FFB Halcyon 1030

Freedom Foil Boards have already built up a solid fanbase with their range of foil boards and so it only makes sense for them to want to expand their offerings to foils as well. Designed with FFB’s surf foil origins in mind, the Halcyon (available in 810, 1030 and 1230 sizes) has been designed with accessibility at its core and aims to bring a complete surf foil experience to users of all levels.

The Halcyon comes as a full carbon set up with a sleek fuselage that fits flush with the mast thanks to the internal mast and fuselage connection. The profile of the fuse eliminates any torsional twist from the wing which slides onto the fuse thanks to a tapered connection. A reduced footprint on the mast base plate widens the mounting range on your board and gives you more range within your foil box to dial in your setup. The set comes standard with 0 degree and -1 degrees shims which allow you to further tune your set up and, overall, the foil has a very high-quality finish with no play or alignment issues. FFB even supplies the foil with a well thought out carry bag for travel and transport.

From the range, we tested the Halcyon 1030 (which has an AR of 8.7 and span of 86cm) in small knee-high surf up to waist high waves both surf foiling and winging. Our testers preferred using the -1 shim for a looser and surfier feel and found that it gave the foil a slightly livelier feel (rider height 175cm / 5ft 9” and weight 78kg / 172lbs).
First impressions on the Halcyon when you take off are how ‘surfy’ it feels. There’s no sudden lift when paddling into a wave and a very balanced foot pressure and feel meant it almost felt like just popping up on a surfboard. The foil is extremely responsive thanks to the 60cm fuselage and excels when turning and carving on waves, with a distinct acceleration accompanying each turn incentivizing you not to pump on a wave and truly enjoy the ‘surf’ part of surf foiling. That does not mean it doesn’t pump well, on the contrary, despite surfing like a mid-aspect the Halcyon has pretty decent pump and glide characteristics meaning that connecting waves is no issue whatsoever (with a few of the FFB team riders even using it to downwind).

The Halcyon has been designed to cater to all levels of rider specifically in the surf. For its size it has a great low end, allowing you to correct and recover from any mistakes easily. This is complemented by the glide, which surprised us at times when we thought that the foil would stall. With the shims supplied you can change the foil from a slightly more stable set up perfect for those making their first forays into foiling to a looser, more dynamic foil perfect for those wanting to improve their turns and replicate their surfing on foil. On the other end of the speed spectrum, whilst the high end may not break any speed records, the foil isn’t slow and never gets to a point where it feels uncomfortable, but instead stays stable and controllable giving you the confidence to push your limits. Winging with the Halcyon is also extremely fun thanks to the easy turning characteristics.

The Halcyon is a great foil for those who really want to push the ‘surfiness’ of their foiling (be it prone or winging) and are looking to replicate that surf feeling on foil. It caters to all levels and abilities and the 1030 is perfect as an all arounder in knee to chest high conditions. JM