They switched connections around when progression came out, and concurrently everyone thought you HAD to eliminate the foil/fuse connection. Doesn’t seem the case these days what with enduro/kt/armie’s ha resurrection.
They were promoting that ridiculous tow thing on instagram for so long without saying what it was it was absurd.
Why didn’t anyone buy the brand and designs for cheap and streamline the company (aka dump stupid tow things)?
But in the end k2s are great foils. I think they breach well despite what was said last episode. Speaking of: k1 winglets gave winglets a bad name. Rounded winglets can’t stab you, deeply.
Yeah, what is the deal with Takuma? I’ve heard bits and pieces on the podcast and here on the forum, but I’ve yet to hear the full story. I’m especially interested as I’m invested in AFS, which has ties to Takuma’s designer, as I understand it.
I feel like you have to eliminate the fuse/wing
Connection…or just make a good fuse wing connection…
Takuma sank because they put out foils that were awful from a fit and quality perspective but so good from a design perspective that a whole cottage industry formed around making the mast stiff enough to ride. Everyone who cared about the design invested in the aftermarket solutions so they had no reason to upgrade once or if Takuma cleaned up their act. Then the designer splits and takes the business to a more reputable manufacturer…Either of these would have killed Takuma so it was a double death blow!
This is still as good as any video put out today IMO. On a ~4.5 year old takuma 1300LOL, their carbon mast, and their stock tail. Absolutely ripping. You could probably buy this entire setup for $400-600 now.
I loved my takuma stuff when I had it. Put a cut piece of aluminum can in the wing to fuse connection, sand down the death tips, and you’re good to go. I have been on over 7 different takuma wings, never found one I didn’t like. I have even ridden behind their towing thing, and it was a blast!
Yes that video is all time. Too bad I can’t find that version of the song on Spotify for my foiling playlist. I’ve said it before but there are parts of that where glides so far you’d think it was some dw wing. But it’s an lol 1300! Btw shot out to YouTube. I miss being able to find videos, and play them back. Instagram is higher on the we-are-the-product spectrum.
It feels like they made some compromises in the K2 design in order to make it compatible with their foil drive concept which ended up being vaporware. I’m betting they never could get the battery life to make it workable and we know now that having the motor at fuse level is a bad choice anyway. The tow drone concept is amazing, but questionably legal in many places and for that price you can buy a jetski and a friend.
I’d be really curious to here a rundown of the differences between the K2s and the Silks for some on who has ridden them both. Obviously AFS has a better system, but I’d love to know what changed in regards to the wing design.
Warts and all, Takuma made foiling addictive for me.
I started with Gong, then Takuma LOL 1600.The LOL was FUN, it wanted to turn,to play.
Then i decided to get the best and splurged on an Armstrong 1250 setup.
So beautifully made,details,quality…and boring to death.
Went back to Takuma, Kujira 1210 and 980.
The Armstrong was that perfect catholic girlfriend your mum loves.
The Takumas were that crazy french girl you met on a summer trip.
No contest
The foil shop guys were apparently looking to make a comparison video about k2 vs silk. Probably not on the agenda anymore but maybe I’ll ask for an email rundown since I know they had guys who knew both.
I flatwater wing mostly, and enjoyed my 1750 and aluminum mast after fixing the connection. Picked up a 1095 and it felt great - almost like having no foil at all. They seemed great until I took 'em into the ocean and then I saw all the wobbles and speed issues that everyone has mentioned. Still had a blast though!
Idk, but honestly upon reflection I’m guessing the above overstated the difference. K2 are great foils. Maybe they switched to top mount because of their drive idea but the one m8 bolt system is awesome. However I found that after drilling and taping for marlin I dropped out less. So maybe the tails could be better.
Just repeating what I heard, basically takuma’s head guy felt Laurent was doing too much of a solo job for the design, not enough team work with the japanese headquarters and team, so they fired him in a quite sudden fashion and they hired some special scientists that would theorically make a better job (source: interview watersport zone youtube in french). Laurent looked around for opportunity and found home with afs, continuing the iterations of his designs with the silk (source: silk presentation on afs youtube). They had construction issues with the first silks but seems like they are getting it mostly right now. Hadou brunner made a bunch of videos saying that kujira v2 was more even foot pressure than silk from what I remember. Mast and mast to fuse connection on kuji v2 could be better. Silk have overwhelmingly positive feedback.
In the end takuma goes down and Laurent keeps releasing great front wings with afs. So far it seems like designers doing real world iterations have consistently beaten (america’s cup) scientists simulations supposedly coming up with something revolutionary.
When you say they had construction issues with the first Silks, do you have any sense of what the issues were? Love the foils, but I’ve had some issues with the wingtips delaminating / separating on mine (probably an early batch). Curious if this was a common issue.
I haven’t asked, and to be fair, I’m not sure whether it was a manufacturing issue or if I just wasn’t careful enough with them. I definitely dinged one of them myself (and repaired it) and wouldn’t qualify that one as a manufacturing issue or expect it to be warrantied. but then a similar thing also happened on another foil - not sure how that occurred and whether it was my fault or not. In general, I think the very fine wingtips are pretty fragile (more fragile than something like Uni or Lift from my experience), but the fine profile is also what makes them ride well. I have a bunch of gear from AFS and it all rides crazy good, so overall I’m very happy with it, just a consideration that some of the design features may be inherently a little fragile. Not looking to point fingers or make an issue of it.
