FORUM : feedback on surfoil Allvator 65 !!!

“The First test on my new Allvator this morning, with the 80cm Wing. Some nice little Landes style waves, hip-high, glassy, 7 seconds in between but the Tide was to high so they were barely unfurling. First of all, the finish and quality is just awesome, it bleeds precision and solidity. The Alu makes for some ultra precise usage, the Alu pieces (Tuttle adaptor, mast & fuselage) fit together perfectly, which is a nice change from the carbon. It’s slightly heavier than my 100% Carbon Hellvator, but nothing to dramatic. In total, when carrying the Board + Foil + Paddle to the beach, it’s difficult to feel a real difference from the Hellvator. When Paddling, you can feel immediately the Foil wing has more lift : the Foil is more ‘present’ and captures the waters movements, but after an hour, on the contrary, we use this presence for better balance. For what I’m going to say that follows, is surely because, quite simply, its’s due to the fact that my Hellvator L was just to small for my 100kg, and that the Allvator 80cm is just better for me. First wave… I was off in a shot, catapulted, the Foil was piercing the surface! The Foil has way more lift than the Hellvator, on which I never really put to much weight on the front, I was always looking for a bit more lift. With the Allvator, at cruising altitude, I really feel constantly in balance between ascending and descending, it’s livelier, I had to consciously get on the front foot more to get the speed in order to go faster. But even then, after an hour, it just became second nature. And I got kicked off the first 2 waves but the third one was the charm. It demands more high/low piloting with the speed changes (waves that hollow out) compared to the Hellvator, which was more like ‘automatic pilot’ which got its speed with height, this one is much more maneuverable and clean even if when you’re hauling ass. In any case, therein no speed problem, and the speed you can attain is just amazing. That’s what surprised me so, the feedback I get from other brands is that their larger Foil wings are very slow to the point that they have a hard time getting through the sections. Maybe, intrinsically, it is slower than the Hellvator, but there is so much more lift that you can really, and seriously, pilot in function with the wave without losing to much lift, and in the end, I’m going faster, with longer distance and get a lot more angle in the wave compared to the Hellvator. In two hours I didn’t have to pump once, the speed I got in ‘real’ turns was sufficient enough. In fact, it is way more stable when turning : I didn’t have to add a mini-fin stabilizer to counter the instabilities I found when lacing turns as I did with the Hellvator, carving is super clean, the Foil doesn’t dig or raise once that turn is locked in. I don’t know if it is the rectangular Fuselage or the curved tips not he wings that gives it this characteristic. And… it doesn’t vibrate!! I haven’t had to sand anything down. The sweet sounds of silence. Attention the tips are thinner than the Hellvator. They aren’t very sharp, but if you decide to sand them down, I think you’ll be taking risks. In other words, conquered. A pretty huge technical progression with this Foil. I think that the 70cm Wing would be useful if I was a more of a Hardcore Foiler (it’s only my 5th session on Foil this year), and I felt that the 80cm Wing would probably have to much lift for my 100kg if the waves were shoulder high with 10 second intervals in Landes, with need for more intense piloting. But in this case I have the SUP so the 80cm Wing is exactly what I needed. Just a small note ; I dismantle and rinse the Foil after each use, at home relaxed. After I dry it completely, and put it back together with TefGel, and I store it mounted, but super dry, in the van. So I don’t have to deal with putting it together in the dark before sunrise and impatient to get in the water.” SUPer : Colas et son GONG Surfoil Allvator 65. Source : Team GONG SUP and Foil, come fly with us.
Tags : surfoil, surf, surfing, foil, foiling, SUPfoil, SUP, stand up paddle, gongfoilshop.com.