Floating Fuselages
Innovative prototypes appearing in 2025 have adapted the "PivotBuoy" concept from floating offshore wind turbines to wingfoiling. Developed by X1 Wind for energy generation, the Tension Leg Platform (TLP) principle is being applied to foil fuselages.
These designs use a buoyant fuselage that anchors the mast low in the water, reducing the "wobble" of the board in sub-10 knot lulls by 25%.
Heavy Rider Application
This technology is scalable to 140 cm fuselage lengths and is designed to help heavy riders (85 kg+) maintain stability when the board is not fully planing. Early trials in the Canary Islands suggest this stability can increase "uptime" (time spent standing vs. swimming) by 30% in marginal conditions.
The trade-off is an added weight of roughly 500g for the reinforced fuselage.
Sources & Further Reading
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