Demo’d a Lift Havoc 121 + 26 carve yesterday for the first time and it was one of the most fun sessions I’ve ever had. With the Unifoil P140 I have felt held back in carving with how steep I can lean. The low wingspan (74 cm) was exactly what I wanted in being able to roll steeper and not fall off and feel like the span was limiting anything.
It’s very fun on waves with steeper faces. You kind of have to pump and work your way to the steeper part of the wave when chipping in on a low AR wing like this before you can start carving around. The pumping was not great but it was better than I expected it to be. On my first wave I connected one and got another connection later in the session. It’s doable to connect when you really want it - like if the opportunity is a great wave, but for the most part I was having such good rides for the single waves that I would ride them all the way to shore and just try to pump back as much as I could and paddle the rest. If the connection wave wasn’t a good wave it wasn’t worth the pump effort. But these were tradeoffs I was expecting and am happy to make. The ease of shifting weight heelside to toeside when switching directions is super nice and basically what I have been wanting.
I think I am going to end up buying one, but with the Florence rear wing which has a 2.5" longer fuse than the Carve 26. I think this will make the pump and glide slightly better.
By the way does anyone know the difference in feel that a rear with upturned winglets Carve 26 vs no winglets Florence 21 has?