Thoughts on my current foil quiver (Sept 2023)
Author: Jon Mann
I’ve had a few questions about what my foil quiver is and what I use for various disciplines. With the release of the Spitfire and ART Pros I figured I’d write a post about it. I’ll run through which front wings I’m using as well as fuse, mast and stabs. This will probably end up being a periodical blog post as I’m sure my tastes or priorities will change.
Let’s start with the basics, stats. I’m 78kg in my boardies, often (95% of the time) I’m riding in a wetsuit between 4mm – 6mm thick depending on the time of year. This adds maybe 3 – 5kg possibly? I predominantly SUP foil DW, prone, SUP foil and wing a bit. My preference is for surfing over speed most of the time.
So what’s my quiver and what foils do I use for what? Let me start with one of my biggest pet hates. There is no such thing as a prone foil, a wing foil or a downwind foil. There are foils that are better suited to prone foiling, wing foiling or downwind foiling but the assumption that certain foils are made only for a specific discipline needs to disappear. I mean they are designed around use case, but the basic premise of my argument is that various characteristics lend themselves better to various disciplines and foils should be viewed on what their characteristics are (fast, easy to turn, lots of glide etc) and how that can be applied to the desired use case, rather than put them in a box. Anyways, rant over. These are my foils…
It may seem like I’m double dipping across my quiver (I am, but these foils are also available for demo, so anyone in the Netherlands who wants to test, message me). Basically, I have a faster (higher aspect) and a slower (surfier) foil in each size range, just because I downwind both on slow (really slow) lake bumps that are surfy and stacked together and faster north sea bumps (or ocean every now and again, lets not kid ourselves though, the North Sea bumps are still slow).
ART and ART Pro’s
So I see these foils as dedicated DW foils for speed (for me). If I want a cruisey surfy DW run I’ll for sure go Spitfire, but there are times at which I do want to go fast, or do want some extra glide. They turn well, albeit not as well as the Spitfire, breach well with little ventilation and are easy to manage at high speed.
Light to medium wind – 1201 (AR 11.14, 1318cm2) and 1121.
I can flatwater paddle up both of these with all my stabs. The 1121 is probably my go to ART Pro in most conditions, and even lighter winds and the 1201 is really reserved for those marginal wind runs where there’s lots of space between the bumps and where I want to minimise the amount of energy I spend pumping as well as flatwater pumping training. For me the 1121 is a much much improved 1099. Personally I never got on well with the 1099 but the 1121 is a different beast altogether. Feels better in the turns with a great low end and easy to get on foil.
Medium – strong wind: 1051 or chopped 999.
I’m pretty close to flatwater starting the 1051. In bumps I don’t find it too hard and looking at the other guys using the ART Pros more I suspect I’ll be on one of the smaller ART Pro’s in bigger conditions, but since I haven’t tried them yet, I can’t comment. The chopped 999… so this foil is quick, but when it comes to choosing to run it I’d probably take it for surfy runs rather than fast runs. This foil was my go to in Hood River. I wouldn’t recommend chopping perfectly good foils, but if you happen to damage them, it’s a credible option instead of repairing.
Spitfire (shortened to SF)
These are my favourite of the Axis offerings. For me the way that they roll in turns and how surfy that makes them feel makes them my favourite for all disciplines. They have a consistent pressure in roll and I find they have a nice backfoot drive which means you can turn in an arc/ curve as opposed to a pivotal yaw type turn (personal preference, no one get butthurt please, not saying it looks bad, just saying I prefer not to turn like that). They also breach even better than the Art Pros, you hear it more than you feel it, which is always a bit trippy.
Light wind small waves – SF1030 (AR 8.26, 1308cm2)
This is my other lightwind downwind foil options next to the 1201. Comparable to the 1201 on the low end, just as easy to paddle up, but has a much more enjoyable span to surf with. For its size it’s surprisingly surfy and paired with a small progressive or skinny can also go quite quick. I have used it plenty of times in stronger winds too. I don’t tend to use the 1030 to prone as it’s quite big and the 900 and 840 work well for me proning but for small wave sup foil you can’t beat the 1030 with a small progressive (granted I haven’t tried the 960, and suspect I could replace the 1030 with the 960 in my quiver….again, won’t conclude that as I haven’t tried it…yet).
Surf foil and medium to strong wind DW – SF 900 (AR 7.25, 1099cm2) and SF840 (AR 7.14, 1006cm2)
First off, the 900 took me a while to warm up to, whereas the 840 I really enjoyed from the get go. I felt like the 900 was a bit muted / dull compared to the much livelier 840 but after playing with some negative shims and giving it some time I’ve grown to like the 900 more. Of the two I do prefer to DW the 900 though and would probably step down to the chopped 999 over the 840 on the north sea just to retain a bit more glide but on the lakes I’d grab the 840 on a solid day to turn the whole run into a full blown surf run. In small waves for prone the slightly bigger 900 does have the edge, especially when you’ve got to take a closeout shore break wave and pump back out but for most prone days the 840 is the main foil I choose 90% of the time.
Hall of fame / personal favourites:
Although not all in my current quiver, there are some other foils that I have really enjoyed that I would say are still relevant and not superseded by the newer releases.
HPS 1050 and 980. These foils were my DW game changer foils. Fast enough with more than enough glide to keep you downwinding with ease, but a more forgiving low end than the ART range and even the Spitfires. For those looking to build a DW quiver, don’t overlook these, and thanks to the Spitfire hype there will be plenty going second hand. I gave my 1050 to my brother for his DW journey and actually still have my 980. The biggest difference between the Spitfire and the HPS is how they roll and how they breach. I wouldn’t say one is better than the other in terms of roll, just different, and for how I like to turn I prefer the Spitfire but there are also those who prefer the HPS. I must say though, the Spitfire does breach tips a lot better than the HPS.
SP 860. This is a classic and is the foil I made the most progression on. It turns ridiculously well, sure it’s not the fastest and an AR of 5.8 means it doesn’t have the insane glide everyone is used to these day. But it taught me a lot about being on the right part of the wave (unlike a HA wing that you can park on anything, the lower AR foils require a bit better wave positioning) and also really taught me how to pump well (learnt to double, triple dip etc with this foil as well as dock started over 1min). This foil is in my opinion still relevant these days but probably best suited for wakefoiling or prone foiling weak small waves.
Mast & Fuse:
I ride the 75cm HM power carbon mast with an advanced ultra short fuse. I don’t like a too short / twitchy fuse, especially in bigger conditions so I’m really happy with this fuse length. It also allows me to run smaller stabs as well. I don’t really have that much to say on this in all honesty, it’s a bit of a ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ kind of thing.
Stabs
My all time favourite stab is the 300P, though I do also have a 362/50 Skinny up there with my favourites. I shim the 300P for less lift. In theory I could go to the 275, but I also like to have the area for drive when I pump, something you lose as you size down. Other stabs I have in the quiver are 420 and 400 speed. These give a really good pump and a bit more low end but sacrifice a bit on turning. A crisp 333, really good lift with low drag. I think it sits somewhere between the skinny and the speed stabs. A KD 13.5 which is comparable to the 350P. Though it has a 2.5 degree AoA whereas the 350P is at 1.5deg so I shim the KD 1 degree down to have less lift and be equivalent to the 350P.
Three foil quiver:
If I had to pick a 3 foil quiver to cover all my activities I’d probably pick the ART PRO 1121, SF900 and SF840 with the 300P and 362 skinny rear wings as that’s mainly what I’ve been using recently.
As I said earlier I will probably post something like this semi-regularly with any insights I have. Feel free to ask any questions, easiest would be via instagram (@jon_.mann) and happy foiling!