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It's a great time to be a foiler. Just a few years ago, kitesurfers hopped onto foilboards, and it was awesome. You could get in and out of waves and pick any spot you wanted to surf. The only downside was that the kite was always there and you could easily outrun it and find yourself dealing with loose lines. Today we've got options like winging, parawinging, and Foil Driving that allow us to use power when we need it and shut it off when we just want to surf, and many foilers are taking adva …

Tucker and Nate have been putting North's new Midi foilboard through its paces. What's it designed for, and is it good at it? Who is it for? As always, they've got an opinion, and they hope it'll help you make up your mind about whether the Midi deserves a place in your quiver. What's In a Name? No secrets here- the Midi is indeed a mid-length board. It's primarily for winging, but it's also fun for parawing, proning in waves, and Foil Driving, so it can definitely be your do-it-all board. Wh …

The Float is a brand new wing model from Duotone, and as you might guess from the name, it's designed to float unobtrusively behind you as you play in the waves. Tucker's had a chance to get out on it and is back to talk about its design and whether it actually works. Shop Duotone Float. Design Features Luffing/Surf Handle The leading edge handle is a new design that's optimized for wave riding. It may be the most important handle in the surf, so it's stiffer and wider. This lets you control …

Tucker just got off the water with the Ensis Roger parawing and... wait. Didn't we just have that Arctic blast? Wow, that's... dedication? Madness? A bit of both? Anyway, the pictures don't lie, and neither does Tucker. Here are his honest thoughts after a bit of a breezy, hectic session in the frigid Lake Michigan water. Ensis Roger Features The molded plastic bar is sturdy and has a nice oval-shaped grip that's very easy and comfortable to hold onto without sliding around. It gives you a go …

Two new wing foilboards have just dropped from Omen. Tucker, Jeff, and the rest of the shop's wing foilers have really enjoyed riding the Omen Flux this past year, so they're excited to get out on the new SuperMarine and Emissary and bring back an in-depth review of them. In the meantime, we've got an overview of the two new boards to give you an idea of what you can expect if you decide to pick one up right away.What was the Flux, again?We'll start with a recap of the Flux so that we can b …

All of a sudden, it seems like wings with booms are everywhere. Maybe you've been to a recent event and noticed that many of the best riders were using them. If they are, should you be? Well, it depends. Like so many gear choices in watersports, it comes down to things like your riding style, weight, experience, and personal preference, among other considerations. So what's the deal with booms, and should your next wing have one?Benefits of a BoomA lot of brands are now giving riders the c …

The newest addition to the foil cornucopia... foil-copia... cornu-foila...? Whatever the metaphorical mashup, parawinging is injecting yet another dose of innovation and excitement to the windsport world. Ensis has smartly launched the Roger wing in anticipation of this hot new trend. Parawings, a hybrid of single-skin kite and wingfoil design, offer easy, wind-driven fun and the ability to quickly pack and stow the wing for extended wave riding and downwind glides. After being stowed, they c …

The Duotone Unit has been around for quite a few years now, and with good reason. It's easy to ride, it has a lot of grunt, it's intuitive, and it's easy to get up on foil with it. The larger sizes are effective in light wind. It's just a nice, all-around wing with very good performance, and it's a favorite of many. This year Duotone added a third version of the Unit. The standard Unit has gotten a canopy material upgrade to reduce weight, and the D/LAB still has a full Aluula frame, pl …

Tucker's got a couple new front wings for the Slingshot Phantasm foil lineup. The PTM 799 and PTM 999 are an extension of the fantastic PTM 899. That wing has been so popular that Slingshot decided to expand on it with a smaller and larger version. Tucker's been a fan of the 899 himself for winging and surf foiling, so these were exciting additions for him.Slingshot PTM 999 The PTM is 1125 cm2, so just over 1100 cm in total surface area. The aspect ratio is almost 9, at 8.9. It's a nice …

The step-bottom feature of the KT Ginxu foilboards is a big help in releasing the surface tension of the water with the board when you're trying to get on foil. You can read Tucker's review of the board if you want to know more about that. (Spoiler alert: it works, and it works well.) A lot of people are using the Foil Drive system as an assist to get up on foil as well. These two things seem like the perfect match until you think about mounting the Foil Drive onto the track. Is there enough r …

It's Wing Wednesday, and today Tucker's got an inflatable foilboard, the 2024 Starboard Ace Air. It's got some cool things going on that make it stand out in the inflatable foilboard crowd, and we'll go over those features and then follow up with a review of Tucker's time with it on the water. Even though the board is a downwind SUP shape, the review will focus on the board as a wingboard since Tucker is the first to admit he's not much of a paddleboarder, but the features will apply to …

The KT Ginxu 2 Pro Carbon foilboard is up this week on Wing Wednesday, and Tucker's been riding and loving the 62L 5'3" x 22.25" for a while now. He thinks it's a huge improvement over the launch model last year, which he felt was a little hit or miss. It's an entirely new animal for 2024, so be sure to take another look if you passed on the 2023. Tucker is a big fan of legendary shaper Keith Teboul's boards. His designs are innovative and use top quality materials. So what's specia …

In today's episode of Wing Wednesdays, Tucker has the all-new 2024 North Mode Ultra. You're probably familiar with the Mode, North's speedy race wing, as well as the Mode Pro that was introduced last year as an upgraded construction model, but the Ultra is on a whole other level. What makes this new entry to the Mode lineup so special? What is the Ultra? The Mode Ultra is North's top-tier, no-compromises wing construction. It delivers with a level of performance that hasn't been seen b …

It's time for another Wing Wednesdays with Tucker, and today he's looking at Ozone's light wind wing, the Liteforce. It's a brand new model for 2024 and comes in 6.6 and 7.7m sizes. Tucker is a larger rider and has been testing the 7.7m the past few weeks. Spoiler alert: He loves it. It captures what a lot of light wind riders are looking for. So what are those things, and is this the light wind wing for you?FeaturesSurf/Tow/Luff HandleThe surf handle is nice and large but still lightwei …

In this episode of Wing Wednesdays, Tucker has an Aluula wing from Slingshot, the Slingwing NXT. This is the first version of this wing, so did Slingshot get it right? Is it worth the premium for the advantages we expect from the Aluula upgrade?We've already done a live Q & A on the NXT, and you can check that out here. We also went over the details of the wing, but as a quick review, here are the main features of the wing.NXT FeaturesHandlesThe surf handle is a stiff, lightweight, r …