I rode the spitfire 900 back to back with progression 140. Eye balling them they looked the same span and size but the 900 is actually closer to the progression 170 in surface area (167”)
Spitfire = first session, Progression = daily driver for 3 months so this is a first impression. I was riding an Axis HPS 880 for the 4 months prior to switching to unifoil. I will update more this week
Conditions - typical waist high bouncy onshore crap that we get daily
Breach - this is where the biggest improvement on the HPS. Relatively shallow angle breaches were recoverable. Probably on par with progression or at least “no longer nightmare” like the HPS
Glide - spitfire has noticeably less glide, even for the 167” area. Put this down to the bigger chord ie lower AR
Pump - simple pump, but require more effort to maintain. Has a pitchy pump, maybe peculiar, it felt similar to the first time on the axis 1201 that is novel to me, but once you get it it is forgiving if a little bit high energy. Requires less finesse than the progression but loses altitude noticeably quickly. P300 tail so I will try a different tail to discount this.
Turn - fun and playful, still a bit pitchy and less smooth than the progression but much more fun than the distant memory of the HPS. Granted I’ve improved since then but I felt like I had plateaued. Turns nicely and rolls quickly which was the HPS worst feature, HPS would stick on one side and fight to roll over.
Turbulence - the lower aspect ratio means the spitfire gets less unsettled by whitewater turbulence, so you can pump sooner after going through the back of a broken wave than the progression.
On the whole I was happy and quickly pushing nice feeling turns in similar conditions to what I enjoy on the 140. I noticed the lack of glide, but also the simpler pump which I guess might suit really crap conditions.
This is absolutely correct, in the general sense that the ART range is tricky to pump and any mistake or wobble or turbulence and you’ll stall
“Better” is too broad to definitely call. I’d break it out into the following
Ease of use (most to least)
Spitfire > Progression > ART
Pure efficiency or Glide(most to least)
ART > Progression > Spitfire
The progression in my eyes is the best compromise between very good glide while still being easy enough to deal with the surf zone confusion and less than perfect technique.