I am finishing my first year foiling and it’s time to review/renew my gears.
Current setup: 35L board, Foildrive, and I ride Axis (19mm alu mast, PNG1300 / Spitfire 1180, skinny 362).
Practice :
I am riding on the Mediterranean sea (small, weak, messy waves that don’t break so it’s kind of downwind).
I can very easily take off, pump, and catch a wave/swell.
My challenge is following the wave.
When catching a wave, I feel a good acceleration… for 5 seconds on average.
Even when going in straight line, 95% of waves/swell are faster than me, leaving me behind.
The Spitfire1180 improved a bit the situation at the cost of a more physical pumping.
After chatting with other foilers, my gears seem to be responsible.
The Axis 19mm mast is too thick.
My two wings are too slow.
Time to spend some $$$.
Basically looking for something with a killer glide on ultra small waves, yet relatively fast.
Turning isn’t much of a concern.
I’m not looking for carves, I mostly want to relax and follow the swell with soft curves.
I need something easy, my skills are limited, but I am 75kg and good shape.
Before I double down on Axis spending 3k on a carbon mast and a new wing, I wanted to do a sanity check on Axis and other brands.
If any of you recently moved from Axis to another brand and had an eye opening experience for better or worse, I’m happy to hear it.
Any comparison or recommendation is welcome.
Have any of you gears recommendations for such conditions?
I moved from Axis to F-one not long ago, proning using FD Gen1 and Gen2 in mostly small mushy windslop.
Axis was Spitfire 1100 and 900, HM mast, 45 and 55 skinny rears, advance ultrashort fuselage.
F-one is Sk8 1050 and 1150, 14mm HM mast, monobloc 160 and 200 carve rears.
I also had an Eagle 1090 but didn’t enjoy it in the choppy sloppy conditions, it was much more challenge to ride than the Sk8s.
The move to F-one was a significant step forward. The Spitfire 900 is 1100cm2 and the Sk8s are faster, easier to pump and feel more alive on the waves that I have.
If you’re changing systems. Go to code. 1300s. Hard to say why waves are passing you up. They also have a large R series that would work for you.
Within AXIS, the 1201 would be faster, but harder to paddle up. There’s a 1099v2 coming out soon I think that would work too I bet. The fireballs are supposed to have a good low end, but I’m not sure if they have a large enough fireball for your conditions. Not enough ride reports out there to know. I would change front wings before you change your mast if you’re staying within AXIS. The biggest fireball and a skinny tail might be the fix you’re after. Watch the used market for one of the newer carbon masts.
Just depends what you want to spend and what your eventual goal is. Changing systems is fun and always lets you learn something new, but it’s expensive.
I have a Spitfire 1180 that I bought for downwind, but I’ve mainly used for low wind or paddle up occasionally. I’ve also ridding the Fireball 1070 for a few hours. They’re definitely different foils. The size difference is pretty big. I like the efficiency and speed of the Fireballs, but the 1070 is much small than the SF1180 so you won’t get the same low end lift. If you’re sticking with Axis I would try a few front foils before changing the mast. Either wait for a large Fireball release, but seems likely… or get an Art Pro 1121 or 1201. Also… technique. Stay high on the mast. That makes the biggest difference not matter if you’re winging, pumping, prone or downwinding… staying high reduces drag and you go faster.
I’d go an Code rig for less than the price of a mast, or AFS.
But I stuck on Axis, skimped and frustrated with NLv2 mast, but pushing through. Also an option is the old High Mod mast which is good value and will help with the foils you have, and unlock slightly faster new foils being released (fireball being the likely choice, nothing else I’d recommend for you other than the 1201 and sell the 1300, then later a 1121 but surely the fireball will be a better option than either).
I’ll try Fireball soon, should be viable if not a bit technical coming from the very slow foils you have. Maybe the new PNG.
if you can get a power carbon axis mast and a 1201 you won’t believe the difference in glide for small sloppy waves. Both the mast and the foil are heaps better based on what you’re asking for.
I didn’t like that alu mast on the 1300, so much torsion wobble. There is a clip of a tall guy riding the 1300 + alu mast + axis hybrid board and it’s comical how much torsion wobble there is. Wish I could find the clip, probably a year ago
I’ll struggle, it was an Aussie, blue water, short wetsuit, looked warm… (the text said something about how “it works well” and I remember it because it didn’t look like it was working well)
That exact setup is was what a few of us were riding and it showed the feeling that we were all feeling so I remember the discussions, the HM solved it, but the smaller foils even more so. I could try riding the alu mast again and see how it compares. I’ve gone Axis 19mm->Katana->NLv2->HM and each has felt like a big jump in either efficiency, control or both
It’s more rigid and for DW that seems to matter more. The same imprecise feeling on the Yaw is what that list is ordered by. Alu was the worst in my experience, and Katana pretty bad, when I tried the NLV2 I sold my pp140, and then tried the HM and was like hmmm, you seemingly can’t get too stiff…
I prefer the NLV2 for prone, and on my prone board it feels really connected, but I don’t like it on the 1201 or 1180 for example, and even less so when on a big DW board. It is super light, but idk if that matters to me.
I don’t own the HM, but ride it often enough from a local. I had a prone session on the HM+1180 and pumped for 10-15min and that was the first time I felt like on the right day I could pump an hour, never felt that on any other setup I’ve owned (incl 1201+NLV2)
Edit: Supposedly the HM has more drag due to that big chord, but tbh my level I didn’t feel like it was that bad for the extra stiffness, maybe this is where the NLV2 feels better in the surf, it’s probably much faster and that is where it matters.
Man, I always thought this kind of wobble was standard in foiling and more a matter of skill.
I’ve barely ever ridden anything else than this Axis Alu mast + large wings.
So you’re telling me that with just a new mast this will go away ?
Take my money please
I ride the 1310 on the 750 HMPC Mast (not ultra$$) and it does not wobble like the guy in the picture. I’m about 200lbs and tall. The combo feels like a tightly tuned sports car vs a floaty van on the 1750 + Takuma aluminum mast. You can feel every tiny bit of turbulence, although that might be related to wing size differences.
I’ve been restless a few times and tried different foils, including brands listed above. Each time i try something else it just makes me really happy with the axis equipment i have. The other brands are good, no question, just didn’t have the ‘game changer’ experience that people assured me i would.
Having ridden a few of the fireballs now (not a team rider, just know a couple of them ha), and paying attention to how AXIS have typically rolled out a range, i think it’s fair to assume that bigger ARTv2 sizes are coming (Adrian has hinted at this on facebook) and likewise with bigger Fireball sizes. Considering how great the range is on the 1070, larger sizes of Fireball will have stupid amounts of low end performance and be faster than relative ART Pro sizes.
I went from 19mm Ali to HM Carbon and couldn’t believe how much better it felt.
I had been thinking about for ages but didn’t think I could justify the expense.
One try and there was no way I could ever ride the Ali again.
I actually ended up going one step further and getting the UHM Pro mast and once again the difference was amazing not only in stiffness and control but speed as well.
It is an expensive investment but the way I see it I can change boards, foils fuselages, even brands of foils (as there is heaps of adapters available) I have one for code but haven’t bought a code foil yet.
I have demoed them, and they feel great, but I also love the speed and glide of the Art Pros the larger sizes 1201 and 1401 (it is just their large span, which makes them harder to turn that lets them down a bit) but for what the original poster wanted this combination would be hard to beat.
I had considered a change to code for more surf ability and ease of use, but my focus is sup dw and I like the sound of the fireballs so I am going to give the 1070 a try.
Just to be clear - the Cedrus evolution surf is not in the middle between the axis HM and UHM. In my experience it is less stiff than the axis Power Carbon High Modulus mast. I don’t know how to compare the drag to the UHM, but it is definitely less drag than the Power Carbon series of masts. Cedrus would be a tradeoff if you’re looking for lowest drag without spending on the axis UHM.
