F-One Strike Review

Hey everybody, welcome back to Wing Wednesdays with MACkiteboarding.com. I'm Tucker and today we're going to talk about the F-One Strike. I've put a few sessions into it and I am extremely impressed with this wing.

To my review- I have ridden this wing probably about four times now, and every time I am more and more impressed by this wing.

First time out

I had great conditions: early 20s, perfect waves, side-on conditions... and as expected, it was phenomenal. Great power, amazing upwind ability, and the thing that stuck out most to me is that it had that grunt, it had that upwind ability like you get from more powerful kites, but it still surfs the wave amazing. One of my favorite wings for surfing probably of all time, but then it also has that grunt and upwind ability that you like in light wind or you like in flat water conditions or for new riders. So really, this thing is like all of the awesome with none of the drawback, and that kind of blew my mind.

There's not too many wings that can do that really, so that was amazing.

Second, third sessions were really subpar. Light wind, one of them was offshore in the lake fed with like a 30 yard gap between a jetty with wind flowing through that... like the crappiest, worst setup for wind and winging ever, but I still had a blast. I stayed upwind, did some tricks in that little zone even though there was like almost no clean wind, and on the edges it was totally swirly and disappearing and just terrible conditions really. But it still shines and that's, I think, really where a wing like this is going to set itself apart in those inconsistent conditions, in those less than ideal conditions.

You can really tell this wing's got a lot of grunt.

The upwind is unlike anything I've ever ridden and you have to have a certain level of ease-of-use in a condition like that because if you're fumbling around, if you're messing up, you're gonna end up getting downwinded into the middle of the lake. So this one did great in those sessions, in those subpar conditions.

Last session that was totally lit it handled it really well- very little flutter from the wing in those kind of conditions which is insane. I mean, you can feel the loft in the lift from this wing. You can see why the jumping guys are just crazy about it because it's got so much raw power and so much lift. It almost feels like a kite jump in the way it pulls you up and holds you. Whereas most wings are kind of a quick-up-quick-down, they sort of drop you out of the sky, this one definitely has some loft to it, thus kite boarders would say. And I think that's one of the huge reasons why this wing is really taking off for jumping-type riders.

So yeah, it's been amazing and for me, the things, again, that stuck out most: really good low-end grunt, very powerful wing. And I would say so much as to say you can almost size down a full size in this wing compared to a lot of other wings just because it has so much grunt, especially if you know how to pump well. You can really work a five-meter and make it feel almost like a six in those light wind scenarios. One day it was like mid-teens and I was on a small board, 1200 centimeter foil, and I still made it work and that usually isn't the case for me with a five meter, so I was really, really impressed with that.

And again, for me as a primary wave kind of guy--that's what I love most is riding waves with my wing and foil--this thing is super light, it's super balanced on the wave, and having that upwind ability and that power allows you to ride either a smaller foil or allows you to ride a smaller wing, which is really nice for maneuverability and handling. And in that upwind ability- man, it just rockets upwind so you can get right back upwind, back into the line, and keep cycling that much faster, catch that many more waves per session. And especially in conditions like ours--we've got really short period swell with a lot of current, a lot of water moving--sometimes getting upwind can be a challenge in conditions like that, and this thing just blasts upwind. So, hugely, hugely impressed with performance.

Handles

In terms of the handles, I really like them. I think, compared to the F-One Swing, these handles are a little bit better balanced in that the Swing sometimes, especially in the larger sizes I would say, felt a little back-hand heavy.

Especially when you're riding powered, the Swing could feel a little back-hand heavy and wear out your back arm a little prematurely, I would say. This one is a lot better balanced where the dispersion of the load in your arms is pretty much equal. And of course you can adjust that with where your hand is on the handle versus your other hand on the handle, so if you like that back hand feeling you can still get that. But really, these handles are placed in a perfect position, very comfortable. I don't find the need for any other handles so it's really phenomenal and lightweight.

Additionally, on the handles, you'll see the diameter of these is rather small. It's a pretty thin handle, and what I like about that compared to a thicker, big handle is you can just fingertip this, like a couple of fingertips like that is plenty. It's not going to slide out of your hand; you don't need to grip it like this like you would a a thicker handle. You can just kind of do this and slide them around. That really reduces the fatigue in your wrists and your hands. That arm pump--if you're doing this all the time versus just relaxed hanging on like this--it is a night and day difference, and if there's a downside to that, I guess it's if you're in really cold weather like us. As you can tell, we've got snow you'll see in some of the footage. We've got ice; walking out on ice, it's cold, man. I mean, most of our sessions are sub-zero right now so we are really cold.

Well, not sub-zero, but below freezing I should say. So it's cold and having that does cut circulation to your fingertips a little faster than a big fat handle, it's obvious. Although there's less arm pump, and when you're wearing thick gloves it's a lot nicer not to have to death grip something and fight the glove just to make a grip, so it's a trade-off. If you've got good gloves your fingertips are going to be fine, but it does cut circulation to your fingertips a little bit more. So your fingertips might get cold a little faster than you would with a big thick handle, but also you're not fighting that arm pump, so it's kind of a give-and-take I guess. Do you want to be sore-armed and struggling to hold on, or do you want to have a little bit of cold fingertips? Anyway, I digress.

Getting to the harness line, it's pretty basic stuff; it is a harness line. It's reinforced really well. We have a knot in the back for lark's head and a loop up front- nylon loop that's sewn in. It's adjustable here if you have a F-One harness line to attach to it with these knots and the way it connects. Lightweight... effective... comfortable... perfectly balanced. You can really just lay back into this thing, drop your hands, even if the wind is smooth and it's going to stay in position, stay powered. But of course you can adjust your hook position on this as well to adjust that power, so excellent work.

For those of you that are concerned about the leash, we've got a nice rope style bungee leash. This is my preference, my favorite kind of leash. As you can tell, the length before it's even totally stretched out reaches to that back handle, so there's no issues with fighting a leash to get to the back handle. It's also not too long where it gets in your way too much, so it's, in my opinion, a perfect size leash.

If I had a complaint about the leash, and this is probably my biggest complaint about the entire wing, really, which is a very small complaint, is that this wrist cuff is kind of small with a cold weather wetsuit on, especially with gloves. I can't get this around my wrist with a good amount of velcro that I feel secure with. So I end up hooking this to my harness in the wintertime. You can also pull that cuff off and just use this straight line connection to your harness as well if you're not wanting to use the wrist cuff to do that, so it's cool they give you that option. I just wish they would have a larger cuff size for us bigger people, especially wearing cold water wetsuits and stuff. That's nothing new, though. If you've watched my videos before, that's a common thing in our industry that those cuffs are small, so maybe it's not a problem for most people, and it works fine for me as long as I'm not wearing a thick wetsuit and gloves.

So that is kind of the basics of things. As I said, I think this wing is really an amazing wing for about anyone. New riders, you're going to love the grunt you get from this wing. The power is really effortless, especially if you're not great at pumping yet and building that lift and apparent wind by pumping and working hard for it. As long as you have adequate wind, you almost don't even need to pump on this wing. It's going to get you moving really fast just from that forward flying ability and that grunt that it has, so for new riders they're going to love that.

They're also going to love the upwind ability when you haven't really learned upwind well yet. It really makes a big difference to have equipment that helps you out, and this wing is better than anything I've ever tested. Most wings I really don't talk about upwind ability; they're all about the same. They all go upwind fairly well, especially on foil, but this one is notably different and better than any other wing I've ever tested, enough so that I feel like I should mention the upwind ability because it is so phenomenal. So yeah, for beginners I think those are the biggest points to consider, and then also maybe looking at progressing. It's a wing that pro level riders appreciate, high-end riders appreciate, so you're never going to grow out of it.

Intermediate riders- if you're getting into surf this wing has a little extra grunt to get you through the mess and the swell and the current, obviously. As I mentioned, on the wave it is a very well-behaved wing.

When you're holding onto the leading edge or even just holding onto this front handle, it is very stable. It holds its own weight, it flies comfortably, doesn't want to flip over or rock back and forth, it doesn't want to nose dive on you. It is just comfortable. It's about the least intrusive wing I can imagine on a wave, at least thus far. So it's really good in that regard, that you can just kind of forget about it once you're riding the wave.

Jumpers, as I mentioned, this is kind of the go-to wing for jumping right now. You talk to anyone that rides it, it's got a ton of lift, a ton of loft, and it holds down a lot of power. With this new handle configuration you can comfortably hold on to the wing when you're really powered up, so it's a phenomenal wing for jumping and if you're into that style of riding, this needs to be on your wish list. Enough said there.

Advanced level riders- kind of the same thing. If you're into wave riding, if you're into jumping, this thing is really next level for advanced riders.

Maybe that upwind ability, maybe that low end grunt isn't quite as important, but for you advanced riders you can look forward to sizing down in your wing choice for a given day. Obviously, that upwind ability allows you to ride smaller foils, it allows you to get upwind faster to ride more laps in the waves or stay upwind while you're doing jumps and things like that that drag you downwind, so all you guys are gonna love this wing. It is really one of my favorite wings that I've tested to date, and I'll need a few more sessions on it, but really I'm looking at picking up a quiver of these myself, I'm that impressed with them.

So yeah, that's that, I guess. Never love to tout one wing so much when we carry so many different options, and this might not be the perfect option for every single person, but I do feel it's versatile enough, it has enough different aspects that are really beneficial, where most riders should be at least considering a Strike unless you're looking for something maybe more affordable or a specific type of feature or benefit that somehow F-One doesn't have. So yeah, look forward to this wing getting talked about a lot this year, look forward to seeing a lot of these on the water, and really amped with what they've come up with. I really couldn't imagine a wing this good and here it is, so really excited about seeing what's coming in this new sport and what new stuff is coming down the line.

So that's that. If you have any questions, anything that I missed, I apologize guys. Put that in the comments section below; I'll try to get to it as soon as possible. If you'd like to chat with us about what size wing you should get, or board or foil or whatever, shoot us an email: kiteboarder@mackite.com. Call us: 800-622-4655. We talk to people all day long, helping you get hooked up right, get started with the right gear, take that next step in your riding with the right gear or even just to have some tips for you. So definitely reach out; we love to talk to y'all and thanks for watching. As with all of our videos, give us a thumbs-up if you appreciate the video. Like I said, comments in the section below, share with a friend, subscribe to our channel--really helps us out--and we'll see you next time!