Delta Hydrofoil

[ghradil]

Hello All,

There have been a couple of posts asking about Delta Hydrofoil, so I would like to introduce my self and let you know what I am doing with Delta. I have been foiling for about 5 years, I started with a Carafino and then moved on to a Spotz. About a year ago I decided that there was a need for a race capable foil that is made in the USA, since sourcing race foils from France is somewhat inconvenient. I have a PhD in engineering and I have been making things with my hands all my life, so I got to work.

Since last year I have gone through 4 prototype revisions including the tapered strut that was in the pictures from the East Coast Championships. The most recent revision has a more conventional strut design. I have been working with Jon Modica and he has been extremely generous in encouraging my enterprise and in providing feedback on the performance of the prototypes.

My initial design concern was in reducing drag, I have now transitioned to making improvements in stability. My goal is to make a foil that is both extremely fast and easy (relative term) to ride. The foil should be competitive against the Sword and Spotz and yet you should still be able to learn on it. I think at this point we are pretty close to achieving this. I have sold a small number of foils so far, and I have built these myself. The construction is 100% carbon, using closed mold construction. I am now transitioning production to a carbon composite fabrication company in Rhode Island that will be able to make 5 per week.

I have not promoted Delta until now since my production capability was limited and I did not want to make people wait long periods of time for delivery. There are already to many foil companies doing that. My intention is to keep an inventory of foils and boards so that I can ship immediately.


You can contact me through our web site www.deltahydrofoil.com.

I wish you all great foiling and hope to meet you at upcoming events.

Regards,

George Hradil

[Hawaiis]

What price are the foils?

[Laughingman]

Foils are $2500, and boards are $950. We have two sizes of wings available, 500 square centimeter area and 370 square centimeters.

http://www.deltahydrofoil.com/store/c1/ ... ducts.html

[Hawaiis]

Foils are $2500, and boards are $950. We have two sizes of wings available, 500 square centimeter area and 370 square centimeters.

http://www.deltahydrofoil.com/store/c1/ ... ducts.html

That price is actually higher than most proven foils.

[Bille]

Foils are $2500, and boards are $950. ...

That price is actually higher than most proven foils.

$ ---2500
+ -----950
= --- 3450 ; Seriously ?? are You Shitting ME !!!

@ --ghradil--
You don't know much about production Lay-up ; do Ya ? Everyone Thinks Ya
need a cheap labor force, to compete with that chinese shit ; well it Ain't so !

Looking at Just the foil , (Not the board) ; how many of these things can you build
in a day , and how many people do Ya need to accomplish that ?

Bille

[Arcsrule]

It's good to see a USA made product and it would be great to see it survive. I saw you as a sponsor for the latest regatta and immediately went for your website. I was turned off by the price. I'm not looking for a two for one deal as I learned my lesson on that. But whether or not I can afford that kind of money is not an issue for me, but more for the value of it. Perhaps your website could be updated with board and foil details, construction techniques, and lead time. If there is any type of warrant or life expectancy, that would also be note worthy. I know your response is to call and you would me more than happy to answer any questions. Unfortunately, I am the guy who reads up, researches, and more or less has made up my mind before I will talk to a person and possibly waste his time and mine. I hope to see more about your product and hear others talk how it is the best you can buy currently, hence the reason for a premium price.
I am not intending to criticize you or your product. My intention is to provide feed back that may or may not be appreciated. Just don't tell me this is a priviledge... jus kiddin!

[ghradil]

Hello Foilers,

Thanks for your comments and I agree that $3,500 is a steep price to get into foil racing. My foils are priced similarly to currently available race foils. Swords are $2650 with a long waiting list, Spotz is a bit less at $1900. I am not sure about the Aguera foil but I think it is even more expensive than the Sword.

As I stated, my goal is to make the best possible foil, superior to the competition if possible. I am not selling based on a low price. Given the numbers of foils I expect to make and the labor cost of production in the US, I cannot sell at a much lower price and expect to succeed. The only path forward for me is to create a product so good that it is a good value even at a high price. Since I am just starting out, I have to prove that it is so.

As to the board price, I respectfully disagree that $950 is high for a custom built carbon fiber board. Competitor boards from Aguera and Temavento are much higher, close to double in fact.

The reality of making race foils is that the market may be quite small and that many of the people that race expect their equipment for free or at a deep discount, due to sponsorship deals.

As a consumer I too am discouraged by these prices. A quality SLE kite is now $1800, an Ozone Chrono is $2400 with bar, and kites wear out after 2 or 3 years. It is not cheap to race.

Only manufacturing in Asia would significantly bring prices down. I do not want to travel to Asia often and deal with the potential quality and shipping problems. So I will be making foils in Rhode Island. We have a large marine industry here and many talented craftspeople. If demand is high perhaps prices can be reduced. I hope that happens. I am not sure how big the future is for foiling or how accessible it will be to most kitesurfers.

Foiling has changed my life and so has starting Delta hydrofoil. I hope to help the sport spread.

Respectfully,

George

[Peter_Frank]

Looks good, and the price seems very reasonable, a bit lower or on par with some of the other known French brands, but not that far apart

Although, the US dollar has less buying value compared to wages, and other countries in europe, right ?
So maybe you can not compare currencies at all....

On the other hand, you get your cars almost for free it seems, in the US.
Here the same models, no matter if european or US models, cost 3 to 5 times as much - horrible

Seen in this perspective, a 2500 dollar hydrofoil might seem like a lot, compared to cars

Then again, you dont hardly use any money on cars, compared, so you save a lot too

It is an odd and very different world we are living in

PF

[Randahl]

Thanks Peter for keeping it in perspective. At least in the US we can afford to drive our own car 200 miles to chase the wind.

I respect George for keeping it real. He didn't say this is an everyman's foil. Though maybe saying he wanted it to be a foil you can learn on was alluding to that. There is a difference between the affordable foil and the top echelon foils that have the crazy wait times. I think that if you are ready to move up to that Sword or Spotz, you are already hooked enough and have obsessed enough that you will swallow the outrageous price. People who get a Sword or Spotz as a first foil, well, maybe they are the "gotta have the best" type, or maybe they are looking at the long game. I sometimes wish I had gone for the high quality high aspect foil at first. But then again, it was at least an extra $1,000 for a first foil, which I was only getting to extend my ridable days into the light wind realm.

Now that I have the foil bug and have learned how to do it, I do wish I had a higher aspect foil, but I know I would have not been able to shell out $3,000-$3,500 for a setup, I still can't.

BTW, I checked what someone paid to order a Sword 1 and a new board and it was around $3800. Sword 2 is going to be how much?

Technically MHL is a USA product. I think they are the closest you will get to a quality everyman’s foil from the USA, still it’s no Sword or Spotz. I would like to see what riders say about the Delta foil?

Also, how about offering a plate mount? So much more versatility than the tuttle box. What would also be great is a nice sized plate so there is room for different hole patterns in different boards. Boards with tracks on the bottom instead of fixed mounting holes allow you to move the foil back and forth on the board. Another thing you can’t do with a tuttle box.

Either way, more power to you George. I really hope to see Delta and an honest craftsman flourish.

[tkettlepoint]

good look foil but I agree about the price. alittle high for being just out of the block.

sword can charge the price they are because they win races.

For the boards full carbon board is still only one maybe 2 layers of light weight carbon with a 4oz or 6 oz over it. What does this really help? Carbon needs to be vacuum or press and heated to make it meet all the specs. Boards have eps in them for the most part and to vacuum/ press cabon and then heat it you need a real big oven and be real real carefull you don't crunch the eps under vacuum. Wet lay carbon just looks pretty is all with alittle bit of added strength .

We have been building boards for 12 years now , and a lot of people know who we are and it is hard as hell to sell a full custom surf board with wood veneer topsheet and full custom painted bottom for $800. We have built boards for some well known people and I watched one jump the frisco peer in OBX and flat land the surfboard for an hour. He came in and there wasn't even a heal dent in it. And this board had NO carbon in it.

I wish you all the best of luck with you foils and boards.

Just my 2 cents

Terrie
www.jellyfishboards.com