KT Foiling Solus, Atom Tail and Apex Mast Review

KT Foiling Kit Overview

Tucker brings a review of a new foil setup that turned out to be surprisingly good and is now close to his heart: the KT Solus front wing, Atom tail, and Apex mast. If you're interested in a downwind or a glider foil with a great speed range and efficiency, this kit fits the bill perfectly.

The Sulus front wing, Atom tail, Apex mast, and fuselage in various sizes.

The KT Apex Mast

Starting with the mast, Tucker looks at the 85cm KT Apex. It's a new addition for this year and is a phenomenal, stiff, incredibly streamlined, and efficient mast. Tucker debated between the 85cm and the 77cm sizes, but the 85cm was available first and turned out to be a great all-around choice. The profile is thickest in the first two-thirds, making it a really fast profile that almost acts like a higher aspect design than it actually is. It tapers off the back and is thicker near the baseplate, tapering toward the top to maximize stiffness.

The 85cm length is especially nice for wider span wings like the 930. It ensures you don't ventilate the tips when ripping turns or flying through breaking swell and chop. You can ventilate 10 to 12 inches of the tip and keep going, but ventilating the whole wing is a problem, so the extra length here is a huge benefit.

Tucker holds the KT Apex mast.

The KT Solus Front Wing

The Solus is pitched as a downwind foil, but it's also excellent for winging or parawinging in the smaller sizes when you want more speed and glide. It's a race-optimized glider. In fact, the 775 size is what Kane de Wilde rode to win the M2O last year. Every size has been independently designed and adjusted for the attributes needed at those specific riding speeds.

Performance Light Wind with the 930

The 930 size has been an absolute lifesaver for Tucker this summer. He never thought a foil of this size could do so well in light wind. It acts as a "performance light wind" foil; you aren't just getting up and mowing the lawn near stall speed. This wing builds apparent wind and momentum on top of momentum, making it incredibly fun to ride in mediocre conditions. It offers the glide efficiency to get you through the lulls and the pumpability to ride small wakes and wind swell.

Tucker and Jeff even did an 8-mile downwinder in shin-high waves, and the 930 kept them gliding and connecting waves despite being a smaller foil than Tucker would typically use for those conditions. Once you get up, it's like putting on rocket boosters. It feels like riding in good wind because you build so much apparent wind, and it reacts beautifully to pumping.

Tucker holds up the KT Solus 930 front wing.

The KT Fuselage

The kit features an aluminum KT fuselage. Tucker shows off the longer 65cm version, though they also make a 53cm option. For most riders, the 65cm is the easier choice if you don't need that next-level turning ability and pitchy attitude. If your board is over six feet long, the longer fuse is the way to go. If you're on a board under six feet and want aggressive rail-to-rail riding with a quick pump, the shorter fuse is phenomenal and really livens up the pitch.

The KT Atom Tail

The Atom tail is KT's efficient surf tail. It has a medium aspect but features a really unique foil section similar to the Solus. They pair exceptionally well if you're looking for a surfy glider rather than just a downwind pump machine. It provides turning performance and stability while you push through challenging conditions.

After talking with the KT rep, Tucker found that while he normally prefers surfier tails for agility, the Atom tail is super fast, efficient, and playful. It gives you stability and pumpability on the low end without having to overpower the stabilizer, and it provides great drive in turns. Even at a larger 161 size, it feels incredibly fast and loose, especially when paired with the shorter fuselage.

Tucker holds the KT Atom tail.

Hardware and the Shim System

Everything is generally bought a la carte, but MACkiteboarding offers combo kits on the website to make piecing it together simple. The components come with high-quality covers that feature a neat velcro system to slap your wing sets together. The kit includes a baseplate shim (which Tucker finds he doesn't need on most boards) and a nice plastic carrying case for the hardware. The fasteners are high-quality and even have the sizes marked right on the screw heads.

Tucker holds the hardware and baseplate shim for the KT foil setup.

Dialing in the Shims

KT takes the guesswork out of tuning with their included shim kit, which features five different shims for negative and positive increments. The standard out-of-the-box setup is simple:

Baseplate is at 0.0
Front wing is at -1
Drop the -1 shim onto the stabilizer

It rides fantastic right away. From there, you can tweak it. Tucker personally prefers removing half a degree of negative angle (bringing it to -0.5). On the longer 65cm fuselage, this gives a bit more agility and a tighter turning radius, rounding out the turn faster for a more surfy feel while maintaining stability.

How to calculate which shim to use.

Construction and Stiffness

One of the standout features of this setup is the construction. These foils are crazy stiff. When Tucker puts his weight on the assembled foil, there is hardly any flex through the massive high-aspect wing. This insane stiffness allows the foil to respond perfectly to your leverage and control. If this were a lower-level construction, pushing hard on a wide wingspan could feel unnerving, but KT's build quality takes the performance up a notch, allowing you to charge hard with total confidence. It almost sounds like steel when you tap on it.

Conclusion

Tucker is incredibly stoked on this setup, calling it his favorite parawing foil right now after spending time on both the 930 and 630 sizes. It delivers in terms of efficiency, turning performance, and overall fun on the water. The fact that KT took a design meant for downwind racing and injected it into something highly recreational for winging and parawinging makes this a truly special kit.

Tucker parawings with the KT Solus foil setup.