VAYU HI FLYR 5.0

The VAYU HI FLYR range is a very compact wing board designed to offer the best volume/size ratio for intermediate to advanced wing foilers. The heavy duty construction coupled with its compact outline and volume distribution gives an extra amount of buyoancy to take you out from the water as quick as possible and protect the boards against dings. It is delivered in five sizes, from 4'6 (40L) to 5’2 (100L) to cover a huge range of wind conditions.

This test was conducted on the 5.0 (85L) in open ocean conditions, waves from three to five feet and winds from 10 to 25 knots.

The VAYU HI FLYR comes in a standard EPS / fiberglass vaccumed epoxy construction with extra layers on the rails and boxes. The result is a compact and stiff board with a reasonable amount of weight and a solid outershell for extra durability. It is a CNC-shaped board with a flat tail rocker that decreases at 1/3 from the tail to a thin round nose and compact round outline with a round tail and round beveled rails. The deck has a deep constant concave that helps you position your feet. The volume distribution is really tail-centered to get you out of the water quickly and efficiently. On the bottom you’ll find a double concave from the nose all the way along the rockered camber, getting to a flat tail with soft beveled rails.

The handling in the water is not as simple as it might seem for such a big board, with your kneeling position needing to be centered and your bodyweight pulled toward the tail to find that balance sweetspot. It’s not a board that’s ideally suitable for beginner wingfoilers, nor is it marketed as such. But if you are up and riding and want a board that’s going to take your riding up a notch, it’s got that in mind…

Despite the handling skills it requires for a kneeling waterstart, this board is super stable when you’re up on your feet. The compact and wide shape coupled with the extra amount of volume will keep you on your feet in inconsistent winds and help you get up on the foil when the gusts show up, giving you some stable and mellow gliding until you really get flying.

Taking off is reasonably easy, although the rounded tail can suck at the water a little when getting up to speed, but once up on the foil and the HI FLYR provides a really balanced and controlled flight and the specific deck shape will help mentally organize your foot transitions. When breaching or landing your tricks, it will give you that extra back foot stability to get back in flight without losing balance, and the powerful amount of volume under the back foot will allow freestylers to bounce on the water during hard landings and quickly throw you back up onto the foil and flying.

So, the VAYU HI FLYR is a stable, compact performance foilboard with progressive (and airborne!) winging in mind that that will suit intermediate to advanced wingers very well indeed, and it is well tuned to ride in both flatwater and surf conditions.