2025 F-One PLUME K-Wing

DOWNWIND / SURF / FREERIDE

Features:

F-ONE has always pushed boundaries to make your experience on the water as memorable as possible. The PLUME, their latest innovation, is the perfect hybrid of a kite and a wing, crafted to provide unmatched freefly abilities and downwind sensations.

• Downwind and freefly weapon
• Incredibly easy to use
• Fantastic upwind angle, similar of a wing
• Exceptional stability in the air
• Unique glide sensation with a great forward pull
• Wide range of use
• Reinforced safety and easy set-up

Sizes: 2.5m / 3m / 3.5m / 4.2m / 5m

Includes:

• Wing
• 41cm Vertical Bar
• Rolltop Bag
• Wrist Leash
• User Guide

2025 F-One Plume K-Wing On-Water Review | Between a Kite and a Wing Place?

Read on the blog.

Details

The PLUME marks the beginning of a new discipline, K-WING, an entirely new way of riding upwind to take full advantage of the swell. The first model created specifically for this sport, it combines a minimalistic design with optimized lightness, exceptional stability and pure glide, offering an unrivalled freefly and downwind experience.

Light as a feather, the PLUME is F-ONE's most freeing creation yet. The glide of a kite, combined with the comfort and practicality of a wing you can hold at arm's length, creates a new, revolutionary riding sensation.

With a small leading edge, no central strut and a sleek C-shape profile, the PLUME is effortless to handle and easy to forget about when freeflying. Benefitting from a wide range of use, this K-Wing ensures stability, comfort, and an upwind angle on par with a wing, giving you maximum downwind time.

Gliding feels effortless, as the PLUME pulls you forward without straining your arms. Its super light construction and superior upwind capability make it a favorite for deflaters. The minimal bridle system makes setup simple and safe, even offshore. Finally, the PLUME's tiny leading edge can be deflated in the air and re-inflated at sea with a mini pump.

Compact and lightweight, the PLUME is the perfect companion to make the most of the swell.

Riding Styles

Specs:

Tech Features:

Sail Engineering

Sail engineering is the science of controlling a design and its behavior while flying. These features have been created with one goal in mind: Mastering the sail's loads to maintain the desired shape for the longest time.

Warp Tension Line

Woven fabrics feature a longitudinal 0 degree yarn (Warp) and a transversal 90 degree yarn (Weft). Therefore, a fabric has great elongation resistance and strength capacities if you apply tension at 0 degrees or 90 degrees along the yarns. But it will deform and stretch when tension is applied at, let's say, 45 degrees.

Load Control Paneling

When engineering the load control paneling, F-ONE makes sure that fabrics panels are warp/weft oriented, meaning that the load path runs through the yarns. Fabric and seams are then in the best position to receive tensions and maintain the original sail shape.

Staggered Seams

As seams are significantly stiffer than the fabric they join, they tend to strain under loads and therefore deform the profile. The staggered seams break that line of tension by balancing the stiffness between seams and cloth, which helps distribute the load over a wider area and maintain the original shape even under high loads.

Fabric Weight Management

F-ONE's sails feature four different cloth weights, from 52 up to 155gr/m2. Sail engineering allows them to control the shape and drive load tensions without using heavy fabrics or bulky designs, therefore they can reduce fabric's weight and use. It results in a lighter, optimized kite.

HITEX

To meet the specific needs of the development of wings and kites, and to offer a high-performance and durable product without using inaccessible materials, F-ONE has developed HITEX, a new high tenacity polyester. Available in 158g, and exclusively for F-ONE in 178g, this new material is incredibly resistant to elongation and increases the durability of wings and kites.

HITEX is an innovative, high tenacity polyester fiber with an enhanced high-quality weaving and coating that increases the fabrics' resistance. The 178g is a new weight and perfectly matches the needs of the center strut and center of its leading edge. The lighter 158g is used in the leading edge tips.

Used throughout the inflatable structure of the wings and kites and designed to handle the high pressures when inflating, HITEX offers performance and resistance. Thanks to extensive Sail Engineering work, the R&D team has placed each weight of HITEX in different areas allowing absolute control of the shape session after session.

NANO

This micro ripstop polyester 55g is used on the canopies of our SWING V3, CWC V2, BREEZE V4 and ONE V2. Wings and kites are often left in the wind to flap. They are also very often wet, salty and sandy; all factors that weaken them. The canopy must therefore be very durable to keep its rigidity over time and to ensure the same performance level between the day of purchase and the end of its life. It benefits from a NANO coating and a Plasma treatment process that brings an increased rigidity, resistance to elongation and tears, and durability. Used by our bluesign-certified factory, Plasma is an eco-friendly technology that uses less chemicals in the finishing process while guaranteeing the same performances and stability.

K-Wing FAQs

F-ONE has always been passionate about creating new ways to enjoy the water. Foiling has opened up endless possibilities, and the K-Wing, with its associated model the PLUME, is only the latest evolution in this journey.

They've put together this FAQ to help answer your questions, clear up doubts, and share why they're so excited about this new discipline. Dive in, discover all that the PLUME has to offer and join in this new chapter.

What is a K-Wing?

We've embraced downwinding from the start. While the wing has been the go-to tool for its depower abilities, its large surface can obstruct movement and vision. SUP foil downwind, which uses a paddle, offers complete freedom but requires advanced skills, making it a fairly niche discipline. Pocket wings have recently gained traction for their upwind capabilities but come with limited wind range, depower abilities, and accessibility.

We've nonetheless explored these challenges to make downwinding more intuitive and accessible. After delving into a wide range of solutions, we decided to throw ourselves wholeheartedly into the development of our first K-Wing model, the PLUME.

The goal with the PLUME was to create the ultimate freefly tool, something that feels almost weightless. Right from the first prototype, we knew we had something very special in our hands. Since, the PLUME has evolved into something much more than just a new model within our wing range; it has become a completely unique experience on the water, and therefore a different sport in our minds.

The PLUME indeed marks the beginning of a new discipline, K-Wing, and we are excited to finally introduce it to you.

What is the PLUME?

The PLUME is the perfect hybrid of a kite and a wing. Light as a feather, it is F-ONE's most freeing creation yet. The glide of a kite, combined with the comfort and practicality of a wing you can hold at arm's length, creates a new riding sensation.

By eliminating the strut and reducing the leading edge, the PLUME is compact and stays light yet stable, avoiding the common issues wings face when freeflying, like dipping into the water or feeling cumbersome. Its C-shape also enhances visibility, letting you stay more connected to your surroundings.

This innovative design benefits from a wide wind range, and is also remarkably easy to handle, making it accessible to everyone, from seasoned downwinders to kids learning on an inflatable board at a school.

All in all, these unique attributes make the PLUME the best downwind and freefly weapon on the market today.

How does the PLUME actually feel?

The PLUME is extremely intuitive and easy to use. It's stable, comfortable, and offers an upwind angle comparable to a wing. It pulls you forward gently without straining your arms, and while a harness may be used, it's not necessary thanks to the light bar feel and smooth forward traction.

You can pick it up in seconds and understand how to work it without needing much explanation. Power management and steering is super easy, with small movements of the vertical bar letting you adjust your position or change direction effortlessly.

It's almost akin to using a joystick; you get exactly the power you need, and the depower is fantastic as well. Most of the time, you can control the K-Wing one-handed, though going upwind with extra power might require two hands.

For downwind runs, it drifts smoothly in front of you and responds instinctively when going upwind. It's also seamless during transitions, particularly when grabbing the front handle and getting into the freeflying position.

All in all, the PLUME is light, easy to carry, and effortless to handle in all conditions, making it a joy to use.

I'm not interested in downwinders. Can I still use the PLUME?

Yes, the PLUME isn't just for downwinding! When freeriding, the sensations it provides are much lighter than those of a wing, for a similar performance. The PLUME is therefore a great tool for simply going back and forth, comfortably jibing and foiling, even in flat waters.

What is the wind range?

The PLUME has an impressive wind range, typically spanning about 15-20 knots per size.

For example, a 4.2 m PLUME is comfortable in winds from 20 to 35 knots. It's versatile enough to handle strong gusts without feeling overpowered, keeping you comfortable and in control.

For your first sessions, we recommend trying to go out in conditions around 20-25 knots, as these are ideal for learning. Either way, with the PLUME, you can easily adjust to varying wind speeds, making it reliable and flexible across different conditions.

Which boards and foils do you recommend?

We recommend a board with a long and narrow shape that offers good glide for the take-off. Therefore, what would work best with the PLUME are MIDLENGTH-type boards, or any of our SUP DW models. That said, a CROSSOVER or even a SURF PRONE could work well too depending on the conditions and the level of the rider.

All foils work with the PLUME, but to start off in this sport and get used to these new sensations, we recommend foils with a larger surface area, such as our SEVEN SEAS 1300 or 1500, or a SK8 over 1000 cm2.

How does a K-Wing compare to a wing?

The K-Wing offers a different experience compared to a wing, each having its strengths depending on your riding style and goals.

The wing stands out for its low-end and ability to pump efficiently for take-off, allowing the use of smaller boards. The K-Wing can be pumped, especially at take-off, better than a kite but indeed less efficiently than a wing. The low end of the PLUME is a bit more technical than a wing's as well.

However, the PLUME feels much lighter, less bulky, and much less troublesome especially when flagging during freefly or downwinders.

Both perform equally well upwind and are easy to use, so your choice comes down to preference. The PLUME's ease of use, large wind range, and safety features make it ideal for beginners, strong wind enthusiasts, and wave riders who need quick transitions. It's versatile but again will require a MIDLENGTH-type board for take-off, as you can't pump a K-Wing like a wing.

How does a K-Wing compare to a pocket wing?

Compared to a pocket wing, the PLUME offers a smoother, more intuitive experience. While a pocket wing is still the top choice for experienced downwind riders seeking high performance, the PLUME brings comfort, ease of use, and versatility to the table.

The PLUME delivers power more smoothly, with fewer bridles to tangle and a lightweight, inflatable structure that makes it safer and easier to handle. It has a wider wind range, a better depower, and provides such a light bar feel and forward traction that you virtually never need a harness.

Naturally, the K-Wing cannot be packed away as compactly as a pocket wing, but it does remain a great middle ground, combining the practicality and lightness of a pocket wing, with added comfort and simplicity.

What is the best option between a wing, a K-Wing, and a pocket wing?

Overall, a K-Wing is much easier to handle than both a wing and a pocket wing. However, it all depends on your spot, conditions, and what you enjoy most.

If you want to spend as much time on the water as possible, having a mix of wing, pocket wing and K-wing in your quiver may actually be the best option. For example:

• A wing for light winds (around 12 knots)
• A K-Wing for waves or strong winds
• A pocket wing for downwinding
• And maybe even a kite for bigger waves!

This diverse range of options will allow you to tailor your gear to every condition, creating a more dynamic and personalized experience.

How does K-Winging position itself compared to other disciplines?

Below is a scale that allows you to imagine the freedom of movement, comfort and sensations that each discipline provides during a downwind/freefly:

It looks like a kite, so why not just call it one?

The K-Wing is part of an exciting evolution in the foiling world. While it may look like a kite to some, its design and functionality are entirely different.

Unlike a kite, which pulls hard into the sky and demands constant control, the PLUME offers something truly special: a sense of freedom as it flies on its own, disconnected yet perfectly responsive. It can be held effortlessly at arm's length, allowing for true freefly and an unmatched experience across a range of conditions.

Many riders had their doubts before giving it a try. But once they experienced our K-Wing on the water, they saw how unique, intuitive and fun it really is. The best way to understand the difference is to try it for yourself. You might be surprised at how much you love it.