Fanatic Sky Wing Review

This spring we’ve been fortunate to test a few new wingboards. In addition to my past favorites, the Naish Ultra SUP 110L, 95L, and F-one Rocket Wing 5’4 the Fanatic Skywing 5’4” 95L has also stood out as a next level wing foilboard. Perfect for riders of most levels, it’s nimble, easy for learning (at light to mid weights) without making performance tradeoffs once you are more advanced. This has been my go to board for a few weeks and something tells me, it’s going to be one of the most popular boards of the year.

Available in three sizes.

5’4’’ - 95L / 5’0’’ - 75L / 4’8’’ - 55L

This is one of the few boards out there right now that is completely dedicated to wing foiling. The entire design is catered specifically for the sport from the large forgiving rails, the rocker line, to the small concave under your feet. There are easier boards to learn on but once you have the basics dialed, this is the kind of board you want to be using.

The 5’4’’ is going to be best for stability and light to moderate wind riding. The other two sizes are best for powered riding, more experienced riders and aimed at top level performance in the waves and higher winds. The 5’4 ha a flatter rocker, fuller rails and more volume with a chopped off tail. The deck does come with three straps so you can configure your straps anyway you prefer.

As with most EPS core boards, there is a vent plug. If you are changing climates or leaving it in a hot car for a mid session beer, you would want to loosen up the vent plug so it doesn’t delaminate on you. Don’t forget to close it before you hit the water! In addition to your standard deck handle, there is also a handle on the bottom side of the board. This is a trend I’m seeing on some other wing foil boards that have grown on me. It’s nice being able to carry your wing and your board with the mast facing away from you and your wing. Personally, I like to keep my vent plug and track screws inside the bottom handle of the board. That way I don’t forget it.

Now on the middle of the deck, there is a ¼” reference arch bar. This small bump is small enough that it shouldn't impact the flatness of your foot placement or heel to toe response. It will, however, give you a great reference point on the middle of your board so you don’t have to glance down at your foot placement while riding. A small touch but a nice feature that I would like to see on more boards. Moving down further, the decks are going to have a small kick tail for your back foot. This is going to give you a touch more leverage for pumping and maneuvering the board around.

The deck has a slight concave under your feet giving you better control and slightly lowering your center of gravity. This makes for more control over the deck and better response on the water. Fanatic has found the perfect balance between a flat deck and a mild concave for control. Too much and the board would be too responsive for its intended purpose.

If you look at the rails of this wingboard, you’ll notice they are thick and massive. This is going to give you loads of stability while learning, riding in the chop or on those light wind days.

On the back of the board, there is a lot of surface area designed for maximum plane-ability and stability. The 5’4” has mild concaves while the 5’0” and 4’8” are more aggressive to allow for more hard maneuvers and extra wetted surface area.

The track system is now the standard 90mm so pretty much any foil will fit on this. You might notice the track is situated very close to the tail of the board. This is because there is so much volume in the tail. You can stand with your back foot pretty far tail-ward and get up on foil easily.

This board seems to hit the sweet spot of having enough volume to be an easy user experience whilst having excellent performance potential. Especially for riders who have some wing foiling experience, its fun and favorable for the advanced riders as well. If you are a lighter weight rider, under 170 lbs or so, the 5’4’’ is going to be perfect for learning, larger riders over 200lbs could still lean on this but it won’t be quite as easy.

Tucker Vantol

 Mackite's resident surf and "Hydrofoil junkie." You can either catch him on the phones or on the   water at dawn testing new gear. He is proficient at a myriad of sports, a shaper and passionate   about getting his water time. When he discovered kiteboarding it took over as his predominate   sport. The same could be said about hydrofoiling.