I've been foiling for a few weeks now on a BIC techno / Ker foil combination and wanted to share my experiences (maybe someone has can reply to see if us big buys are seeing a pattern here):

The positive side: I love it! I've been windsurfing for 24 years and am very good at it. I bought the foil so I could do light winds. I'm 215 lb, 6 ft... so kinda big. I found the Bic techno 148L/Kerfoil (you buy the pair as a package) performed very well but had some durability problems (see below). It only took me a few hours to start getting up and going. 3 days to jibe and almost no time to tack or water start. I could easily plane in 12 mph winds with a 6.8 sail even less wind with a 7.8 sail.

The down side: The Ker foil just doesn't support the load of a big person and heavy board. The first foil split where the front wing attaches to the fuselage. It broke after about 6 hrs of use in 12-14mph winds.
The second foil split in the same spot after about 4 hrs of sailing under the same conditions. I noticed that the fuselage doesn't have any reinforcement where the front wing is mounted. It usually breaks when I start practicing my jibes. So I think it's the torsion on the fuselage that splits it in half.

Has anyone else experience breaking the fuselage the same way? I think it must be a weight thing since I see videos of people using these foils and doing jumps/flips.

Are there any better constructed foils sold such as the F4 or LP? How's the NP (I think the carbon version is an F4 but I was thinking about the aluminum one. I'd like to continue to do it but just need something that will last more than 1 day.

Here's a youtube video of the damage:

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jwfoil said..
I've been foiling for a few weeks now on a BIC techno / Ker foil combination and wanted to share my experiences (maybe someone has can reply to see if us big buys are seeing a pattern here):

The positive side: I love it! I've been windsurfing for 24 years and am very good at it. I bought the foil so I could do light winds. I'm 215 lb, 6 ft... so kinda big. I found the Bic techno 148L/Kerfoil (you buy the pair as a package) performed very well but had some durability problems (see below). It only took me a few hours to start getting up and going. 3 days to jibe and almost no time to tack or water start. I could easily plane in 12 mph winds with a 6.8 sail even less wind with a 7.8 sail.

The down side: The Ker foil just doesn't support the load of a big person and heavy board. The first foil split where the front wing attaches to the fuselage. It broke after about 6 hrs of use in 12-14mph winds.
The second foil split in the same spot after about 4 hrs of sailing under the same conditions. I noticed that the fuselage doesn't have any reinforcement where the front wing is mounted. It usually breaks when I start practicing my jibes. So I think it's the torsion on the fuselage that splits it in half.

Has anyone else experience breaking the fuselage the same way? I think it must be a weight thing since I see videos of people using these foils and doing jumps/flips.

Are there any better constructed foils sold such as the F4 or LP? How's the NP (I think the carbon version is an F4 but I was thinking about the aluminum one. I'd like to continue to do it but just need something that will last more than 1 day.

Here's a youtube video of the damage:

Why don't you take it back to the shop were you bought it from and ask them. ??