Wing specific boards

[Dwight (DW)]

It’s a tricky issue. At todays Foil Racing League contest in Cocoa Beach, my buddy was a line judge during the morning heats and told me what he saw.

In SUP foil, Austin Kalama 1st, Alex Aguera 2nd, our own flkiter 3rd, and another pro I won’t name, dead last on a flat bottom board that sucked him down with each touch, and he couldn’t get it flying again. But then Alex is on a flat bottom board.

The final results were unchanged at the end of the day. Austin also took 1st in prone.

I stayed away. Covid-19 distancing myself from airline fliers.

[Dwight (DW)]

It’s a tricky issue. At todays Foil Racing League contest in Cocoa Beach, my buddy was a line judge during the morning heats and told me what he saw.

In SUP foil, Austin Kalama 1st, Alex Aguera 2nd, our own flkiter 3rd, and another pro I won’t name, dead last on a flat bottom board that sucked him down with each touch, and he couldn’t get it flying again. But then Alex is on a flat bottom board.

The final results were unchanged at the end of the day. Austin also took 1st in prone.

I stayed away. Covid-19 distancing myself from airline fliers.

Correction, just heard flkiter took 2nd. Alex finished 3rd.

[Solent Foiler]

Admin - aren't you describing Gong's Flint? Or are some elements of that which don't fit your criteria?

The Flint is closer but still gives up 2-3 inches on each rail and 6-8 inches at the tail to bevels... 

Gotcha - thanks

[Admin]

Some new entries from Takoon and Korvenn





https://takoon.com/collections/wings/products/comet

http://korvenn-wing-and-foil.com/index.php/en/wing-glider-bamboo-wing-foil-board/

[Admin]

Here is a pretty cool one showing a down tail (zero chop).  He is edging in super hard and getting started without issue.  I would love to see that carried further forward as well.  I dig the outline on that takoon above but it is using the chopped SUP profile.  I modded it below to show what may be getting closer to my dream board .  Flat full volume tail, lowered and shortened entry (nose) rocker.

[Dwight (DW)]

There is a market for that type wing board for sure. I see plenty of people who can’t pump the board, and really just need a board to sheet in and go, plane off, then fly. I also think that customer just needs to wing with a SUP and not a little wing board. So maybe beginner/intermediate wing boards will be different that advanced wing boards.

The Horue looks like his old windsurf board with the tracks moved up for winging. I also know for certain, you really do feel the straight tail making pumping harder. I built a straight tail years ago, then made an identical board with some tail chop. It only takes a small tail curve/chop to free up the board and allow pumping the nose to feel so much easier and free.

[Admin]

There is certainly room for different designs and I am sure we are going to see plenty of them.  That is awesome and I am very glad to see it happening. 

I see this a little differently.  He is charging.  I am not seeing anything beginner oriented there.  I do think that stability will be added that allows smaller boards in more conditions but I see that as a benefit to anyone at any level that values that quality.  If you are referring to the couple of board pumps on the surface to get flying I don't see that as a big deal.  Glide first, pump first or a combination, it all works pretty well.  Looking at the specs of the 5'10 in this Horue model for example he has packed in the same 120 liters as my Outwit 6'6 (29.5 wide) but has done it in a package that is 5'10 x 26.8.  Being that he has pulled that width all the way the the rails at the tail and kept the base planted behind the tracks (no angled chop), I would guess that this has the same or more stability than my board. These are all early designs and I feel like he left room for even more refinement/reduction forward on the board. 

[Dwight (DW)]

That Horue foil is an anomaly. I used to own that foil. It needs speed to lift. It zips right along, even at somewhat slower speeds, then you drop like rock...SPLASH. Seeing him riding the same shapes and foil from 3 years ago, makes me think he lost access to whoever he once had design the original gear.

I’d look to other guys for the board type you want...just sayin. Takoon, Korvenn, or someone on Maui who will custom make it for you.

[winged surfer]

Admin, what do you think about the design of the new Fanatic Sky Wing board?

[supkailua]

I noticed on Slingshot boards like the Outwit the Admin mentioned, the front comes to a point and also gets a lot thinner. So they are adding to the length, but because it comes to a point and is thinner it does not create as much swing weight I assume and probably behaves like a shorter board than the actual length.

With the Slingshot Airstrike you could take over 2 feet off the length and still have most of the usable part of the board.

As we design wing specific boards in this thread I am wondering the pros and cons of the pointed front end extending the board length vs. chopping it off similar to the Kalama board.

[Admin]

Admin, what do you think about the design of the new Fanatic Sky Wing board?

Wow!  I am not even seeing those on the Fanatic site yet.  Please link me if they are there.  I googled and found the video (posted today).  That is pretty close to what I was thinking about.  high volume, broad, no chop tail.  Broad nose.
 Still has some bevel to the rails but much less and it looks good to me.  It looks like they carried a lot of volume to the rails.  I like the idea of the flatter rocker they mention on the 5'4 but even the two smaller sizes look like modest rocker compared to many.  Also, they exactly matched my hopes for footstrap inserts. 

I am not thrilled with the deep concave deck (personal thing).  I also owned a larger Fanatic SKY foil board last year and the durability was really poor.  It had eggshell outer that fractured from really minor stuff.  I hope they have improved that a lot.  Even with those things I think these look really good.  I could see us getting all 3. 

[Dwight (DW)]

They look nice! But not tail chop free. Similar chop distance to mine.

[Admin]

Ooohh!  This is up now.  https://www.fanatic.com/foil/boards/wing-specific/sky-wing

These look really good.  It does look like there is a brief partial chop ( 3 inches?) but pretty darn good.  Cool that they were able to shorten the tail behind the track so much.  I love that they left the nose so thick.  That should keep lots of volume and stability up there. 

Like SupKailua wrote above, it is like they carved the excess off a more conventional 6'2 or 6'4. 

5'4 x 26 at 95 Liters.  Hmmmn.  I will likely bite on that.

[Phils]

The Sky Wing looks very attractive.  I would want to know more about build quality and I also wonder why weights are TBA.

[Dwight (DW)]

Don’t forget to order the 5’0 for Chan