Hello wing people
anyone using the Go Foil kai red front and rear wings
I would like to hear why you use it, and or why you moved to something else, what did you prefer over the kai, and if you still use it what conditions do you find it works best in for you
also if you have any issues or tuning tips I am interested too, mast plate position etc.
cheers

Select to expand quote

sultanofwing said..
Hello wing people
anyone using the Go Foil kai red front and rear wings
I would like to hear why you use it, and or why you moved to something else, what did you prefer over the kai, and if you still use it what conditions do you find it works best in for you
also if you have any issues or tuning tips I am interested too, mast plate position etc.
cheers

Pretty old foils given the development we've seen since they came out.

They make a good cheap entry to learn the absolute basics, but you're better off on a HA or MA foil to truely learn. You'll plateau once you can get on foil quite early as these have so much lift and wetted drag, they're actually quite hard to ride compared to something new.

Just some of the things I like, well made, only one bolt to hold each wing, it floats, you can beat on it with a rubber mallet

I used the Iwa for the last year and half, just recently purchased the gt1400 and rs 1150. I really enjoyed the Iwa was a great wing, just had to place it pretty far back in the tracks. I tried the Kia a couple times but needed more wind to keep it going, when you lost power or speed it came off foil pretty quickly. I used the Kia for prone surfing more.

@winginglk did you try the maliko as well?

Select to expand quote

I rode a Kai iwa maliko200 combo for a couple years. Surf foil sup foil wing foil. They all have pros and cons in varied situations. Kai for me only worked in big surf. Iwa daily driver for surf foil and hi wind wing. M200 in tiny surf or light wind. They are stable and fit in the pocket nicely for surf. Fun turning. But very slow and not great pumping.

GL faster and better glide but don't turn great. NL better turning. New generation wings do everything better and are priced accordingly

Select to expand quote

juandesooka said..

I rode a Kai iwa maliko200 combo for a couple years. Surf foil sup foil wing foil. They all have pros and cons in varied situations. Kai for me only worked in big surf. Iwa daily driver for surf foil and hi wind wing. M200 in tiny surf or light wind. They are stable and fit in the pocket nicely for surf. Fun turning. But very slow and not great pumping.

GL faster and better glide but don't turn great. NL better turning. New generation wings do everything better and are priced accordingly

Couldn't agree more. If you want to stick to GoFoil, spend the money on something newer, it'll probably be easier to ride and you'll enjoy it much more!

I'll go against the grain here....

My first "good foil" was a Kai, Iwa, M200 combo on a 24" mast. I had both the red and blue fixed stabs. I surf foiled them but moved on to HA like everyone else.

I still wing my Kai, and I really enjoy it when I get bored of my other "small " foils...ie GL120 and NL100. It is a fairly fast foil tbh, just bleeds off speed much quicker than the others as she's thicc.

It's not as pitch sensitive and direct as the others but if you ventilate you won't get it back. Sometimes I can get the NL skipping on the surface and stay in control. Not the Kai. Kai turns well to but you have to dive it before you crank the turn or it'll pop out on you.

I was 85kg 6 months ago and all of these wings needed a HARD 20kts for me to get it going consistently. I just lost some weight, I'm under 75kg and I can wing the 120 and Kai every day pretty much.

I found that the Kai and Iwa in particular could be vastly improved by clipping the tips of the stabs to be square and by thinning them. I also cut of the stab wings and glassed them on much further forward to shorten the fuse for another experiment. Major impact obviously. I don't ride those stabs anymore, got others to choose from but I always loved how they controlled yaw as opposed to the flat pedestal stabs which I didn't like much.

i don't know your weight or stats, but when I was heavier the GL140 was the best all round foil I've had so far. Going for a song these days too.

Select to expand quote

Clamsmasha said..
I'll go against the grain here....

My first "good foil" was a Kai, Iwa, M200 combo on a 24" mast. I had both the red and blue fixed stabs. I surf foiled them but moved on to HA like everyone else.

I still wing my Kai, and I really enjoy it when I get bored of my other "small " foils...ie GL120 and NL100. It is a fairly fast foil tbh, just bleeds off speed much quicker than the others as she's thicc.

It's not as pitch sensitive and direct as the others but if you ventilate you won't get it back. Sometimes I can get the NL skipping on the surface and stay in control. Not the Kai. Kai turns well to but you have to dive it before you crank the turn or it'll pop out on you.

I was 85kg 6 months ago and all of these wings needed a HARD 20kts for me to get it going consistently. I just lost some weight, I'm under 75kg and I can wing the 120 and Kai every day pretty much.

I found that the Kai and Iwa in particular could be vastly improved by clipping the tips of the stabs to be square and by thinning them. I also cut of the stab wings and glassed them on much further forward to shorten the fuse for another experiment. Major impact obviously. I don't ride those stabs anymore, got others to choose from but I always loved how they controlled yaw as opposed to the flat pedestal stabs which I didn't like much.

i don't know your weight or stats, but when I was heavier the GL140 was the best all round foil I've had so far. Going for a song these days too.

I haven't tried to Kai but otherwise agree with your assessment with IWA, tail and GL140. I'm 65-68kg.
Maliko 200 is the perfect learning wing, big, slow but fast enough, turns for a big wing, almost zero stall speed which is great when you learn to jibe.
If you buy the V1.5 version of IWA & Maliko (shiny paint) they're 40% lighter and fits all the new masts.
Use flip tips and short fuse (14.5 with IWA, 18 with M200) with those older wings and they are much faster.
Replaced my GL140 with RS1000, my go foil now.

Select to expand quote

sultanofwing said..
@winginglk did you try the maliko as well?

I did use it to learn on, but once I learned how to get up and going and gybe then I mainly used in really light wing in flat water, it has a ton of lift, so once the wind was above 15 knots or the waves were a bit bigger I went with Iwa. The m200 I also placed as far back in the track as I could. Again a really good foil.

Thanks a ton for your amazing feedback, really interesting for me, I know it's pretty hard because I have walked into it and have scars on my head to prove it, doh. It seems each foil has it's place and it helps to 'know' the full characteristics of one foil to be able to compare it to another

I think a common point from those who have ridden this generation of foils will tell you.

Yes, you will foil. Yes, you should be able to tack and gybe. Is it in anyway comparable to current generation. No. Save the pain and learn or spend more time on a newer foil. You'll have a better time too!

@clamsmash do you have some pix of your work on the Go Foil Kai tail - it is an old slow design but you made it faster (and more stable?) I would like to see a pic of the work you did, if you have one, cheers (and great that you went out to improve it by trail and error)

Look for Jake Jackivich on YouTube for an indication of what they are capable of. He still rides them. This is 3 years old

Ya he is tearing it up!

I loved my Kai on the right day, and the right day was waves with size and power like in that video. Short of that I think it'll be a struggle for most people...that video misrepresents its capability in average or typical foiling conditions...the hopping at 1:30 is probably more realistic. If pursuing old school wings, the iwa is a better all around option. But you can find NL deals under $300 now...a better option imho