Looking to get my first midlength wing foil/prone board ,wingfoil for last 2 years on a bubble shape style semi sinker
Sick off lack off low end in getting on foil and would like a board i can prone on as well
Im 85kg prone and winging for 5 years
Looking at an armstrong midlength75 litre, 6,1 20wide i think
Or the amos sultan at 85 litre 18 wide 5,10
Any other brands or sizes i should be considering
I also have dw 8,2 120 litres but want a plan B as it may be difficult take travelling a board that long to some places
So looking for something travel friendly.
Any tips out there
My local is pichilemu, chile for context so riding a wet wetsuit i,m more like 95kg
Any tips from midlength wing foilers would be epic
Or should just stick to the bubble and my little prone board
Congrats on making the choice to pursue a midlength! I'm about the same weight as you so happy to share anything I can.
Here's a couple reviews I wrote:
Sunova Carver 5'10" x 20" 85l
www.wouzel.com/post/5-10-x-20-85l-sunova-carver-gorge-review
Sunova Aviator 6'6" x 20" 90l
www.wouzel.com/post/sunova-aviator-18-gorge-wing-review
I'm currently working on a review for the Pilot which is 5'9"x20" 65.7l
A few things I've learned and noted on winging midlengths:
1. Neutral volume is ideal if you really want to just get up and go on demand. You can go sinker midlength but you don't get the same low end and will have to wait from time to time. Better than sinker chub boards, but still a sinker.
2. Deck shape is critical when getting narrow boards. For an 18" wide board I want an extremely flat deck in order to get command over the rail to rail movement. As such, I don't really recommend 18" for aggressive rail to rail action, it's doable but not ideal if you are using foils with spans over 900mm. 19" and flat is as narrow as I will go in the future. 20" with a slight convex deck is also great fun.
3. Longer than 6' is nice for fast slogging speeds but doesn't get a ton more low end out of your wings.
4. If you can't decide between two boards, get the one that is lightest!
For your options, the Sultan looks really thick, not stoked on that. But, it does have a slightly concave deck that might give better responsiveness at 18" than expected. I've heard these boards are superlight though I don't see any published weights.
The Armstrong is a bit heavier than I would want (I want all of my boards closer to 10lbs or lighter) and also has the raised deck sections which I'm not a fan of. If you've ridden with those already then maybe they wont bother you.
So, I'm a big fan of Sunova. You can customize anything you want on them and my carver which was 5'10"x20" 85l and 10.75lbs was an absolute gem of a board. I replaced it with just a few less liters and .25lbs weight with a 5'11"x20"x77l custom. The pilot I am riding comes in at 9.3lbs and has great low end for the associated volume (much better than the old chub boards) but I do manage to find a hole during each session where I struggle to get back on foil for a short bit. I think it just depends on how fast and how on demand you want your water starts to be! All of the boards I listed here prone paddle great though, super fast for sure.
Solid thorough post from BWalnut.
I'm 95kg (warm water/no wetsuit), on a custom KT 6'x20 85L- similar to the Super K with some tweaks, including no step. I'm not sure exact weight, but it's pretty light. I ordered it thinking it would be my winter board/lighter wind and it has been great for that, but I've also found no real desire to grab my 5-2 70L sinker when the wind/surf is up. It's proven to be a great all around board, carves turns really well and allows me to ride a size smaller foil, downsize wings .5. It actually taxis pretty well as long as there is some breeze. I have used it for prone which was super fun, paddles well, catches waves with ease but with that volume I wouldn't want to surf someplace without a channel as it won't properly duck dive. The paddling for sure makes me feel better about doing downwingers offshore as I know I can paddle in if the wind dies or bladder failure etc.
Love mu Sunova carver.
One thing to consider is how the board handles high speed touch downs. On my previous board a Duotone skywing you could touch down and sail it planning at full speed.
The Axis blast looks interesting as it's a short fatter mid length. Maybe a better all rounder?? Best of all worlds?
You seem already pretty proficient in foiling. I had many people switching from normal to midlength board and for an intermediate rider these are the general feedback I collected:
Duotone Skybrid -> easiest of them all. Bit shorter and wider than other MLs. Facilitate water start no matter of the conditions even when in between crashing waves (I have seen people starting on knees very fast in pretty challenging conditions). Great for traveling since at 5'8" or shorter u can get it inside a normal Mystic wing foil bag.
Armstrong Midlength -> the most technical of them all. Its narrow, its unstable and require perfect technique to get on foil. It does not like to get pumped too much when taking off as it needs to build speed with the sail power only. Once on foil it's a pure joy to ride. Very balanced and narrow shape allows to get pretty radical on waves. Unless you riding Armstrong foils, be ready to experiment with different mast plates and stab shims as Armstrong board, particularly DW and ML, are designed to be plug and play only with Armie foils in my opinion. I use a -10L which seems what you aiming at. Schlogging with no wind will be quite hard.
KT Special K: a good mix between the two above. Despite the displacement hull in the front, I found it more stable than the Armstrong when schlogging.
F-One Midlength: way too thick for my tastes and fin box is short and rear centered hence I didnt want to take a risk since I am using Armstrong foils.
Iam 82kg and just bought myselft first siinker-ish board. I bought the armstrong ml55, little bit scared as its pretty narrow but hopefully can make it work. Managed to buy it second hand so hopefully would not lose any money if it comes to selling it if i cant cope
Epic intel guys this is great intel anyone selling ?as im in byron area for the next 6wks
All midlengths are top dollar at the moment
Bubble boards seem to be cheap thinking nobody wants them anymore
I'm 87kg and I have the KT Super K 5'9" 19.5" 60L. I have only winged it once because I'm a Parawing fiend now. It gets on top of the water super easy and builds board speed really well. Super easy to take off and surfs great! Works great prone as well, have had a few super fun sessions on it. You really don't need all that extra volume. I'll ride my DW board in light wind conditions.
Select to expand quotefoilthegreats said..
I'm 87kg and I have the KT Super K 5'9" 19.5" 60L. I have only winged it once because I'm a Parawing fiend now. It gets on top of the water super easy and builds board speed really well. Super easy to take off and surfs great! Works great prone as well, have had a few super fun sessions on it. You really don't need all that extra volume. I'll ride my DW board in light wind conditions.
Just the feedback I was looking for. When do you switch to the 60l board? I have been tempted to pick up a more neutral vol mid for parawing, really more of a stable shape vs my round bottom 18 wide 70l mid and I hesitating on going too big. But I will say I would rather ride an 85l mid than my 8ft dw board. Considering selling the dw board and just going all in on pw.
Select to expand quoteCFL Foiler said..foilthegreats said..
I'm 87kg and I have the KT Super K 5'9" 19.5" 60L. I have only winged it once because I'm a Parawing fiend now. It gets on top of the water super easy and builds board speed really well. Super easy to take off and surfs great! Works great prone as well, have had a few super fun sessions on it. You really don't need all that extra volume. I'll ride my DW board in light wind conditions.
Just the feedback I was looking for. When do you switch to the 60l board? I have been tempted to pick up a more neutral vol mid for parawing, really more of a stable shape vs my round bottom 18 wide 70l mid and I hesitating on going too big. But I will say I would rather ride an 85l mid than my 8ft dw board. Considering selling the dw board and just going all in on pw.
My go currently in fresh water:
10-15 KTS: KT Dragonfly 7' 100L: AFS Silk 1050/152: BRM 4m.
15-20 KTS: KT Super K 5'9" 60L: AFS Silk 850/142: BRM 4m.
20-30 KTS: KT Super K 5'9" 60L: AFS Silk 850/142: BRM 2.9m.
If waves get really good I'll use the Silk 650/132.
I'll also throw on the Ultra 750 here and there.
I also use straps on the Super K, makes getting going much easier.
If only using for Parawing the 60L will be on the more challenging side to get going but if high performance is your goal its a great size/board.
Also I only ride the parawing upwind/downwind like a wing.
Select to expand quoteSlowlyButSurely said..
You seem already pretty proficient in foiling. I had many people switching from normal to midlength board and for an intermediate rider these are the general feedback I collected:
Duotone Skybrid -> easiest of them all. Bit shorter and wider than other MLs. Facilitate water start no matter of the conditions even when in between crashing waves (I have seen people starting on knees very fast in pretty challenging conditions). Great for traveling since at 5'8" or shorter u can get it inside a normal Mystic wing foil bag.
Armstrong Midlength -> the most technical of them all. Its narrow, its unstable and require perfect technique to get on foil. It does not like to get pumped too much when taking off as it needs to build speed with the sail power only. Once on foil it's a pure joy to ride. Very balanced and narrow shape allows to get pretty radical on waves. Unless you riding Armstrong foils, be ready to experiment with different mast plates and stab shims as Armstrong board, particularly DW and ML, are designed to be plug and play only with Armie foils in my opinion. I use a -10L which seems what you aiming at. Schlogging with no wind will be quite hard.
KT Special K: a good mix between the two above. Despite the displacement hull in the front, I found it more stable than the Armstrong when schlogging.
F-One Midlength: way too thick for my tastes and fin box is short and rear centered hence I didnt want to take a risk since I am using Armstrong foils.
I just picked up a 78l F One mid length for parawing and light wind wing. It's super stable, just got a slog around session with the wing, it was not enough to get on foil but I was frothing and wanted to check stability. It's rock solid which is awesome as it's 19 wide. Should be great for the parawing
