SABfoil’s 2023 foil range and the Kraken QR System

SABfoil representatives walk Steve Sjuggerud through the 2023 foil range at the AWSI event in Hood River.

For the full transcript, see below.

Steve Sjuggerud:
Hi, I'm Steve with Foiling Magazine and I'm here with SABfoil USA, and Always Kiting, the US distributors for SABfoil. And we're here to talk about the new exciting products for 2023 from SABfoil. Nina, will you take over?

Nina:
Sure, yeah. I think one of the most exciting innovations is the Kraken Modular System. And there's more than one innovation to it. The one that I think I like the best is how easy it is to interchange the plates, and to get the plate off the mast. So, now instead of having to do four different track nuts you have one titanium pin, and you can pop the whole thing off just like so. And that allows you also to put different tops on the mast, a carbon plate, an aluminum plate, or a tuttle.
So you can use now one mast for three different sports, and the reason why this is also possible is that there have been more carbon layers added to it, which makes it much more rigid and unbreakable, we hope. The other strengthened element is the fuselage, which has also been beefed up. And it also contains a zinc or a sacrificial anode, and it's now connected with M8 bolts rather than M6. So the whole thing will be able to accommodate bigger forces, whether that's through speed or taller users.

Speaker 3:
Another advantage to the system is it's very quick you can change the mast length. So if you want a 63 or 73, or an 83 or 93, or 113 centimeter mast, it's one screw, two screws to the fuselage. And you can literally use any sport you'd like, windsurfing, prone-surfing, foil-surfing, anything you want. And depending on the depth of the water and what's going on, and the size of the wing and what you want to do, it's a very flexible system.

Steve Sjuggerud:
Awesome. And what's the weight difference in these two? You want to tell me about these a little bit?

Nina:
Yeah. Mm-hmm. So the weight difference is about 30%.

Steve Sjuggerud:
Oh, wow.

Nina:
So, it's not a huge difference, but certainly if you want to have the lightest set up possible, we certainly recommend the carbon plate.

Steve Sjuggerud:
And are you seeing some people leave one on their board, like Balz Müller might have a couple boards set-up?

Nina:
Yes.

Steve Sjuggerud:
Is that how people are using them somewhat?

Nina:
That's how I use it myself. And both my husband and I are kite foilers and wing foilers, so we have an incredible amount of gear in our van. And so that makes it so much easier to just pop things on and off instead of spending hours on the set-up and to breakdown. Yeah.

Steve Sjuggerud:
And will you tell me a little bit about this huge foil here? As a big guy, it looks pretty exciting to me. I think it's got to be the widest foil on the market. Do you think that's right?

Nina:
Yes, that is correct. So this is the 1350. Let me move this around so that you can really see-

Steve Sjuggerud:
So 1350 is the span, not the-

Nina:
1350 is the wingspan in millimeters, so that's 1.35 meters. And it is perfect for dock starting. It has maximum glide capacity, maximum pump ability. So we've had some of the local kids test it the first evening we were here. They were so excited they zoomed out of the dock with that.

Steve Sjuggerud:
Wow.

Nina:
Because they were a bit smaller they said it has a lot of lift.

Steve Sjuggerud:
Right. Sounds good.

Nina:
So for the taller guys it's definitely a gift.

Steve Sjuggerud:
I see there's a bit of a concave almost to the back. Is there anything you could comment on that or are you not on the design? Do you know about that?

Nina:
Not necessarily. I mean, it has quite a thick-

Steve Sjuggerud:
Leading edge.

Nina:
… leading edge, which is necessary to give it the rigidity and also the early lift and so forth.

Speaker 3:
The concave aspect of it provides the hydrodynamic places.

Nina:
Yeah.

Steve Sjuggerud:
Oh, it does. Okay, yeah.

Speaker 3:
For sure. That's what it's design is.

Steve Sjuggerud:
Then the masts had to change, of course, over time to accommodate these wide wings, right?

Nina:
Absolutely. So now with additional carbon layers on the mast, you get that rigidity, that's stiffness that is necessary.

Steve Sjuggerud:
Awesome. And so we've got a whole lineup of wings here, as well. Would you like to tell us about anything new or exciting here?

Nina:
Sure. So we now have this range of wings that ends in 99. So just like with the 1350, the number refers to the wingspan in millimeters. So 699 millimeters, 799 millimeters, 899, 999. And the 699 is probably the newest on the market, so there's still not that much information out there, but it is meant to replace the 633 Onda, which was really a favorite. And sort of an entry to beginner level wing for freestyle, and so forth.
The 799 has been really a best seller and a favorite. It's a really aggressive wing, mostly for wing foiling, but you can use it also for kite foiling. And it has a lot of pop. So this is really for freestyle, because of that pop it's comparable to a freestyle kite, or a sea kite, that provides slack. So once you pop out of the water, you have enough time to complete rotations. But you can also use it for racing. It's good for, you know, you can top it out at around 25 knots. Anything to add?

Speaker 3:
Yeah, I don't know if you're aware of that Balz Muller, one of the best riders in the entire world from Switzerland. So all these models he's helped design and shape. And he's the guy that takes his wing foil and he goes and does amazing tricks and wins all kinds of competitions. And so he's helped us in the development of these products. And so we're really appreciative.

Steve Sjuggerud:
Yeah. I was going to ask just two questions to close things out a bit was, is Balz involved in the development, and which are his favorites? And then the last question was going to be on the other side of the spectrum. In light winds at your home in Long Beach, Belmont Shores, what are your favorite wings to use when you're out foiling? So you say Balz, these are his foils?

Nina:
Yes. So for example, just to give you a reason for the difference between the 799 and 899, that's also a freestyle wing, but it pops, it has also good pop. But if you want to learn freestyle, eventually you're going to have your front wing touch your hand wing. And for that reason, they kind of curved this a bit differently so that you don't immediately nick your wing. So it's a bit safer for learning freestyle wing foiling. In terms of for us going out in Long Beach-

Steve Sjuggerud:
Which is traditionally very light winds, right?

Nina:
Very light wind. So I'm on the 1100, but a lot of our sort of SABfoil riders also like the 945, for example. And yeah, the 945 is close to the 799 and the 899. Yeah. So we expect to see a lot more wing foilers riding also those two.

Steve Sjuggerud:
Fantastic. So where could people find more about the SABfoils?

Nina:
So they can go to our website, alwayskiting.com, in addition of course to SABfoil.com.

Speaker 3:
SABfoil.com.

Steve Sjuggerud:
Awesome. Well, thank you. Nice meeting you guys.

Speaker 3:
Pleasure.

Nina:
Thank you so much.

Steve Sjuggerud:
Thanks.