Looking for feedback from guys that have tried a few. I can't find anything online just yet. In your experience what are some of the Pros and Cons of the below?
Naish Malolo
Go Foil
Takoona concept
F-one
Fanatic
Gong Foil
You should also add your weight and your intended practice: downwind, weak surfing waves, fast surfing waves...
You will want foils with more lift if you are heaving and/or plan to use it for downwinding or in weak waves.
And I guess if you already have foiling experience on other supports, in which case you may not need the stablest foils.
I was just about to start a thread like this, so I hope I can piggyback off this one too!
I'm looking at getting into foiling and trying to pick a foil. Intending on using it in fat / weak surfing waves, and also downwind. I understand that this would indicate a larger, rather than smaller, foil. I would also like to throw the Slingshot foils into the mix with the ones suggested by troyperina.
I'm 80kg if that makes a difference. Cheers!
First, a disclaimer: As I used only one type of foil, I cannot provide any valid comparison between foils (plus I have ties with Gong)
But from my experience, larger is better for beginning with foils, mostly because it will be easier to foil with crappy conditions, junk onshore slop, so it will better complement regular SUPing and surfing, so you can foil more often, and without crowds. And time on the water is key for progression.
Also a foil planing at a very low speed for your weight will allow to foil even when just going straight to the beach (going at the same speed as the wave), otherwise on slow waves you will have to follow the trim line to keep enough speed to foil, which is more technical.
Beware that a bigger foil develop more force, so the fittings to the boards must be quite strong.
At last, choose a brand you will feel comfortable going back to if something break. For instance, if you live in Australia, buying a Gong foil directly from France is not ideal in this regard...
I own the Naish Thrust Large , Go Foil Kai but have the IWA & Maliko 200 wings coming . Currently have the Slingshot H2 & H4 in my possession to test and also own a Lift 150. I have ridden the Takuma & North Fanatic protos .
Where to start , there are no real duds so I will mainly comment on weight , construction , price and stability in flight and carving turns. The Naish , Takuma & Slingshot are all aluminium mast and ali plate mounts making them the heaviest out of the group but very tough . Naish being lighter of the 2 . Slingshot has a great range of mast length and foil options and definitely the strongest but you pay by weight but you can't kill these things so strong .Naish has 2 wings med & large , Takuma just has the one for now. All 3 have S/steel screws into ali which need to be constantly removed and cleaned so they don't seize. Performance and stability wise big fan of the Naish but have not yet tried the H4 Slingshot wing which has huge raps so does the H2 . The Takuma is an easy to ride stable foil .Price wise Slingshot wins with Takuma then Naish. The weight of these foils cost you litres in your board for float so need to take that into account .
Go Foil is full carbon and it floats so no lose in float plus they now have a bunch of new wings which is epic . Up there in price range not by that much . Not as robust as the Ali ones but still very strong . The Ali mast can still bend . The GoFoil is Tuttle mount which I like as there is only has 4 screws in total to put together and mount where the Ali Foils have 15 screws which can all corrode which makes them a bitch to pull out if you have'nt looked after them to travel. Performance wise Kai v Naish Large Thrust both epic foils. If you are going to get hit by a foil the GoFoil is by far safest with all round dull edges and way less density making it the safest foil on the market. Plus if you rip it out of your board it floats.
North/Fanatic very different design with ali mast and plate but has a carbon composite fuselage and wings . Weight wise in between Naish & GoFoil. Sweet looking foils they also have multiple wings. These guys win the price war . Very stable low lift foil high aspect foil with low aspect features . Hard to do but they seem to have nailed it. The set up does flex but still have not ridden final production set up. Pretty sharp edges got a couple of scars from this one but a great foil.
The Lift by far the best built Foil on the planet and the most expensive one . Full carbon plate mount and super light , doesn't float like the GoFoil but weighs nothing.The big difference out of all the foils above is its flatish thin front wing similar to the Gong ( haven't tried a Gong) all the others have down turned thick lipped front wings. Very efficient foil and handles good speed but falls off pretty quickly with lack of push in small stuff. Plus when you lay it over it's very twitchy . Lacks in the pump but again if you have good speed it's sweet. On an over foil the flat wings just collapse , the down turned wings tend to trap more water giving you a better chance at recovery. Sharp wings and you need to really look after it the edges are so fine and easy to damage . Definetly advanced rider Foil.
There you go any more questions fire away. I'll be at Merimbula with the Naish & Slingshot set ups.
All great points by Piros.
About the screws, if you have an Ali foil, you should try to find titanium screws, it will reduce the corrosion that happens with regular stainless steel ones
Also, use some threadlocker (e.g loctite) on screws for all foils. This will reduce the temptation to overtighten them, extending their life.
In any case, shopping around on the net for stainless steel or titanium screws is worth it, I'd advise to keep spares, so you can change them as soon as some wear show up.
These look nice, I will be keen to see how they perform.
If they are anything like their paddles they will be top quality, all carbon and 2 sizes coming I believe.
Thanks for the in depth feed back I really appreciate it Piros. Im liking the sounds of the naish and go foil. If anyone finds a link to anything further they find online including some of the newer foils could you please upload here.
