I picked up an AXIS 102 foil with ~70cm mast for SUP foiling. I am still very crap at SUP foiling.
I decided to attach the foil weapon of mass destruction to my Naish Hover 130 and give it a go with a Cloud kite.
Too say the Axis 102 foil is big, is an understatement. It is huge.
The red metal fuselage and mast are sexually attractive and heavy. The wings must be made with same bubbles in Aero Bar chocolate, ie no weight.
The wing is almost wider than board is long.
I throw the board and foil in the water and the foil floats. Floats really really well. Floats so well I am struggling to push the foil underwater for a bit of upwind body dragging to get away from shallows.
On the other hand, the float makes strapless starting super easy. No sinking foil!!!
Went out in 6 to 10 knots with a 17m Cloud on 32m lines.....
Dived the kite, pushed the foil down with a small amount of water speed and I am not sure the board touched the water. I was now standing completely upright and still. I had to push the beast forward a little and off it went.
The word slow and floaty comes to mind as I started foiling. Had to shuffle my weight forward a little and all was good from a balance point of view.
This thing tracked super well and goes upwind really well. Healside, toesside, all good. Gybing was great and using yaw in super slow turns was magnificent.
Staying up on the foil in 5 knots was no drama. 10 to 12 knots was typical cruising speed. Got a few surprising bursts of speed (15+ knots) as I hooked into downwind runs on the baby lake swell.
Most people on smaller foils will think this thing is a semi trailer. And it is. But I really enjoyed it being 100kg+. I can muscle the foil around without any surprising reactions from the foil. I had no issues carving around on it (long board feeling rather than surfboard) and it if you have any swell you can turn all the power in your kite off and glide.
Really looking forward to riding this thing in some surf swell.
Fun eh. Teeny tiny kite too I bet?
I think with us big chaps and big wings it comes down to wing loading -- on a 1500cm2 wing my wing loading is still higher then a "regular" kiter on a 1000cm2 surf wing. I'm betting you on a 102 wing is the same feeling as a regular kiter on a 1200cm2 wing...
So wing loading would be a better metric for choosing a foil then width or area.
The thing with wider wings is poking wing tips out. I'm going to try my 90cm mast again...
The Axis SUP mast, plate and bolts weigh 2.1kg, which is the same as the Slingshot kite mast on its own. It's more rigid too apparently.
Best thing I have noticed with the big wing is no requirement to get the board planing before I come up on the wing.
I have had about 20 water starts in the last 35 km and I have not had to plane the board to get up. The wing just comes UP as soon as you swing through the water.
I am thinking of attaching a 2 to 3 foot piece of ply for giggles and giving it a crack.
Noticed that too, I wonder just how small a board I could get away with. Maybe start with a ply board and just keep cutting it down
Very very light wind can be tricky, though.
Sadly our wind forecast at the moment is complete ****e.
So the Shimmed Wiz and I went SUP foiling. I broke my SUP foiling virginity today. Probably caught 15 odd waves, got back slapped hard a few times, but actually rode four waves with control.
The miracle has occurred.
Hey bigtone
I will be getting a sup foiling setup together at some stage and I had been wondering about the possibility of using the really big wings for kiting as well.
One thing I had been thinking is that with a really wide wingspan as soon as you lay it over a decent amount in a turn the wing tips would pop out? How do you deal with this or how does this effect your riding?
I imagine with a really big wing having a bit of the wing breach would still be recoverable as you have so much lift to carry you but it seems like it wouldn't be ideal.
Do you think you need to ride the bigger wings a bit more flat?? Hard laid over carves are my favourite thing in foiling do you think this is a bit limited with the bigger wings?
Not just in reference to the big axis as I know you have experience with the big naish too.
Anyone tried the new 900 wing for kite foiling? Supposed to be allot faster than regular shaped wings?
yeh I've got one...okay on the flat. Way too much speed and lift when on a wave with a kite, for me anyway. Great on a prone or sup board though. keep the 680 for kiting, fav kite wing ever.
Got to try the AXIS 101 (high aspect wing) yesterday.... did about 10km on it.
Carves like a dream.
Got over 30km/h easy.
Still on the foil at 14km/h.
Comes up super easy.
Needs more forward weight compared to the 102. (moved both my feet forward by about 10cm)
102 is wonderfully slow and steady and the 101 is still steady but adds some serious spice.