I started in 2018 on Fone, it seemed like one of the biggest brands at the time, easily accessible in Europe. The gravity 1300 was quite low aspect so pumping was not really working out, sometimes a lucky connection to a second wave. Kiting with it was overall a good experience.
Then Fone changed their connection system, I had to update the whole kit so I went for Gong in 2019. Foil construction was alright, but those rise foils were so thick, good to learn winging but hard to ride waves with it. Board construction of the matata was rubbish, but to be fair it was cheap.
I spent quite some time on the Rise XL, then the Veloce L that was so unforgiving. Then the curve M-T and L-T that were turning nicely but not tolerating the breaching. Finally the fluid came out and it was a big disappointment, they felt quite draggy. Their new mast was super stiff but also quite draggy.
One day in the spring of 2021, a friend Lars met on the beach showed me how good a foil could be. It was the Takuma kujira 1210 and it was love at first flight. That day I realized a brand could be a prison of some sort, if one would stay loyal and wait for the next foil that would finally fill their needs.
From there I got the 980 mostly for winging, the 1210 for proning, and the 1440 to beat records, which I did at the time with 1h+ pumping around non stop in the surf, inspired from Chipri’s similar record on the same foil.
Later on the kujira 1095 came out and it felt so high aspect! Which is considered medium-low aspect these days (AR8?)
The problem with the kujira was the fuselage and mast stiffness, as the design was a bit light and the manufacturing was definitely cutting corners on the materials. So everyone was trying different solutions, cedrus gen 1 had a compatible mast but ended up being way too draggy (19mm thick) and nolimitz came out with their gen 1 (16mm) but the glued adapter piece kept breaking and the fuselage socket was poorly designed on takuma’s part anyways. I did some homemade mast molding that worked alright but I was keen to move on.
I tried the Signature game changer 1260 as Erik Antonson was praising this foil so much but ended up being a disappointment as the speed range was way too low for my local, and it kept diving forward at top speed.
Cabrinha came out with Keahi’s signature h-series in 2022 and upon validation from Adam bennets I jumped onboard. I found a second hand high mod racing mast that was molded to cabrinha by Tom constant, which made the whole setup super stiff, what a change!
But the cabrinha was not as effortless as the kujira to pump around, and at top speed the foil was diving a little bit (front foot pressure decreasing) which caused a few horrific wipeouts in waves at max speed.
One day in the spring 2023, a friend Lutz also foil frother offered to lend his Fone eagle 790 with HM mast 85cm, and it was again love at first glide. Winging that setup was another revolution. The combo of speed, glide and control in the carves was incredible.
At the same time I received the long anticipated Unifoil progression 140 which felt at first really good for it’s glide and turning, but I realized after a few sessions that the speed range was inadequate for my local conditions (fast moving swells with period above 10sec).
So I committed to explore Fone’s lineup of eagle and sk8 foils for 2023/2024, as for the first time I felt really happy with the performances without any major flaw. More details on the next post.
Those 6 years feel like decades in terms of gear evolution, it is insane to see how far the industry has come. I cannot wait to see what gear is to come. What a time to be alive!
