Joe's Moses 637 420 review experience

I know I know, this foil has already been out 2 years. So!

I've owned this foil for nearly a year, and finally got up the nerve this weekend to try it to get over my night terrors of it. It's been bugging me for a long time. I rode the Moses 637/420/101 (637 front wing, 420 stabilizer and 101cm mast) on a Temavento race board, shorty wetsuit, booties, and some bad ass mystic shorts over, dakine sliding surf harness. Day 2 I rode it with a Slingshot dwarfcraft micro, circa 2018 (mast track forward 3", and mast placement all the way forward or on the 6cm position)...

First off, I don't race and I like to ride slowly. But I just had to try this wing (especially since I look at it every day when I go to grab my gear). I was pretty nervous heading out on Saturday, hoping to both make it back, and make it back without being bloody. Body dragging off the beach was kinda nice with a race board, more floaty, and the foil seemed to want to jump up on foil just body dragging. I got in position, dove the kite (on both boards I had one front strap on the center line position), and much to my surprise I came out of the water and was on my way after the second dive. The first big thing I noticed is that unlike the bigger surf wings, the foil does not immediately spring onto the foil.

Riding was sensational. What I really liked about the wing (this should come as no surprise) is how stable it is at speed. I compare it to riding a go-kart on a dirt road at 30mph compared to riding a race car on the track at 100mph - it felt like nothing. It was fun to go fast! Unlike my other Moses wings, the 637 really gave speed confidence. One thing I liked was how it was super pitch stable. With my other wings moving a foot 1" either way made a big difference, but not so on the 637. I could move my rear foot 2, 3 or 4" either way and it didn't seem to matter. Riding downwind over swell at speed was much easier than my other surf wings as well. On my surf wings I do pretty small radius turns but not on the 637. Literally, it felt like I used an entire football field to do big downwind jibes, big carves, and lots of fun.

Since I don't know how to switch my feet and therefore only riding toe-side on port tack, I had concerns that this would be a problem. Not so, you can ride that stable, fast wing all day long, heel side and toe side.

After day one what changed in my foiling was covering a serious amount of real estate, much much more than when I ride my surf wings, and my feet didn't ache for some reason because there seemed to be less foot pressure.

So because Tucker at Mackite said it'd be tough to ride that wing on a micro-board, I had to try. While I was powered the previous day, Sunday I went out lit. Way lit. Same routine of body dragging to get out to the lineup. Much to my surprise it was fairly easy to get up and foiling - but it took 2 dives of the kite and it was a little tricky to slog along, but not bad.

But, I really didn't like the wing as much on a board where my stance was more crunched, although it was satisfactory. I noticed on the race board when your feet are fairly far apart you can really load up the back foot and pinch hard to windward. Not so much when cramped - it was hard to get the leverage over the foil that way. But I was also scary lit which may have had something to do with it.

For me, what I like about the wing, and because I don't plan to race, at least until I learn to ride switch-foot, is that some days you just want to go blast around, and take a break from tricks. The wing is super comfortable to ride and it allows you to really cover some ground. When going fast the surf wings really load up the front foot and require much more concentration at speed, where as the 637 allows you to relax, think about how much fun you are having and to look for fish and logs not to hit at those speeds... 

I liked the wing and I'm glad I finally rode it!

Shot from Joe's sailboat at Sherman Island San Francisco...