The Duo Plate wingfoil board on land
The Duo brand was founded by former windsurfing pro Cesare Cantagalli and is committed to developing innovative solutions to reduce pack size. The Plate model is designed to combine the advantages of hardboards and inflatable boards ("inflatables"). The Plate will be available in three sizes in spring 2022 - with 87 and 107 litres as a pure wingboard, and as a 127 with an integrated mast track and therefore with a windsurfing option.
The basic idea is that the inflatable lower section merely serves as a buoyancy body, while the base consists of a fixed plate that is secured to the lower section with screws. This fastening system is very practical and the assembly of the plate only took a few minutes in the test. The plate itself then serves as a fixed base, which offers all the loop options familiar from hardboards and also the option of screwing the foil into a normal double rail. Mounting the foil is quite fiddly with the plate already mounted - we therefore first screwed the foil to the plate and then fixed the plate to the lower section. The pack size of the Duo Plate is defined by the size of the plate - it is around 90 centimetres.
At 9.20 kilos, the tested prototype was still comparatively heavy. However, according to the manufacturer, the weight should be significantly reduced by the time it is ready for series production.
We have already been able to try out a prototype of the Plate 87 and present the wingboard to you in a short clip.
Duo Plate - the prototype in its first practical test
The Duo Plate is extremely stable in the water for an 87-litre wingboard and feels one size bigger when bobbing. The firm plate is very comfortable to stand on, and the pad and deck shape offer a comfortable stance. We found the planing behaviour to be slightly below average, as the plate requires a lot of pull in the wing to accelerate to take-off speed. In our opinion, this is due to the generous width of the board in combination with the round edge in the tail area, which seems to get a little stuck.
Once in the air, however, you could easily forget that you're standing on an inflatable. The feeling on the standing surface is similar to that of a hardboard and the connection to the foil is as stiff as you would hope. The wingboard, which is just under 1.50 metres short, can even take jumps without any problems, apart from the fact that our test prototype still had a few extra pounds on its ribs - a shortcoming that will be improved before it goes into production.
Conclusion:
If you need a small pack size of less than one metre, there's no getting around an inflatable wingboard. The Duo Plate eliminates some of the typical weaknesses of inflatables and flies like a hardboard - so the idea definitely has potential. The moderate planing behaviour could still be optimised until it is ready for series production, e.g. by gluing sharp tear-off edges to the tail area.
Pack size, compact flight feel
Weight
Driving resistance when starting off
Further information about the Duo Plate HERE
