Tkb Review: 2019 SLINGSHOT Dwarf Craft

SLINGSHOT Dwarf Craft
Sizes Available: 3’6″ x 18″ x 2 3/16″ 19.3L, 4’6″ x 18″ x 2 1/4″ 25.2L
Sizes Tested: 4’6″ x 18″ x 2 1/4″ 25.2L

Slingshot Says:

If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to float over the water on a magic carpet, the Dwarf Craft is as close as you can come without psychedelics. The Dwarf Craft is our solution for all the foilers in the world who learned on a boring, cookie-cutter board and are ready for something with a lot more flavor. The shorter of the two sizes (3’6”) ends just past your front foot, which means all you see when you look up is water rushing by. It’s an agile setup, great for pumping, trick progression and playful freeride foiling. The longer version (4’6”) is a bit more stable, which gives less agile or bigger, taller riders the same minimalist sensation without feeling like a horse on a balance beam.

Light, agile and user-friendly, the Dwarf Craft is one-board quiver. A concave deck provides responsive handling with subtle movement and moderately beveled edges aid in more aggressive leaning and edging than a flat-bottom board. The deck is covered tip to tail in a grippy EVA pad for comfortable strapless riding and transitions where you’re dancing toward the nose of the board. Slingshot’s signature sliding track system lets you adjust the position of the foil to fine-tune performance depending on rider ability and preference and the conditions.

Visit for more info: www.slingshotsports.com/2019-Dwarfcraft

Our Testers Say:

“Smooth, lightweight, comes right out of the water, planes easily, getting the foil up in nano seconds.” // Kiter Mike

“Race style deck, but wider for freeride. Lots of float, easy to ride on water, chop touches are no problem. You can start on this board and keep it through advanced riding.” // Dylan Dobbyn

“This is one of my favorite boards. Super forgiving to learn on and doesn’t stick the nose. Volume to practice and balance on surface before lifting up with foil. Good chined rails for smooth upwind runs. Get it!” // Davey Beard

Meet Our Testers

Tkb Says:

The Dwarf Craft is one of those iconic shapes that is fine-tuned to offer foilboarders everything they need in a small minimalist package. The Dwarf Craft features a nice reverse concave deck with substantial chine rails. Getting up and going is easy with this board. Even in underpowered conditions this board still has enough volume to waterstart, build speed and help you reach lift off. The Dwarf Craft has a fairly flat bottom which is good for getting going and feels efficient while having just enough scoop in the nose which makes touchdowns forgiving and can save you from the accidental porpoise dive. The chine rails work to keep the board’s edge from grabbing on accidental touchdowns. We have a little test we like to do. We basically ride the board upwind purposefully stabbing the rail into every incoming chop at a low elevation. Unlike some other more conventional foilboards the Dwarf Craft handles the disturbance without getting thrown off axis and keeps heading in the right direction. As one of the testers pointed out, they liked how the short length and stub nose puts the water zooming by right under your feet. The Dwarf Craft’s outline is great for aggressive carving and feels very reactive. For those that use straps, the Dwarf Craft comes with inserts for both a centerline and duck stance, so there’s a ton of options to fit your style of riding. Overall, the Dwarf Craft is an excellent board. It’s a little bit heavier than we anticipated, yet it’s a very sturdy board and it also has a nice sliding track system so you can dial in the foil location to suit your strapped position. The pad is a full deck pad with some nice diamond grip and a kick in the back to keep your back foot on the board. The Dwarf Craft is fun and functional for upper-level foilboarders as well as a progression board for those with quicker learning curves. Whether you are hitting mach-5 and covering serious distances or freeride carving in the waves, the Dwarf Craft is a board that will do it all.

We did test the Dwarf Craft with Slingshot’s Half Straps. This being our first time trying these innovative training wheels, we were surprised by how stiff these hooks were which gave us much more confidence in the support and connection to the board than we were expecting. For strapless testers, Half Straps still demand a level of constraint with regard to foot positioning just with the massive benefit of quick egress. The padding on the straps felt good, with a really comfortable and secure fit. The one aspect of half straps that we noticed most is the potential for hooking your lines or bar in the back strap. That’s a personal decision, but the forward facing back strap could be a point of an unwanted tangle.