollow is an essential point, because it is never the same on our different models of wings. Pronounced and advanced on a Plus to take off early, it will be even more marked on an SP but moved back to improve upwind heading. Ditto on a Pulse but not as pronounced. And on a Droid it will be a little thinner for a more docile wing in committed moves. Ditto on a Neutra to drop the power instantly when you shock the wing.
Our 2022 wings all have specific work on the central strut, to match the expectations we have of each model. A Plus must have a softer central strut than a 100% performance Wing because a too rigid strut makes pumping very complicated, very ON/OFF, which would make the high wind range of the wing uncomfortable for a beginner. So we give more self-regulation let’s say to the central strut of a Plus than to that of our SP or Pulse. Quite simply by working on its shape, by the diameter and the curve given to this batten, we obtain answers corresponding to our desires. The central strut of a Neutra will thus be a little more flexible and therefore softer than that of a Droid.
The same is true with the tension of the trailing edge of the wing. A very tense trailing edge on the beach is never as forgiving as a more flexible one. The tension on our wings is mainly on the leading edge, which must deform as little as possible, except on the tips to obtain the twist necessary for the pressure relief in high range. We know this phenomenon in windsurfing. It is less marked in wing foiling but we manage it perfectly. Be careful here too, not to exaggerate the settings because too much twisting of the tips gives a wing that loses hold of profile, which does not accelerate and does not head upwind. It is closely linked to the dihedral, one counterbalancing the other. At GONG the tuning of these presets is perfectly calibrated for the program of each wing. Knowing that the wings are not adjustable, we have a simple strategy on each prototype which consists of systematically surrounding our target wings of each R&D batch with two wings with more tension and two with less tension. By creating a variable incremented by batch, a batch every 15 days, we progress in an extremely precise way in the evolution. We create rules per parameter that we cross with all the other parameters. Our database after almost a thousand prototypes becomes considerable to answer the only question that matters: your needs.
In summary, our 2022 wings benefit from a series of common developments that could be summed up as follows: even more dynamism.
Thus the 2022 range affirms even more each wing in its program.
Visit our shop to rediscover the whole range.
Read moreins vif. Nous préférons placer nos poignées à l’endroit exact de leur utilité, avec des règles de position très précises au regard du creux de chaque wing dans chaque taille" Completement d'accord avec ça ! j'ai 3 neutra (3;4;5) et une ..... takoon V2 en 7 avec poignées longues .. je prefere de tres loin les poignées de mes neutra ! En fait comme vous l'expliquez en effet les mains glissent et se repositionnent très vite en fait au centre de la poignée, du coup on perd tout le bénéfice supposé des poignées longues puisque tout compte fait une seule position au centre de la poignée est utlisée ;-) .. je trouve aussi les poignées gong qui conservent un peu d'épaisseur bien plus confortables, les pires que j'ai pu essayer étant les f one ultra fines et anguleuses qui me cassent les doigts !!