do you have any footage of you riding it? Would be interesting to see your conditions and see how that matches. I have had opportunities to ride one but haven’t taken the time
edit - just looked back, saw you were on vyper last year, which reminded me of the line below from @Rad_Duke, curious to hear your comparison between spitfire and vyper as I would have agreed with this line:
a good turning/surfing wing that sacrifices pump is a problem that has already been solved.
I think the reason lots of non-Axis riders haven’t converted so they can get a Spitfire setup is this: a good turning/surfing wing that sacrifices pump is a problem that has already been solved.
The holy grail (and most Gen 3/4 wings) remains a good turning/surfing wing that pumps and glides well.
Also its exhausting switching brands and going through the cycle of buying and selling. Im just hoping Uni releases a new surf wing more mid aspect for hard surfy carving mentioned above for Spitfire that sacrifices pump and glide someday that Armstrong and f one also have made
from what ive seen and heard (from mostly sponsored armstrong riders), the new ha armstrong will be the wing that can pump and turn. i would have gotten it instead of the code s if it werent for the armstrong connection system.
unfortunately it has become apparent that sponsored riders are as biased (or more) in this industry as any other and are completely unreliable for gear reviews.
Another more interesting source of bias in this industry is confirmation bias by unsponsored riders. These are ordinary people who have a large financial investment in their setup and therefore go to lengths to justify their purchase.
Not saying the new Armstrong or Axis isn’t good but just making a general statement about sources and reviews.
Best source: A good unsponsored rider who rides in your style/conditions and has the time and money to test lots of gear and then ride exactly what they want and give you the feedback.
Such a good point rad_duke… There’s a handful of people on here that I really value their opinions and you’re one of them.
I use to love the FB Axis group, then I realized over time that 3/4 of the main people commenting are team riders in some way, shape or form. Also realized some of the more critical comments were getting removed.
I also feel if you give a review or opinion on product you should have to give your size and let us see your ability level on IG (or something like that).
Great point. Adam B is a great example in my opinion, a rider who rips the way I’d like to and rides what he wants. I pay a lot of attention to what he is riding.
@dillionaire I too struggle with the Axis fb page. I have had some of my own less glamorous comments vanish. And I agree that it is swamped with insider commentary. Mostly the same 5 dudes posting way too many useless videos. I love my Spitty 900 but I love my art pro 1051 even more. This is a grown ass man foil. It rips turns equally as hard but can rip them way harder at speed than on the spitty. I have never felt so many G’s on my body when tacking. I am mostly winging inland. One thing I like about the spitty is that it isn’t sharp and scary.
I didnt know if it was only me but when I was riding Axis prior to Unifoil that fb group was a massive echo chamber and bubble that I got sucked into.
I think Axis fan club is the worst since the group is so massive compared to other brands, and the ART wings are what made me realize it (I hated the 1099 but there was soo much hype about it) and ultimately what lead to me turning to this forum and made me realize it was time to consider other brands and hear less biased opinions. Anytime a new ART was released we were flooded with positive hype but those wings just are not good for any wave riding at all and its obvious many of the riders have never tried another system or are just lying.
I’ve been riding the entire Cloud IX FS surf range all year. Over 100 sessions on them so I can speak to them quite well at this point.
I’ve tried to get a demo on the spitfire numerous times but it always fell through. That being said, the people that I respect who really hunt for surf wings and tried the spitfire along with everything else on the market typically do not keep, or speak very highly of the spitfire. Yes, it’s a great addition to the axis range, but if you are searching for a great surf foil there are other things to explore that get better reviews.
For me, the largest spitfire I would consider is the 840 due to its wingspan. Unfortunately I am turned off by the 7.14 aspect ration.
In comparison: my daily driver, which is feeling a little sluggish now, is the Cloud IX fs850 with an 8.7 AR and a 34" wingspan with a 157 stab. The fs700 is way more fun IMO. 30.5" wingspan and keeping the 8.6 AR. However, the takeoff is a little more strained for sure.
I like 30-34 inches of span without sacrificing glide by dumping the aspect ratio.
I wish i had someone filming my session . . But for the moment no-one is doing that even With a smartphone . My Christmas present will probably be a dji mini. So things might change
I buy and pay my stuff at normal price. And have no interest in any brand. Before axis, i spent a year riding armstrong, mostly 925 and 725 , and i didn’t like it for proning . At the end i even went back to the 1250 hs, to be more confortable. Then i moved to 999 and 899. I found them a lot more user friendly and balanced, good for pumping, but the surfy feeling wasn’t here. Then i got hps 930, wich is a real good wing, very close to what i was after. Then spitty came , hitting all the marks. I think , i have enough technique and background to make an honest review.
I recently had the opportunity to ride the new ha680 and ha780. I just ordered the ha880 and will own the 780 and 680 as soon as they are finished.
The old Armstrong mast flex was a huge turnoff to me. Their new mast is great.
I was brand biased with Axis for a few years until a couple weeks ago.
I will probably ride these new ha wings from Armstrong for a while to come. They are my favorite from what I have ridden this far.
axis is pretty legit if we are talking big wings with good pump, i love the 1099 / 1201, I can take off on those in surf and pump 30-40 seconds easily even into wind, I feel like thats the kind of wing Cam Jordan is using (obv hes not). There is no other brand that has huge wings like axis. Now obviously you can’t turn these wings, but the pump is there for sure. The only thing im questioning is the connection system, it seems like a uni-body construction is superior to all those screws, maybe i am wrong. Also the 1201 and 1401 is an amazing wing for beginner downwind. Wish other brands like code would expand more into this territory as every beginner needs huge wings. The spitfires are like the perfect beginner prone wing, you wont be able to pump and link with it, but you will be able to have the easiest takeoffs and turns and riding the wave, but you’ll have to paddle back to catch another wave, and if youre good enough to link on the spitfires, you should be on a higher aspect wing anyway. I ended up getting the art pro 1051 b/c a sponsored axis rider said it would be like the arts but better for prone, it was a completely useless piece of trash as the stall speed is insanely high. Now because I love the 1099/1201 style of wings to pump into the wind for 30+ seconds like Cam, I have moved onto trying out code foils, instead of going to the 1080ha armstrong. I am very skeptical of team riders promoting their stuff especially if its armstrong (and also unifoil to a lesser extent). It seems like armstrong is like the mcdonalds or ripcurl of the foil world, everyone rides armstrong, its the most popular brand by far. So its a no-brainer that one needs to look outside of the most popular, and most marketed stuff, its an automatic turn-off from someone who has done marketing work. AS the more marketing you do, the more of a scam the company is usually (looking at brands that do alot of social ads, etc… are all basically scams or inferior products). On the flip side, the only people ive seen riding code are seasoned low-key, non-flashy, experts (mainly in downwind). having tried code, I envisioned it to be the same as the axis art, but better turning, and better construction, and it turns out after testing it, it is pretty much what i thought. Code cant turn nearly as well as the spitfire or kj2. Whatever Adam rides is guaranteed to be not a bad choice, but its also not the best, wait to see what he rides in 3 or 6 months from now, it will definitely be something else than the armstrong ha I suspect. Also an outdated connection system doesnt matter as much if youre on the 680 which is the only wing Adam rides, compared to say the 1080. If the new f-one wings eagle or sk8 v2 drops he’ll be all over that, and so on. I’ve chosen to pick a brand with an up-to-date connection system after getting into the kj2 and realising its inferior, otherwise, however good of a wing design it is, you are losing a % of the glide to the shoddy connection, and their only choice is to spend more on marketing instead of revamping and updating their connection systems.
I don’t agree when you said spitfire will suit only for beginners, and they won’t be able to pump back. It’s not true. I personally connect at least 3 waves everytime i take off. This wing need a bit of technique to be pumped, but i manage to cover big distances with it. You spend more energy off course, but it’s possible. An other thing is you are always active with that kind of foil, turning in the wave needs big efforts and i often end up the wave exhausted. So yes you have to be in good shape, there’s no time to rest. Yesterday after 2 hours on the 840, i wanted to be relax on the second session, and i put my old 999. What an easy wing, the pump is so effortless, i was able to connect 6/7 easily. It’s obvious that it’s less tiring than spitfire. You have time to relax on the ride. On the wave, i was only doing big large turns, and a lot of straight lines. The way you ride is totally different, just cruising. It’s something else, a kind of long board style. So the point is what do you want to do on waves
Thanks for the input. I bought the 1100 as soon as possible and was impressed with the construction. I wonder if you got a bad one? I recently tried th 950 and loved it. But no one else here is riding takuma. They are mostly on f one and code. Your post is the first pro takuma post I’ve seen.
My mate is the designer for the new Armstrong foiils (HAs, DWP, APF), one of the main goals for the HAs was to make them more accessible for the average rider, hes a super down to earth guy and very genuine and he also reports the new HAs surf very well and and have much better low end than the previous HAs
I also have friends who are learning SUP DW on the code 1130 and seem to be having good success, they seem to have a lot of lift and stability for there relative size.
I think most brands have improved their connection systems to a point they are all pretty good, there doesn’t seem to be any complaints any more about flex, loose connections like their used to be
Is [whatever’s the latest and greatest] actually better than other brands surf wings?
Yes. The newest wing out is always the best.
The wing coming out the following week will be the best - fixed that for you