I’ve been riding Axis since I started winging. This is the beginning of my 4th season. My current go-to is the Fireball 1070. I’m 80kg, riding a 95L KT Super K2. Primarily riding parawings since January. I’ve been doing a downwind run off the coast of Santa Cruz, trying to get it dialed. Yesterday’s run, the wind meters were showing 25kts + and I know it was holding over 30kts for a couple of sections. The swell hitting buoys was around 8’ @ 10 secs. There were several times where it felt like the 1070 was maxing out. My best splits were around 2:30, averaging around 13 kts with 18 - 20kt spikes. When I hit top speed the foil started to feel like I was having speed wobbles. This is the 3rd or 4th run that I’ve experienced this.
I chatted up the local A Team guy for a few minutes on Saturday as he was setting up his Tempo. He was frothy on it. I’ve also recently talked to a few people who have been using the Orca. I got to perve on an Orca on Friday and it’s a really sweet foil. Looking at the Axis website last night, they seem to have a similar shape.
Wondering if anyone has ridden both and what your take aways are? I’ve e-chatted with Chris from F4 and there is an opportunity to demo that set up.
I’ve spent way too much money on parawings this season - 5 new PWs. I will feel guilty about spending a bunch of money on new foil setup. The guilt will fade eventually, but I don’t want to make a mistake.
Here’s the area vs volume charts that show the area vs volume. Didn’t see any volume data on the orca. A smaller fireball is pushing less through the water, but the smaller tempos are crazy.
I’ve tried out the orca 800 and 685 on that run and you won’t go wrong with the F4. At 95kg I was actually faster on the 800 but the 685 is probably the one for you on good days. I did the run yesterday on my homebrew 950 and my top 5 splits were between 2:05 to 2:10 with a 10k segment at 2:21. On the orca 800 in similar conditions a few weeks ago I did 2:02 to 2:08 but my 10k was 2:10 so average a fair bit quicker on average. I haven’t tried the Tempo or Fireball so can’t comment on those
How much of the extra pace on the orca is from the 11mm skinny mast I’m not sure, I am on a 13.5mm thick semi skinny mast so for sure some pace is lost there. I did feel some flex on that mast at my weight, if I were investing in F4 I would like to test the stiffer mast and decide on the speed/control tradeoff but at 80 kg you should be fine on the skinny.
Thanks! You’re actually one of the guys I’ve asked about the Orca and I’ve been really curious about what your split times are. I ran into a guy on Friday who has the newest of the new masts and the thing is super sexy.
Thinking about selling my foildrive to fund the F4 but I know I will miss the foildrive in December if el nino comes in strong…
I haven’t ridden either, but I have ridden other 17 AR foils and I would expect them to ride very different from a 12 AR foil, especially a 12 AR foil like the Orca with a wide mid section and thin tips.
Are you looking for absolute speed or do you care about the carve? If you can easily demo an Orca then I would for sure.
I want it all - I want to be able to keep up with the swell and whip turns where I can. I feel like I need something faster to keep up with the swell first.
I asked the same question on the FB axis group, cuz i was hoping that the tempo would just be like an orca or code R thats taken to the next level, but the answers i gotten were not good. it doesnt capture ultra-tiny bits of swell that you can rip on, and the glide and pump isnt like insane, i think the problems is that the tempo is just too small, if they make a tempo with a cm of like 1000-1200, id really like to see if its like a code R taken to the extreme.
i was asking since i had an opporuntity to get a tempo for basically free and i didnt even want it. i think the issue is with paying full price is just that titanium connector bit is just over engineered. i love the idea that the tempos are made with pure UHM, thats actually really good. Just when you add up all the other parts, you end up with a setup that doesnt have much options. If you stick with f4 or code, u actually have a solid setup and good foils for each kind of riding. Axis’s only competitive offering would be a tempo and their 1550/1750 pump foils., all their other foils rely on the outdated connection system and literally any foil in the past 3 years that has a monobloc system will put axis to shame.
Are you including KT here? Donʻt want to change subject, just curious why they would go non-monobloc front wing if thereʻs such a clear difference in performance.
Adrian said on Generic that theyʻre a protoyping company that occasionally sells foils. He also said as more foils come out, if they were appropriate for the new system. Obviously thatʻs down the road.
I chatted with Evan from Axis down in La Ventana and asked about the titanium connector on other foil models and he coyly suggested that I shouldn’t be surprised to see it happen. I fondled a tempo setup and was impressed.
If everyone got the Takuma NoLimitz because it was the smallest which made it easiest to adapt to the most brands. That Titanium connector has gotta be even smaller which will make a great AXIS mast a universal mast of sorts?
I find the mast stiffness becomes critical at higher speeds, especially with wider span wings. I know the new gold DW mast from Axis is only suitable for sub 1 mtr span wings.
I would not say the tempo to orca is a fair comparison to either brand!
The tempo is a high AR race DW foil. Much more glide, more wing span. It’s not very apples to apples as to what these foils can do and for who.
The orca is much easier to ride. Much easier to turn and get the juice out of any run. Mistakes are rewarded with easy recovery. If your goal is to have fun DW run at a high level with freedom and range. Orcas.
the tempo rewards skill, high speeds and eating bumps. If your goal is high speed high average speed and take your buddy down on the DW run in ideal conditions. Tempo might be for you.
They are just not the same foil for the same rider.
I would personally choose the orca over tempo for my terms for DW speed runs.
ok fine, how about the F4 Hammerhead versus the Tempo then? Soon enough we’ll get some reports rolling in. I know I’ve seen some of the Oahu crew riding both at least once on socials. Anyone on here know K3Kai?
Will send comment in a bit. It’s wild. Out of this world. It’s wild it’s my safe foil for what ever conditions i just want to cruise. And not get critical surf mode. 585 HH
Here is a decent day , pretty messy.
Here is a weak gutless day. No business being on a 585. Shocked it was pretty epic.
Same set up different day. Speed range and efficacy is off the chart.
The Hammerhead has a much higher aspect ratio than the Orca. How much higher, i dont think they have published yet. But they state that it is among the highest aspect ratio on the market.
Have not tried it myself, but will for sure order one.
The other foil that you are thinking about, that sits between the Manta and the Orca is not yet on the website.
Sorry to turn this into a hammerhead QA.. So going from the 800 orca to the 688 would be the same like going from the manta 900 to the orca 800? Meaning, if i’m able to ride a 1.5ft bump on the 800 and rip turns, then the 688 would do the same, except it would just be faster and the lines you draw would be more ‘longboardish’.
The low end of the 688 should be similar to the low end of the 800, except you go even further. So with the same effort to pump the 800, you’d be able to pump the 688, but go around 20% further and faster. Do I have the right idea here? I dont have the manta yet, but I have the S and R. And know perfectly what it feels like to go from the S to the R, and I am just wondering if the hammerhead is like, again, going from the S to the R, but you were starting with the R instead of the S (sorry if im confusing)
