Shinn K2 Foil - Progression accelerator

[NEkitesurfing]

I have started with classic freeride foils and had some injuries, then tried the really big and slow foils to fight my traumas and recognized after a while that it is not fun to be overpowered with them when the wind has strong gusts or picks up suddenly. I ended up using smaller and smaller kites but sometimes smaller can be too small. They are limiting the possibility to go fast through a turn and jumping with them for me is not that exiting. Especially for training tacks it feels for me like pulling a plastic bag through the water behind me and that I shouldn't try it. Ok, I decided to go back to freeride foils, to new evolution models of the classic freeride models. Not an easy task because most of the Foil companies are concentrating on bigger foils for SUP, Windsurfing, Surfing and Pumping probably because it could be a bigger market or very small companies are selling to professional Kite racers very expensive race foils. I was looking for a Kite foiling foil that is more nimble without being twitchy like a classic freeride foil over a wide speed range. A foil that is as easy to ride like the really big foils but a foil that can accelerate in a gust without the necessity to enhance the front foot pressure significantly. The foil should unite the best of both worlds of the big and slow and in their sweet spot easy to control foils and the high accelerating race foils. I don't want to feel the gust ideally and I would like to have the choice to go slower or faster without feeling the limit of the foil. For me it is the new SHINN K2 Foil. I'm really impressed with the K2 Foil. Right in my first session I managed fast flying jibes like never before and it motivated me to train my tacks and 360s. Everything feels easy even when going fast or slow. I wish I had one earlier. For my point of view definitely an ambassador for a new generation of freeride foils.

[bluepearlqatar]

Having great fun playing with mine with a 60cm Mast in shallow water, acts very skate like.

[MikeBirt]

I had the same thoughts when I used this foil too.
The increase in speed does not mean an increase in front foot pressure - it's very balanced and confidence inspiring in a straight line. It's 850cm, so goes really early and yet your top speed is a function of how much power you want to pour in, the stability lets you pour in a lot more than anything I have used so far.
I keep going back to big foils in an attempt to pull off more foiling tacks, but they suffer from the same gust or swell induced front foot emergencies that I have always known, and so I always end up coming back to the K2, as it is close to a big foil in initial lift but just immune to power spikes.

[peet]

Hi All,

I've had a couple of sessions on the K2, and its super nice. Can get foiling as soon as you've got enough wind to pull yourself onto the board (for me that's about 7mph with my 17m beast), and is very stall resistant once you're going. I find i can foil through situations which my previous board would have dropped off the foil every time, such as downlooping a gybe in 7mph when your kite goes slack as you bear downwind - I wouldn't even attempt that before.

The K2 is very user-friendly, but the real USP is the neutral foot pressure.
I've taken to windsurf-foiling this summer, cos I like a bit of a challenge, and found that really a lot of fun; you need a great deal more wind than kitefoiling but the experience is wholly different. When kitefoiling, your kite is up there doing its thing, and you're often down below being at times quite brutal with your foot pressure to stop your foil from firing itself out of the water; it feels like a battle sometimes.
Windsurf-foiling is entirely different, there's no fight, only balance. Small changes to your body and rig are all that's needed to control the pitch of the foil... its hard, yet rewarding, as when you get it right it feels more like flying thank kitefoiling does.
The reason for this is foot pressure, you don't feel like flying when 70% of your bodyweight is on your front foot trying to tame a beast.

Now the K2 doesnt feel like windfoiling, but what it does have is neutral foot pressure, which doesn't seem to alter much when your speed increases. I'm an engineer at heart and I don't understand how it works the way it does; you'd think that must be the case on all foils, but somehow it isn't.
In short (yes, i've rambled on sorry!) its a far more enjoyable foil to be on than any other i've tried, easy, fast, stable and much less of a fight against the board at speed and in gusts. For me its rewriting the rulebook of what I can get away with doing, it seems very pitch stable, and i'm sure I'd be doing foiling manouevers on it if i removed the straps, but i'm currently trying to get comfortable using them for foiling jumps and tricks

Hope this helps!
Pete

[Windigo1]

I am also very interested in the K2 I already have a Shinn foil.. but the price is a bit ridiculous I'm going to ride my other foils if the price comes down eventually I'll give it a try.

[Shinnworld2]

Hi Windigo, the K2 is €200 more expensive than a standard Shinn foil. The standard wings are made in glass with carbon re-enforcements. The K2 wingset is made in High Modulous Textreme Carbon which is around 8 times more expensive than glass cloth. This is the reason for the price difference.

[zeroowl]

I am a happy owner of model P for 2 years.

Now waiting for K2 package to arrive,
Does someone know if I can put P wing on the K2 (carbon) setup?
Will the connection work,
And will the tail wing of K2 will fit the front P wing?

I want to use it for some ultralight wind days.

[Shinnworld2]

Yes you can o problem but I don't think you will need to. The K2 set up is starting at very similar speeds to the P wing.......... for myself I don't need a larger wing than this as the power needed to water start is already more than enough power to start foiling.........