Here is the setup, all new PAPENOO 7’11 Wind SUP convertible + 900 SUP Foil, in other words this is the all new SUP model board that has been added to the F-One range for 2017, a square and compact looking board with a deep concave at the tail, and the 900 SUP Foil, which uses the same fuselage and stabilizer as our freeride kite foil, same mast length (90cm) too but different box since the thickness of a SUP board is different, and a bigger front wing than usual, called the 900. The span and profile of the 900 is specifically made for Wind Foiling. More info here.
We gave the board and the foil to our kite race foiler Ambassador Seth Besse at Crissy Field during the Battle of the Bay, who also happened to have a strong background windsurfing. Seth is an expert kite foiler and is always battling for first places during the kite races in the Bay. After 5mn he was up and going ! Here is some of his initial comments on this setup
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
