If your priorities for prone foiling in short period knee to chest high waves were pumping to connect waves (#1), turning (#2) and glide (#3) what foil would you choose?
I’m about two and half years into prone foiling on the Unifoil Progressions and Evolutions and still enjoy connecting as many waves as possible. I mostly prone on the Progression 140 and Evolution 175.
progression 140 is epic for turns and the progression 175 is a low end connecting machine
What tail are you using? i would stay on what you have thats a great quiver possibly look into changing tails if anything
I have the Unifoil G10 13” tail pack, G10 14” tail pack, 13.5” Progression tail and 14.5” Progression tail.
I mostly ride the 14.5” Progression tail with a +0.5 shim on the Progression 140 and +1.0 shim on the Evolution 175.
I know I’ve said this in a few posts before, but I’ll restate it here…
First, Unifoil, especially the Evolution, is absolutely right up there with the best. I don’t think you gain much by jumping from one brand to another.
I’ve done a ton of research on this because I’m obsessed with wave linking and connection time. What I’ve found is that it all comes down to how long you can pump a wing, not glide.
For example:
If you can pump a wing for 20–30 seconds, that typically links 2–3 waves
45 seconds can link 2–5 waves
1 minute can link 3–8 waves
1:15 can link 10–12 waves in the right conditions
2 minutes of pumping can yield anywhere from 8mins to 40 mins of connecting waves, depending on conditions and period
This really has nothing to do with glide. I’ve ridden extremely glidey wings (axis 1201) and very low-glide wings (axis 1150), and wave linking or connection time doesn’t really change if the pump duration is similar.
In my opinion, glide and ease of pumping doesn’t matter nearly as much as how long you can stay on foil. In this example 2 mins, is 2 mins.
The other big factor is skill level. I have friends who can pump for a “long time” but are less experienced in waves, and they lose connections due to breaching, positioning, or timing mistakes. That’s not an endurance issue, it’s a prone skill issue.
I’d consider myself an intermediate-to-advanced prone foiler, and I’ve exceeded 30 minutes of continuous pumping in the surf several times. Every time, the results follow the same rules outlined above.
I loved the Uni progression and Hyper foil prior. With mostly long period swell where I’m at, I’ve always been interested in foils with good low end.
I jumped to Code last year and the S series was a definite leap in performance in the surf. Got a 5 for 1 on my first go on the 1300 and picked up a 980 soon after for tighter turning and more speed.
Recently got on KT nomads and am very impressed as well.
The Progression wings are great for your needs, i.e., carving, pumping, linking waves. I have ridden the 140 and 170 since they first came out and love them both. Found they do get maxed out as the surf gets bigger/steeper. I switched to AFS Eduros last year and have been loving them for their ability to handle fast, steep surf while still carving, gliding, and pumping great. I mostly ride the Enduro 900 in surf. I recently tried the Nomad 830 and was blown away by its ability to carve and especially pump between waves. I did find that it needs to shim closer to zero beyond the recommended setting KDW designed, if the surf is punchy. My favorite of the group is the Nomad, but I am still figuring it out. The Nomad carves amazing and pumps amazing. Not sure if this will help you. Basically, you can’t go wrong with any of the new gear, and even the Progression stuff is still very good. The moral of the story is stick with what you have, practice, practice, practice, because buying lots of “game-changer” gear has not necessarily made me a better foiler.
Mighty Mike and FoilLight… had you tried the Evo wings? Much different than the progressions wings in terms of speed range. Pump too, because of rhe the 10ar vs the progressions 8ar
Hi I have not tried the Evo… I bet they are great! Its crazy how much better the newer gear is compared to stuff from a few years back. Exponentially better.
Haven’t tried the Evo, I wasn’t sold by the marketing and what the riders were initially saying, just didn’t feel they were that excited about them compared to the Progression.
After the Hyper I went to F-One and got a bit bummed by the Eagle and Sk8, both great foils but needed constant power to work well and got the impression the Evo would be the same.
Folks I know that have Evos say they are comparable to the R series from Code. I have a Code 1085R and it is a glide and pump machine but turns like my old Hyper.
I never really cared for either the prog 170 or 140. Little too much span, too much flex(cracked both at the fuse), and they really wanted to nosedive at speed(but that might have been the tune - the three pack was too many options and g10 was too much flex and I certainly never had the confidence to upgrade to carbon)
North SF 930 was good on paper(right dims) and had the right feels for me out of the box. The 680 was then an amazing bigger wave setup and after a year it’s my daily and the 930 is for strictly groveler use.
Try before you buy, don’t sell your current until the new new has made you happy in all conditions. I repeat - don’t trust reviews. Don’t ever ever sell your current based on what others have said on forums.
Adding the afterburner tail to the evolution wing makes a huge difference. you will gain a ton more glide and speed. You will loose a little low end out of the foil but with some energy in the water its well worth it.
Any reccos re tail choice for Sk8 850 to help reduce blowing up on solid groundswell?
14.5 progression tail is what i use and its great for low end and surfy turns, i am a zero shim guy
havent played with the + shims, how is it ?? noticeable drag and improved turns ??
I just got a 175 evo and am getting 5+ waves on it easily with the zero shim, figuring out the small tap pumps will prolly get me to 10 waves the 175 evo glide is insane and low end is amazing
I’m a life long surfer but coming from a kitefoiling background I like the board to be a bit nose up with a little front foot pressure. I don’t like it when the nose of the board drops at speed or in a turn.
The +1 shim on the Evolution 175 helps me keep the nose up in a turn and also feels like it pumps easier with the nose up. For me I still get plenty of glide with the +1 shim. I haven’t messed around with shimming the mast but probably should.
I feel like the 175 pumps best when I get the leading edge of the wing pointing up during the pump and the +1 shim helps me do that.
On a good day I’ll get 10 for 1s on the 175 but I feel like there are probably foils out there that pump with less effort.
Would have thought Evos (9.5 to 10AR) are closer to the 9.5 AR Code S than to a 13AR DW wing.
Is that the 1075R?
Code S and Evo are close cousins in how they ride. R series is much higher AR and not near as loose but with significantly more glide