Tkb Review: 2021 CORE SLC 135 Foilboard

Sizes Available: 115cm x 46cm – 11.5L, 125 x 47 – 15.3L, 135 x 49 – 21.1L
Sizes Tested: 135m

Core Says:

The all-new SLC foilboard is your ticket to foil. Light and responsive, the full carbon and PVC sandwich construction reduces the board’s weight and provides superior stiffness. Standard, unidirectional, and biaxial carbon laminations that reinforce critical stress areas improve longevity and durability.

Lean in, and enjoy the ride. Sidecut rails allow you to heel further especially in rougher waters. Should you unexpectedly come off the wing, the slightly convex bevel helps you get back on track. Reduced rail volume also sinks the rail deeper for fast water starts.

Smooth, predictable touchdowns. A shallow Vee at the nose transitions into a double concave deep Vee. This hull design pops you up in a jiffy, especially after those unintentional splashdowns.

Balanced. Forgiving. And responsive. Optimized for no-fuss touchdowns, and a balanced foiling experience. You’ll notice on your first ride that your front foot has a better feel of the board and foil. And the slight deck indentation delivers fantastic foot placement feedback.

Visit for more info: www.corekites.com/us/foil/slc

TKB Says:

The SLC 135 is the biggest of the three boards in Core’s new foilboard lineup. Much like the fundamental design goals of their new hydrofoils, the SLC 135 is focused on giving you a super dependable and steady platform for moving more efficiently through the hydrofoil learning curve.

Design and Features
The design elements of the 135 are very much the same as the smaller boards in the lineup, but with more length, width and volume to help progressing foilers or those that need some extra volume to get up and going. The 135 has its wide point a little farther forward than the shorter boards and features that same classic narrowing of the rails as it approaches the tail. The bottom shape is similar as well with the double concave in the nose with the sharper V that softens as you follow the spine towards the foil mount. Unlike the 115 we tested, the 135’s deck pad doesn’t extend all the way to the tip of the longer nose. Instead, it covers just the area you will need. You get the same strap insert options with three forward/aft threaded inserts for placing your front straps in a ducked configuration and two forward/aft options for the back strap. The deck feels really flat but has just a tiny amount of concave built into it, and quite noticeably, the nose sports a ton of rocker that gives you a lot of protection against stuffing the nose during splashdowns. The SLC 135 has extra-long tracks to allow you more range in mast positioning and gives you small but important details like clear position labeling on the mast tracks so you can be sure to configure your board to behave the same way every time.

Impressions
When it came to waterstarts, the SLC 135 offered quite a bit more floatation than the 115 we tested. With its longer deck and wider template, you get more surface area which helps with waterstarting onto the board and keeping the board moving and stable before you are ready to actually foil up. The 135 feels fairly efficient in the water and is easy to accelerate up to speed while its more aggressive bottom shape in the nose smooths out chop and helps the board separate from the water for a clean and smooth release on foil-ups. We spent some time playing with the rail and stuffing it in the water on upwind tacks. The shallow chine and rail template that narrows towards the board’s tail does an excellent job of touching down but without excessive deceleration or changing the angle of the board. This helps you begin to experiment with edging at harder angles without catastrophic wipeouts if you push the board’s angle too far. The substantial scoop in the 135’s nose does a great job of keeping you on the board when the porpoise cycle kicks in. If you find yourself stuffing the nose into the water, there’s a good chance the board’s extra rocker will get you ready to launch again. Also, quite handy, the board’s hull seems to reengage with the water without slowing down too quickly.

One of the most interesting aspects of the SLC boards is how they have positive front foot pressure that comes from the deck under the front foot being canted up with the rocker. This coincides with the overall positive cant of the board and tends to require more front foot pressure. Sometimes even or even-negative canted decks can feel unnerving, so this focus on the front foot pressure might be more confidence-inspiring and safe to riders that are going through the challenges of controlling speed and power. One of the other key aspects of the SLC is how the deck feels incredibly stiff so that all your inputs are crisp and direct into the foil. Since kiting with a hydrofoil is incredibly smooth by its very nature, having flex in the deck is not necessarily a performance improvement.

Overall, you can see from all the details in its hull and deck that Core has put a lot of energy into compiling years worth of development and foilboarding ideas into a board that nails the needs of a progression-oriented foiler. The 135 is not only a great first board to get you through the first years, but it’s also a great platform for bigger riders that need some extra surface area as well as a light wind foilboard for those that are going to push the absolute bottom of hydrofoiling’s threshold. The SLC 135 is about dependability and user-friendly performance that will make ever tack farther and every session longer while reducing those little snags that kill sessions and derail the progression in kite foiling.