Im a surfer new to this. I have some equipment options but not sure what is best. Im 165 LBS I reside in Puerto Rico, No surf here in the summer. My heart was set on a trench board, and the Hp motor and then I really wanted a Cedrus Mast to try different foils. but as a beginner, maybe that is all pie in the sky at the beginning. My goal is to carve turn and ride surf style at some point as i learn. What is my best option of these two and or what suggestion can you offer. Super super excited to get started.
System one, $6,000 used from a friend.
Foil drive motor ( not HP ) max battery. 60 Liter Board Wing craft 4’ 8” | 24” x 4”, Integrated Foil Drive 19 mm / 795 Aluminum Axis mast at 82 CM, lift wing Hi Aspect 170. Motor mounted at 20cm.
System 2
$1,200 Trench board 40 Liters, lift 30 inch mast carbon, 150 surf foil and trailer 28 included, and I have to buy the Foil Drive at $6,000 ish….
Standard max unit (Non HP Motor with the fixed cable) 5’x40L lift board (Non Trench) with a 170HA and a glide 25 tail. 32” Mast. Personally, it works amazingly for me. I do spend most of my time stealing wake boat wakes on my local lakes. Not in the ocean. But I recently got a Zip Pod, and it made a pretty massive difference, giving me performance close to that of the integrated masts at 1/3 the price.
For me, it would have been extra spendy to get an integrated mast, since I’d have to buy the mast and a new motor system compatible with integrated masts. I currently have 2 of the fixed cable stators (15 cm and 20 cm) that are working great. I also just picked up a Cedrus Forged mast for my wake foil setup and love it! My plan is to buy a second Cedrus mast, add my zip pod to it, and likely look into buying a trench board as my next upgrade.
As for the wings, I have ridden and owned both. For me, I really liked the 150 surf v2 but ended up selling it in favor of my 120 ha and 170 ha. I tend to ride my 120 ha on my non-foil drive setup and my 170 ha on my foil drive setup. The 150V2 just did not have enough pump for my liking but ripped on the first wake of the boats i ride behind. I bet it would be pretty good in the ocean, but the glide is really nice, and I feel the ha wings turn over pretty good.
For reference, I am 145LBS, and with the standard motor and 3-blade prop, it’s been more than enough power to get up.
I also bought my Max Unit Used from a local shop, and it’s been perfect.
Wow, lots of valuable information. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain. As a new to the sport buying this equipment used from a friend. It appears to all be in good shape. Do you think this is a good starting point for me to learn? any drawbacks with this type of set up? I know that a 60 L board is way too big for me but maybe that’s easier to learn on.? I just want to make sure even though it’s a good price I’m not buying stuff that I won’t or can’t use. Do you think this is a good base to learn on?
they are all good equipment and can learn from them, but may recommend trying them out first or taking some lessons to see what works for you at this time to make it easy on yourself
What board were you looking at? I found that my rectangular wing board did not work very well with the foil drive. It has a fairly narrow outline. That would be my only concern with that setup. But you may be able to sell it and pick up a different used board that would work better.
For reference, my lift board is 5’ x18.5X40L
My lift board is 19” wide
I’d also 100% see if you could demo or test it out before you buy anything.
The guys at N1 Watersports would be a good resource to reach out to down there!