Hey Matt, thanks for the opportunity to clarify a few things. We’re working on some new infographics, and have begun sharing some of them via Instagram, which help communicate the features in a more digestible manner than my blog posts. One of the things we need to do is relate the performance of these two masts to the Classic, because that is a good benchmark for both current clients and non-Cedrus owners as it’s a similar profile to the 19mm Axis aluminum mast.
First off: If you’ve never experienced ventilation on a Classic, then you definitely won’t experience it with an Evolution Surf. In short, Surf has about 50% more ventilation resistance than the Classic, while the Wind model is about 250% less likely to ventilate. We’ve written many times that ventilation is really hard to predict, so those numbers are more figurative for discussion purposes but they are based on CFD results. It doesn’t mean you will ventilate half as often. It means that the speeds, angles of attack, surface chop must all go up by 50% in order to give equivalent conditions that lead to ventilation.
We’ve had a lot of wingers go with Surf in this launch customer batch. We know many are in the same boat as you, and prefer more surfy wing foiling at slower speeds and would gladly trade ventilation resistance for glide and efficiency. I personally am in this camp. I’ve broken ribs hitting water at 20kts; I don’t need to go any faster! Wind was really designed for riders who want to ride close-hauled, through the waves and not with them. These are typically when the highest speeds are achieved, and the surface of the water is most likely to trap air against the mast. Sailing down wind is completely different, or even being on a broad reach. Masts are much less likely to ventilate under these conditions.
Length is also a major factor. A short wind (80-85cm) is not much stiffer than a long surf of equivalent lengths. This has to do with where the profiles change shape. Masts are optimized to be ridden at 50% mast length, and the transition points are always above this. As a result, the short wind drops to a thin profile sooner than a long surf, relative to the board. You can imagine the long wind (100+cm) has added a lot of 120x20mm thick mast up high, which gives incredible stiffness, but the part of the mast that is typically submerged is still thin.
So in closing it really depends on your riding style and length. In your case, it sounds like you’ll be happy on the Surf. It’s still stiffer than the Classic (and so far, any other OEM or aftermarket mast that we’re aware of), only 10% heavier, but better glide and top end speed when running down wind or on more broad points of sail. For those of you who really like to get on the rail, sheet in, and need the height to stay above the waves and blast through them, Evolution Wind may instill more confidence.
Hope that helps. Honestly both masts are getting great reviews from our testers, and in time we should have more data comparing the Surf and Wind in under the same athlete. But for now we’re just trying to validate the conditions that the masts were truly optimized for, so we haven’t found the limits yet. There hasn’t been any ventilation reported from either mast, and everyone is very happy with the speed and glide of both models.
. It all kinda makes me wonder I should be so open and honest with my designs, especially when so much engineering, thought, and my savings goes into them.