Twin Tips Boards
Kites
Surfboards
Foil
SUP Boards
Harnesses
Accessories
Apparel
Paddles
F-One - Kite - Products - Reviews
The Bandit 10 is a nice improvement from last year’s model and immediately feels very quick and responsive when you put it in the air. Every year you think to yourself, my current kite feels really good, what could be improved? And amazingly this year those improvements were very apparent as soon as I flew the kite. I’d intentionally went out in lighter winds with the B10 7M to try and see how much pull it had and turning in less than normal conditions for that size kite. It was a typical 9M day.
The kite turns with ease and seems to have more low end power than the B9. It was very fast to respond with the rear lines set on the quickest setting (I like the fast response for the surf). Yet was hard to initiate a stall and feels very predictable when sheeting in and overall has excellent stability. The Bandit 10 was quick to go upwind and seemed to outperform last year’s kite in this area as well. Bar pressure was slightly less than previously and the kite rotates well on the wing tips making kite loops a snap. The bladder setup is similar to last year, easy to inflate/deflate and retains a very rigid frame (when pumped to the recommended pressure).
Overall it shows improvements in all areas over last year’s kite (which is a challenging accomplishment). The color schemes look even better in real life than they do in the catalogue and photos! Test location Waddell beach, 15-18knots waves were small.
I was expecting for the whole adventure to hurt but 100ft out from the beach I was up and going. I felt early release and no rail stickiness with the board. Volume was enough to easily up-haul. The pad was good and grippy but not too firm. Having a stomp pad flip up on the tail is really nice for location awareness when foiling. The foil clearly had a lot of lift, with about 12 knots of wind I was able to pump the sail and pump the board and pop up. I then seemed to be able to carry foiling through much lighter winds. Because this is a SUP foil first I knew it was not going to be the foil that someone will windsurf race on. It is something that instead is really accessible and pretty damn fun. Roll foil stability felt great. It felt very happy upright, meaning its neutral position was flat and it didn’t want to roll until I told it to which made it very predictable. I did notice sometimes in the eb chop the mast would connect and then release giving a little tweak out feeling but it was small enough that it never actually took me down. I only vertically cavitated a few times but it seamed to provide enough resistance on the way down (and the rocker and volume of the board was sufficient) that you don’t even really skip a beat. ~Seth
Here is my first impression on the Papenoo 7’11 SUP Foil (my weight is 175lbs , 6’1″). Had a chance to ride the latest Papenoo 7’11 SUP this morning at Ocean Beach in San Francisco at its best, 5 feet clean and glassy. This board is easy to paddle, stable yet is fast and very reactive from take off all the way down the line. Don’t let the squared off tail design fool you, the quad fin set up in conjunction with the deep concave underside at the tail produce a unique feeling of insane water flow, generating plenty of speed and allowing for snappy turns. Simply outstanding maneuverability! Let’s not forget that this is a multiple discipline board – SUP Surf , SUP Foil, Wind Foil (with the convertible version that can have inserts and mast rail). All bases are covered, need i say more ! Cheers , Bruce
F-One and Manera are a proud sponsor of the 2016 Eastern SUP Surfing Circuit. (ESSC). The first leg of the three stop ESSC kicked off this past weekend at Ponce de Leon, Melbourne Beach, Florida. We were lucky enough to receive awesome conditions with a low to incoming tide and knee to chest high waves to start the event at 8:30am Saturday, September 24, 2016.
I got my new 11m Breeze and the first thing I noticed about it is how light it is. You can really feel the light weight by the way it’s launching in light winds, it takes very little wind to fly.
I ride it with my 600 foil and I can be foiling without any whitecaps on the water. It has great low end and is very stable in the air. Compared to the Bandit, the Breeze has a bit more bar pressure which is nice, since you can use it to balance. The Breeze creates a ton of power on the down stroke it gets you going easily. The power comes on very fast and helps you get on the foil. It turns just a bit slower than the Bandit and takes more input to turn. Not a bad thing to slow things down on the foil. I am having a much easier time doing tacks and jibes. Where I would drop the Bandit every now and then on jibes, the Breeze just stays up.
In a bit more wind, I ride it strapless on my surfboard. The smooth feel and stability are really nice, it lets me focus on the board.
Overall I really like it, it is a very powerful and smooth kite, ideal for foiling in light winds.
WARNING: Foiling can be very addictive, don’t start practicing unless you are ready to fall in love with a new sport! Kitefoil, Supfoil, Windfoil… three new disciplines providing amazing sensations!!! Enter the world of foiling and discover the F-ONE range developed to make you fly above the water. Get ready to fly!
Foil - Kite - Manera - Paddle - Products - Videos
MANERA Brand Manager Julien Salles explains the new 2017 collection to The Kiteboarder editors at the 2016 Surf Expo in Orlando, FL. More info here: http://www.thekiteboarder.com/2016/09/2017-manera-product-previews/
Events - F-One - Foil - Kite - Paddle - Products
The Kiteboarder editors were on deck at Surf Expo to hear from F-One & Manera founder & CEO Raphaël Salles and Charles Bertrand (head designer for the boards and foils) about the new collection. This is a great preview to hear directly from the designers.
Featured
