G'day, I'm 87kg and ride an Iwa foil. Has anyone used the Iwa in larger swells or is it smarter to put the Kai on ? It's been going fine but we have not had any swell since I started riding it.

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JmeHwk said..
G'day, I'm 87kg and ride an Iwa foil. Has anyone used the Iwa in larger swells or is it smarter to put the Kai on ? It's been going fine but we have not had any swell since I started riding it.

I'm 80 kegs and I used to ride it in everything. Honestly I loved it, it's awing you can surf and pump, but it was a bit of a handful in steep fast stuff.

Not everyone agrees with the flex = bad thing, but in powerful or turbulent conditions it was almost uncontrollable with the 24" mast and got so much better when I moved to the 29.5". the next major improvement to it's top end was cutting the stab down. It made what is a fairly large wing for me much better behaved at high speeds.

I only rode the Kai a few times. Definitely soaks up power better, but I couldn't really pump around on it and that's a deal breaker for me.

I just got a new-to-me GoFoil setup, after riding Slingshot for a couple years. I've only had 1 session on each wing.

Iwa is about same size as SS Infinity 76, but seems to have more power/lift. It was a handful to keep it in the water, needed a lot of front foot pressure. (up to shoulder high waves, I am 73kg). Was lots of fun, but kinda hanging on survival foiling vs loose like a goose in a caboose.

Kai next day, same size surf, was perfect...with less lift, it was a lot more playful for making turns. This is with smaller stab too. The kai is about same size as my SS H2, though lower aspect and wider chord, rides fairly similar, maybe a little more lift and less glide.

Maliko next day on sup, able to ride the tiniest of swells, pump along in near nothing....what a trip.

Mega fun ... frothing out over the lamest surf ever, gotta love this foil nonsense.

I just do prone surfing- I went through an Iwa phase, loving the lift, glide and pump with the Kai stab. Finally tried some overhead waves with the Kai wing, went through a #%^^ couple of waves getting used to how loose the Kai surfs. Once I had that tightrope feeling slightly controlled, it was putting in the first few carves that sealed the deal. Been riding it ever since on anything above 3'. It pumps ok as long as you're at Mach 3. Favourite part is being able to paddle into takeoffs I'd never risk on the Iwa. so if you have a neglected small wing in your quiver don't think you need to tow into bombs to enjoy it. I'm under 80 kgs (at least before Xmas lunch)