ive started prone foiling using the 1099. surfing pacific groundswell in Fiji. I can take-off on 2-3ft waves easily and pump out and connect 1-2 waves (I can do around 20-30sec of pumping on the 1099). I will be getting the smaller art (899/999) so I can take-off on larger waves, but I dont see myself taking off on 4ft waves for the time being, maybe 3ft or 3.5ft sets at most because those are already quite powerful waves.
obviously, there are very few axis foil riders here, and I see alot of riders on lift, f-one, unifoil. For me the most important thing is pumping, I want to be able to get 2-3 minute rides on average before I start focusing on doing hard turns and whipping out the wingtips, etc. So I am only interested in wings that pump as good if not better than axis art. Should i just wait for the art pro smaller sizes (loving the 1201 for its pump), then make the switch once Im a pro wave linker. Or should I consider something in the interim? The only thing that matters to me is a wing that has the right amount of lift for the wave so Im not under or overfoiled, then the pump efficiency.
That 1099 is going to hard to beat when it comes to pumping and connecting waves in small surf. Lots of wings will turn better, but very few will pump better (if any). The 1099 has a large speed range too.
For background I have been on:
Takuma 1095, 1210, 1500, 1440
Lift 200ha
Progression 140, 170, hyper2
Gofoil gl210, iwa , nl190
Axis 1099, 899 & hps930
Stay on AXIS and get the new surf wing when it comes out.
The 1099 was on foil in the surf for an hour before people ever started going for that record. So you already have the foil you need, to do what you want.
I switched from Axis (810, 830, 899, 910, 1099) to Unifoil recently because I felt Axis didn’t have any wings that suited my prone wants, which was basically a wing that could pump and glide (with lowish stall speed) for connections, YET still be nimble/fast enough to carve and have a surfy feel. BSC and HPS felt too draggy in terms of glide efficiency and speed, too taxing to pump long. ART glides, but wingspans so wide it couldn’t turn as much or was a little too high aspect in terms of a high stall speed. Progression 140 did everything I wanted personally.
I guess if you’re trying to optimize solely for pumping you should stay with Axis. But if you want something that can do both, maybe look at Unifoil also. Seems odd to be focused on pumping 2-3 mins and putting off the carving until after, why not work on both? Once you know how to pump and connect a wave, you know how to pump and connect a wave, you aren’t really going to get any better or worse aside from your physical fitness or the wing you decide to ride that day. Seems like you already got that down and might want to look for a wing that both will let you connect tons of waves and then still have fun on them. Thats what the creator of Progression’s goal was which is why I started looking at it. Willing to bet the Progression 170 will be equal pump-ability to 1099 while being able to turn much better.
Or maybe wait for the Axis Spitfire and see how that looks.
The 170 is a much better surf wing (not as locked in as 1099). The pump comes pretty easily and I was able to flat water pump it for 44 seconds without taking that goal of distance pumping too serious or cooking my legs. I’m guessing I could have pumped longer, but maybe only another 10-15 seconds that day.
Edit: I forgot to add, my favorite thing about the pp170 is how easy it is to bring the wing back up close to the surface when pumping. When my legs get tired, it’s hard for my to bring certain wings back up close to the surface. The PP170 I can bring back up easily, which is outstanding.
The 1099 has a much wider span and is hard to keep the tips in the water without a 32” mast. Im guessing the 1099 was really intended for winging and DW. The 1099 doesn’t surf well for me in anything but tiny, glassy waves. The speed range on the 1099 is massive and I’m honestly not sure about the optimum pump speed. It can definitely pump fast and cover a lot of distance. I have never timed it, but I’m certain I could pump the 1099 over a minute, but not sure how much longer. Probably not more that 1:20.
Having travelled to Fiji and tried to foil out there, your 1099 is probably way over powered on the breaking section of the wave. I could hardly control the Lift 120 on my trip, heck I could hardly ride any of the reef passes without getting launched on any breaking section.
If I were in your position I would sell everything and switch to Unifoil and just get a Prog170 (which is almost exactly what I did). Or keep you axis mast and try the Uni adaptor, that would save you a grand but I’m not sure how well it works.
The Unifoil-made Axis adapter works fantastic, even for me as a heavyweight. I bough a Uni Katana. But any time I need a different size mast I use an Axis and the adapter. Flawless. Solid. Cheap!
switched from ART 999 to pp170. Wow, the 999 was a waste of time, had to put tiny tail and fuse to make it turn and it was still bad. pp170 is better in many parameters.
When my friend tried it, his response was “you are cheating!!”
I’m so happy they made that adapter, seriously smart move to convert Axis rider over and give Unifoil riders a cheap way to get more mast options. Getting one soon for my 82 Axis mast.
I got fed up waiting and went from axis art 899 1099 and 880 hps to just a unifoil 140 and it is better than all 3 at nearly everything. Easier to surf it and pump it.
Its kind of crazy but out of the 5 Axis wings I had over time I cant really think of any conditions or scenarios where I would take any of them over the Progression 140 I now have lol. I’m also on a one wing quiver right now and honestly dont feel a super strong need (yet) to grab another wing. Im sure I will though.
What’s your weight? Im 200ish. Going over 20+ mph with the 140 was difficult, even at my weight. I was testing it to see if I could tow hurricane swell with it. The swells here last year were roughly 20-21mph. I don’t think the pp140 would be the best in those conditions (but you might be able to manage). The 140 pumps well for its size, but not close to the 1099 at my weight and skill. The pp170 pumps much closer to the 1099, but still give a slight edge to the 1099 (which makes sense because it’s far larger).
For the record, I think both progression wings are outstanding, but they definitely can’t do everything alone. I don’t ride for anyone and have no affiliation to any brands. Just trying to help people make better decisions. Lots of people that chime in on these posts are amazing people, but they are also brand ambassadors, sponsored or have close affiliations with certain brands.
I’m 76 kg, mostly prone foiling small/medium waves. If I had larger waves more often, I’d probably get another wing. Also haven’t been winging much lately but again, probably would want another wing if I was. I also really hate wings with wide spans, strong preference there. (Not sponsored in any way at all either)
I mostly prone medium waves 70 kg - today I had first good surf in a month, 11s 3ft swell, head high waves, local pros doing airs and decent rail turn conditions (good for the UK - shit for most of the surfing world hence the foil)
I was curious to see how the p140 held up in those conditions as this was the first bit of power since I got it, for the most part I felt pretty comfortable and didn’t feel that overpowered, I did have one link into a big set where my gps showed 5 sec speed of 20.5mph and I bailed doing a toeside turn so it must have felt comfortable enough to attempt a carve, but I don’t think that speed is optimal and probably where I’d consider something smaller.
I’ll probably stick with the 1099 and smaller arts until I am able to start averaging 2-3 minutes per ride or 3-4 waves. Still in the 1-2 wave per run phase.
Just curious why everyone recommend unifoil over f-one. Isn’t f-one stiffer mast and eagle better for pumping over the progression? Better aspect ratio
Not too interested in doing anything but slow drawn out turns before pumping out as I don’t want to risk coming off foil in my early days.
Probably most of us have crap conditions on average, which is what it is fair to say the progression were designed around, if not explicitly designed for. The fact that you are in fiji means the Eagle might be more applicable to you…
See this:
A friend just got an F-one Eagle and Skate, so I will have a back to back sometime soon hopefully.
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