Hey guys,
the old thread to the severne alien i can unfortunately no longer pick up, so i make a new one here.
I already own the Severne Redwing and can now foil quite consistently on my normal windsurf freeride board. Since i actually only want to foil in the future, i'm thinking about buying the Severne Alien. But i'm not sure in which size.
I weigh 68 kg and mainly surf in gusty areas with little wind most of the time. Quite likely that the wind is sometimes gone from one moment to the other at my home spot. Next goals are working on my pumping technique and the foil jibe. I think later I tend to more of a racing style rather than maneuver-oriented. What size of the Severne Alien would you recommend me? What sizes do you use in what conditions (maybe als which maximum wind speed do you use it). Is the size at all crucial or rather secondary for take-off in light winds?
I look forward to your answers and am grateful for any recommendations.

Greetings.

I can help with one data point - I'm about your weight, have 115 litre Alien. My first & only foiling board. I sail in winds from ~10 knots to perhaps 25 knots, sails from 3.4 to 6.5. My first foil was Supercruiser 1700, now Evolution 1300 (so they probably bracket the Redwing in terms of sizing). I'm happy with the 115 litre size. I was originally considering the 125 (given it was to be my first foiling board), glad I didn't. I don't ever feel like the board is too small for light wind takeoffs, volume is fine for my weight. Perhaps a bit bigger/wider board would be nice if I was using bigger sails, but don't really want to go down that path.

Wider boards are harder to get up in light winds because they have more drag when on the water, wider boards are better in high winds or with bigger sails if you want to go fast because you get get more leverage on the sail.

Hi,
For your weight i think the 115 would be great. I am 76kg and tried it last year at the Silvaplana wind expo with the 1000 front redwing. For me it was a little too small, take-off was not so easy, so i decided to get the 120 wich is great to get away in gusty low winds and really easy to gybe. If you want to move to a racier setup the 120 could be for you. If you want to do freeride the 115 is it.
I have all foilfreek sail sizes, the smaler the better. The 6 foilglide is great for very light wind we have at our lakes here in switzerland. My biggest sail is 6.5 gator, it is very light and has a great handling as a no cam sail and a huge windrange what i love.
The pros of the alien are
- perfect trim with the redwing stuff
- easy take-off
- easy to learn to jibe and duckjibe
- inner and outer strap positions (except the 125, it has only outer positions)
- good looking
The cons are
- only DT foilbox, no rails for plate masts
- no full deck eva pads

The alien is now two years at the market. There could be a successor in the pipe for next year, we will hopefully see in august.

If race/freerace is the goal then perhaps look at a different board unless you don't mind upgrading again down the road.

Select to expand quote

PatK said..
The alien is now two years at the market. There could be a successor in the pipe for next year, we will hopefully see in august.

not this august.

Select to expand quote

Grantmac said..
If race/freerace is the goal then perhaps look at a different board unless you don't mind upgrading again down the road.

correct. a different foil will also need to be in the cards.

At 90kg, the Redwing 1400 with my Alien 125. At your weight you could use the 115. However if you are more interested in racing style rather than manoeuver then the Redwing is not your best choice. The Redwing tops out at 18kts. The Alien can go faster with a faster foil.

I have seen alien 155 with sb race foil at the beach. 85cm width is ok for that. But i doubt the footstraps position would be well balanced.

Kcebc,
I'm 62kg on a 114. My criteria for board volume is being able to slog way home if the wind dies. I've gotten good enough at launching to the point of getting on the foil without enough wind to sustain flight. I'll pump up onto the foil, but drop back in the water as soon as I stop pumping. I've gotten where I can gauge the wind pressure in the sail as to wheather it's worth the effort or not. 10-12 pumps and I'm done. My biggest sail is a 5.2. For my conditions, I wouldn't want any less volume. I wished I had sustained winds that would let me use 90, but I'm afraid I would be swimming back.

Best thanks for all the responses!
Seems like for my current state of skills i should go with the 115.
And just to make it clear, i just suspect that a racing style is more to my liking, but before that i still have so much to learn that it doesn't really make much sense to focus on it already. As i said, i want to learn the jibe first. For this the Alien should be perfect since i already own the Redwing. The step after i've learned how to jibe might be the 1000 redwing frontwing, since it's faster? After that i can still think about replacing board and foil, but that will certainly take another season or two.

At the moment i am using a pretty worn out 7.0m? no cam freeride sail, what i would also like to replace next season. What would be my options here in terms of size and type? I have already been recommended a Severne foilglide 2 in 7.0m?. But i'm thinking more of a 6.0m? size for light wind. What do you think?

I got a used foil glide 2 7.0 and I really like it. I want to try it on a faster foil than the slingshot I've been playing with (usually on freestyle sails), but both times I had the starboard 900 and 105+ fuse rigged up I got skunked by wind, then I got skunked by a tide that I thought would be deep enough to foil but wasn't.

However, I bought that sail from a guy that weighs somewhere around 64kg, maybe slightly less. I have about 20kg on him. He said that with some pumping he can get the 6.0 foil glide going and he really likes it, didn't need the 7.0.

I've also seen him get up with the 725 front/105 evo fuse/4.7 when I was on a 6.3 and slingshot 76. His weight made a big difference. I'm not a horrible pumper but his weight and skill level is clearly more advantageous in light wind.

I'd try your existing 7.0 and practice pumping so maybe you can just use a new 6.0 for light wind?

Also, he's on an Alien. 115 or 125 I can't remember. He really likes that board. I believe its mast track is further forward than my foilx.

With the 115 i would not go greater than the 6 foilglide. I had the 7 but did not like it, replaced it with a gator 6.5. Much better handling, better jibing and huge wind range. For me i tend more to mount a bigger frontwing and keep the smaller sail, when the wind goes down.
The nocam foilfreeks are so much fun and easy jibing/duckjibing if you have a light rdm mast and light boom.
With more experience you will tend to smaller sails.
The 1000 front redwing is an option, if you can jibe the 1400 and want do go faster, yes.