AUS crew, good news RS1000, 1150 & 1300, more tails in both 12.5 & 14.5 long & short will be landing mid jan!
A solid session on the 650 today.
Amazed at how manageable it is to get going. Still dialling the setup as I've swapped out to the 40.5 mast. It's fast but still riding too low.
Wind and waves continue tomorrow. Yeeew
I ride the PNL 185 up to waist high then switch to the Nl 190 on a SUP with a Tuttle box. When switching to the NL, I need to bring the front foot strap back. So, my question is, does the 1300 with the shorter fuselage bring the CL back so I won't need to change my front foot strap position?
Both the 650 and 1000 have been getting a work out.
Starting to finally feel like I can carve around on the wave regardless of where I am on it. Both wings have just great low speed characteristics so they are super forgiving and confidence building.
Starting riding the 40 mast again. Nice to see how this goes on the bigger days.
Few snaps from the last session
Got my first session on the RS 1000 today. 220 lbs, prone, 1-2 ft wind slop.
Felt good, nice speed, great lift for such a small wing, still need to get used to the pump and figure out my rear wing tune but it felt good chasing runners outside, good feedback without wanting to over foil. Lightyears better glide than the NL.
Smallest wing i've ever ridden and it was rideable, pumpable, double and tripple-able on the first day - bodes well for improvement when i get it dialed.
i'm still going to need something bigger for the micro days when i'm pumping out of the hole. Probably going to be the 1150. My experience with PNL makes me want to stay away from those extreme spans like the 1300. The 1150 is right in my wheelhouse for span and size. I'm just worried there's going to be too much overlap with the 1000 and i'll ride the bigger wing too much out of lazieness. Overall good wing, didn't feel terrible.
I really love my rs1150 i had a super fun wing session with it last sunday...
BUT
I am really disappointed with the new cover ! No more zip and the tips, especialy the trailing edges of the tips, are not protected anymore!
The old covers were perfect but the new ones are really bad for such expensive wings!
i just put a hold on a RS 1150 ... so now I anxiously await the magic. However, I am still super torn on the 1000 vs 1150. The 1150 sounds like the safe bet ... but the 1000 is the sexy option ... and sexy is very verry niice.
TME ... you getting triples on 1-2 wind slop on your first day, bodes well indeed. I The "light years better glide" part has me frothing. am 50lb lighter too.
The covers on GoFoil NEED to be improved for the cost. A small part of the experience but AXIS and Armstrong are putting out awesome covers on all their gear. My GT wing cover ripped at the seam on week one, my FTL cover has a hole in it at the back of tail where the tip pokes into it. Zips are better IMO than Velcro when you want covers on with foil on roof. Less likely to fly off when driving at speed.
Another session in a little cleaner conditions today on the RS 1000. 2 ft clean windswell, beachbreak, 220 lbs. 26.5 mast, flat g10 tail. In terms of energy required on pump its probably equivalent to the NL 160 but with alot more reward (more distance covered at speed, less time to get to the next bump) Once i got my head around the higher speed and started doing stuff it really started to shine (took my brain a min to realize that i was at "doing turns speed" not "survival speed"). Nice and loose in the pocket(homemade flat tail), agressive cutbacks at speed, looping on the tops of the outside peak. Definately more work to pump than something like the kujira but still happy to be thrown around. If its in the pocket with power it can go really slow and do those tight turns at that speed, the trick is you can't kick out there like you would with a bigger wing, you have to find a section that you can get back up to cruise speed on before you kick out and start hunting again.
The vent recovery was great, tips out a few times in the pocket and mostly recovered. Ive been riding the PNL mostly the last few months and even with all the area the PNL is really critical and not user friendly. I imagine the 1300 will take that pump and glide but get alot of usability.
My buddy was out on the lift 120 (he's alot lighter) and we shared a few waves-
I had slightly better low end getting on foil on small waves. Once out the gate though he ghosted me. I could still make the pump back out the outside with him but i was gassed when i got there while he was still fresh. I felt like i was able to be a good bit more agressive in the pocket with the shorter span and i think that will improve in a few weeks.
At the end of the day its not a HA, its a Mid Aspect. Good for in the pocket surfing and pumps heaps better than any other similarly sized GF wing but thats not saying much. Its not going to glide fast like the Lift 120 or the armie 725/925. GF is still lacking a real fast, skinny, surf foil glide machine (i don't think the small RS sizes have the span to really compete without wing power) which is a shame(not that this isn't great its just a different thing)
I think the different design takes are interesting. Lift HA series has a fixed span and the chord shrinks as it gets smaller, gofoil does the opposite and keeps the chord and shrinks the span, armie scales both. Thinking about the RS range the 1150 is going to be more longboard style glide and pump while the 1000 will be tight in the pocket, where the LIFT HA stuff the style of riding is the same between the 170 and the 120 - just faster. I'd say the 1000 is going to be a shortboard for good waves and the 1150 will be a midlength for days when i don't have the power for the 1000.
I personally prefer the zip too. Velcro is annoying. They have actually changed the material on them. Also new masts have fuse and plate covers too. I'll put a pic of the covers. - Baldy, I'll try get replacements. Send me a message with pics.
Super helpful in-depth review TME, appreciate you taking the time to write it. While I remain on the fence, I am still leaning towards 1150 vs 1000. As much as I dream and desire to be the in-the-pocket shortboard surfer you describe, I think being realistic I graduated into midlength/longboard category about 2 decades ago. I also still SUP foil occasionally, I suspect the 1150 will be a better fit there. The extra help pumping is likely to be welcomed.
Your mid aspect description is welcomed too, as I moved on from my beloved Iwa and sometimes miss that dialed in feeling it gave. Though I tried it out again a while back and it was so slow, just couldn't do it. So....if this RS has a surf-y feel with more slipperly glide than NL, wow does that sound like a full meal deal. BRING. IT. ON.
I look forward to read your comments about the 1150 once you have tested it.
Because for me it is so much better than the 1000!
not totally fair to compare the RS1000 to the Lift 120 as the lift wing is 75% of the area (775cm2 I think). Lift 170 would be a lot closer (1100cm2 I think). I think the lift designators are square inches. Sooner or later everyone will converge on square centimeters (thanks GoFoil - big improvement from their mystery numbers in the past).
TME, what you are doing is giving a distinction between HA wings and MA wings which is needed sometimes, to remind people that a MA wing will never have the performance of a HA wing and a HA won't have the nice handling characteristics of a MA wing. I think the Kujira is somewhere in the middle of MA and HA which is really cool, but you also highlight that heavier riders will need different wings to light riders to get the performance they are looking for.It does appear atm that the lighter riders seem to benefit the most from the current wing designs available.
TME
Too many assumptions from you. The RS1150 is only 90cms wide and will surf so much better at your weight and definitely not like a midlength or longboard. I have ridden both the RS1000 and the RS 1150 and been in the water with rippers on the RS1150.
Have you ridden the lift 120 in mush or are you assuming you can?
My opinion is with your weight you will need lift 170 or at least army 925 for mush and both with more prohibitive wingspans for turning and painful stall speeds. The HA dream doesn't exist for prone performance surfing at your weight i don't believe.
Also RS1000 pumps much better than NL160 with new red tail for me.
Has anyone ridden/compared the speed and fun factor of the GF RS1150 (1150cm2) to HA1125 (1125cm2), or PTM926 (1250cm2), or SabFoil 940 (1100cm2), or ART 999 (1000cm2)?
All these wings are similar in cm2, while some have a slightly higher aspect ratio.