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I've decided to switch from the 909 Balz Pro to a different foil. I was focusing on freestyle and riding in small, gusty lakes. The foil performed great, but I feel like the system is becoming a bit outdated, and I don't think they'll be changing their setup anytime soon.Anyone else also rode SAB before? Currently, my top option is Armstrong, but I'm unsure if they'll be focusing on freestyle equipment in the coming years.Has anyone had experience with other brands? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I'm not sure about Armstrong for freestyle either. Most of their new stuff seems really swell ride and DW focused. Cash looks pretty good on it though!
I like my AFS stuff a lot but I'm on Silks which are more surf oriented. I handed them to a freestyle rider for a day and he went bananas on them. The pure range that the pros do freestyle on is probably a good choice for freestyle, speed, and glide.
AFS Pure 700/900 V2, check what Alain Fedit and Axel Gerard doing with it. I was riding the Balz 909 and smaller Balz Foils also before, the Pure 900 with Uhm Mast 85 is lighter and stiffer with at least same freestyle abilities as 909 Balz.
Thanks for all the answers
Afs looks amazing I would go for the pure 700 and later ad the ha 1100 for lightwind
Do you guys think the uhm masts is worth it and suitable for jumping?
I weigh 150 lbs
You can read about the differences here:
afs-foiling.com/how-to-choose-your-afs-foiling-carbon-mast/
All the AFS masts I've ridden are phenomenally stiff and have no issues. I love the UHM masts, both the 75cm and 80cm are amazing and very different from each other based on the chord length. As you go down in model price you go up in thickness and chord depth. A buddy went with the cheapest (crazy cheap), the HR model, and it's still only 16mm thick but has a deeper chord that does reduce maneuverability. But his pump and glide is really good on that mast since it's so stable. Some freestylers I know like the point straight, fast and locked in feel that a deeper chord offers.
At 150lbs you should be able to pick whatever you want and AFS has unbelievably good customer service and warranties (3 years on masts) so if you have the funds and want their highest performance the UHM is excellent.
I also use AFS (I have the Silk 1050 and Pure Race 560 and about to receive a Pure 900). They are awesome foils. The masts are soooo stiff. I have the UHM 80 and UHM 95 masts.
I also had a day on the Pure 700 (and Pure 900). Both are great throwabout foils. Both are also very fast (I went over 27knots on the 700).
The UHM are fine for jumping. For swell riding the thinner UHM is also amazing for maintaining glide.
97kg on a good dump day and tried a lot of stuff. The UHM80 is stiffer as most, but fully agree you can feel movement with the 1100.an Axis HM and Gofoil are stiffer, Codefoil a tiny bit with wider span foils.The downside is that those systems do feel more draggy to me.
Give Duotone a try. the new dlab mast is super stiff and the carve dlab super good for freestyle. carve 3 due end of the month
Was wondering why you would want to change from Sabfoil to another brand for freestyling?
That's a discipline that Sabfoil has an extensive line-up of front wings. Either winging or windsurfing. The Kraken system was developed with freestyle (abuse) in mind. And the system is relatively modern.
You might find stiffer solution regarding the mast, but that would probably not be designed for freestyle-usage. Just like Sabfoil has de HM-masts in the Red Devil serie.
Other brands seem (to come froma) more race (like Mikeslab), surf (like Armstrong, Axis, Cloud 9, AFS) or downwind-oriented (like Code Foils) intention.
Brand new foil system from Slingshot launches on March 17th called the One Lock. I would say its right up your ally if you like freestyle, as the One lock carves and pops very easily.
It's all carbon and no separate fuselage piece and so its 1-2 lbs. lighter than Phantasm foils.
No screws or tools required, so it makes for some really quick swapping of front and rear wings, the foils also have an option of the RTS mounting system and once you place the 2 front carriages in the board tracks there are no more tools needed.
No. Ive only tried the 75 and 85 UHM. I feel like the 75 is flexier than the 85, but that could be biased since I primarily ride that mast with the 1100.
Im not surprised that a rider of your size would feel flex with the 1300, but I am a little surprised that you'd feel it much on the 900.
I'm 98kg +, foiling for 6 years, and use the E1300/1100 and the UHM 80cm mast, I've only experienced a couple of times the wobble that you mention, not sure if mast, or wing, it never threw me off or put me off a line so I can live with it and no different from code/unifoil/sabfoil/axis/gofoil, but on closer inspection with AFS it was the front wing screw slowly working lose winging in overhead waves and pushing the system to the limit. I first looked at duotone but they only do the dlab slim version with a small chord and narrow mast catered for small riders, so our cohort of 90+kgs is not catered for.
I've had a worse experience recently on an axis PCHM 82cm mast with the 1201, 1180 etc plus you get movement in their mast to fuselage connection too, and this design requires stronger foils (fireballs) at extra cost $$$ for the design constraints of the fuse to front wing connection. As others have said, pick your medicine. For me, I'm happy with AFS, I don't jump unless kiting and have 2 years + 10 months left with the 3 year mast warranty.
I didn't try the new Armstrong masts, they may be good, but after the first batch of noodles and a dozen bolts to hold the system together just reeks of a design issue not yet addressed....
FWIW when I was searching for a new brand this year I dismissed all brands that have a legacy male to female mast to fuselage connection as at my weight one always feels movement and they wear out quickly IMO and I am not of a fan of this design. This did not leave many brands to choose from, maybe KT could be good, but the mast may not be as efficient...but they may be releasing a new mast soon...
Good luck with your endeavour to find something that does not exist for our weight category (yet), a 13.5 mm thick, narrow chord, fast and efficient mast that has no flex whatsoever. If you find it let us know.
Phantasm line isn't 5 years old it came out mid to late 2021, and honestly those masts were already super soft even for that time period.
While SAB is one of the companies that actually seems to have some focus on freestyle, if you want to change to a different brand, I think you'll find others out there with better masts and components compared to SAB. The standard Kraken masts are outdated compared to what else is on offer from AFS, F-One, Duotone, Armstrong, etc...
SAB stuff is generally pretty strong though.
As far as mast/fuselage/wing integration goes, Duotone D/LAB is one of my favorites the way everything fits together... their Carve 2.0 (and soon 3.0) line is what their freestyle team uses. For AFS, it's the Pure 700/900 lineup. Not sure about Armstrong and F-One as I don't sell those brands.
