On about 10 sessions on this foil, so time for a detailed review as I don't see much written about this foil, and in my mind its one of the best foils in the price range, and Fanatic being one of the bigger brands, the availability should be good. If I was to buy again, I might consider spending an extra $1000+ and getting something full carbon, but within its price range for the foils currently available it would be my pick. I've got a technical background, so if you don't like detailed reviews, turn away NOW!
For reference, here's the review for its bigger brother the Flow 1250 from Windsurf Magazine. www.windsurf.co.uk/test/fanatic-flow-foil-1250-stingray-125-ltd-2019-test-review/
Overview:
This is the follow up to the Flow H9 which I think Fanatic should honestly be a bit embarrassed about, luckily the Flow 1000 definitely addresses all of its predecessors shortcomings. The key differentiator I think for the Flow 1000 is that it is higher aspect then most of the other available foils from the mainstream brands in its price range, which in my opinion is positive in every aspect except 1. Its more efficient, faster, foils just as early with less area. But this may make it undesirable if you are chasing swells as its much easier to accidentally outrun the swell. They do have the Flow 1250 and 1500 if you want a higher aspect wing, but at my weight and in our conditions I can't see me wanting one. And I'd be happy recommending a beginner to start on the Flow 1000.
Similar to how all the main prone/sup foils brands (Axis, Armstrong, Gofoil, Naish) are now bringing out high aspect wings where they were previously only selling low-aspect foils. I think we will also see the windsurfing brands follow as the advantages of high aspect are even more prominent in windfoiling then sup/prone.
This foil is perfect I think for everyone from beginners to intermediate free-riders who just want to a stable foil that's on the quicker end of the spectrum to blast back and forward on. It's also great for carving and I've also been jumping it a fair bit. It comes with the 4 bolt plate glued to the mast, but you can get a tuttle adaptor for it, which is what I use on my Alien 115.
For me at 75kg this is now my one foil solution from 8kts to 20kts+, with 3 sails on my Alien 115.
- 7m Foilglide from 8kts up to 14kts. (is there any wind out there??)
- 4.8m S1 from 12kts up to 18kts. (when you start to see the dark patches on the water from the gusts)
- 4.0m S1 from 17kts+ (whitecaps)
I'm selling my 5.7m Blade, 5.3m S1, 4.7m S1, and 4.2m SWAT, to condense my quiver as the foil just gives that much more bottom end range. I'm foiling now with my 4.7m S1 in conditions where I would still be slogging on my 5.3m S1 on my 100L freestyle board, heck I might even foil earlier on the 4.0 then the 5.3 would plane.
There's definitely still room for improvement for Fanatic (check out the Cons list), but I think they finally managed to put it all together and put out a product that the average punter should be happy to hand over their hard earned. Its much better then the Flow H9 which I haven't sailed but honestly looks like a kids toy, and its about a stiff as a noodle.
Dimensions:
I got the tape, verniers and kitchen scales out and took some measurements. For some reason manufacturers seem to all have decided its easier if we don't tell our consumers the numbers.
Mast length (inc. plate base): 905mm
Leading Edge of Front Wing to Trailing Edge of Rear Wing: 930mm
Main Wing (1000cm2 claimed): 861mm Span x 151mm Chord x 17mm Thick
Stabiliser (215cm2 claimed): 357mm Span x 74mm Chord x 8mm Thick
Weights: Fuselage and Wings 2690gm + Mast 2980gm = 5670gm
Elephant in the room here is obviously the weight. I haven't weighed every foil out there but if you take the Windsurf Magazine numbers, this is one of the heaviest foil out there, with exception to the Slingshot i76. I was pretty surprised the slingshot was so heavy so got my mate to weight his i76 with the 90cm mast, and whilst not the same set of scales it also ended up at 5.67kg as well. The NP Glide, Naish 1150, Starboard Supercruiser are all lighter some significantly so based on Windsurf Mag numbers. Haven't seen or weighed the Redwing, but I'm pretty sure it would be lighter as well. I'd take strength and reliability over light weight, but light weight definitely is nicer when you are carrying your gear. If you aren't jumping it or doing silly stuff, maybe take the a lighter option?
Pros:
- High aspect so its fast, no surprise it's was quicker then a Slingshot i76 and Severne Redwing when I lined up next to them last weekend, probably by 2-3kts. No real magic here, a thinner, high aspect foil will be more efficient then a thicker lower aspect foil with more surface area.
- High aspect so its efficient, stall speed was similar to my friends Slingshot i76.
- High aspect so it gets me foiling early. I can get this thing going in around 12kts, and foiling through lulls probably down to 10kts. Had a friend (same weight who's been foiling a little bit longer) come in who was a bit underpowered on a Lift Freeride 6.6m and Slingshot i76, I went out on a 2012 4.7m S1 (definitely not a powerful sail) and was able to get foiling, sail upwind and do clean gybes. He wants to sell his Slingshot.
- Small high aspect rear stabiliser, again this contributes to how efficient this foil is, its probably one of the smallest rear stabilisers out there at 215cm2. Small, high aspect and thin means fast and efficient.
- Easy to pump, its longer fuselage then surf foils, so its not the jack rabbit rapid pumping of the prone foilers, its more like a longboard skateboard pump. Super fun, I was easily able to pump over 150m back into the harbour probably 50-60deg off the wind in - Nice and stable and predictable. This is mostly down to the fuselage length in my opinion, most foils with similar fuselage length will be similarly stable.
- With the stability, I'm finding it super easy to gybe, and even in light wind I now have enough control that I'm comfortable pumping the foil through the gybe if required, especially in light conditions where you are underpowered and get a bit backwinded as you turn through downwind.
- Nice stiff mast, along with NP and Starboard, they've really upped the size of the mast extrusion. Naish has also beefed theirs up a bit too but not to the same extent. The only outlier is the Slingshot which is surely due for an upgrade.
- Mast is sealed from water ingress (this is must be standard on all foils now).
- Really well built, all connections heli-coiled so corrosion is much less of an issue.
- Quality fasteners, well at least they are all marked A4-70.
- Connection designs are all sensible, the mast is spigotted into the fuselage. And the way the wing connections are designed, they won't wear out and get loose with use.
- Plate mount has some rubber/hard foam to protect the bottom of you board.
- Rear stabiliser adjustment is easy with the shims provided. As the mounting interface is flat, it would also be super easy to make your own if you lose one, or you need more adjustment then the supplied shims give you.
- Good easy to understand foil family. Its the same back wing for the 900, 1000, 1250 and 1500 front wings. I'm pretty sure this is all compatible with their surf wings too, so something for everyone. Personally I don't think I'll need another wing, cause the 1000cm2 with my sails does me from 8kts to 20kts+
Cons:
- Heavy, probably one of the heaviest out there, along with the Slingshot i76. In the case of the Flow 1000 this does actually contribute to the Pros as well, as its also probably the most solidly built foil out there. For the same weight its much stiffer and solidly built then the Slingshot, in particular the mast is much stiffer. That said I do think just by my eye, that they probably could take a not insignificant bit of weight out of the fuselage without compromising the overall strength of the foil, I think they erred maybe a bit too far on the side of caution there, its a seriously heft hunk of alloy.
- Stall behavior is fairly sudden. Stall speed is pretty slow on par with my friend on the i76. But when it does finally stall its fairly sudden and just drops you. This is probably inherent to high aspect foils, and isn't an issue, but I wouldn't call it a pro, so its here in the cons section.
- Those trailing edges are pretty sharp. So watch out.
- Mine whistles a tiny bit at speed, I've sailed around a few others with Flow foils which don't seem to do it.
- Fasteners of front wing aren't perfectly flush. If you were pedantic you would want this perfectly flush for max speed. I think the race guys usually tape over them too.
- Wing bags are pretty flimsy, I've had mine only about a month now and where the wingtips are the bags are already wearing through. The main kit bag however seems to be made of more sturdy material.
- The anti-seize stuff they supply is rubbish compared to Tefgel, just use Tefgel. It's probably not as critical with all the connections heli-coiled, but this stuff is lucky to last 1-2 tightening/loosening cycles, whereas Tefgel is obnoxiously sticky and hard to get off even if you want it off.
- Tools supplied are cheap, the allen keys are plated steel, they will start to rust almost instantly if you go near salt water. Dunno why they can't supply stainless, it'd make like $2-3 difference to their BOM cost.
- Metal zip on the kit bag, again not sure how long Fanatic have been around (are they celebrating 40 years this year?) but they should know better. It's probably OK here, but again area for improvement that would cost them very little.
- Allen key fasteners, personally, I think Torx are better, but both are better then Phillips. I'm lazy and like to get on the water fast and put everything together with an impact driver. The countersunk fasteners in particular, always seem to flog out pretty quick and get stuck, whereas Torx don't.
Comparisons:
If you want a high aspect foil in the similar price bracket, probably only the new 2021 Naish 1150 is comparable out of the offerings from the main stream brands. The Naish would be lighter, and they have beefed up their mast, and have got good connection designs, but windsurf specific wing range is limited to the 1 size, bad luck if you want something bigger or smaller. Otherwise I'd compare it against the Starboard GTR, but they aren't in the same price bracket, and I suspect the starboard is probably a touch faster and lighter too.
As far as low aspect foils goes, there is definitely a different philosophy which makes direct comparisons difficult. I'd say if you are sailing mostly flat water, you will definitely want an efficient high aspect foil. If you are sailing where there are a lot of waves, then something thats lower aspect, and a bit draggier will make sense to stop you outrunning the swells. Thats the best thing about foiling, its actually made going slow fun. I don't think anyone really enjoyed going slow before foiling.
Board Compatibility:
I think this foil honestly has a pretty good chance of working with almost any board out there. It has the plate mount, deep tuttle adaptor (sold separately), and shims for the rear stabiliser. On my Alien 115, its good from between 0deg to -0.5deg rear stabiliser depending on if you want to sail back footed or front footed. It will obviously work with the Fanatic Stingrays, and can't see it having compatibility issues with any of the other majors like JP or Starboard.
On my previous Naish Hover 122 which is probably a bit on the extreme end as the Naish foil mounts further forward then most, I had to run it right at the back of the tracks with the -0.5deg rear stabiliser to keep it from leaping out of the water. But once set up like that it was OK. One thing to mention is that the plate mount is too wide to fit in the channel on the bottom of the Naish boards, I made a DIY shim out of a few sheets of vinyl flooring and got some longer bolts to make it work. I think Naish are the only ones with the pointless bottom channel, so you should be fine with most other boards.
Photos:
What you get in the kit. There is a bag for the mast as well.
Closeup of the platemount with the hard foam
Front wing connection
Rear stabiliser connection, with shim installed. (0deg is just no shim)
The shims
Took it over to Moreton, it looks fast even on the beach.
Set up on the hover, a photo to show the relative position of foil to footstraps etc.
After a light wind session
Jumps
Next to the Naish 1150, I think this is the 2020. Not sure if the 2021 is actually different except for the new mast?
Yep, I scored the Seabreeze and sailed out front of RQ last Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Friday was nicely powered about 12-13kts.
Its awesome that the RQYS wind meter is working again, basically as soon as that reads 10kts, I know it will be a good session. Not sure where that meter is, and how it reads relative to the water level.
I should clarify, 12kts foiling is for the 4.7m wavesail. With the 7m Foilglide, I can get foiling in <10kts.
There is a couple of wind meters at RQYS, one on the fence and one on a mast above the "loo with a view", I think it reads a couple of knots higher than water level though. Also think that NE wind in front of RQ can be bit less than at Wynnum Creek sometimes.
www.rqys.com.au/weather-station/
This is the one I've been checking. When its reads 10kts I can foil 100%.
Wynnum creek is usually heaps windier in NEer, I reckon 2-3kts? but big walk when the tides are low.
Great review! I have the flow 1250. I want to get a smaller front wing. Can you comment on the 900 vs the 1000?
I have sailed all except the 1500. The 900 turns better than the 1000 which is what I like. I wouldn't be surprised if the 1000 was quicker though. Feels like its got the potential and is more stable. 900 for me though. best of both worlds. If I was wanting to ride ocean swell I would take the 1250. Slower but turns better.
Swoosh you may like to research this as you like to be technical.
Its a Moses W1000 so 1000mm span x 1000sq cm.
I have the Moses 1100 as well ie 1100 mm span x 2100 sq cm and the W1000 is extremely close in its lift but faster.
The fuselage is the kite version and there is a much longer windsurf fuselage.
Price wise less than Axis.
Select to expand quotewarwickl said..
Swoosh you may like to research this as you like to be technical.
Its a Moses W1000 so 1000mm span x 1000sq cm.
I have the Moses 1100 as well ie 1100 mm span x 2100 sq cm and the W1000 is extremely close in its lift but faster.
The fuselage is the kite version and there is a much longer windsurf fuselage.
Price wise less than Axis.
I have this in Manly QLD for racing. Come have a look at RQ on weekends.
Hey guys, thanks for all the positive feedback. Definitely keen to try more foils and write some more reviews, but with the smaller community here, the access to foils isn't that great, and I think Covid has made all the gear availability a bit tricky as well. Will also need to get a GPS or something for more accurate speed measurements etc.
It's also very hard to quote wind speeds etc that people mention in reviews, as my 12kts, might be someones 9kts or vice versa. For reference I generally will try and quote the RQYS weather station, which I'm pretty sure is right on the beach that I sail in front of www.rqys.com.au/weather-station/ I think it is elevated, so it may read a knot or so higher than on the water.Select to expand quotewindsurftom said..
Did you try it against the Naish 1150?
No haven't had the chance too. Originally the intention was to demo both the Naish 1150 and the Flow 900 as those at the foils that the local shop had at the time, but time got in the way, so I ended up just buying the Fanatic Flow 1000 when it became available without demo'ing as it seemed like the safer bet of the two. For me, it seems like Fanatic are investing more R&D into the windfoiling, whereas Naish are more focused on wings/SUP etc, just purely based on the range of wings available. And the local Naish importer appears to be much more involved in the SUP/Wing stuff.
Also the Naish I think would want to be mounted a bit further forward in the board compared to other brands which may make compatibility with the Alien an issue. You can see on the photo of the two side by side, that the mast position on the Naish fuselage is a lot further forward then the Fanatic.Select to expand quoteNS320 said..
Wouldn't the 900 be faster than the 1000 since it has less surface area?
You would think so, but possibly they have refined the foil a little bit, as the 900 was released as a 2019 kit, whereas the 1000 was released for 2020. They may have made some minor improvements to the profile? Eitherway, its not a huge difference in size, so I think there is maybe <1kt difference. There are a few guys with the 900 locally, and I think speed wise we are very similar.
Talking to Simon @ Board Crazy, he reckoned that the 1000 could fly a bit slower, so that may help gybing etc. But again the sizes are really close together. I think maybe Fanatic should drop the 900, and bring out an 800 or 750 for guys who wanna foil super fast. 1250 is probably a good all round wing for people who are real beginners or really chasing light winds without big sails, but I think the 1000 is a really nice size for intermediates and people who are happy to maybe run a little bit of a bigger sail in <10kts.Select to expand quoteMitch Pearson said..warwickl said..
Swoosh you may like to research this as you like to be technical.
Its a Moses W1000 so 1000mm span x 1000sq cm.
I have the Moses 1100 as well ie 1100 mm span x 2100 sq cm and the W1000 is extremely close in its lift but faster.
The fuselage is the kite version and there is a much longer windsurf fuselage.
Price wise less than Axis.
I have this in Manly QLD for racing. Come have a look at RQ on weekends.
Cheers will try and check it out, saw you out on the water with it on I think Friday or Saturday, certainly looks quick. Actually all the race guys are way more powered up, and a serious chunk faster then I am at the moment.
I have already got a price from the importer for the 1000 race wing but with the 85cm mast. I originally looked at the balz 85-720 setup, but I think the front wing is a bit smaller than I want.
For now I still need to find the limits of the Flow1000, I definitely haven't maxed it out speed wise, and I'm much happier running my "cheap" foil into a mud bank then I would be accidentally running that beauty into the ground.
The 1000 is 987 cm2. It is super quick, especially upwind.
There is also an 800 which is 840 cm2. I will get this and a shorter fuselage for slalom in the new year so you can look at it then / have a try if you like. Ben from Foilsport is who I got it from.
I believe the 95 mast would be stiffer for these foils.
Select to expand quoteswoosh said..
and I'm much happier running my "cheap" foil into a mud bank then I would be accidentally running that beauty into the ground.
Yeah, I've run aground heaps around the RQYS area. Worst was about 100m in front of the rock wall north of the beach as it was quite rocky.
Am glad I only have a second hand starboard race setup and not one of those flash new $4k+ ones with an even longer mast.
Looks like those foils are made by the same SAB who makes RC heli blades, and helis for that matter.
Select to expand quotewindsurftom said..
Did you try it against the Naish 1150?
I have used the 1150. Fast but not as easy to ride as the Fanatics. Stable in a straight line but found it hard to foil gybe.
Comparison of 1000 vs 900. Flatter profile on the 1000 and thinner at the tips. Would be even closer in size if you flattened out the 900.
1000 on top
1000 on bottom
Little update on this foil, super impressed with how good the bottom end of this foil is. For me, this foil keeps it simple, its one foil and one wing that just works for me regardless of windspeed or conditions. It's stable enough to learn on, but still fast and strong enough that there is room to progress. Having heaps of fun just burning around Moreton Bay, carving swells, sending jumps off 1m swells in 25kts and just basically having a blast. Had a few fun sessions at Mooloolaba and Cotton Tree carving swells in the ocean, and jumping waves in the river mouth. In short, highly recommended.
Hoping that they release a 600-700 wing in future, for even more speed when its 15kts+. Should also reduce loads on the board from bad jumps, not too worried about the foil, but a little concerned that the board won't cop a flat landing from 3-4m up.
On the wind range, I finally got my 2021 S1's about 4 weeks ago, and I'm currently between 79-80kg:
- 4.8m works from about 12kts, pretty much as expected, haven't had it in super light conditions so will see if its got a bit more in it.
- 4.0m works with this foil from 15kts, this was a little unexpected, the new S1 is all round a much better sail than my old 2013 4.2 SWAT, more power, softer, and better range.
Tuning range using the Severne Alien 115 is excellent, turns out the board and foil are an excellent match. It works with any of the shims, depending on whether you prefer a bit more front or back foot pressure. The + shims, with a cammed sail will make it really truck upwind, whereas the - shims, with a small wave sail positioned at the back of the mast track gives you a much more playful setup for jumps etc.
It's also contributed to me getting foiling gybes pretty well sorted. Duck gybes were a piece of cake, pretty sure I foiled through the first one I attempted, and clew first and switch stance exits are pretty easy now too. Onwards to the 360s!
Quick video below, I would have easily done over 100 gybes this day, and credit to my videographer, she was interested enough to video a handful
Was trying some different things in terms of gybing technique so this isn't my best work (experimenting with later rig flips), and was also a bit on the lighter side on the inside (15-18kts on the 4.0 S1), so had to pump a little.
I thought I might add my experience with the Fanatic Flow series here so that it can be a bit of one stop shopping for other readers. I have the 900, 1250 and 1500 foils. I'm 56 years old now and have been windsurfing since 1988.
First, I started foiling in the late summer of 2019 with the Stingray 125 and Flow 1250. At the time I weighed about 90 kgs. I really struggled with this even though I was able to fly. The first time I sailed with TheDoor I was put to shame. As 2020 developed I was able to sail so much that I dropped 5 kgs and I'm not as embarrassed anymore even though he is a much better sailor.
It took a long time for the Flow 1500 to make it to the SF bay area but when it did I found it a godsend. I was able to float with smaller sails and not need to sail "overpowered" to foil up. Now a lot of this came down to my inexperience and not truly knowing how to pump smaller sails up onto the foil. That said, while the Flow 1000 worked as a learner foil for Swoosh, I recommend the 1500 especially if you are a bit more well fed like me. Using my GPS watch I can say that my takeoff speed with the 1500 is about 7.5 mph board speed. Unit conversion left to the reader.
Now, there is a peculiarity of the Flow series that is important. The mounting bolt holes for the 1250 and 1500 foils are farther back on the wing than the 900 and 1000. This has the net effect of pushing the CoL of the foil forward for the big wings. By my measurements it's over 35 mm forward, which is significant. This is great for early lift of course but it can be a handful when the wind is on. I sometimes find that I start to lift before I have my front foot back in the strap. I don't use the back straps most of the time. (Btw, I have loads of measurements if anyone wants them.)
The second peculiarity really goes to Fanatic's philosophy when they were developing the Stingray/Flow series: it is for "slalom" style sailing. It really works well with larger sails in lighter winds but doesn't work as well for the kind of freewave sailing that you see from the WA guys here. (This is my opinion but if you spend time on the Fanatic forums you can pick up on this.). Since I am aspiring to the freewave style sailing I am going to have to make some kind of change.
Which brings me to the stab. (And they don't call it a stab for nothing - sucker is sharp!) As swoosh said, it has an area of 215 cm2. Mine whistles like the string section of an orchestra warming up. If you look at what other manufacturers are using for 1500 cm2 size foils you will see that most are using stabs of about 300 cm2. So I bought the anhedral 295 stab from the Aero 1500 set. The whistling immediately disappeared and control improved, but not as much as I wanted.
One of my sailing friends built the caliper/levelling system that you can see elsewhere on the web and we found that the stab doesn't have much decalage from the front foil. I guess it's designed for speed rather than control. I have played with the provided shims and found that using the +0.5 deg gives me more control and I might even make more own shim for more AoA and decalage. I have tried the -0.5 but don't like the instability. (Btw, for my shim set, the -0.5 and +0.5 shims do provide those angles when measured with a caliper. The 0.25 shims are very subtle of course but I don't see the correct angles on my set. I'm not going to use them anyway.)
Lastly, before I finally got the 1500 I bought the 900 for grins. I was surprised that the take off wasn't that much different from the 1250. (It was clearly faster.) But that was based on sensory perception rather than data as I didn't have my GPS watch then. It's winter here and the winds are light and unreliable. Once they pick back up I am going to focus on using the smaller wings again for higher winds.
Feel free to ask questions.
Select to expand quoteBullroarerTook said..
The second peculiarity really goes to Fanatic's philosophy when they were developing the Stingray/Flow series: it is for "slalom" style sailing. It really works well with larger sails in lighter winds...
Thanks for the review. I noticed that Stingray boards are quite long.
Yeah they are. They are "first flight" boards I think and that length does help with the inevitable nose dive after a breach to some extent. On the other hand that doesn't match the compact geometry that you see on a lot of boards now - including their own new Freestyler. (Which I haven't even seen except in pictures.)
Yeah they are. They are "first flight" boards I think and that length does help with the inevitable nose dive after a breach to some extent. On the other hand that doesn't match the compact geometry that you see on a lot of boards now - including their own new Freestyler. (Which I haven't even seen except in pictures.)
I'm planning to move to Fanatic foils from SS and trying to decide which one to choose as I want to use that foil for wind and wing foiling. Currently using SS I84 foil with 48 rear wing for windfoiling. It works great, very maneuverable, easy to ride combo. Would Flow 1500 provide same lift and behavior?
Related question: is anybody using Fanatic Aero HA foil for windsurfing?
Thank you all for the great reviews and info here. About 4hrs in on this as my first foil with a Hover 131. I weigh 69kg and purchased the 1250 & 900 front wings. I have to use -0.50 with the 1250 in all wind strengths. To maintain a scientific approach I am currently working the foil mast aft before trying the 900. My concern is quality; the mast is painted and already peeling in the fuselage connection and at the mast to hull plate Anyone else had experience here? Have emailed Fanatic already. Very surprised it's not an anodised mast and that I did not notice this less than desirable finish at point of purchase!
I've not ridden any of the Slingshot stuff but my friends do. I would say the Flow1500 is most comparable to the i76. It may foil up a touch earlier but also be a touch slower. This is from sailing alongside my friends who are on Slingshot.
I have tried the -0.5 shim and as I said it seems to be a bit more unstable to me. I recommend trying the +0.5. I have three Fanatic masts (long story) and they are all holding up well. They all seem anodized to me. If you really do have a painted version you should request a replacement. My first mast is the one I use most often (oh wait) and it's got hundreds of hours on it now. Solid.
Select to expand quoteBullroarerTook said..
I've not ridden any of the Slingshot stuff but my friends do. I would say the Flow1500 is most comparable to the i76. It may foil up a touch earlier but also be a touch slower. This is from sailing alongside my friends who are on Slingshot.
I have tried the -0.5 shim and as I said it seems to be a bit more unstable to me. I recommend trying the +0.5. I have three Fanatic masts (long story) and they are all holding up well. They all seem anodized to me. If you really do have a painted version you should request a replacement. My first mast is the one I use most often (oh wait) and it's got hundreds of hours on it now. Solid.
Will try the other shims definitely and try for a replacement as it's not good enough. Do you know the importers details? I emailed via the fanatic website first off.
I was going to ask you where you live since I'm in the US and you could be anywhere but then I realized it doesn't matter. I don't know the details regardless. Sorry.
Select to expand quoteRandwick said..
Thank you all for the great reviews and info here. About 4hrs in on this as my first foil with a Hover 131. I weigh 69kg and purchased the 1250 & 900 front wings. I have to use -0.50 with the 1250 in all wind strengths. To maintain a scientific approach I am currently working the foil mast aft before trying the 900. My concern is quality; the mast is painted and already peeling in the fuselage connection and at the mast to hull plate Anyone else had experience here? Have emailed Fanatic already. Very surprised it's not an anodised mast and that I did not notice this less than desirable finish at point of purchase!
No issues with finish on my Flow foil.
Select to expand quotemotogon said..
I'm planning to move to Fanatic foils from SS and trying to decide which one to choose as I want to use that foil for wind and wing foiling. Currently using SS I84 foil with 48 rear wing for windfoiling. It works great, very maneuverable, easy to ride combo. Would Flow 1500 provide same lift and behavior?
Related question: is anybody using Fanatic Aero HA foil for windsurfing?
I have the HA 1750 with the 80cm fuselage... I need to try these out wind foiling...I have been using it for winging, and it is such a nice foil. Replaced my Slingshot 99 and 76, although the 76 has a more satisfying turn. Build quality, fit, and finish is really good on the Fanatic foils. Total setup weight is on the heavy side, but it is stiff and built very sturdy.
I started on the Fanatic Flow H9 which was usable but not a great foil.
I've had over 10 session on my Flow 1000 now, so I thought I would add my review. Prior to switching to the Flow 1000, I was riding the Slingshot i76 so I wanted to post a compassion, because so many people talk about the SS foils on Seabreeze.
Flow 1000 Vs Slingshot i76 Summary
If you want an easy to learn on, and easy to carve foil that is less likely to injure you if you accidentally hit it, then I'd go for the SS i76.
If you want to go a bit faster, get going easier, go downwind harder, and wider wind range from a single wing, then go for the Flow 1000.
Carving
In my experience, the i76 is easier to carve. That's not to say that the Flow 1000 doesn't carve well - it definitely does, it's just not as forgiving as the i76. I've found that with the Flow 1000, you need to carefully balance the roll and 'rudder' inputs (back foot pressure) during a turn. If you don't balance them correctly, it'll tend to side stall. If you get the balance right, it's awesome to carve! The i76 doesn't need you to be so precise with your turns, it's more forgiving.
Downwind
After switching to the Flow 1000 it was immediately obvious that you don't lose speed as quickly as you do on the i76 when you turn downwind to gybe. This means that you can carve wider turns, catch swells, and go downwind much easier. This is one of my favourite things about the Flow 1000. I76 needs more power to keep it moving through the water than the Flow 1000.
Early foiling
I was originally hesitant to switch to a 1000cm foil from the 1500cm i76, because I thought that I'd lose some bottom end performance (ie. I wouldn't get going as early). It turns out that it's actually easier to get foiling on the Flow 1000 in light wind compared to the i76. Flow 1000 has less drag and accelerates noticeably quicker to foiling speed compared to the i76. That means less pumps required to get flying, which is a win in my books.I also find riding the Flow 1000 in high wind (~25kts) easier than the i76. I attribute this mainly to the lower drag, hence faster downwind riding to wash off apparent wind.
Swell riding
I think the rear stabiliser was a bit too big for me on the i76. Or maybe I should have been riding the shorter fuselage, because it was a bit too stable in pitch for me. This made gybing easier, but swell riding was harder, as I found it hard to quickly pitch the nose down to ride down the wave. I tried shimming the stabiliser for less lift, which helped, but still wasn't ideal on bigger waves. It was nice and balanced on flat water. The main advantage of the i76 in the waves, is that it's slower, so you don't outrun the waves as quickly as you do on the Flow 1000.For me, Flow 1000 is more fun to ride swells with. Pitch control is not an issue as it was on the i76, and carving is great once you're used to it. It is faster, so you do have be mindful not to outrun the waves. Ultimately, I prefer the Flow 1000 in waves, because it's not as stable in pitch as the i76, which makes it more playful.
Design/Construction
Flow 1000 is a clear winner when it comes to design and construction. The front wing to fuse attachment on the i76 is not great, as it fills up with water and provides an ideal corrosion environment for the fuselage. Wing wobble is guaranteed to develop over time. An whilst there are workarounds to fix it, it's still annoying. Mast to fuse connection on the i76 is also not ideal and tends to break if you jump it. I know that because Swoosh snapped the mast to fuse bolts on my SS foil when he jumped it. Luckily the wings floated.Considering the SS i76 and Flow 1000 weight exactly the same amount, Flow 1000 is noticeably stiffer and stronger.The main thing I don't like about the Flow 1000 is how sharp the wings are; Especially the rear wing tips - great for hydrodynamic efficiency, bad for my feet/legs if I hit them. I really liked how smooth and blunt the wings were on the i76. I was never worried about cutting my feet on the i76 wings. I'd take the extra drag penalty for wings that are not sharp.
