WhiteofHeart forum posts in last 60 days

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maxpwr said..
Soft handles as a default surprises me, does anyone prefer these? First thing I did with my V4 was throw the handles in the bin and put a boom on.

They get sold without any handles, you choose your handles seperately. I think most people ride a boom on the Strikes.

I think having both lines side by side would be expensive (lower volumes per product = higher production cost), and they'd deprecate the old setup over time anyway. I dont think it would make much difference to the end consumer compared to what is available still in shops and second hand. Also it probably doesnt make sense to release new wings or versions with the old setup, because as F-One explained (and I felt), making the mast or wings better only goes so far when the connection is holding the setup back. A SK8 V3 on the old mast might not even be worth the upgrade for most consumers compared to the Sk8 V2, while the new connection allows getting the most out of it. New higher aspect pump wings probably couldnt even technically work with the old connection because of the loads involved. This is all just my personal thoughts about the matter though.

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Faff said..

WhiteofHeart said..
Picked these up yesterday. After a conversation with my mate at F-One decided to go for the 14mm UHM over the 12mm UHM. He said in the F-One team the 14mm UHM is the mast of choice for most riders, providing that extra level of stiffness. The 12mm is mostly prefered by lighter weights, downwind specialists or straight line blasters. Basically its not "the 12mm is always better", its specialised tools for specialised uses, with the 14mm providing the most direct feedback and the 12mm providing the best glide.

Given my weight (100kgs/220lbs) and goal (freestyle / aerials & carving in waves in addition to the freefly blasting) I decided to bring home the 14UHM instead of the 12 in the end.

Will let you know how it feels compared to the old 14mm HM and 16mm mast, but putting it together at home and twisting the wings tells me this thing is ROCK solid. The difference is very clearly noticable in both bending and twist stiffness compared to the old 14HM with Titan 1 connection. I do feel a noticable chunk (say 50%?) especially of the bending stiffness gain is in the new Titan 2 connection. Therefore updating a 16mm Titan 1 to a 16mm Titan 2 will probably already be a major noticable improvement.

Is 85 still the preferred mast length for freestyle? (I'm thinking of getting and 80 because it feels more compact in the air and it's also more optimal for more disciplines).

I dont know, last I heard 85 is still the tool of choice for the pros. Do see a lot of people opting for the 80 for multisports use. I havent personally tried an 80 mast, cant imagine the difference is that large honestly.

It depends on the weight distribution. The skywing has a relatively long nose and the boxes quite far back so its not a good pumper. A midlength with the boxes more centered and a more centered stance (equal length nose and tail) pumps easier because it is more balanced and has less inertia. In the end though, smaller (lighter) and more balanced boards will always pump better. Generally the 40-50L version of the same traditional shape board has a comparatively way smaller nose so is also a lot more balanced and simply lighter.

Honestly its hard to say which is the better pumper, not knowing what type or length of board you're opting for. I'd say generally the shorter midlength boards are probably the better pumpers, but if you're going into the 6'5"+ realm im not sure it would be better compared to your skywing.

Picked these up yesterday. After a conversation with my mate at F-One decided to go for the 14mm UHM over the 12mm UHM. He said in the F-One team the 14mm UHM is the mast of choice for most riders, providing that extra level of stiffness. The 12mm is mostly prefered by lighter weights, downwind specialists or straight line blasters. Basically its not "the 12mm is always better", its specialised tools for specialised uses, with the 14mm providing the most direct feedback and the 12mm providing the best glide.

Given my weight (100kgs/220lbs) and goal (freestyle / aerials & carving in waves in addition to the freefly blasting) I decided to bring home the 14UHM instead of the 12 in the end.

Will let you know how it feels compared to the old 14mm HM and 16mm mast, but putting it together at home and twisting the wings tells me this thing is ROCK solid. The difference is very clearly noticable in both bending and twist stiffness compared to the old 14HM with Titan 1 connection. I do feel a noticable chunk (say 50%?) especially of the bending stiffness gain is in the new Titan 2 connection. Therefore updating a 16mm Titan 1 to a 16mm Titan 2 will probably already be a major noticable improvement.

How do you feel it compares to previous versions? I have only ridden the v4 and v5 briefly, made most of my hours on a v3. Always had a single 5m wing, picking up my 4.5 v6 tomorrow (too stoked!!) as I too felt since the v4 already they feel a lot more powerful for their size.

I still have my freeride windfoiling gear, do maybe 1 session on it per year, and another session of regular windsurfing. Sold all my racing gear. Winging maybe 40% of my sessions and kitefoiling 30%, kitesurfing 30%. That is mostly due to conditions, either waves way too big to get out through the shorebreak to somwehere deep enough to get on my board in less than 45 minutes with the wing, or too little wind for my 5m wing and 100kgs (less than 15-16 knots). Kitefoiling has the adventage in those conditions for me because i get more power in light winds without having to haul around a huge wing or sail, and in big waves I van bodydrag out to where its deep enough easily. If I could choose I'd be 65% on the wing and 35% kite/kitefoil.

Honestly, windsurffoiling is so restrictive compared to winging. There are litterally no downsides to winging over windfoiling except maybe that the average freeride windfoiling gear is a little faster than winging gear, but that could also be because the mastfoot allows more easy power delivery. Speeds on racing gear is pretty much identical.

On the pros for winging we have the non-watertime things like packability and the bigger windrange (less sails needed), and ofcourse the on the water pros like way more manouvrable, lighter in the hands, higher jumps, faster progression.

F-one came out with a PW specific board, midlength shape, but with slightly more volume in the nose than a the RW midlength intended for winging. Because PW is more passive (less unweighting the board in pumps) in getting up there's more front foot pressure / risk of burrying the nose, hence the shift in volume distribution.

However, no V's anywhere and very straight rocker. How we like our winging boards too.

www.f-one.world/product/rocket-free-surf/

I have a new mast on order, together with V3 Sk8 plane and new Eagle plane. Was supposed to be delivered last week, but exactly the gear I ordered was delayed (had I just picked 85cm/850 I wouldve been riding already but I had to be special with 95cm/750...). Will probably be a month or so. Will let you know what I think compared to the 14mm and 16mm masts and previous generation planes. I've heard that the new connection makes a big difference in the feel in terms of stiffness of the connection.

I had extensive talks about getting a sk8 1150 with my local distributor. He convinced me to go Eagle 1090 instead for 2026. Said it was equally carvy with a carve tail, bigger speed range and doesnt really loose anything in low-end compared to the Sk8. Haven't ridden it yet though, hopefully the boat will arive in a week or 2. All for winging, no pw.

Dont know your weight, thats a relevant factor aswell.

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kook123 said..

Velocicraptor said..
Not sure I'd differentiate Compact Mid Length from a Mid Length though...

+1

F-One have had the ML and the Rocket Wing Crossover in their lineup the past year for a reason. Both midlengths, the ML aimed at low-wind conditions / sizing up, the Crossover aimed at riding your regular medium size (weight-15L) for your allround conditions with just a little more length and more centered stance compared to a traditional medium sized board to get all the benefits of an ML without the negatives when you have enough power. Anything over 5'10 when you're powered just feels cumbersome to me.