AIRUSH AK Surf Foil
Sizes Available: Mast: 60cm, Front Wing: 1325cm2, Rear Wing: 325cm2
Sizes Tested: Mast: 60cm, Front Wing: 1325cm2, Rear Wing: 325cm2
Airush Says:
The AK Surf Foil was developed specifically as a Surf Foil, to perform in small to medium size waves, but also ideal for light wind kiting. Developed by our crossover specialists at AK, the AK Surf Foil features the same modular foil platform as the Airush Kite Foil. This means it is easily convertible to the smaller Airush kite specific wings, or masts. Allowing you to use your AK foil in conjunction with Airush Foil parts too. Ultimately you can use your foil in more than just one discipline.
Visit for more info: www.airush.com/ak/surf-foil/
Tkb Says:
The Airush AK Surf Foil is referred to as a delta elliptical surf wing and features a completely new mast and fuselage design compared to recent years. It’s got a vertical mast, a high-quality carbon wing and carbon tail wing mounted on an aluminum mast, baseplate and fuselage. When it comes to building the AK Surf Foil the assembly is fairly straightforward and you don’t have to worry about stripping the hardware because it comes with hardy star drive bolts that are less likely to strip compared to other setups that use smaller Philips screws where sand can interfere with a full grip of the bolt head. Rigging does require two sized stardrives ”” one larger size for the baseplate and one smaller for everything else. When it comes to putting the board together, the baseplate has some cutaway bolt holes that, in theory, allow you to slip the baseplate away from the board without completely unscrewing the bolts out of the track inserts. We found this challenging because the bolts supplied were almost too short to accomplish this, yet buying longer bolts wouldn’t be that hard. When it comes to the tail section there are three settings for adjusting the amount of lift. Simply by mounting the tail assembly forward or aft in its saddle, the wing has a different angle of attack. We recommend the neutral setting, but Airush has a clearly labeled diagram on the underside of the tail stabilizer that helps you set the wing for positive lift, neutral or negative lift. Airush indicates that you can install the tail wing with tips pointed up or down to dictate overall performance: tail wing tips pointed toward the board for stability and tail wing tips pointed away from the board for extra maneuverability (we demoed it in stability mode).
The Ak Surf Foil is a pretty low aspect surf foil that delivers a really nice, slow foil-up speed, probably one of the slowest foil-up speeds of the test. This feature makes it possible to maintain foil at a really slow speed which makes it incredibly fun for carving turns in chop and unbroken waves. We’d like to think that this is probably a great foil for beginners who are learning the basics. With this foil, the newby can experiment with early onset lift at really slow speeds while avoiding harsh high-speed crashes. In terms of input and reaction, we thought that the AK Surf Foil was a very balanced foil in the sense that the directional yaw, side to side roll and up and down pitch axis seemed to work well together for a very intuitive experience. We did feel like the roll was a little bit more active than say the yaw axis which means heel and toe pressure was very influential in wing control, while the leading foot steerage required a bit more input for aggressive riding. Wing tuning is a matter of preference ””different strokes for different folks ”” but overall it seemed to work really well for pumping at slower speeds. With a mast length of 60cm, this seemed like a good mast length that works well for those both learning and those looking to aggressively ride a surf foil.
When combined with Airush’s Core Foil Board, the weight of the setup offered a good balance which combines durability through the use of metal spars with the lightweight performance of the carbon wings, delivering a nice lightweight board. The foil setup and board’s volume and weight make strapless waterstarts quite easy. Generally, this setup has the unique distinction of a board and foil combo that is a great user-friendly option; it will get a beginner through their early stages yet keep the rider more than happy through intermediate and advanced performance riding.
