Getting a boat and looking for a good wake foil setup. Trying to decide what would make for a good wake foil / board. You go about 11-12mph behind the boat. I’d like something where I can progress to airs (seen a lot of people do impressive backflips) and also maintain the ability to pump around outside of the wave power and connect different wakes. Anyone know what size wing / aspect works well? Do I want something HA or more carve-y like a silk (idk if those would be too high performance / fast for wake)
It’s a high performance dedicated wake surf boat FWIW
I learned to foil behind the boat (Boston Whaler haha) a few years ago, and I still wake foil a good bit. I ride a Slingshot wf2 board and a 1210 Takuma foil with a 75cm mast and a Pedigo tail and love that setup behind the boat. I weigh about 170lbs for reference but don’t jump or ride with straps. Slingshot foil gear is great for behind the boat. Takuma unfortunately went out of business but there is a bit of used Takuma gear out there. The new Slingshot OneLock system is pretty sweet. Definitely easier to learn on a bigger foil and board, but once you get that down you’ll want to move to a smaller board and foil to keep progressing.
I learned behind a boat and went through a bunch of different foils. Started on an old slingshot setup with an aluminum mast. Learned airs and ultimately just wanted away from the aluminum mast to try to land bigger airs, flips, etc. I then got an armstrong setup (HS 1250, 72cm mast, flying v tail). I loved this setup and learned everything I know on it. The one thing I didn’t like is the 1250 didn’t have good breach recovery for my smaller wake (Wouldn’t really be an issue if you have a new wake boat with lots of push). So I got the MA 1225 which had incredible breach recovery to the point where you could do airs flatwater and come back on foil and pump away. The pump was a little more difficult on the 1225 compared to the 1250 but once I got the hang of it it was my go to wing for well over a year. I’ve also had the lift 170HA and 120HA and loved both of these as well. Pump great but can still get air and land tricks.
For mast I definitely think the sweet spot is around 72cm (28 inches) for behind the boat. Any bigger and it is just a little more difficult and smaller is only useful for smaller wakes in my opinion.
My favorite board I have used behind the boat has got to be the WKT from Armstrong. Great strapless and strapped, easy to pump because of its size, and jumps great. Just didn’t love the armstrong deck grip on that one lol
my favorite setups behind the boat are:
Mast: 72-75cm
Foil: around the 8 aspect ratio and 1000-1100 cm2
Board: 10liter tray boards are fun and nimble but really started to hurt my lower back on the takeoff. I now prefer a board in the 25-30 liters range around 4 foot in length. I sink my board and float it up to the surface as I take off so the liters help.
I am 85kg
If you are interested in the AFS line(you mentioned Silk), this may be a good starting set for you. Not sure you can get anywhere near this quality at this price.