2023 Wing Foilboard Awards | See Which Boards Topped Our List

Tucker and Jeff have ridden a lot of wing foilboards throughout the year, and they're ready to announce their top picks in several categories for 2023.

1. 2023 Best All-Rounder

We weren't able to agree 100 percent in this category, so we had two: the F-One Wing-S and the Omen Flux. They have a similar concept with a lot of crossover.

This kind of design may be the future of winging. A lot of brands are moving in this direction in their design, so these guys were just a little ahead of the game. It's surfy, a little longer, narrower, and with a little lower volume than you'd normally ride in this kind of design, and they're both phenomenal boards. We can't say anything bad about either one.

Their shape is focused less on the volume than the length, and the versatility is why we put this in the all-rounder category. You're able to "cheat" the low end and the high end and use that one board for a lot of different riding styles as well.

2. 2023 Light Wind / Downwind

The KT Dragonfly is hands-down our number one pick. There are a lot of other great downwind boards out there, but there's something about the KT that makes it stand above the rest just a little bit.

The design is very forward-thinking: it's fast, it's got a clean release, it's easy to ride, it looks great, and the price isn't obscene for a full carbon board. It's also very stable and efficient, and that's what you want in a downwind board, so it rose to the surface for our light wind board choice.

3. 2023 Most Suggested

The KT Wing Drifter is the best board we had on sale. It's been a top board in our shop for a couple of years now.

It has a fantastic design throughout the range. You don't just get the same board scaled to different sizes. As you get smaller, the shape changes to make it more progressive. They've even got two different types in the smaller sizes. There is a longer, narrow prone kind of board, as well as a shorter, fatter board that freestyle guys might prefer. It's really multiple models built into the sizes that you'd use those for.

You get a lot of value for a full carbon board from KT, a legendary shaper and definitely one of the best. You can't go wrong with the product; it's phenomenal for the price point, and that's why we're able to sell a lot of them as part of our packages. It works with most foil brands as well. The strap orientation is great and the box orientation is good, so it works with a huge variety of foils.

4. 2023 Top Value

The Naish Hover Series rose to the top here. The GS and the Ultra have two different constructions, but are very similar boards. They are such a great price and have been responsible for getting a bunch of new riders into the sport that otherwise may not have been able to afford it or would have bought a lesser quality board that wouldn't have been as durable or as much fun. These boards are phenomenal.

I learned on the first generation of this board and, even as a more experienced rider, I find the smaller sizes are phenomenal. By lowering the price for a quality board that's going to last you because it's durable and it's high-performance enough that you can progress with it, you don't feel like you need to compromise to get a good deal. You buy a bigger size when you're learning, but then it's a great light wind board as well once you progress to being an intermediate rider.

5. 2023 Next Level Design

The Omen Flux design is at that next level. The dimensions and shape are unlike most of the stuff in the market today. Although we talked about the Wing-S being a similar board, it's more of a prone-ish shape, while the Flux has more of a displacement hull and is a bit more of an extreme design.

The construction is my favorite out of the Appletree factory in Portugal with that high-density closed-cell foam. If you ding it, you can keep riding it, which is huge for board longevity and peace-of-mind. It's very easy to repair, so it's a board that you can hang on to for a long time without losing performance. Some of the EPS models are going to degrade more quickly over time if you're not taking perfect care of them, so it's a board that you can hang on to for a long time. Since the design is so progressive and forward-thinking, you're going to be happy with it for years to come.

It hits this award for a reason - the future is now. It looks different and it stands out a bit from the rest. If you haven't seen it yet, look it up to see its shape and design. It stands out from all the rest. Everybody's eyes light up when they ride it for the first time.

That wraps it up for our top wing boards for 2023 in each of the categories, all of them well-deserved. We're excited to see where we head for 2024 and what's coming next. We'll see you on the water!

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