Unique iRIG Windsurf teaching gear

The Duotone iRIG is such a revolution in windsurfing that I am dedicating a whole page of the Launch Pad website to it.

 

I’ve had students aged 4 to 73 on it. It is a game changer since it doesn’t need to be pulled out of the water, rather it just rests on the water. Click here for some blog posts where I've used the iRIG.

 

Another advantage is that it generally stays downwind of the board when the beginner is first uphauling. This avoids the normal issue where the old style sail falls to upwind and the board is downwind requiring the sail to be dragged over the board do downwind before uphauling.

 

It is also compact and doesn’t have any long parts, so it fits in a backpack when transporting it.

 

At a summer camp I had the kids who had never put together any kind of windsurfing rig have a contest. We had a race where one team received an iRIG and pump in a bag and the other kids a traditional sail. The iRIG was pumped and ready to go in 1 minute and the other team was still just putting the mast into the mast sleeve. It was another 4 minutes before they were rigged.

 

But the biggest advantage is that kids and adults just love it. Kids stop me on the shore to ask if they can hold it. Everyone who says “I tried windsurfing 30 years ago but the gear is sooo heavy” is amazed when they try it and realize they just needed better gear and they would have stuck with windsurfing!

 

The only improvement I would make would be to number the handles. On the Small iRIG the lower handle should be #1, the upper #2, then #3 on the handle close to the “mast” and the #4 on the far handle on the “boom”. Then it becomes complete intuitive what sequence to use to lift the sail up.

 

I’ve attached a gallery below of kids from ages 4 to almost 74 enjoying the iRIGs.