Tkb Review: 2022 DUOTONE Spirit SLS Surf Foil

Sizes Available: 1250, 1500cm2
Sizes Tested: 1250cm

Area: 1250cm²
Cord: 21.1cm
Span: 74.3cm

Duotone Says:

The Spirit SLS shows incredible maneuverability and also offers surprising stability at high speeds. This Spirit SLS even offers the possibility to use it additionally for wake surfing and foil winging. The prepreg carbon construction is the latest in foil engineering, making it strong yet super light.

Spirit SLS comes as a one-piece mast and plate. The mast connection is built for the best load transmission and force distribution, guaranteeing a fast, stable, drag optimized shape and design. In numbers: a 13% higher bending stiffness was achieved. A fourth front wing insert was added to be able to use even bigger front wings safely. Every single part of the Spirit SLS was constructed to achieve the lightest combination possible, to reach highest speeds with the maximum of control.

Visit for more info: www.duotonesports.com/kiteboarding/foils/spirit-sls-surf/

TKB Says:

The Surf category of the Spirit SLS hydrofoil system covers the two front wings that come in 1250 or 1500cm2 sizes. We rode the 1250cm2 in the SLS trim which means everything from the wings to the fuselage and mast are built with carbon to reduce weight and increase stiffness and feel. We rode the 1250cm2 with the 216sqcm stabilizer and combined that with Duotone’s 90cm mast for a super user-friendly ride with an impressive light weight that translated to easy handling on the beach and in the water.

We immediately fell in love with the Sprit Surf 1250 with its super predictable foil-up and stable handling that encouraged us to carve harder and slow down to square up with waves. From the start, the 1250 has a solid low speed foil-up that lets you get up onto foil without a lot of board speed with a very even lift that feels smooth and predictable. In our lighter wind sessions, the extra lift proved very helpful in releasing the board from the water when there wasn’t much power in the kite. The steering inputs on the 1250 are extremely stable with the roll and yaw axis working together for intuitive maneuvering and an easy ride while the pitch axis felt a little more active for good pumping drive when you need it. The foot pressure between the front and back foot felt even with no change in front foot pressure necessary as you accelerated into the foil’s top-end speed. The 1250 isn’t twitchy, instead every turn is smooth and progressive while requiring significantly more input from the rider for more aggressive riding.

The 1250 allows you to go as slow as you want, which is great for progressing riders who aren’t quite ready for a ton of speed as well as surf or carved-minded kitefoilers who want to stall and ride slow enough to carve turns in the face of rolling swell. When the 1250 slows towards its foil-down speed, it begins to create some extra front foot pressure that tells you you’re falling out of the lower end of the foil’s speed range. This is really helpful for surfing, because you can exploit the slowness of the foil without worrying about actually dropping off of foil.

The 1250 goes upwind really well with super easy control through the chop; having ridden the 1250 with the 90cm mast it was really easy to keep the foil planted in the water. During those moments where we intentionally breached the wingtip, the 1250 was fairly forgiving in its ability to beat the cavitation and continue riding.

One of the most notable features of the Spirit SLS surf foil was the substantially lighter weight of the components that make handling the foil on the beach and in the water very easy. Overall, the 1250 wing is a great option for first-time hydrofoilers because of its slow foil-up speed and super stable handling, but also a great progression platform for those who want to explore the limits of their carving and surf abilities. The Spirit has a refined feel to its wingset that inspires confidence and combines with the carbon SLS construction for a comfortable and responsive feel that will help you take your freeride kitefoiling to the next level.