Foil Drive Props Compared: Blue vs Grey vs Black

Ryan and Hunter have answers to your questions on when you might choose the blue prop, the grey prop, or even the black prop for your Foil Drive. Looking at the lineup of props in the Foil Drive range, they run through 10 specific scenarios to help you decide which setup is right for your session.

Scenario 1: Learning to Foil Drive

If you are someone who is learning to Foil Drive for the first time, you are either going to go with the original black prop or the blue prop. The black props are a little easier to manage on acceleration for a new rider. Beginners tend to go full-throttle and gun it, and it's not going to chew up quite as much battery with the black prop as it will with the blue prop.

However, the advantage with the blue prop is that you have a little more low-end thrust. When you're learning how to Foil Drive or eFoil, you're naturally going to ride slower than someone that is intermediate or advanced. In that speed range, the blue prop really shines. So it does depend on the exact scenario, but most people will probably start on the black prop.

Blue or black prop for new foilers.

Scenario 2: Small Front Wing

If you are riding a small front wing, you should 100% choose the blue prop. Anytime you are riding something around an 800 cm2 front wing, you'll want to go with the blue prop just to help get that initial liftoff. When you come down toward stall speed, they have the thrust to keep you moving so you don't fall off foil, which is always a possibility with some of the smaller foils.

Use the blue prop for small foils or boards.

Scenario 3: Small Board

If you are riding a board under a 5'0" or smaller than your typical mid-length Foil Drive board, you will again want to go with the blue prop. You need that low-end thrust to get you up on foil and riding. The blue prop has that bite that you need to get going.

Scenario 4: Wake Thieving

If you are on your local lake wake thieving boat wakes, the grey prop is the clear choice because it's faster. Wake thieving makes it so easy to get behind a boat, no matter what the situation is. For example, out on Lake Michigan with a little bit of swell and chop, and a giant boat headed downwind, you can hop on it. If you fall off the swell, it's really easy to get back behind it really quick. The grey prop allows for a little more speed to catch up to that and get back to where you want to be. If you fall, you can catch back up, get back to the wake you wanted, or skirt on up to a wave ahead of where you are.

Following the Lake Express ferry to wake thief.

Scenario 5: Downwinding

If you are doing downwinders where you park a car at one spot, shuttle upwind, and go downwind back to the parked car, the grey prop is the winner. A lot of downwind swell moves pretty fast, especially the further out away from shore you get. The grey is just a little bit faster, making it easier to get into that moving swell. If you start to fall behind, you can motor back up and catch up to where you want to be. Especially if you are learning to downwind, it helps a lot to put yourself in the exact place you want with the grey prop and getting more speed whenever you need it to stay in a wave that you're already on.

The grey prop is faster.

Scenario 6: eFoiling

If it's summertime with flat conditions and you put on your eFoil mast to just cruise around the lake, your prop choice will depend on your riding style. If you're just going out there for a nice Sunday evening cruise, checking out some coves, and not doing a whole lot of intense riding, you may go for the blue. However, in most eFoiling conditions, if you really want to rip around, do some wing-outs, and push the speed limit a little bit, you are going to go for the grey.

A foiler cruises around on a flat day.

Scenario 7: Wave Riding

For a typical wave riding session, you would go blue. You want that easy up-and-go, especially when you get into any sort of shore break. It's just easier to pop up and get moving. You don't want to take the extra time that the grey can use up to get into that swell. Once you're up, the grey would be a little bit faster, but for most conditions in that break, you're going to go for the blue prop. If you're using it as a true assist in the waves, being able to just pop up as fast as you can is what you're going to get with the blue prop.

A foiler rides waves.

Scenario 8: Heavier Rider

If you are a heavier rider looking to get into Foil Drive, the blue prop is going to be the winner. No questions about it, the blue prop really shines with its low-end thrust, which is what you want when you're a heavy rider to get you up and going.

Scenario 9: High Winds and Choppy Water

If your local conditions are very high winds and choppy water, or you're doing an upwind/downwind run, you want the blue prop. Anytime you are riding into the wind, you've got something that's trying to slow you down, so you might be riding at a lower speed. For that kind of riding in really rough conditions, you're going to go with the blue. It feels smooth on touchdowns when entering back into the water. Ryan and Hunter had the Fusion with the blue prop going into over 25-knot winds, and being able to get up into the wind was really easy with the blue prop.

Scenario 10: Fusion vs. Max vs. Slim

Deciding which props to use based on what unit you have—Slim versus Max versus Fusion—is going to depend a little bit on the conditions.

Slim: If you pull out a Slim, that's probably going to be for downwind swell, so you're going to be rocking the grey prop doing downwinders. However, if you're riding the Slim in some waves and you need a little extra boost getting up because it doesn't have as much power as a Max or Fusion, you might go with the blue prop there.
Fusion: The Fusion will be used anytime you have to cover a little bit of distance, or maybe you're just going for a longer session with a lot of upwind/downwind. Most of the time, you're going to go for the blue prop in that scenario with the higher winds and rougher conditions.
Max: With the Max, when you get a lot of wind, the blue prop is going to do better. Having just a little less power than the Fusion, the blue prop is going to allow you to ride smaller foils and smaller boards.

Hunter carries his foil with a blue prop down to the water.