Slingshot Sentry V2 and Joystick V1 Control Bars, with Fred Hope

Pat is at King of the Great Lakes with Fred Hope from Slingshot, checking out the new bars for 2024.

Fred: Thanks for having me! This year we brought out a whole new bar, and we changed from the white lines to the new SK99 lines. They're a little thinner and a bit stronger. You can really notice it in the air because they have a lot less drag through the air and you don't have that wobbling from side to side feeling like you have with the square lines. These are perfectly round, so it really helps the kite to respond as quickly as possible.

We have the tried-and-true Sentry bar. Previously, we had the V1 and then the V1.1. This is the V2. We changed the leader lines and we have new floats this year and a new grip called the MotoPlush Grip. It's a lot easier on your hands and has a bit more give when you when you grip onto it. We've also changed the depower to be a bit cleaner. The Y splitter is no longer metal, so it's lighter as well.

The Joystick is our foil bar and my personal favorite. It's what I've been trying to ride for years by customizing my own Sentry bars, actually.

Pat: So this is pretty much your brainchild at Slingshot.

Fred: Yeah, in a way, it was. This is the best bar that you can possibly get for kite foiling because it minimizes all the weight above the bar. You get more feeling out of the kite by having less things on the bar. We kept the release the same because you need safety first on a bar, no matter what discipline you're doing. That's why we didn't go with a shackle or something like that. On the chicken loop, we went for the smaller surf loop because we have been trying to incentivize people to ride with a rope, which gets everything closer to your body and means that you then have more throw in the bar with more range of motion in your arm.

Fred: We went all the way down to the leash ring in terms of minimizing things on the bar. It's half the size of the one on our Sentry, and that's because we want it to be as simple as possible. The PU tubes are about half the size of the Sentry PU tubes to make the sheet in and out a lot lighter, especially in light winds. You don't want anything holding up your ability to open the kite up to grab more wind or depower the kite. We decreased the diameter from 26mm down to 22mm. The Sentry V1.1 was 28mm, so it has shrunk quite a bit, and that gives you the ability to hold the bar for longer without getting that arm pump that some people get, especially in the wintertime. The floats are smaller on the Joystick as well, so everything is lighter and smaller on this bar except for the release system. Safety first! Everything else is as simple as possible.

In addition to that, we took off the depower so there's a lot more range and throw. When I sheet out the bar, I have probably 30 to 40 percent more ability to shut the kite off when I need to versus the Sentry. That's something you really need in the UFO when you're kite foiling so you can do tacks and maneuvers and have as much control over the board as possible without the kite impacting and pulling your body downwind too much.

Fred: For those who have shorter arms, we put on a stopper. If you have shorter arms and you're worried about reaching the bar, pull it down, and it will hold the bar in place so it'll never go further out unless you pull the release, and then the tube will pull out and the whole system will completely flag out the kite.

The Y splitter is a lot smaller as well so that it's lighter, and then the lines are 425kg inside and 325kg outside so that you get more speed through the window and less drag from the lines.

As you can tell from the mountain of details I've talked about, it's my baby and all that I want when I'm riding on a foil, so I'd recommend trying this if you've bought a UFO or you want to put this on any other kite brand to simplify things if you feel like your bar is holding you back or is a little too heavy and cumbersome.

Pat: Yes, it's really focusing on the kite foiler and optimizing their whole setup and making that experience the best. I will say that with the lightness of the bar, when unswiveling, it spins right around.

Fred: Yeah it's an amazing bar. It only comes in one size, 20in, and the Sentry bar comes in three sizes: 17, 20, and 23in. The line lengths for the Joystick are 18m with 4m extensions. The 17in Sentry comes with 20m lines, the 20in comes with 20m lines and 3m extensions, and then the 23in comes with 23m lines and 5m extensions.

Pat: The Sentry bar slimmed down the grip, and that's a huge improvement. That's my one complaint about the old Sentry bars; the grip was just a little bit too big, and the grip itself was a bit aggressive. The new grip is awesome and I love it.

Well thanks, Fred. Everything looks really good for 2024 with the Slingshot Sentry bar V2 and the new Joystick.

Shop Slingshot Gear

MACkite Subscription Links:

YouTube  |   Instagram  |   Spotify Oddcasts

Contact MACkite Below:

800.622.4655  |   Kiteboarder@MACkite.com  |   LIVE Chat Messenger