Figured a thread wouldn’t hurt especially as @Dylan is getting the froth levels going with his “Great Surf Foil Test” series here which is getting my hype up even further despite the fact that no one is buying my old foils which basically says it all.
Criteria is that it must have been released in 2025 or planned for 2026… I make the rules.
So the 2026 list as far as I can tell (sorry brands not on it, we are animals, 16ar? what? why? lol)
Seems like team riders switch to “surf foils” when they come out… and then a month or two later switch back to something that pumps more efficiently
EDIT: now that I’m reading this post closer, I’m seeing some of these higher AR ratios. I was just assuming most of these “surf” foils are AR8 or less. Looks like I’m very much wrong. Maybe they’re more daily driver pump-able than I originally considered
Armstrong’s MAmkII is their current offering that fits this category. Although it’s not specifically “surf” it’s the one that fits in best with the rest with regards to AR and how it is positioned and sold in their line.
I think you should do a bracket for all the foils you’ve tried. Random # generator to get them into the bracket. That way after you’ve talked about them. You can compare them depending on bracket and talk about why one would win over another. You won’t really be saying the #1 is the best. It’ll just be the one that won the bracket.
If you really don’t want to do that. Then you should do power rankings. They will change each week depending what you’ve been doing. Parawing was big this week so foil brand A moves to the top. DW was good this week, so foil brand B moves to the top etc.
These reviews are so far are the best I’ve seen comparing foil performance in our industry. Would be awesome at some point to get characteristics ratings/feel scales incorporated. In the snowboard industry, thegoodride lays out their’s in a way I’ve always valued fairly high: Capita SB Stairmaster Snowboard Review (with Video)
Don’t mean to give unsolicited advice on this project as it’s already a big step in the right direction, just something I’ve always wished for in foiling. Cheers.
For most of us a great surf foil must primarily connect you through pumping. Your doing the great tow foil test which is very different to the great surf foil test. When towing I ride a foil i can’t pump well enough to prone because of the diminished pump. Of course it turns better than the one i prone and can pump.
If you were to compare the smallest wing span foils that you can pump for say a three for one connection after completing a chip then the sizes from different brands would look very different. For example a manta 635 and flite 707 might pump so well that you need a bigger code or AFS foil to get the chip and pump away. That would be the comparison. The sizes you guys are testing implies this is about prone foils but you guys are towing.
I like what you guys are doing and have done but it would be great if it were relatable to prone foilers. So far it tells me most companies are making very good foils.
Wish we had the time to test it prone foiling. the amount of wave time we get with a tow boogie to actually test the riding of the foil is un touchable. then relate feed back as we do pump back and try to connect as many as we can to sets seems to be the most relatable.
It’s just for fun, and we will do what we can with the time and the tools we have!
@Dylan just listened and really enjoyed the chat, hope to see some footage of the conditions (guessing this session?). Looking forward to part 2. Also doing the split of comparable foils and batching those together is really interesting, I think you should aim for some footage of you guys riding one of the better foils from each of your groupings so we can get a sense for how they compare (impractical to do all of them)
I feel like everything at ~650-750 sqcm an 8 to 9 AR is going to work great in great conditions. I’m sure it all feels amazing. I could not care less though about the nuances of ride in the “ideal” range. Switching foils with a buddy the other day the feel and style differences of a foil felt significant at first but disapeared after 15 min. If i had to live with that foil it would be totally fine.
Things i actually want to know -
I want to know what the low end is like. How does it chip in micro conditions? I want to ride my “Good” foil in the widest range possible.
If the bottom end is great, is the top end still composed? I want to know what comprimises i’m making to get that low end.
Is my crew the last group of prone foilers on the planet? Is everyone else electric towing or acoustic towing (parawing)? Years ago i said the global market for a ripping surf foil for powered surf was maybe 20 units/year. I think now the global market for a prone specific foil is maybe 15.
Devils advocate: surf foils don’t need to be pumpable anymore because everyone is on foil-drive!
Even the OG surf-foiler Erik A is basically a full-time efoiler now. As the price drops over the years the feature of “pumpability” will become less important.
