After four completed seasons in the sport of WWF I have arrived at a particular gear combination that I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! This particular combination of board, foil mast, front foil wing, rear foil wing, fuselage, sail, and sail mast brings me extreme performance and perfect stoke. Let me share this combination with you as you continue on your own WWF journey.
Board: I will begin with the board as this is the foundation. After spending a little over 2.5 years on the Top Gun Iceman (7ft long, 31 inches wide, 120L), I now have more than a full season on the Top Gun Maverick (6ft long, 30 inches wide, 112L). The Maverick has been life changing. While it was initially more challenging to get up on foil and uphaul, the shorter length and overall smaller volume turns this board into a Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato instead of a Chevrolet Corvette. The shorter length allows less wind to push up under the board thereby limiting overfoiling, and the board snaps through turns like the flick of your thumb and forefinger.
Front Foil Wing: After four completed seasons I now have considerable time the following front foil wings: GoFoil Maliko280, Maliko200, Iwa, Kai, EZ1800, EZ1600, EZ1275, and RS1300. Out of all of these, the EZ1600 brings me the highest level of performance coupled with the greatest pleasure. While it is equally or more snappy compared to the Iwa and Kai, it maintains significantly more glide on cutbacks, wave rides, and jibes. I cannot help but notice the corners of my mouth turn up on each and every turn. It is certainly a more advanced wing, and it does lack considerable grip in turns compared to the Iwa and Kai, but extended practice helps to manage this one drawback. The EZ1600 is my go-to front foil wing.
Rear Foil Wing: I have tried many rear wings including the GoFail Maliko, Kai, Flip-Tips 14.5 inch, Flip-Tips 17.5 inch, FT 17, and FT 20. For 90% of my riding I have settled on the Flip-Tips 17.5 inch. This rear wing gives me plenty of lift, extreme turning, and allows me to adjust the stab angle for varying degrees of lift. The FT's simply don't have enough stab angle for WWF. The 17.5 inch flip-tips gives me the best of all worlds and can be used at the highest level with all of my front foil wings.
Fuselage: Those of you familiar with the GoFoil line know that the length of the fuselage is adjusted by the length of the pedestal to which the rear wing is attached. There is a short pedestal (6.5 inch) and a long pedestal (9.5 inch). My favorite is the 6.5 inch. It allows me to be very snappy on the turns while still giving me sufficient pitch stability. It's really fun!
Foil Mast: The height of the mast has a sweet spot for me. I have used the 24.5 inch, 29.5 inch, 36.5 inch, and 40 inch. For me, the sweet spot is the 36.5 inch. This height is perfect to clear big chop and avoid over-foiling, while keeping the drag less than with the 40 inch mast. I'm so happy that I spent time on each one to learn what is the most efficient and most fun for conditions here on the Great Lakes.
Sail: This right sail makes for a very special experience. I started with Ezzy Zeta's in sizes 2.7m to 5.3m. Later I changed my 4.7m and 4.2m to Ezzy Taka's which have more depower and fewer battens. But an absolute game changer was switching to HotSails Maui MicroFreaks in sizes 2.8m, 3.2m and 3.8m. I can't wait until they release their upcoming 4.8m version. These are actually kid's sails. They are made of very light and extremely soft fabric that is coupled with a highly depowering design including a 3/4 batten just above the boom giving you a sail that depowers wonderfully. This soft, depowering experience gives you a lot more time to respond to gusts of wind thereby preventing over-foiling and keeping your ride more steady. My favorite size is the 3.2m. It feels just as snappy and small as the 2.8m, and it is used in conditions that are less radical than 2.8m conditions. It is the absolute perfect sail. The average sail size that I use is 3.6m, so I am fortunate to get a decent number of sessions on this 3.2m sail.
Sail Mast: While I have used the Ezzy Hookipa mast with my Ezzy sails I much prefer the HotSails Maui Kauli mast for foiling, especially with the HotSails MicroFreak. This mast is much softer which is more conducive to foiling as it allows the sail more time to respond when a gust of wind hits the sail. It's perfect!
These 7 components make for the perfect kit! I would strongly encourage anyone participating in the sport of WWF to move toward this kit. Top Gun Maverick, GoFoil EZ1600, Flip-Tips 17.5inch, 6.5 inch pedestal, 36.5 inch foil mast, HotSails MicroFreak 3.2m, and HotSails Kauli sail mast. This is the perfect kit for our Great Lakes wave conditions.
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