Neil Pryde Glide Surf Foil Extended Review

UPDATE... Nine months of testing later. Jump down 10 paragraphs to the red heading

We have a new foil offering here at the shop that is getting everyone pretty excited. The Neil Pryde Glide Surf foil brings a lot to the plate for riders looking for a foil on a budget with excellent performance and room to grow. Thoughtfully designed, the Glide foil also provides some unique benefits that enhance the user experience, durability, and rigidity of the system.

The Glide has an aluminum top plate, mast, and fuselage with carbon wings which provide an excellent balance of weight and durability. Although it is a touch heavier than some full carbon offerings, it is a couple of pounds lighter than average for alloy foils. Additionally, the alloy parts are more durable, modular, and affordable to replace. So, anyone can build a legitimate foil quiver for any conditions.

The Neil Pryde Glide Surf provides three easy-to-choose sizes that meet the needs of most foilers. As I had said before, if you require more range, additional wings are available to build your ultimate quiver for only $299 for front, $134 for rear.

The Small size complete foil comes complete with the Small rear wing. At a thick 1032 cmsq, this wing is most similar to the Naish Surf M, Gofoil Nalu, and Cloud IX S24 in terms of performance and lift. Perfect for smaller riders, large waves, kiteboarding, windsurfing, paddleboarding, and wakefoiling.

The Medium also comes with the Small rear stabilizer wing. A chunky 1226 cmsq provide similar lift and performance to the Lift 200 glide, Moses 633, Gofoil Kai, and Naish Surf L. Perfect for average-sized riders, average size waves, kiteboarding, paddleboarding, windsurfing, and wakefoiling.

The Large comes complete with a Small and Large rear wing. Its ample 1612 cmsq provide similar benefits as the Gofoil Iwa, Delta Mega surf, Naish Thrust Surf XL, Cloud IX P27, and Slingshot Infinity 76 wings. Perfect for larger riders, small waves, kiteboarding, windsurfing, paddleboarding, and wakefoiling.

Aside from Neil Pryde getting some effective sizes, they also managed to come to market with a host of unique design features that will benefit your ride.

The first design feature in this foil is the two-deep vertical tube connections. This interior mast connection allows for a sleek connection of the board to the mast that provides a strong, rigid, and user-friendly connection to ensure top performance. This also allows multiple board connection styles in a snap. The Glide Surf complete comes with 60cm mast and plate mount, while the windsurf model comes equipped with a 70cm mast and powerbox connection. In addition to these board connections, the mast can also be set up with a surf box or deep Tuttle to meet your needs.

To further your options and increase versatility across sports as well as conditions, 60cm, 70cm, and 80cm mast options adapt to whatever situation you may encounter. The Surf foil comes standard with the 60cm mast for beginner/intermediate performance on small to medium waves. The Windsurf model comes with the 70cm model for a bit more wing surface forgiveness and may also be a popular choice for surfers and kiteboarders riding in deeper water or on large waves. The 80cm mast is reserved for kiteboarding and experienced windsurfers.

Some additional design benefits that the Glide foil has are Torx hardware and a rubber plate dampening pad. The Torx hardware maximizes tool simplicity and longevity with a one tool operation and best in class screw grip. The rubber dampening pad removes some minor vibrations as well as locks the pedestal to track mount in place and protects the board from minor rub marks while in use.

Still one more design feature is the ability to shim, or fine tune your rear wing pitch. With the simple placement of a washer on the front or rear screw of the rear stabilizer wing, you can fine-tune the lift and efficiency of your foil. A larger angle of attack (washer under trailing edge of stabilizer) will increase the feeling of lift and provide a more aggressive "lifty" feeling which can be ideal for heavy riders and smaller waves. A flatter angle of attack (washer under leading edge of stabilizer) will result in a more mellow lift with higher top speed due to the reduced drag. This is ideal for riding with more power or speed, so larger waves and lighter weight riders may prefer this method. For most riders, no washer shim is required at all for maximum performance, but it is nice to have that option to fine tune the performance to maximize your range.

So, who is this foil for? Really, with the correct wing choice, a lot of people will be super happy. Surfers, paddleboarders, windsurfers, wakefoilers, and kiteboarders will find common ground in this great foil, especially if they are searching for an amazing "bang for your buck" kind of deal. The Neil Pryde Glide Surf and Windsurf Foils provide excellent value and versatility to help you build your skills.

Who is this not for? This setup is not designed for record-breaking speed. Low-speed lift and stability for riding waves or lightly powered by a sail are the name of the game here. So, if you are looking to win a course race, you may want to look elsewhere.

UPDATE... Nine months of testing later.

After nine months of being loved on by our staff and I, the Glide Surf is still going strong. It has seen countless hours of use under a kite, surfboard, SUP and is still kicking strong. We have not needed to replace any parts and the only damage to the foil was a slight nick on the tail wing from a hard hit on a submerged boulder. The hardware is like new with no corrosion and still fits tight with no slop in the connection. I am confident that, aside from serious user error, this foil will be going strong for a long time.

I have found that at 200 lbs, the Medium is my favorite size for kite, surf, and wakefoiling. I also appreciate the Small for higher winds or large waves and the Large for small wave SUP riding. My favorite mast is the 70cm because I can use it for all sports and it gives a little more room for error on choppy days. The 80 is great for kiteboarding at higher speeds or larger waves for the same reason.

Written and produced by Tucker Vantol, Ryan (Rygo) Goloversic

Tucker Vantol

Mackite's resident surf and "Hydrofoil junkie." You can either catch him on the phones or on the water at dawn testing new gear. He is proficient at a myriad of sports, a shaper and passionate about getting his water time. When he discovered kiteboarding it took over as his predominate sport. The same could be said about hydrofoiling.