FEEDBACK: LETHAL FSP PRO 4'8 / 5'1 WITH STRAPS!

After 20 additional sessions on the Lethal 4’8 and 5’1 surf foiling boards, our ambassador Yohann, 90kg for 1.92m, complemented his last feedback posted on our forum with a comparison of the 4’8 and the 5 ‘1 and the process of getting into the straps for the first time.

   

“My default board is clearly the 4’8: with a large front wing (Curve XL-T or Fluid XXL) I am clearly doing my take offs more and more on the foil and the Lethal’s glide remains very good for their lengths so I really have no difficulty taking off with the smallest Lethal. I only use the 5’1 when it’s so small that I have difficulty getting up before touching the bottom. In the end, reducing the mast’s length to 65cm helps as much as using the 5’1 to take off, so I’ll probably put the 5’1 on sale at some point.

In the air, the 4’8 is a little more fun than its big sister, I have a feeling of better rigidity and better transmission of forces (I am well aware that this should not be the case, but this is the impression it gives me). The pointed nose helps me in the tricky phases and it brakes me much less in touchdowns. I had the opportunity to do a quick test of a Matata 4’5 EPS: I found it less easy to drop in the take-off than the Lethal 4’8 but I didn’t use it enough (and especially it was with a different foil wing) to share a legit opinion about it in the air. I also ended up mounting the straps for 7 sessions:

• Less discomfort when paddling than I expected: on the 4’8 the front strap sticks to the top of my chest, on the part of my chest that I lift when paddling anyway, so I got used to it pretty easily. The rear strap lifts my left thigh a bit and causes a slight imbalance at the very beginning, it quickly got better even though I still feel it today.
• At the first session it took me a while to make a take off with the front strap on and until the third I did the first pump with my foot in front of the entrance of the strap and I put it on at the top of the pump.
• Watching videos, a little practice with a board placed on the ground: since the fourth session, I have been able to get into the strap in one step.
• After 7 sessions I am at the point where I do not miss a lot of take offs because of the front strap, just one out of 10, on the other hand it still costs me to be a little longer to start and it further complicates the outings, in conditions where without straps I go out more than 90%, with the strap it’s closer to 50%
• The rear strap I have a lot of trouble just forcing myself to try to put it on; I must have put it on 5 times in total.
• Even just having the front strap on is more pleasant on the wave, it also helps to forcefully get over a wave that is too high during the way back to the line up, however, it does not revolutionize my practice for the moment.

So for now I take the straps off when the waves require crossing the whitewater to come out and I continue to train with the straps in conditions where the wave exit is very easy.”