AFS Evo thoughts?

Winging
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Enjoyed reading all the good reviews of the AFS Foils on here. I’m intermediate, currently riding HPS 1050 + 980. Quite keen to move to the AFS ecosystem as it seems really well made and have lots of good options. Ideally looking for a great progression foil that can do a bit of everything. Main aims are to make the most of wind driven swell and freeride

Anyone have any experience of the EVO range - would it be a step up in performance from the HPS or should I go straight to the Silk/Pure combo?

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Cant speak to the Evo. Seems to be marketed more towards the novice market, but could be a great foil for your use.

The Silk is quite well behaved and intuitive for its performance level and I wouldn’t be scared to steer a progressing intermediate towards the 1050. Only question is whether its big enough for your size / skill level. Its quite a bit smaller than your HPS foils, so you may need to be reasonably skilled in pumping to get it onto foil. Once its on foil, it is pretty easy. Im 80kg and use it with a -20 board down to ~8 knots (5.5-6m wing), but I’ve been at it for years and am relatively efficient.

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Thank both. BWalnut, when you say beginner/intermediate - how do they get on? I’m enjoying my HPS foils and keen to find the next step but don’t want to hamper progression…

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I haven’t ridden the Evo but did have a long chat with our AFS rep about them. From what I gather they are intended to be a range that can do it all - Surf/ SUP/ DW with a modular system that can allow greater flexibility than the Silk/ Pure monoblocs can (Silk - surf & Pure - go fast = more dedicated to one style of riding then the Evo).

Flyer is still the beginner range I think.

I went for a Silk as surfing any type of swell going is my fav, and will probably add a Pure for speed riding at some point in the future (once I’ve saved up). But if you want the all-rounder that does everything quite well rather than one thing really well then Evo could be a great choice.

Worth noting that the Fuselink mast will work on all the ranges now - opens up more combos down the line.

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Agree with @FlyByFoil description -
If someone were to ask me a budget conscious option to have more front wings with lower budget and still be able to go all-round (sacrificing a little bit of high performance for specific modalities) I would suggest the EVO-
Take this couple factors if you’re considering the EVO

  • Want to be able to add more front wings withouth the extra cost of the integrated fuselage (It’s not gonna be UHM I think)
  • Want easier transport of the quiver - when traveling the integrated fuse can be a pain in the ass, not impossible to travel with thou.
  • There’ll be the release of the new Enduro line, which will be a HA (11AR) set of wings that’ll be compatible with the modular fuselink fuselage. So more options for an all-round range if you want to add some easier to use HA wings for Downwinding and more glide and pump. EVO sounds to me like a great choice for winging.
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Have recently received my AFS EVO set. WHAT MAGIC IS HAPPENING IN BRITTANY?

Went for 950 and 1450 with small stab and UHM 85 mast to cover a large wind range. I had been tempted to buy something more advanced but for once in my life stumped for ability appropriate gear. I was moving from Sabfoil 940/380 (1100cm2/180cm2)

95kg and a year into winging.

My immediate feeling was “hello old friend” … the 1450 felt familiar and easy straight out of the box, it was very much the foil I had missed out on for the last 12 months. Nearly too easy yet not slow by any means. Handled breaching and re-entry in very choppy water very easily while I familiarised myself with the new toy. Turning was not quite so sharp, although not far off by any means and it is quite a lot bigger so I’ll forgive that.

The glide and speed felt on a par with the much smaller sabfoil while takeoff was much more intuitive and, as expected, significantly earlier. A subsequent very light wind session re-inforced this further. Didn’t spend long enough out that day to really explore it but i get the feeling that this will be a great summer wing… A tender pump simply puts the board straight back to riding high on the mast.

The 950 has a very similar manner to the 1450 and also gives a feeling of endless acceleration on tap. The glide is insane, forgiving many rider errors. I haven’t explored either the low end or top end of this foil yet but it feels that it I will hit a glass ceiling of progression before the foil ever does.

I was surprised at the ease of takeoff relative to the larger sabfoil - What i felt was certainly not a 12% smaller foil, if anything the take-off was noticeably earlier. Didn’t need to pump it that day but had quite simply the most exhilarating session.

Needless to say the stiffness and build quality are top drawer, the setup is incredibly light too - Handy for a frequent traveller.

Having played with numerous foils of my own or of friends, it is clear that the EVO design stands out in combining performance beyond my (mediocre) skillset alongside an ease of use that I wish I had accessed earlier in my foiling journey.

AFS seem to have hit a real sweetspot with this design

My only fear is how I’ll itch the scratch of finding gear to buy in future as I cannot see myself wanting to change from this set-up for years…

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Thanks for the review. The foils sound epic, I’m fairly sure this is going to be my next setup. I went to se them in the shop and they are super light and beautifully made. Great to have the option to step up to the Enduro etc too.

My only concern is whether it’ll feel like a big enough step up from Axis HPS stuff, which if I’m honest probably isn’t the limited factor vs my skill level!

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Hello,

Did you ever pull the trigger on the Evo? I too am coming from a HPS and thinking about going towards the Evo’s with the added future benefit of Enduro compatibility. Despite the huge amount of praise AFS foils get online there’s very little discussion on the Evo range, so it’s hard to get much of an idea.

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I didn’t, essentially for the same reason that it wasn’t easy to find much out online. I suspect they’re great foils but it would be helpful to confirm that!

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Hadou’s site www.pimpyourride.fr has an english translation feature, and there are a handful of reviews over there.

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I think I’m going to pull the trigger. Just trying to decide between the 1650 and the 1450 for my 92-ish beginner-ish kgs.

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So I decided on the Evo 1650 with the Cruiser L stab and HR mast. I’ve had a chance to try it for one session over about 2 hours. I won’t get another chance for a while due to life getting in the way so I thought I’d provide an update with my first impressions. Comparing this against my Axis HPS 1050 and Progressive 425 stab. For reference I’m about 98kgs with wetsuit and helmet, have a windsurfing background, and have probably about 30 sessions under my belt. I’m still working on the gybes, and on a good day, I can do enough dry gybes in a row that my wing dries out.

Speed: Very similar. Comparing my last session on the HPS, my GPS watch tells me there’s 0.1 kts difference in average speed over top five 10 second runs (12.2 kts vs 12.1), with the Evo being faster, but obviously this is well within the margin for error. Subjectively, the Evo feels more comfortable at speed (fewer vibration/wobbles) and I think there’s more potential to find.

Glide: The Evo feels glidier, but it’s also less front-foot heavy than the HPS, so this is still limited by me rather than the foil because I keep touching down too soon due to my own poor pitch control. Looking forward to trying to get more out of it.

Lift: The Evo lifts significantly earlier. I think there’s 1.5-2 knots board speed difference in it, maybe more, which is significant because I’m taking off at something like 5-6 knots instead of 7-8. So early that initially I wasn’t expecting it to lift and thought I was still in the process of getting the board moving. The HPS also pitches up a lot right before stall, which the Evo doesn’t do anywhere near as much, so I’m less likely to get the foil up and then immediately stall it again by failing to control the pitch. On first try, this feels like the biggest difference between the two foils. It enabled me to change down to a smaller hand wing than I’d normally use in those conditions.

Turning: No less agile than the HPS despite a slightly larger span. In fact, it feels like it’s more agile, but I’m not the right person to be pushing the turns hard yet. Initial feeling is that doing big and small S turns the Evo feels a bit happier and for me, more controllable.

Other differences in no general order: The Evo is lighter, quieter, stiffer & has less vibrations through chop etc, seems to handle breeches better (I only breeched once and didn’t immediately crash), and I think assembly & disassembly is a bit easier.

Keen to get more time on it and keep learning it. I’ll update if my opinions change. Before getting it, I was curious about what I’d find, and wasn’t sure whether I’d have a massive revalation like FrequentFaller in the thread above, or whether I’d be disappointed. Summary is that I’m pretty happy: firstly because I feel like the AFS system will support me better as I grow with smaller Evo’s and Enduros (which is one of the reasons I made the change anyway), and secondly because it has significantly earlier lift with the same or incrementally better performance in all other aspects. So very keen to get out on it again and it’s just unfortunate timing that I probably won’t be out again for 6 weeks or more.