Regarding open source: At this point, we are keeping the design proprietary. As a grassroots startup without outside investors, we took a big leap to quit great jobs in the industry to start Hydrocraft. We went all in. I won’t bore you with the details, but getting to this point has been quite the journey. If you look at the regression of our hairlines from nine months ago to now, you’ll understand! Haha. The costs and time to develop this connection were significant, so we have filed a patent to protect that work, purely so we can afford to continue on this journey of trying to build great gear.
That being said, we know foilers love to build and tinker, and we want to lean into that. We’ve developed an aluminum fuselage system that allows for bolt-on wings. We use it for our own prototyping, and it has exceeded our expectations. We’ll share more on that soon, but it will be a great platform for people who like to get experimental with their equipment. More to come!
Very interesting joint connection! Looking forward to seeing the finalized version. Do you have any specs on the mast yet (thickness, chord depth, mast lengths, UHM vs HM) or have you not finalized them yet?
The mast in the video above is 14mm thick 119mm chord non-tapered with UHM layup. But we’ve got much thinner tapered masts that we’re testing currently. Long story short, we’re all in on the thin masts arms race! We’ll have a variety of masts on offer.
That makes plenty of sense. You are a business and gotta make money. Unfortunately I don’t see any foreseeable way we’re headed towards a standard mast/fuse connection system. Nobody adopted Cedrus standard, though that could be because it isn’t perfect either. I know it makes more business sense to make that joint proprietary both because each brand thinks theirs is the best, but also because every foil sale also nets a mast sale too. One can dream though…
Nice work on what you’ve come up with. The simple addition of the two cross-bolts just makes so much sense yet nobody else thought of it before.
Would love you if you could elaborate on this. I really dig the engineering behind the connection system - hoping to see some gear in person when I visit Hood in June.
I’m definitely a bit biased, so take this with that in mind, but the best thing you can do is try it when you’re in Hood River and see how it feels for yourself. We’re stoked to show you the shop!
From our perspective, the magic of the Helix foil is how it pairs a very pitch-stable, easy-to-ride front wing with the efficiency gains of modern airfoil design and high-end construction.
The focus with this setup was finding performance improvements that don’t come at the cost of usability. Thinner mast, thinner fuselage, and cleaner connections with fewer seams and bolt heads. All aimed at reducing drag while maintaining stiffness.
The Helix front wing’s performance really comes from its pitch stability, roll in turns, and wide speed range. More than anything, it inspires confidence, which naturally pushes you to ride harder with more fluidity.
The one component that adds a bit more spice is the Pivot 140 tail. It’s more lively than what a true beginner might want, but paired with the front wing, it still feels very composed for intermediate to advanced riders.
To put that into perspective, my girlfriend (about a year into foiling) and my 60-year-old mom are both riding the same foils setup as me. That definitely wasn’t on my bingo card five years ago.
Foils might not be making the same leaps they were five years ago, but they are getting smoother, more efficient, turning better, and easier to ride. We feel the Helix reflects that progression.
775 Foils is quite small, be interesting on the feedback. Personally i feel like 900cm foils can be the do it all for prone, sup, dw, wing and pw. So it be interesting to see the feedback from non-affiliated riders
doesnt the 1100 have an issue with the 12mm mast if the rider is heavy like 100kg? F4 doesnt recommend the skinny mast for wings that big if you’re a heavy rider.
The construction of our mast is quite a bit different than what’s currently on the market. I’m 200lbs and have only been riding the 12mm mast across all wing sizes. That being said we do have a 15mm UHM mast that will be available in the back half of June. This will be a good option for larger riders looking for max stiffness or riders looking to enter the system at a better price point.
Will there be a UHA lineup of foils where it could compete against the likes of code R and orca? As it stands the 10AR is more of a direct competitor to code S, but alot of people are into something more HA.
I’m sure they will have a complement of ranges in different AR’s to suit the disciplines, I’ve ridden some experimental protos that were in different ar’s, the helix Range at 10.2ar is the first range coming to production. It should be pretty versatile from prone to parawing, winging is waves and downwinding. I’ve been riding the 900 size helix and loving it and can’t wait to try the 775 helix size that will probably be my daily driver. June can’t come fast enough!
Got ~50 miles in on some demo gear at Rufus yesterday. Rode the 665 helix / 140 tail / 80cm 12mm mast + 70L gunboat. This foil is excellent, very pitch stable and breaches tips cleanly! Good low end and super rip-able. Board also felt great.