After a multi-year relationship with winging I'm becoming tempted by some freeride foil and moving towards foilstyle.

Thing is I'm pushing 100kg in gear and I don't want to be swimming home. All the equipment looks to be barely uphaulable at most or a full on sinker at worst. Availability isn't great either.
Would I be completely off base trying to find a Wizard 130? Or should I focus on the 114 and deal with a lack of low end. Ideally I'd like to be getting on the water in 12kts.

Foil I'm less concerned about. I've got the Balz 909/370/93cm and all I should need to get is the 903K fuselage.

Hey Grantmac!
Glad to hear you’re getting back into windfoiling! I’m in the same weight class as you, and I’ve been pretty focused on carving freestyle maneuvers for years now. I’m keen to help any way I can.
I agree with thedoor about both the boards and the foils.
The key to learning foiling maneuvers is making lots of attempts. You try, fall in, get back up and do it again. You want a board that is easy to uphaul and helps you get flying again quickly. It’s also a lot less intimidating to put yourself backwinded in 12 knots than in 25, so a board that works well in lighter wind will help your progression.
Swing weight matters, sure, but shortening a board comes at such a cost to takeoff and general comfort that, beyond a certain point, the tradeoff doesn’t make sense to me. I built and tested my own take on what was essentially a Wizard 145, and of all the boards I’ve tried, I liked that one the least. The short waterline was unnecessarily uncomfortable and made uphauling and takeoff harder than they needed to be. I really didn’t notice enough reduction in swing weight to justify those tradeoffs.
I’ve rode the 999 for 2.5 years and really like it. It takes off early, is user-friendly and is still plenty fast. When it comes to learning carving maneuvers, low stall speed is your friend.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a production board I can confidently recommend, and that sucks. There should be more options for bigger riders who want maneuverability without sacrificing easy takeoff and basic usability. That lack of options is a big part of why I build my own boards. As always, I’m happy to share my CAD files if you want to use them as a starting point for a custom.
Of the Slingshots, I agree that the 130 is a better choice than the smaller options, but I’m still not convinced it’s the ideal board for you.

Sounds like the Severne Predator 125 would work well. I generally ride an Alien 155 but that's because I like big sails - 7.0 and 8.5. I've ridden the 125 with a 6.0 and it up hauled OK (ankle deep) under my 105kg and foiled up well. That was with a big (1400) Severne foil but I'm sure it would be just as happy with other setups.

Love the look of the that foil slate. APB for JJ to get some video please 😂

I saw the predator, might be a bit small for OP but great shape.

For the blokes using "sup-ish" boards what are your thoughts on these for OP

tillosports.com/tillo-element-82/

bigwinds.com/products/naish-windfoil-crossover-131-liter/

I'm a footstraps all the time sort of person, even winging. So anything unstrapped would need to be cheap.
Actually given the budget almost anything needs to be pretty cheap.
My last windfoil board was a Hypernut 4-in-1 106L which I moved the mast track back and installed inboard tracks. It was both too low volume and also inefficient but I liked the concept since I do some WindSUP on occasion.
The Tilo and there was an older Exocet which was a 4-in-1 all seem like they might not actually ride waves very well in fin mode. Of course I'd be buying those blind and that length of board is a challenge with my vehicle. They also aren't going to be very well suited to foilstyle. I remember jumping the Hypernut being rather harrowing and that was with no intentional rotations.

Goya Airbolt is an interesting shape if I could find one?

The MB are very interesting, unfortunately extremely expensive to get to Canada. I looked when they first came out.

I've thought about making a trip down during one of the swap meets and if I strike out used trying for something direct from Slingshot, work just keeps getting in the way.

2keen said..



Recently picked up a JP Foil Slate 8’2 x 30” 128 litres. I can highly recommend these as an outside the box option. I mount the foil at the front of the tracks which gives a distance of approximately 60cm from mast base to front of foil mast, resulting in a surprisingly loose ride. I’ve been riding it strapless in sub 13 knots with a SAB 899, I’m 90kgs. As the others have suggested try and pick up a 999 to make things easier. Easy uphaul, smooth takeoff no probs carving downwind 360’s upwind here I come!!

That's really clever Simon! Man, I would love to try that out! I am so curious about that design. I am leery of surf rockers but that looks pretty flat, and you say it takes off smooth. Must be the length. With that much length it is easy to get stability with less volume. There is one for sale in the states for a grand and I am tempted. It is 18" longer than my designs. It won't fit inside my car, but my car is gonna be getting an upgrade to an 8' bed truck or van before too long. The other challenge for me is that I have a hike in and out at the beach. To make it in one trip I carry the board behind my back with foil mast on my shoulder and the distance from the front of the tracks and the nose is too long so it would drag on the ground. I sure would love to see what it could do just for the chance to learn about design. I need basics like sails and masts before I could buy an experiment. Wish I could just drop in and sail with you guys! Good luck with UW 360's! Send it mate!

I don't know how good your Surfing skills are, but for lightwind foilstyle with 100 kg i would choose the 114l board and Sabfoil 969/370. Sail Severne Foilfreek / Rad 5,2

Grantmac said..
There is a Fanatic Bee 120L for sale locally if I want a hybrid SUP set-up. Probably want something shorter though.

At your weight I would go the Bee, if in the $500 range.

Looks great

You can gamble on a slingshot freestyle at 115L as they are super cheap but my gut says that its less than actually 115L . If you had lots of fin experience recently then I am sure you could uphaul the freestyle but sounds like you might struggle?

aeroegnr said..

thedoor said..

Grantmac said..
There is a Fanatic Bee 120L for sale locally if I want a hybrid SUP set-up. Probably want something shorter though.

At your weight I would go the Bee, if in the $500 range.

Looks great

You can gamble on a slingshot freestyle at 115L as they are super cheap but my gut says that its less than actually 115L . If you had lots of fin experience recently then I am sure you could uphaul the freestyle but sounds like you might struggle?

Me at 208lbs plus shortie and all that uphauling a 7.0 in flat water:

Up periscope! 😁

Grantmac said..
Definitely a struggle I'm looking to avoid

Understandable. It's not so easy when it's not flat water.

Thoughts on putting a mast track on a higher volume flat rocker wing board?

Grantmac said..
Thoughts on putting a mast track on a higher volume flat rocker wing board?

If what you're looking for is a plug and play 120+l winDfoil, you could try to find a RRD Beluga (some have a mast track) or RRD pocket rocket which was one of the first sub 2m windfoil board (still big volume). The 2m version is almost 150l.

Grantmac said..
Thoughts on putting a mast track on a higher volume flat rocker wing board?

Should be fine geometrically as long as the foil tracks are not too forward. Not sure if most wing boards are strong enough to handle a mast track though.

Maybe a 2023 FOIL X 145 an option?
A mate (heavyweight) of mine has loads of fun on that.
Dude is nimble like a ballerina on that thing.
And after years of intens use no signs of failing.