Here’s my review of the new 14.5" carbon Progression Tails:
Reviewer: Intermediate proner (connect 5-10 waves but no airs etc), advanced winger, Florida conditions, 75kg, using the Prog 170/125 front wings w/med fuse and katana.
Prior Tails: KD13 original, Prog 13’'red tails, Prog 13"
Review: I’ve always disliked pitchiness in foils forcing lots of focus on preventing breeches/touchdowns. This tail is the best I’ve found to allow for smooth carving without pitchiness, adds an incredible amount of pitch stability. Great for late drops, steep waves, and smooth carving. Large surface area also allows for solid platform for pumping and thinness maintains good speed. I’d give it a 10% improvement on the prog170 and a 30%+ improvement on the prog125 compared to my priors. Highly recommended upgrade.
Reviewer: Intermediate prone (connect 10 waves, no airs or snaps etc), Tack on wingding, UK Cornwall (punchy messy) conditions, ~70kg, Prog 140, 200 (demo), med fuse, katana.
Prior Tails: Prog 13’'red tails, (and most Axis combos)
Takuma 178 - easy mode
This is my most used tail, with 0 shim. I’ve found it reliable and stable to prone in bigger and also works well in slow small conditions. Unless I want to test something specific then I just lazily leave this on, and am seldom frustrated. With the 200 it was better with a +1 shim.
Very pitch stable at higher speeds, and rolls nicely
Very good in turbulent water, easy to grave dig at slow speed
Slow/low glide, definitely not the most efficient stab
Marlin 14 - advanced
Have not used this as extensively for prone as it suits cleaner conditions, but I use it for winging quite a bit. Fast and efficient. For prone I found that it was best on the 140 with a bit of shim, +1 ideally. But definitely high performance so requires a good tune. Not great in aerated messy low speed surf. Skatey if you’re not used to that.
Shep wrote a raving review on here about an Ahi stab Kane was working on, making it seem like a faster Boomerang with stable attitude control. I saw Omen put it into production recently and the carbon construction makes it even more appealing. Has anybody else tried it out?
The Ahi tails are boomerang shaped so there’s just more area. If I’m just going straight and pumping sometimes you don’t want all that area back there. I’m not saying it’s draggy, but it’s more tail than necessary.
I also have an Ono Foils flat “fast” tail. I believe it’s 14" wide. Very high aspect, low chord tail. It’s very slippery though the water with way less area. I’d imagine a KD Marlin would be even more slippery as it’s even higher aspect with less chord.
Like a thruster in surfing though. When you want to turn on a wave, you want the middle fin. You want the Ahi tail that let’s you have more control in your turns. Narrower span, but more area also means a better low end if your feet are sensitive enough to feel that. Omen foils are designed to have “even foot pressure at all speeds”. So the tail is part of that and I’d say they achieved their design goals.
Mmmm
Foiled 6months
6ft tall, 92kg(205lbs)
F one sk8 and carbon mast 14mm
Tested:
Monoblocs F one Carving 200 with 950sk8 compared to a carving 180 with 950sk8
Summary:
Carving 200, much easier to pump with due to slightly lower cadence and more stable. Turns well but you can definitely feel the difference between the two(200 vs 180)
It should also be noted that the 180 is slightly shorter on the monobloc. I didnt measure the difference but it’s definitely more than 2 cm. So do note that the 180 allows easier turning it’s more maneuverable definitely you can tell right away as soon as you swap the two tails but your Cadence goes significantly higher, you will feel more tired without the right technique. I truly suck at pumping so it’s something I’m working on and I think swapping between the two really highlighted my distance in terms of how I could go farther.
The 180 really allows you to make micro adjustments as you’re coming up to a wave and it truly allows more of a micro maneuver or adjustment as you are able to find tune if something’s in your way or if someone’s in your line etc. The c200 has more of a locked in feel due to its longer wingspan.
Wave tested:
Slightly medium tide to high tide 13 second. That kind of Reform sometimes on the inside which allows for great Glides and great testing of reconnections. All in all both are great stabilizers and I truly think that as the tide drops I would switch to the 180 allowing for more maneuverability and agile needs, whereas the 200 carving is more for gliding and locked in feeling.
Could connect 2for1s
Analogy:
My best comparison would be the feeling of a twin fin on the 180 versus a Thruster for the carving 200.
Glide:
Much more from the c200. You could tell right away
Yaw:
Really feels like you can pivot more with the c180