Delta Hydrofoils discuss their current foil range

Kevin from Delta Foils gives Contributing Editor Steve a run down of Delta's latest hydrofoil range while at the AWSI trade event in Hood River.

For the full interview transcript, see below.

Steve:
Hi, I'm Steve with Foiling Magazine and I'm here at AWSI with Kevin, with Eleveight and with Delta Foils here. I'm actually excited to learn about Delta Foils because I've heard great things about them, but I actually haven't seen them in person myself. I think you're going to try and change that a little bit out there, yeah?

Kevin:
Absolutely, Absolutely. There's a lot of people in the industry, a lot of people know George, he's kind of been in a staple in the foiling community since the early days, developing a lot of the cutting edge designs back in the early racing days and he himself is a big enthusiast, he's been in since the beginning. A lot of people know him and know of the brand but he was doing a lot of custom stuff before and then we partnered up about a year and a half ago now and started trying to bring the Delta brand to the forefront. He's designed for a lot of people himself, other brands, but now he just wants to share with the world and bring the Delta brand to the world. Stoked to show it to you.
We have a lot of foils, just like a lot of companies, and there's something for everyone. We started out with a modular design, which is what we tried to do, tried to say, “Okay, the foil industry is constantly progressing, constantly evolving, how can we have something for everyone and not have them have to get a new setup every time?” He was one of the first people to have established a carbon fiber top plate that allows you to have a fully modular system. You can have carbon fiber top plate, carbon fiber everything, but you can have an aluminum mast for $150 retail and switch out the size. Cause a lot of us start out on a smaller foil then we want to get a longer mast, we don't want to break the bank. So that was essentially the first iteration of his design. This is kind of v2.
So what we've done here, winging is all about rigidity in terms of performance. Being able to transfer that weight, transfer any movement into performance on the board, and it's all about having a solid connection. For this new lineup what we've done is have essentially a seamless connection. A lot of people have the top plate that goes straight into the mast as one piece, but the connection that we have to the fuselage allows there to be no seam on the wear point and/or friction point so when you're putting a lot of pressure on the foil you essentially have maximum rigidity.
What we have here you have, again, no seam right here where you're going to have any wear or any flex in the foil, and then you have the ability to change the length of the fuselage, but essentially the nose of the fuselage is one piece and attached. While you do have some people that have a full solid setup in kind of the custom era, this still gives you that modularity that we've come to know and love, but has a really solid structure.

Steve:
Absolutely, yeah. That is really unique design. Basically, if you can't see it on camera, this whole range right here is one piece and so it gives you that rigidity of the one piece, but at the same time you can still travel with it. It's not like a full rolled piece thing where it doesn't fit in a bag anywhere. You're providing a great benefit of rigidity, but it's still modular. You can have a longer fuse if you want it, it's a really great idea.

Kevin:
Thanks a lot! Like I said, full credit to George. He's been working on this stuff for a long time and he's one of the guys that's who I want to be when I grow up. He lives right next to the water, he has a shop there, he can design, he can tweak, he can go out on the water, get feedback from his local community and really make changes real time that are going to affect the performance of the board. Done really well with that.
We also have, as you would imagine, a full wing lineup. Everything from our high aspect range that goes all the way from 850, 1050. We also have a 1280, 1450, which you see here, and the big boy which is the 1740.
We also have a full medium, low aspect range with that reflex technology that George patented. It comes kind of from the mono wing flight things where you don't really need a stabilizer because the trailing edge of the foil acts as a stabilizer. But if you add a stabilizer to it, you get a super stable foil that also gives you that added performance. His 1500 for example, a lot of people are like, “Oh, 1500? That seems like a big Foil!” It's way faster and way more responsive than you would think.

Steve:
I think I saw a video on that where it was concaves and convexes that were unique. That allowed it to have more stability in his opinion or?

Kevin:
Exactly! That concave and convex on the trailing edge of the foil essentially acts as a built-in stabilizer. Gives you a lot of stability, allows him to thin out the leading edge of the foil and do a couple of different things that you wouldn't expect. So you look at the foil and you're like, “My mind is telling me that this is kind of a low performing, kind of all around, maybe beginner foil.” Then you get on and you're like, “Oh wow, this thing's really fast and also super stable.” I just sell this stuff, I don't know as much about the tech as he does, but really the proof is in the pudding. You try one of these falls out and you're really surprised that the way it looks and the way it rides are two totally different things.

Steve:
If people are interested in buying these or learning more about them, what would they do?

Kevin:
Well, just like everybody we have social media: Facebook, Instagram, Delta Hydrofoil. You also have deltahydrofoil.com. George is at [email protected]. It's really cool, you can really email and ask the designer specific questions, but obviously we have a great network of retailers, ambassadors, team riders that are happy to answer any questions and just get you out there on the water more than anything else.

Steve:
Awesome Kevin, well thanks for taking the time with us to talk.

Kevin:
Thank you. Absolutely, it's great to be here.