2023 Wing Foiling Wing Awards | MACkite's Top Picks

Tucker and Jeff have gotten all dressed up for the 2023 MACkite "Best Of" Awards. ...Okay, well, one of them did. The other got dressed.

Any product released in 2023 is eligible for nomination. MACkite crew who have ridden the gear vote for their top pick, and then Tucker and Jeff announce the winners in each category. Let's get started!

1. Best Light Wind Wing

This award goes to the North Loft Pro. We've talked about this a lot in some of our recent videos and blogs, and it's such a great wing. It's so easy to ride in light wind and is so powerful. It's got performance on tap too, so it's no slouch, but it's the wing to look to if you want to get on foil easily in light wind without a lot of special techniques or advanced level skill. It's an easy wing to ride and super fun. It's the go-to wing for us here in the shop and in our lesson program as well.

2. Best Performance in Light Wind

The Duotone Ventis D/LAB is not an easy pull-and-go as the North Loft Pro is, but once you're up, you get a little more range out of it. It's one of our favorites because sometimes the wind will pick up a little bit, and you can stay on that large wing. It doesn't get overpowered too quickly.

The handles are fantastic and it also surfs quite well. It's one of our favorite wings to surf with when the wind is light. It has three struts, so it's not as light as a normal Aluula single strut would be, but it flags admirably for such a large wing. It's a challenge to get a wing that flags well in light wind, so we've used it in light wind on the waves. You can hold that longer front handle and "cheat" it, so that took the top honors for performance in the light wind category.

3. Best High-Performance Wing

We had a tie. We couldn't make a decision because we love them both so much. Both of us, as well as everybody in the shop, ride these wings a lot. The North Mode Pro and the Ozone Flux are both fast wings with a huge range and a lot of applications beyond racing. They're certainly race-winning wings, but for freeride, freestyle, and even wave riding, they're really capable, high-performance wings, especially when you pair them with those faster foils that really amp up that apparent wind generation and let their speed shine.

The Flux surfs a little better because it's a little lighter and flags out just a bit better, whereas the Mode Pro is a little faster and a little better upwind. Depending on what you're looking for and what the day's conditions give you, I think any of us would be happy to ride those wings on almost any day as long as it's the right size. So those are tied for first place for high performance.

4. Top Value Wing

That has to go to the Cabrinha Mantis. For the price point and what you can get performance-wise, that wing is incredible for the beginner all the way to the seasoned rider who is looking for a wing that's affordable and that's going to perform well to get you up on foil. Once on foil, if you have gusty conditions or the wind is changing, it takes that really well.

It's got two semi-rigid handles and the canopy is a little bit looser so you can get a really good scoop and pump going. It flags out really well. It's not phenomenal in any one category except surf, where it's phenomenal, but it straight up works for everything and is really intuitive. It's a wing where you don't need to think to ride; you just go do it, and it does its thing and doesn't get in the way. You just go ride and have fun.

The Mantis is easy to learn on, and the price this year has been phenomenal. They simply made way too many of these, but that works great for everybody else because you can build a quiver for what you'd normally spend on a single wing, so it's hard to ignore the value there.

5. Biggest Jumps

This category isn't necessarily freestyle where you're doing back flips or spins; this is to go boost to the Moon. If you want to go huge and land as nicely as possible, that award goes to the PPC M1. This wing is crazy stiff, and it's got a ton of lift and a ton of power once you get it moving. It's got good low-end lift too, but where it really shines is straight up lift and loft. When you boost that wing, it goes huge and then, as you're coming down, it catches you nicely as well. That stiff frame keeps it from folding under that pressure, so it's definitely the biggest jumping wing that we've ridden this year.

We've also ridden it for freeride, and it's very robust. The handles and everything are solid, so you feel more confident when you send that wing. The M1 was in the conversation for high performance as well, but we felt like the Mode Pro and the Flux were a bit more freeride and a little more applicable to what most people want from a wing where it's not quite as physical to ride, but the M1 definitely wins for jumping.

6. Favorite Wing to Sell

This is the one that we recommend when customers are getting into the sport or even have been in the sport for a while, and we all agreed on this, hands-down: the Duotone Unit. It's a wing that a lot of riders should look at because it offers the kind of performance that most people are after.

We also happen to have them on sale, but as a newer rider or even an intermediate, the ease-of-use makes it a great fit. You can just pull and go to get up on foil, yet it's very performance-driven once you get up. It's light and intuitive when you want to do your first jibes and tacks. It's an easy decision for the first time buyer, but you can get hooked on the Unit and want to stay with them because it makes you feel like a superstar.

It gets you on foil easy, it surfs really well, it's well-behaved, and it's stable when you make a mistake and you need to get yourself out of it quickly. It's got that lift and it's got that immediate power so you don't need to forecast your riding at all; you can just grab the wing and pull yourself out of it. Even in the waves, it's easy to get yourself out of a sticky situation. It's a wing that makes you feel a lot better than you might on some other wings.

7. Most Cutting Edge

The Future Now award goes to the Ozone Fusion. This year they really thought outside of the box and went back to the drawing board with regard to how you build a wing and what a wing looks like. They added in some of their technology and expertise from skydiving squirrel suits and ram air kites and built it into the solid frame that you need for winging. What you get is a dual-skinned wing with an upper and a lower foil section rather than having a single skin. It is a lot more sleek and aerodynamic and they could design in more of those features that you'd have on a hard wing like you'd see on an America's Cup boat or on your hydrofoil wings.

This wing has a huge top end range. You can ride it incredibly overpowered in ugly, gusty conditions and it feels smooth as silk. In addition to that, the upwind and downwind angles are that much better, which is unique. A lot of times you get a wing that's really fast upwind, but it's not great downwind. With that dual skin design, the Fusion is something revolutionary that no one else has done yet, and it's got tangible benefits for certain riders. It's not for everybody; it can be a little quirky and you've got to learn how to ride this wing. It's not necessarily something I would hand a brand new rider. You could learn on it, but you you'd want a bit more wind and probably somebody to coach you through the technique. It's definitely a wing that is catching people's attention because it's so different.

Those are our best wings of 2023. A lot of different brands were represented. We voted on these independently based on sales and our experience riding them. There was some heated debate, but we did figure it out in the end. We'll see you on the water!

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