>>2520069I'm a novice but I can give some advice. In general kiting seems to be more oriented towards boosting and big air. Winging is more oriented towards catching waves and riding swell. As a novice foiler, the advantage of a wing vs a kite is that when you fall (you WILL fall a lot) it is much easier to retrieve a wing and get it flying again which in turn means you will lose less upwind progress.
Budget is generally $4,000-6000+. You can spend less. Hood River area should have a very active secondary market and community.
Foil & mast: Axis 1150. Get the best and call it a day.
Board: lots of options. If winging, start with the biggest board you can; emphasis on length and width over short compact volume. Balancing in heavy chop is the hardest thing to do until you are good enough to get up and on foil very fast, and the Hood gets very heavy chop. If you decide to learn with a stand-up paddleboard or similar, you will want something with a skeg or center-fin; a normal 3-fin rear thruster configuration will not cut it. There are options for retrofitting a center fin to any board.
Wings: the 5m single-wing quiver is a meme. Especially as a beginner you'll want to be out in light air, and 5m won't cut it. 6.5m is the sweet spot imo but ymmv. It's worth keeping in mind that wings are a little bit disposable - they wear out eventually and a lot of novices seem to put a foil blade through their canopy at least once. Rather than getting the hottest wing out there I would suggest starting with whatever is on sale; slingshot wings are popular with my locals and often seem to be priced reasonably. If you are shelling out for the latest and greatest, the strike cwc is the best wing that I have personally handled. I've been less impressed with duotone.
