Hey Seabreeze Foilers!
We just launched our brand and figured a seabreeze account would be a great way to engage with the foil community and answer questions/get feedback on our gear.
Our first product is a line of boards designed to excel at both wing and prone foiling. The larger sizes are somewhat unique for prone surfing - I've found they strike a great balance between the super efficient Kalama style DW boards and the performance of more compact shapes. Personally I'm on the 40L and 60L, and been unexpectedly having a blast prone surfing the 60L. I've had a couple session is super small surf which I would never have been able to paddle into with my shortboard volume and some bigger messy days which would have been punishing without the extra paddle speed and ability to get in further out on the shoulder.
Stoked to hear what you guys think of the concept, we'll have demos boards available in Hood River and Vancouver Island all summer. Hope to get a few boards to Aus at some point too!
Greg
Thanks Youngbreezy, I need more Seabreeze street cred though before our account can share photos and links!
Plan is the end of the month Hdip! Design was a team effort over the last two years, we've put an incredible amount of effort into creating the highest performance setup possible for wave freeride.
Here you go , no info on the foils on the web site though . I can see the Appletree influence in the board shapes and I think the Foil Drive prone guys would like these larger boards:-
omenfoils.com/en-au
Would love to but I go another knife for a shoulder reconstruction in a week , so I'm out of action for next 3 months at least , good luck with it though.
Dang, that's too bad man. Hope you heal up ahead of schedule, love your gear reviews!
Select to expand quotePiros said..
Would love to but I go another knife for a shoulder reconstruction in a week , so I'm out of action for next 3 months at least , good luck with it though.
Hope you have a quick recovery Rob & are back to foiling and adding vids to this forum soon
Cheers boys , I've been carrying this for awhile . 6 weeks in a sling then I'll be back filming the crew , so I'll keep punching out the videos , until I can get wet again.
I'm healthy and foiling. :P I don't own a shop like Piros does, but I know people who do.
The Omen wing board sizes look awesome. Exactly what I'd want from my next board having tried boards below 22" wide. Built by appletree is a great choice. I'm not really a fan of black even if it is closed cell foam. We get 40+ degree Celsius days in summer and those boards will be too hot to touch if left on the beach. Good luck branching into the Foil market. It seems like there is a new foil every week to lighten our wallets. A hard market to make a dent in unless you have something really special or a loyal fan base of foil groupies to pimp the product on IG. Send some boards to West Oz and they will get fully tested by the local middle aged men who foil everyday.
Definitely need to get some boards to Aus! Hopefully get a trip out there at some point. I learned to surf at Crescent head and Lennox head around 2013 and would love to go back. Adam Bennett's videos make that whole SE coast look like paradise, sure wish I was surf foiling back then! We're sold out of all the larger sizes on our first run so might be a couple months until it makes sense to send a board to do the rounds out there. Committed to making it happen though as the gear speaks for itself.
Regarding the colour Baldy, I was with you in being concerned about the black. Appletree assured me they've never had an issue with any of their "raw" carbon boards though. More importantly, wouldn't fried eggs pair well with a post-session beer?
Just saw this vid of KD Maui absolutely shredding on an Omen board!
Loving the narrow wingboard concept.
Got out on the 850. There was lots of whispers how good this foil is-ive found them to be a good reflection of my experience.
I tried it out with straight out of the box stab angle, but found that a little loose for my tastes. Greg(owner) threw a shim in and it gave me the feedback via foot pressure I was looking for.
The smaller AHI stab, I feel, is the "better" of the two sizes. I put it on my 1050 and really liked the performance upgrade when going top to bottom style on larger windswells.
I can throw up some kind of proper review later if anyone wants it.
Select to expand quotemartyman said..
I can throw up some kind of proper review later if anyone wants it.
Did you get the 850 or just tried it? Now that I finally have the Omen mast (87cm) I could put a proper review but I need to cover a lot more
conditions before I can call it decent. Not a lot of wind or waves around here this time of the year.
Select to expand quoteburchas said..martyman said..
I can throw up some kind of proper review later if anyone wants it.
Did you get the 850 or just tried it? Now that I finally have the Omen mast (87cm) I could put a proper review but I need to cover a lot more
conditions before I can call it decent. Not a lot of wind or waves around here this time of the year.
I tried it, then spazzed out and bought it.
After my "extended" demo on the 850 with the 80cm mast, I'm sold. It's very well suited to Gorge conditions. Yesterday was the first time I used my Lift kit in a couple of weeks. The 150x and 110x are really designed for no compromise downwinding, are (much) less forgiving of mistakes and not quite as "turny" with their 99 and 97cm spans. The Omen 850 is 90cm. You do get noticeably better glide with the two lift wings but the 850 is really close. Comparing a 13.1ar wing to a 9.5 is hardly fair but it makes realize we don't really need "max glide at any cost" in most situations.
I did 3x the restarts I would have done on the 850 yesterday and the carves were less satisfying (that said, some were pretty good).
So what to do? Unfortunately my time here in the Gorge will be shorter this year and with two systems going already I'm apt to run what I have for the winter.
Speaking of performance, does this foil look kind of familiar? I guess the 850's glide is probably good enough for me.
www.instagram.com/p/Co_W_EKLHBe/?img_index=1
The packaging is beautiful. The mast feels like it's not even there. It comes with an actual tool and not something out of an ikea bin. All m6 bolts so you only need one tool. A pressure fit fuse to mast connection is a genius idea to have no loose connections.
now to get to testing how it rides.
Select to expand quoteThatspec said..
After my "extended" demo on the 850 with the 80cm mast, I'm sold. It's very well suited to Gorge conditions. Yesterday was the first time I used my Lift kit in a couple of weeks. The 150x and 110x are really designed for no compromise downwinding, are (much) less forgiving of mistakes and not quite as "turny" with their 99 and 97cm spans. The Omen 850 is 90cm. You do get noticeably better glide with the two lift wings but the 850 is really close. Comparing a 13.1ar wing to a 9.5 is hardly fair but it makes realize we don't really need "max glide at any cost" in most situations.
I did 3x the restarts I would have done on the 850 yesterday and the carves were less satisfying (that said, some were pretty good).
So what to do? Unfortunately my time here in the Gorge will be shorter this year and with two systems going already I'm apt to run what I have for the winter.
Speaking of performance, does this foil look kind of familiar? I guess the 850's glide is probably good enough for me.
www.instagram.com/p/Co_W_EKLHBe/?img_index=1
I'm getting so much out of the Omen 1050 with the 87 mast I'm not yet convinced I need an 850. Once the fall comes and the bombs with it,
I'll see if the 1050 can keep up with the speed. I know Kane developed it and he is balls deep with KT but if you use the equipment and boast
about it online, you give the credit where credit is due.
I hear you about the 1050, It had really good range on it. At 95KG I could get away with the 1050 only but the 850 is rrrrrrreally fun above 20knots-at 25knots it's fully in amazing zone. I've been using the small AHI stab w/the 1050 as well-it turns into a slash and cutback machine that reenters the water so easily its a bit odd at first.
Select to expand quotemartyman said..
I hear you about the 1050, It had really good range on it. At 95KG I could get away with the 1050 only but the 850 is rrrrrrreally fun above 20knots-at 25knots it's fully in amazing zone. I've been using the small AHI stab w/the 1050 as well-it turns into a slash and cutback machine that reenters the water so easily its a bit odd at first.
I'm going to put sometime on the 850 next week. I really wanted to avoid that because I know what's going to happen
Select to expand quoteburchas said..
I'm going to put sometime on the 850 next week. I really wanted to avoid that because I know what's going to happen
I've not ridden the 1050 yet but put a few more hours on the 850 winging with the 87 mast. Coming from the Armstrong MAs and HAs, which I still really enjoy riding, the Omen 850 has an initial strong lift on the front foot but then seems to even out very quickly and feels smooth, efficient, balanced and surprisingly fast. I hit 26-27 knots for 3 seconds multiple times and this was on my big 115L board with a 3M (small board had the Armie set up on it). I kept waiting for the foil to do something strange at that speed but...nothing. Banking off swell is drivey and the foot pressure stays even as you turn as hard as you like. I only breached the tips a few times but it handled it fine. The mast felt slippery with no hint of ventilation and the small Ono tail felt great too. Can't wait to ride it on my smaller KT Ginxu. The Omen team did a great job on the feel of this foil!
Select to expand quoteWindoc said..burchas said..
I'm going to put sometime on the 850 next week. I really wanted to avoid that because I know what's going to happen
I've not ridden the 1050 yet but put a few more hours on the 850 winging with the 87 mast. Coming from the Armstrong MAs and HAs, which I still really enjoy riding, the Omen 850 has an initial strong lift on the front foot but then seems to even out very quickly and feels smooth, efficient, balanced and surprisingly fast. I hit 26-27 knots for 3 seconds multiple times and this was on my big 115L board with a 3M (small board had the Armie set up on it). I kept waiting for the foil to do something strange at that speed but...nothing. Banking off swell is drivey and the foot pressure stays even as you turn as hard as you like. I only breached the tips a few times but it handled it fine. The mast felt slippery with no hint of ventilation and the small Ono tail felt great too. Can't wait to ride it on my smaller KT Ginxu. The Omen team did a great job on the feel of this foil!
I liken that initial bump in lift like rolling over a barell to get level. It seems that once I get level, foot pressure barely increases regardless of speed-regardless of 850 or 1050. I wonder what design characteristics accomplish this-Omen?
While I'm here I'm putting in a plug for a larger size...maybe a 1275 or 1325 ish. If you can just send it to my house by end of Sept for surf season that would be terrific thanks.
If you're going to go big I'd go massive. Make learning to SUP DW easy. The 60L and the 1050 have replaced my need for a truly large foil though. Which is good because I only own 1 wing and it's a bagged out 5.2m haha.
Select to expand quoteHdip said..
If you're going to go big I'd go massive. Make learning to SUP DW easy. The 60L and the 1050 have replaced my need for a truly large foil though. Which is good because I only own 1 wing and it's a bagged out 5.2m haha.
Ok then-Omen people as per HDIP above, please send me a 1475ish "Operator" foil for the kickoff of winter surf season.
I mentioned the "Ono" tail, which doesn't exist. Meant to say "Ahi". Rode the 850 again on the 115L Armstrong board in pretty light air (12 knots gusting higher). Loving how this foil grips in the turn and accelerates like mad to high speeds as soon as you give it any wind or wave power. Nice thing is that it'll ride pretty slowly without stalling as well. Dying to ride it in proper wind and swell on my little board. The rig feels great stock and I haven't felt the need to shim the tail yet. I did order a 1 deg plate shim for high wind winging and will test at some point. Rig likes to sit further back in the foil boxes compared to my Army rig, which should suit my Ginxu better. I haven't jumped the 850 yet but will soon.
Select to expand quoteWindoc said..
I mentioned the "Ono" tail, which doesn't exist. Meant to say "Ahi". Rode the 850 again on the 115L Armstrong board in pretty light air (12 knots gusting higher). Loving how this foil grips in the turn and accelerates like mad to high speeds as soon as you give it any wind or wave power. Nice thing is that it'll ride pretty slowly without stalling as well. Dying to ride it in proper wind and swell on my little board. The rig feels great stock and I haven't felt the need to shim the tail yet. I did order a 1 deg plate shim for high wind winging and will test at some point. Rig likes to sit further back in the foil boxes compared to my Army rig, which should suit my Ginxu better. I haven't jumped the 850 yet but will soon.
What mast are you on?
Select to expand quoteWindoc said..
I've not ridden the 1050 yet but put a few more hours on the 850 winging with the 87 mast...
Here is a 1050 in action. I had a chance to ride the 850 on two super charged days but not yet convinced I need it.
