wingding said..
Unless something is majorly off in terms of rocker angles, almost any board will work, and the leading brands will have quite a lot of similarity across their current models. It can be appealing to compare what can be compared (e.g. aspect ratio of the board), while throwing out a number of the true differentiators.
Does the board have inserts where you want them? Is the track position compatible with your brand of foil? If you ride barefoot, is the traction pad soft, or tough-diamond pattern that chews up your feet? Is it a color you like? Does it fit in your car? If it is convex, is that something you actually want? Do you have a rocky or tricky entrance where a bottom handle would make it safer - or less likely to go through your wing?
The self-evaluation to me is so important. I ride an Armstrong 58L FG, but if the ML's and FG's were launched at the same point of the year, I could see myself having gone with the 65L ML instead - it's just such a good fit for *the things that I want to do* - paddles great, short enough to have negligible swing weight, great range for race and adventure.
The more I do DW, Wing, and SUP - the more I realize that one of the most critical board dimensions is width (and length) in terms of acceleration and performance. The tradeoff if you go from FG->ML are insert-options, positions, less of a concave feeling of control, and compactness that is great for air-freestyle (which is niche), and leverage on the windward rail when carving hard upwind. The benefits of going from FG->ML is going to be more low-end power, faster acceleration onto foil, more paddle speed which unlocks prone foil, Foil Drive, Lightwind winging. Armstrong boards are really well made and stiff too given the carbon stringers, carbon tracks, etc. Without more detail on your goals I would say go for the ML75!
Thanks a ton, you addressed many questions I had. For the past couple of years I've progressed to being confident in most areas (except jumping, I competed in snowboarding in the French alps in my youth and don't need to jump anymore). Only recently though I've started going to shorebreak spots with the odd overheader day and after a couple of sessions in these conditions, a whole new world has opened to me. This is what I want to focus on, wave riding, catching swell as early as possible and carving into them all the way in. I'm not attracted to DW and will keep sessions to my local lake for testing new gear/techniques and work lunch breaks
I'm now selling my foil setup to get carving oriented wings (F-One Sk8). That's why I'm looking at the Armie ML, because it could potentially take me to prone surfing one day soon. winds here are very often 15kts+, so I'm definitely not looking at that board for its low-end capabilities, but more for its carving and fast take off advantages. Hence why I'm also going 75L for my 82kgs, knowing I'll sink it somewhat. I'm tall-ish at 185cm/ and hopefully still have some grunt at 35 years old
Still think the ML is the go?
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