TECH HIGHLIGHTS: COMPATIBILITY OF V3 FOILS

Making the performance leap of the V3 foils yours does not necessarily imply a full upgrade of your foil quiver. Here’s why.

The launch of our new range of high aspect foils is generating a lot of excitement but also some questions relating to compatibility. And that’s completely normal!

Preserving retrofit compatibility of your equipment was a major guideline of this latest development of our range of foils. This allows us today to offer you all possible combinations by only adapting your fuselage.

Let's see how in two steps:

The compatibility of your mast
The compatibility of your front wing and stabilizer

The compatibility of your mast

The most important thing to remember is that the conical heels of our masts are all identical (Alu V2, Carbon V2, Carbon HM V2 and Carbon HM V3), with the exception of the visible part of the heel of the V3 mast when it’s mounted in the fuselage. Indeed, this upper part of the heel is slightly rounded to match the more hydrodynamic shape of our new V3 fuselages which have an ovalized section, instead of a square one.

This means the V3 fuselage, with its oval section, is compatible with a V2 generation mast. Conversely, you can also use a V3 generation mast on a square-shaped V2 generation fuselage.

However, you lose on hydrodynamics because the upper rounded part of the heel of a V3 mast will very slightly stick out of a V2 fuselage. Conversely, a V2 mast heel will protrude very slightly from a V3 fuselage because edges aren’t rounded. For a cool freeride experience, no worries, but the performance will be slightly affected. This is why we recommend the use of V2 and V3 fuselages perfectly adapted to your mast.

So, if you have a carbon mast V2:

Use a standard V2 fuselage to mount V2 front wings and stabs
Use a V3 fuselage for V2 mast and have the V2/V3 front wings and stabs of your choice (see next chapter)

If you have a carbon mast V3:

Use a standard V3 fuselage to mount V3 front wings and stabs
Use a V2 fuselage for V3 mast, and have the V2/V3 front wings and stabs of your choice (see next chapter)

If you have an aluminum mast:

Just like our carbon masts, the Alu V2 mast is compatible with all our fuselages because the heel of the mast is identical. However, as with our carbon masts, to preserve the hydrodynamics of the whole set-up, we recommend that you use a Mast Fuselage Connector V3 which perfectly matches the new oval shape of the V3 fuselage.

Good to know: Although compatibility is total thanks to these different fuselages, the gap in performance between an HM V2 mast and an HM V3 mast is significant at equal thickness because the profile, outline, morphing and top plate are different. There is an important gain in glide, speed and therefore sensations.

Kite foiler: Thomas, GONG staff, in Ayto Aramid DP, Fronteira HDCC, HM92 mast (V3) and Fluid H (V3).

The compatibility of your front wings and stabs

Here too, we offer you full compatibility with a fuselage for each possible combination with a V2 mast or a V3 mast.

For example, if you wish to upgrade to a V3 front wing but want to keep using your V2 stab and your V2 mast, it is possible by taking an Aluminum or Titanium fuselage for a V2 mast “FW V3 - Stab V2”:

(stab fitting on the left, front wing fitting on the right of this image)

If you subsequently upgrade to a V3 mast, you can still use this fuselage. On the other hand, it will be necessary to upgrade to a V3 mast fuselage to optimize hydrodynamics as explained above. In this case, choose a fuselage for V3 mast “FW V3 - Stab V2”: