This year meant some nice swell and stronger breeze to explore and expand some wing foiling skills. Largely we have light breeze and moderate swell in the central coast. The F-One CWC 6m and 8m wings have been great throughout most of the year, but the stronger winter winds made it possible to pull out the 3.5m Mojo 4m Matador and 4.2m Strike. There were more than a few days in which any of these were overpowered!
The Flysurfer Mojo was the first wing that we pulled out to learn with. It was a 5m with it's big cushy handles and upswept wing tips. It has segmented windows and comes standard with both a wrist and waist leash. The wing was at the forefront of development when it came out. It has longer semi firm handles that are easy to adjust hand position on, a nice firm structure that makes pumping easy and upswept tips to reduce catching the water. it hasn't changed yet, but is still very relevant with the 3rd and 4th gen wings coming out this season. Flysurfer features the SUP style inflation valves on the main strut and leading edge, with two separate bladders to independently adjust PSI. The handles are soft, but firm with thick foam and webbing that is easy to grip and adjust grip while flying. I'm not a big fan of the vinyl windows, coming from sailing it's a at easy point of failure or wear. For winging, it mostly just adds weight, as the wing will likely wear out at a similar time to the window. The Flysurfer windows are segmented and easier to roll up the wing without creasing the windows. Visibility is pretty good. The smaller wings are significantly more twitchy and responsive as compared to the larger wings, the Flysurfer Mojo 3.5m still has nice float characteristics and wants to stay up and flying straight without much input.
Naish has held strong to one of the stronger names as a leader of Wing MFG. early videos of Robbie Naish flying around the waves in Maui highlighted some of the big advantages to the new sport. The Matador features a bunch of stiff little arch handles along the main strut, and removable diagonal handles that connect to the leading edge near the front of the strut. Switching hand position can be more challenging than with some other wings, but the arches are all very stiff and wide and create a very direct feel. The matador features small windows that provide a decent glimpse through the wing, but require a bit of care to avoid creasing them when packing up the wing. Naish markets the wing as a more advanced solution, and I found that to be and accurate description. The wing is very responsive and does a nice job at generating power at most angles. The Matador 4m is easy to position and pull you out at any angle you'd like to go, this is great with moderate power and skills, but can be challenging for beginners that are working on finding their balance. The wing points up nicely with a relatively small leading edge. The wing features a coiled leash with U-joint swivel that generates a bit of a heavy feel. It also references an ability to velcro in your SUP paddle for long rides. A paddle can be velcroed to the main strut, potentially as a boomlet and storage for downwinding or longer trips. We never got the opportunity to try that, but it seems like a cool idea!
F-One Strike 4.2m
The Strikes have been one of the more sought after wings for 2021. In light breeze, nothing compares to the CWC line of wings with the extra area, narrow wing width and rigidity created by their extra struts. We've had a lot of good feedback about the smaller wings as well, but rarely see strong enough winds to use them. Among the improvements that F-one brought out in 2021 was the longer handles across the range. The semi structured long handles provide a nice compromise between portability and ability to adjust hand position while winging. The handles provide nice feedback and make transitions easier. It's also nice to have something soft during the occasional "event" The F-One Strike 4.2 and Mojo 3.5 have similar characteristics, upswept wings, nice float characteristics and long semi ridged handles. The Strike does not have the windows and therefore packs up a little smaller and is a little lighter in weight. The construction may be a bit lighter as well. The F-One Strike 4.2m wing, like all of the F-one wings, feature a nice set of balanced mount points for a rope style harness line. This can be the F-One optional line, something homemade or other supplier. The loop and knot supplied work very cleanly with the F-One product, and fairly easily with anything else we've tried so far. The 4.2m Strike wing seems to have a nice wind range, as I've used it in 35kts and down under 20kts without feeling radically under or overpowered. Takeoff was harder at the low end as you'd expect.
Flysurfer Mojo 3.5 m
Naish Matador 4m
