What's New for Slingshot's 2024 Foil Line with Fred Hope

What's new in the Slingshot foil line for 2024? Pat's with Fred Hope at King of the Great Lakes Test Fest to find out!

Pat: What do we got, Fred?

Fred: We've got two new front wings and two new stabilizers for 2024. One of the front wings is the G 1007, which is our light wind high-performance front wing. It's 1,700 square cm, so if you're coming from the E Series and you want something that gets you out in light wind like we have today where you'd want a downwind SUP board with a huge wing, this would be your go-to.

Fred: We also have the Golden Arrow, the PTM 899. This is really the only wing that I personally ride anymore, especially in The Gorge, because we have slightly higher winds. It's got a new profile that's super efficient and has a large glide range, so it's able to go very slow and still maintain its speed without too much drag. Then, as you get going faster and faster, it doesn't increase that drag- up to 18 or 19 mph. When you're cruising down a wave, you're not feeling like the wing is holding you back. It has a large range in the speed that it can ride downwards on the swell. That's the speed when you're riding just the foil, not when you're riding with the wing powered up. That's what we describe as the glide range. That's why I love this wing so much; it has the range to allow you to really fine-tune your riding on the wave and not worry about going too fast or too slow because it has that low end that you need.

Pat: Ok, and then the two new stabilizers? You have the V Stab, and what's the other?

Fred: The Turbo Tail. The V stab is the PS 360. It's shaped like a V and it's very flat. The Turbo Tail is the PS 340, and it's the next step.

We have something now called the Stabilizer Step Method, which walks you through the stabs. The 400 is really stable in the pitch, yaw and roll, so there's no instability there. It gets you riding as soon as possible.

Fred: Once you migrate past that, you get the V Stab, which unlocks the yaw, or the horizontal movement that's turning with your hips instead of rolling the board from side to side.

Once you outgrow that and you feel like you want to start leaning the board from rail to rail, you can jump down to the PS 340, the Turbo Tail, to get that instability to allow you to roll, but not too much to where you lose too much lift and fall over to the side. So the Turbo Tail has a lot more roll instability and yaw instability, but tries to maintain that pitch stability.

Then, if you really start to feel like you outgrew that and you want to be able to press on your back foot and not blow the fins out on a surfboard like you would on a wave, you can jump down to the 325, which is what I kite on. That has wingtips that go up on the edges. We've had that stabilizer for a while, and that'll lock in the yaw and unlock the pitch so you can really lean the foil over and use the pitch to push really hard and lift through the front wing.

Pat: I know you and Brandon have two different feelings for the foils because Brandon really likes yaw instability, right?

Fred: Right, and I like roll instability but yaw stability so that I can really push against my back foot. I think it comes from kiting where I'm on always taking the power from the kite and pushing it directly into my back foot, so I like that to be locked in. That's why I choose that smaller stab.

Pat: It's great that you guys are coming out with more options so people can customize their own foil setup and pick and choose what's good for them. Then they can upgrade and have more options in the future.

Fred: Yeah, it's pretty nice. If you feel like your foil is a little too draggy with the 400, you can jump down to the V Stab. It has a thinner profile and a lot less drag, so you can start going a lot quicker a lot easier.

Pat: Well, I think that covers it. Check out Slingshot's new foil line for 2024. The new stabilizers are going to be awesome. Thanks Fred!

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