Took a while to sort my mind (and bank account), but decided to order the SABfoil W945.
Received the package this morning and couldn't wait to unpack. My eyes started to shine upon the looks of the W945 frontwing. Looks very, very nice and balanced. Also bought the S425 stabilizer. Both feel very light and look fast/sleek. Wonder if my skill level is sufficient for this combo.
Will use it for SUPfoil and winging. Maybe windfoil. I'm 85-90 kg (depending on my diet), middle aged and surf around here is peaking at 7-8 second swell period. Mainly beachbreaks on sandbars.
unfortunately no wind this weekend. Will be back with my experience and maiden vogage impressions.
Love to hear what other user think about the W945, which stabs, etc.. So please share.
Yesterday evening the thermal performed it's magic, slightly pushing the Northeasterly further North and accelerated to 12-18knots in the gust. Pretty gusty and changing direction constantly, challenging condition for the maiden voyage.
forward placement was adviced so I put the mast almost to the front of the tracks. The stab shimmed -1 degree, as prescibed.
Initial attempts resulted in stall. Need to point more downwind and adjust the pump rhythm to get a bit more speed and push forward (more than upwards). once on foil it felt smoother and faster than on my previous set-up. Turning is a bit more like a carve, compared to the w873.
The small and weak windswell provide a chance to try the glide and waveriding a bit. I was struggling a bit because I'm used to the stable, low aspect surface that carries you at slow speeds. Going too slow, the w945 suddenly stops lifting and drops of foil. Probably also my lack in skills and experience.
I could feel that the wing allows me to pump further. But I'll have to develop a smoother and softer rhythm. Using my weight and force seems to over-pump.
I was the only winger out, so can't compare directly. More wind forecasted later this week. Looking forward to my second flight.
Hi FlyingPeew. I'm curious how your experience has been w/ the w945 now that you've had it a bit longer. I'm sort of debating between the 945, 940, and 799. (75KG intermediate winger, moderate to high winds)
Select to expand quoteTredAvon said..
Hi FlyingPeew. I'm curious how your experience has been w/ the w945 now that you've had it a bit longer. I'm sort of debating between the 945, 940, and 799. (75KG intermediate winger, moderate to high winds)
Just got rid of W950 and got W945 instead, had one go, W945 feels very smooth and surfy, not the easiest wing to get up but once you up it glides nicely, don't feel the drag/wall at 15-17 knots.
For those thinking of W950, I really didn't like it, the winglets will cause massive unrecoverable ventilation on a tiniest breach, you need a lot of speed to lift it of the water (probably more speed than I'd need to take off on W1000). So the W950 doesn't fit in any category, you can't really surf it, not a light wind wing, the only positive is once you're up - the unpowered glide distance is noticeably longer.
Both of those wings tested with the new fuse 700HS, I think it's way too heavy, makes it a lot harder to pump/take off/carry. It's literally easier to take off on W1000 (950cm2) and 647 kite fuse than W945 (1300cm2) and 700HS fuse.
I'll take the W945 into the surf, it should be a perfect fit for that.
SAB should definitely look into reducing weight on 700HS.
Select to expand quoteArtemN said..
Both of those wings tested with the new fuse 700HS, I think it's way too heavy, makes it a lot harder to pump/take off/carry. It's literally easier to take off on W1000 (950cm2) and 647 kite fuse than W945 (1300cm2) and 700HS fuse.
I'll take the W945 into the surf, it should be a perfect fit for that.
SAB should definitely look into reducing weight on 700HS.
Takeoff speed difference is more likely due to fuse length and the extra load on the front wing that is needed to counter the tail on takeoff. short fuses do a lot to lower the takeoff effort.
Need to take a closer look at fuses length and front wing mounting point.
Had a proper session today on W945/S370, it really shines in the surf, very fluid/surfy feel, no drag, no "turbulence" feeling at high end, can pretty much breach any part of the wing/stab super easy to recover. This setup won't be collecting dust for sure, would need to test low end to find out if it can be used on light days.
Unfortunately the weather conditions and agenda only permitted me 2 sessions on the W945 so far.
First flights are described above. I'm no expert, might say at the bottom of intermediate level. Riding strapless on a foilsup (7'0" / 115 liter).
I agree with ArtemN on the weight of the fuselage. The 700HS looks beautifull but is heavier than the "old" 710 fuselage. If those extra grams are required for sufficient strength, it's fine with me. The fit to the mast is snug. Best to push the fuse down onto the mast before/in between securing the M6 bolts, as the snug fits means there's little tension on the bolts. After 1 hour session I checked the bolts but they were still tight and secure.
Second time out on the W945/S425 the wind was blowing 20 to 25 knots side-shore to slightly offshore. On 4meter wing. No significant swell, just some local windchop/refracting swell from nearby windfields.
Again, no other wingfoilers out (for comparison). Plenty of kitesurfers and windsurfers, though.
Getting on to the foil was a piece of cake. On flight the foil feels pretty fast and stable, yet responds to input fast and predictable. The glide means I can take my time on the turns to handle the wing, more/longer than I can with the W873/s450 combination. Slowing down there seems to be a point where lift stops. That point is at a higher speed than on the W873/S450, but not that far off.
During the session more refracting swell came in. That swell had not set properly, meaning the outer sandbanks already broke the smallswell into smaller bumps of different periods. Hard to judge which of the bumps contained the energy.
The W945 seems more able to pick up the energy than my old set-up. Full powered on the wing that sometimes meant that 'hitting' the wave energy propulsed the foil up suddenly, sometimes to breaching. Could recover most of the time, though.
Have not tried to push and find the upper speed limit of the foil. Have not noticed a speed limit in 'normal' riding.
I could ride some of the swell (say kneehigh) flagged-out for quite a distance. Tried pumping to stay on dying swell or crossing to another bit. Could go a small distance, but not as much as I hoped (it's not an e-foil :-)). The bumpy conditions, longer board and my lack of skills/efficiency meant that after a few pumps the board touched the water and mostly meant end of the ride on foil.
A mate that was out windsurfing was impressed though with the (distance) riding/turning I did while flagged out.
Impressions so far (compared to w873). The foil feels pretty fast and manouvrable. Pumping is better than the W873. Take-off speed is higher, but just slightly. Once on foil I only need a little push to keep going. Upwind seems pretty good, but no real reference. Breaching of wingtips are recoverable to no-problemo.
I did not have a chance to try the foil while SUP-foiling and forecast for the next week is not very promising.
Made an overview of the Moses/SABfoil frontwings, updated that overview with the information on september 1th. Sharing is caring :-).
Dear mates,
I?m kitefoiling more or less since W633 hit the market and used the Onda set up since. I?m 78kg and would like to start wingfoiling this season and wonder which setup or maybe front wing change you?d recommend for me. Riding will be mostly lakes. My prefered kite size was 8m. I do have a long windsurf background and am a skilled pumper and wave- as well as course race boards rider.
That leads me to the second half of my question: How much volume do you recommend for my size ? I?m coming from Groove Skate 120cm but am aware that volume maters to get me starting with a wing foil.
Thanks for your advices !!!!
I'd say get W1110 and W1000, perfect combo covering all scenarios.
As for stab, S399 or S376 (if you want a looser feeling and a bit faster, less stable though than 399)
