This is a great read.
For my weight (65kgs) a HA foil might only be 90 cms wide, and therefore narrow enough to performance surf, yet still pump and glide the best. Maybe some skilled pilots up to 80 kgs could enjoy the same benefits as me.
For the heavier guys the equation becomes very different. Trying to keep the wing well under 1m wide and yet needing it to support them in the ordinary parts of the wave or on ordinary waves and during the pump. So they must give up speed and glide. My question though is do they give up pump? Can the mid aspect wing be made to pump easy by only giving up some speed?
Piros has ridden more foils than most and has implied he is happy to give up some glide and speed for the pump and maneuverability. It wasn't long ago Piros you were happy on the little 980 and now you have changed your direction which might be a lesson for us all because first must come maneuverability then pump then speed and then glide. So i am very interested in your Journey.
The big brands have always targeted the heavier rider in my opinion, based on the way they scale the sizes. As the foils get smaller they don't gain aspect which the lighter riders could afford them to do to achieve the best all round solution if you believe the hype. Only recently Lift 120/170 and now Armstrong with the 925 have offered the so called dream for the lighter riders. Axis soon with the 888 possibly.
Gofoil will continue down the mid aspect path which is interesting and particularly with some of the down wind speeds achieved without going super HA.
Will the super HA wing live up to the hype for at least light weight riders like myself or are the glass ceilings i have based my assumptions on changing?
Lately I've been riding the Unifoil Hyper 150 and I love it as the stall speed is really low compared to other small foils I've tried.
It seems to me very close to the Kujira 980 but I find the Uni more lively and responsive, but I also like the Kujira this is a foil I could get used to it pretty easily. I'm not sponsored, I like the brand for sure but I pay for my gear and I try lot of brands because for me peformance matters, so if I have to move to any brand I want to have this freedom. I guess one of the reason I like it is because I use it the same way I use the Hyper 170, i just need to be quicker/lighter on the pumping.
I really wanted to use Lift120 or Amy925 (I bought and sold them both) but I couldn't do anything good, it was too different regarding pumping and stall speed. Maybe with more time (play more with shim, etc maybe get a different fus for the lift to fit a rear wing I like etc...) I would have been able to get used to it.
