Has anyone used both the Fone Sk8 and the AFS Silks? Would be interested in a comparison
I have not ridden the silks but asked a fair amount of ppl about it, general consensus seem to be : the SK8 is faster, more glide, pumps better, equal foot pressure at top speed, the Silk surfs better, more stable and solid in the turbulent water, front foot pressure at top speed.
Sk8 comes in all sizes from 550 to 1050, 1150 incoming, Silk only 3 sizes, 1250 incoming (?), and the fuselage is one piece which is harder to transport.
Not sure if a 1250 is planned.
There were some rumors about it, but it ends up that there is a 1350 with the tubercule whale-style design, but it is named “Enduro”.
Much more HA than a Silk, no monobloc fuselage.
2 Likes
I have Silk 850 and 1050 and had Sk8 950.
I agree with foilstate description :
SK8 is faster, more glide, pumps better, equal foot pressure at top speed, the Silk surfs better, more stable and solid in the turbulent water, front foot pressure at top speed.
Just one thing about pumpability and glide on the Silk ; I would not say it is harder, but it needs to be fine tuned whereas the Sk8 is much more plug and play : just put it somewhere in the track and it will work fine. Once you get the correct settings, the Silk glide and pump nicely.
2 Likes
Interesting. I had heard that the Enduro was more of an intermediate level wing. Had also heard that there would be a higher aspect Silk (which that appears to be). All a bit vague, but it appears there are some fun things coming…
To the original topic, I read a review in French that compared them and said that the Silk was the superior surf foil, but that Sk8 was slightly better all-around. I have experience on the Silks and love them, but haven’t tried the SK8.
2 Likes
Very interesting thread - I’ve just taken delivery of AFS silks, and in terms of surfing they’re insanely good - just moved over from lift.
I’m still figuring out the silks. The pump initially felt slower and less glidey than the ha120 (which I am still in love with), but what I have noticed is that subtle changes in technique keeps unlocking more pump and glide on the silks. I feel like once I unlock the changes needed, the AFS will be just as good. They’re incredible wings.
I had a chance to kite with Sk8 1050 back to back with Silk 1050 yesterday. To be fair, I have enjoyed kite foiling with some foils that most people say are not suited to the kite. This isn’t a recommend to buy a foil for kiting, Its just that my opportunity to compare the two was on a kite day for me. The wind was on the border of Force 3 and 4 with some small gusts. Two wingers lighter than me were out on downwind SUP boards.
My bias is that the Silk was faster to ride and faster turning. But some of that may be the ASF 75 cm mast is very slender and the ASF stabilo was smaller. I was using a stabilizer from an Eagle plane and classic Cedrus mast with the SK8. In particular the slowest possible stall speed was slower with the SK8 and the top speed faster with the Silk. Both have great range. While the SK8 1050 is a wing that I would kite with only out of novelty or on a bare minimum wind day, the Silk 1050 is fun for me to kite with.
The Sk8 was slower and therefore easier to keep in the energy of some small slow moving bay chop. The SK8 was easier to pump for me.
We didn’t get a chance to find any white water but I did spend a fair amount of time trying to ventilate the foil. Riding with one wingtip out is pretty good with both. I was deliberately trying to find the point where the foil would crash and they both will if the wing is far enough out. The Silk is more tolerant and the bubbles seem to separate from the wing faster when it goes back in the water. I also tried to crash the foils by deliberately tracing the surface with the foil - riding flat so it would ventilate in the center where the wing meets the fuselage. Again they could both be made to crash but the Silk is more tolerant. My belief is that will translate into better wave riding. Ive had some great wave sessions on the sk8 but only 45 minutes of kiting on the Silk.
If I didn’t already own the Sk8 and I were a bit closer to my ideal weight I would probably choose the Silk. F-One probably has a better selection of wings for BigDawgs but the new AFS connection looks to me more robust. If AFS came out with a super high aspect Pure wing say 1300-1400 cm2 with a mono bloc construction it would be hard for me to resist.
Can’t imagine riding any fone foils with that relatively slow mast. The fone 14mm mast is so slick.
You mean mast forward or rear?
For me it need to be set up more in the back compared to other foils.
Also 1• nose down for surfing.
Btw, I do not have the new Silk HA tail yet, but from what I’ve heard they are very good for glide and pump. Use one size down to keep them good for surfing 
Ok, thanks for info. I order a Silk 850 with stab silk 152, let’s see how it works
Thats the tail I have used with the 1050 and 850 thus far and it works great without any shimming (I’m using it for winging, but that includes a lot of wave riding). I also have the HA40 tail coming and will report back once I have some sessions on it.
2 Likes
Yeah, That’s my usee too, wing waving 
1 Like