Hydrofoil comparison table

[jyka]

Nice table! It would be great to get more hydrofoils to the same test and table!

I have heard from many kiters that slingshot hoverglide is a stable foil and the table says the same. What makes it stable, doesn't look any different to me? What makes the stability in heel and toe direction? Maybe the wing span but is there significant difference in mast stiffness between different HF brands?

[Lokihel]

Nice table! It would be great to get more hydrofoils to the same test and table!

I have heard from many kiters that slingshot hoverglide is a stable foil and the table says the same. What makes it stable, doesn't look any different to me? What makes the stability in heel and toe direction? Maybe the wing span but is there significant difference in mast stiffness between different HF brands?

Dihedral/flat/anhedral, wing span, fuselage length, stabiliser size, etc. Most of the time looking at a foil will give you a good idea of stability and speed characteristics.

As far as I am aware high stiffness only starts to play a key role for top end racing foils where the loading is severe. Obviously an aluminium freeride foil can't have the stiffness of cooked spaghetti but doesn't need excessive stiffness either.


It would be nice to have a similar table with more foils, but it is complicated to assess certain things unless only one person rides all the foils.

[windmaker]

rafanal.jpg

Doesn't make sense, isn't an easy foil suppose to be stable? Taaroa is the less easy but the most stable... RRD is the easiest but not as stable as Taaroa, other foils are stable but turn well others are unstable but don't turn well , kind of contradictory...

[juandesooka]

Similar to kites, it feels to me like the foil industry is "maturing" ... by which I mean it doesn't seem like there are seriously deficient foils (or kites) on the market that just don't work. Some may work better than others for specific things, and every rider has their preference (usually the one they are riding, we all get used to riding what we know and then tend to recommend that as the best). Maybe if we're talking a rating scale of 1 to 10, from terrible to best in show, virtually all of the foils are somewhere between 7 and 8. You can pay a lot of $$ to get to that 8.2, or you can economize and settle for a 6.8 .... but in the group of these mainstream freeride foils, I am not convinced how much significant difference there is. I suspect you could pick pretty much any of them and have fun on it. You may feel like a boss in your BMW, but that Honda Civic actually gets you there just as fast.

With foiling becoming mainstream, and spreading to surf/sup/wake, it's great to see the diversity of choices. I find the mackite style table that compiles specs to be really helpful to sort through the pile. Especially in the sup/surf crossover.

[Mossy 757]

As far as I am aware high stiffness only starts to play a key role for top end racing foils where the loading is severe.

I don't believe this at all, I think stiffness is the number 1 factor affecting stability outside of the actual shape/design of the foil. That said, stiffness increases as the mast shortens, so you don't need to get a 100% ultra high modulus carbon foil if you're going with a 70cm mast.

[Peter_Frank]

As far as I am aware high stiffness only starts to play a key role for top end racing foils where the loading is severe.

I don't believe this at all, I think stiffness is the number 1 factor affecting stability outside of the actual shape/design of the foil. That said, stiffness increases as the mast shortens, so you don't need to get a 100% ultra high modulus carbon foil if you're going with a 70cm mast.

Agree fully Mossy

For freeriders, stiffness and lightweight is key as it makes a HUGE difference in abilities to do things, apart from the extremely good feel it gives.

So no, these features are not for racers only, but makes just as big, sometimes even bigger, impact on freeriders/waveriders

PF