May I ask that ones that have produced broken fuses at which action and in which setup (Rider weight / Front Wing / Board / Foil Action - Move) the fuse broke?
Perhaps also interessting if used also in salt water or quite only on lakes?
Would be quite interessting, thanks in advance.

Here in Colorado, everyone I know that has had Slingshot has had issues. Delamination of the wing, quality issues, bolts, fitment, etc. I know it's readily available and cheap, but you get what you pay for. I won't buy their stuff (at least not now) based on what I've seen. However, I've been on the SB stuff for almost 4 years now. I have beat up my foil system; hit lots of rocks, sandbars, underwater jettys, etc. Their stuff is high quality and is engineered well. We're seeing a migration of users move to SB (or at least looking into it). Sailors are getting bored with how slow the SS stuff is and want something faster.

Yup, I knew it. Two years ago nobody cared about speed. Foiling was for the moderate conditions where you just wanted to go out and play.

Speed, on the other hand, is too sexy to ignore. Foiling at 18 mph is getting boring. Or is it?

What is going on here? Reminds me of the IMS bearings with Porsche, rod bearings with M3 or timing chain failures with E39. All of the sudden everyone is having complete failures. Or are they really? Hmmmm.

It is by no means "all of the sudden". There have been plenty of different posts here and on other forums about problems with Slingshot foils over the past 2 years. Front wing delamination and bolt issues (both looseness and breakage) seem to be rather common. Many of these are not reported on the forum simply because Slingshot usually handles warranty claims very quickly and without hassle.

I have foiled about 150 times and have encountered a delaminating front wing and several issues with the fuse-mast connection. I don't recall having a similar amount of problems ever with windsurfing gear, not even back in the early 80s when windsurfing was still quite new. Yes, I have had some booms and masts break over the years, sometimes with a good explanation (age or crashes), sometimes without. But the frequency of problems, especially unexpected problems, has been a lot lower.

I have been sticking with Slingshot largely because their gear is readily available, so that getting a different front wing or shorter mast has never been a problem. I'd be perfectly happy to switch to another brand if the gear was readily available (including different masts,front wings, and fuses for exploring speed a bit more).

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ZeroVix said..
What is going on here? Reminds me of the IMS bearings with Porsche, rod bearings with M3 or timing chain failures with E39. All of the sudden everyone is having complete failures. Or are they really? Hmmmm.

Are you new around here? This thread is 18 months old alone www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Foiling/Slingshot-titanium-bolt-failure

I was aware of quality issues at least 6 months prior to that in the era of blue wings that came from the factory with poor finishes or chips.

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bluemoose said..

ZeroVix said..
What is going on here? Reminds me of the IMS bearings with Porsche, rod bearings with M3 or timing chain failures with E39. All of the sudden everyone is having complete failures. Or are they really? Hmmmm.

Are you new around here? This thread is 18 months old alone www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Foiling/Slingshot-titanium-bolt-failure

I was aware of quality issues at least 6 months prior to that in the era of blue wings that came from the factory with poor finishes or chips.

Yes, I am new. Owing multiple foils (company) and having the SS for 1.5 years.

Got to keep things into perspective, as a collective group here we have seen failures in Fanatic, Naish, Neil Pryde and Horue foils as well (I have never seen a starboard foil so cannot comment).

as mentioned it's a numbers game of SS sells 3 times more than the next manufacture then you'll see more issues.


sometimes it also pilot error, very few people will admit to not understanding correct bolt tension or maintenance of their foil that may add to component breakdown.


if you use your slingshot foils like we do (150+ days a year) we change our bolts at every time change (so twice a year) and inspect our foils for any type of stress cracks.


foils are relatively new for windsurfing (less than 4 years for main production) so comparing it to a windsurfing component with 40 years of R&D is not apples to apples. If you don't think windsurfing had issues you didn't windsurf in the early 1980s

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AUS 808 said..
The confusion comes with the word "Engineered"
Windsurfing / Foiling gear is not Engineered, it is just trial & error, if it breaks make it stronger, if it doesn't make it lighter until it does.
The other problem is that most of the materials used are not designed for the purpose, they have been chosen as the best available option.
Time is the only thing that sorts it out, eventually the design develops to an acceptable standard.

There are exceptions www.proboom-windsurfing.com/
I have one of those for my 9.9 foil sail. It's just incredibly light and stiff boom.
I'm not a big fan of boom head, but other than that it's way better than Duotone aero or any other boom I ever used.