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Sizes Available: 3.3, 4, 5, 6m
Sizes Tested: 4m

Duotone Says:

The Unit is a wing that is perfect for waves, downwind and freeride. The team worked hard to create a shape that is incredibly stable when totally depowered, as when you’re using a wave’s energy and the wing is just flagging behind.

When depowered, the lightweight construction guarantees a smooth drift, making surfing swell or waves so incredibly easy and comfortable. During floating before take-off, the Unit delivers plenty of power to get you up on the foil fast. The amazing maneuverability makes jibes, freestyle and cruising in waves absolutely effortless.

An ergonomically shaped strut improves the overall handling and the EVA covered handles offer the best grip and comfort you could possibly wish for. The stiff leading edge, with both a firm Dacron material and an optimized diameter, is the best solution for optimum performance. Due to the clean, tight canopy with great trailing edge/leech tension, the Unit is a really solid construction with lots of power and stability, the big window ensures great vision and safety.

Size 3.3 and 4 are equipped with 3 handles, holding the middle handle, the wing can be flown with only one hand which makes it amazing to fly in especially waves and downwinders. Size 5 and 6 are equipped with 4 handles, the 2nd handle counted from the front is balanced in a way it can be flown with one hand too. The two back handles are designed for the back hand.

The whole setup is designed for super easy rigging: just inflate and go, that’s it. It also packs down small and is perfect for taking on adventures. Don’t let the simplicity fool you though, the performance will impress. Whether you are wave riding, cruising downwind, or just starting your wing journey, the Unit has you covered. Balanced, easy to use, fast to set up and suitable for a wide range of disciplines the Unit is the wing to choose if you want the performance in a small package.

Visit for more info: www.duotonesports.com/foilwing/unit/

TKB Says:

Having brought the first wing product to market over two years ago, Duotone is back with a second-generation wing with a completely different approach that integrates a new boom-strut design and a balance of highly refined performance that some might say, changes the game. On the beach, first appearances reveal that the Unit has a really nice build quality with a tight canopy, two windows that balance size against weight and a very interesting boom that has a sizeable kink built into it. The boom might look funky, but it has huge implications on the water. The handles are made of a really nice larger diameter high-density foam that fit in the palm of your hand and distributes the load for a more comfortable grip on longer tacks. The hover handle on the leading edge has a smaller diameter, hangs out more forward on the wing and features a neoprene surface behind the handle that makes sure your knuckles don’t get scuffed on long downwinders. One of the most important qualities of the Unit and one that is immediately apparent is its incredible featherweight build that makes handling the Unit effortless and pays dividends when you start riding waves.

On our first tack out we noticed the importance of the kinked boom that brings the front handle closer to your body. On waterstarts, this makes it easier to reach under the leading edge and find the front handle (some people skip the hover handle on waterstarts) and this may be most important for people who surf on low volume boards; every second counts between sets. The kinked boom is also super impactful on regular riding because it tends to compensate for sheeting in the wing while going upwind. On most other wings we find that our back arm is kinked when sheeted in (you can move to an outer handle to try to fix this) but that kink in your arm causes extra muscle fatigue. With the Unit, the boom is built to account for a more natural posture when sheeted in, so your back arm is straighter and going upwind tends to feel more natural.

The overall handling on the Unit hits all the marks with sufficient leading edge diameter and stiffness to ensure that all your pumping input translates to power generation. This gives you the range to get away with a smaller wing which enhances the surfing/downwinding experience. The featherweight construction translates to less fatigue on waterstarts and makes maneuvering the wing in the air feel effortless. The yaw feels exceptionally snappy which helps to keep the wingtips out of the water and the draft feels fairly shallow, which contributes to the design’s really efficient upwind ability. Like many of the wings that achieve a higher angle of attack, it can be backwinded if you sheet out too much while going upwind, but that’s a small price to pay to get easy upwind performance. What amazed us most about the Unit is that it is one of the few products that excels upwind and then turns around and displays almost perfect hover characteristics as you chase down waves. With a solid positive hover, the Unit becomes non-existent while you start focusing on staying in the glide or recovering with your pump game. Do we like windows? Not really, but if mom says you have to wear your helmet, then at least make the windows small and place them in the right place for utility and Duotone did just this (we’d wholeheartedly sign on the window line if you could tell us that they are lighter than ripstop). Does this review sound like uninterrupted gushing? It should because the Unit is a wingsurfing product worth getting excited about. The Duotone team went back to the drawing board and came up with a surf-oriented product that will appeal to freeriders and wave riders alike because of its well thought out controls combined with exceptional upwind and downwind abilities that hits a high mark in balance and efficiency.


 

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