FREERIDE FOIL TEST
74 JULY 2019
THEY SAY
Glide Wind is our foil for easy cruising and
carving, as well as for small waves and freestyle.
With an early take off it flies at low speed, al-
lowing first time foilers to feel safe and com-
fortable. This all-round foil is very stable, and
even allows you to zig-zag around while foiling.
JP Hydrofoil 120: These medium to strong wind
hulls are based on Werner Gnigler’s experience
of two generations of all-round and light wind
performance foil boards. According to their use
in stronger winds, they are designed with control
in mind.
WE SAY
Two new designs for the 2019 season, Neil Pryde’s
foil range and JP’s Hydrofoil board series have both
been expanded significantly to meet the discipline’s
ever expanding diversity. The Glide Wind sits
alongside the now pre-preg carbon winged Flight
AL, and has several unique features within this test
group. Supplied with a Powerbox head fitting (re-
quiring an 8 mm fin bolt, so be prepared to widen
the hole of your box), it has a short mast and fuse-
lage length and narrow front wingspan – all indi-
cators of a leaning towards boards with narrower
tail widths. The JP 120 is part of a whopping six
board lineup, ranging from 105 -190 litres, and is
available in three construction options. It has to be
noted that the board and foil combined worked
fine within a certain wind range, but both benefit-
ted from setup alterations to match tail width and
mast length, and fully understand their potentials.
The head fitting supplied with the Glide Wind is
Powerbox, for the very reason that it’s designed to
be used with narrower, more manoeuvre-oriented
freemove, freewave or even freestyle boards. The
issue however, is that a conventional Powerbox
isn’t designed to be used with a foil. You can, by all
means, do so ... but if there’s a failure, your board
brand is unlikely to honour a warranty claim. JP
themselves have stated as much on their site. Sal-
vation is just around the corner though – we have
news that for 2020, JP will be offering an exclusive
foil-approved Powerbox in their Pro Edition Mag-
ic Rides and Freestyle boards. For now though,
we easily switched the head of the foil for a Deep
Tuttle box, allowing the foil to be used with the
predominant head fitting in wind foiling. Used in
the JP 120 in marginal winds, and partnered with
a 6.5m sail, the Glide Wind accelerates smoothly,
and feels willing to lift early underfoot. The width
in the tail of the 120 almost overpowers the foil
as you step back however, forcing it back down to
the water’s surface unless speed is maintained. So,
opting to put the Glide Wind into a narrower tail
(we tried various boards, including a JP SuperRide
116), the foil’s influence is restored. It lifts early and
progressively, feeling very steady and passive, as it
maintains height at low speeds. With a upright,
cruising stance over the board, the manoeuvre po-
tential of the Glide Wind can really be appreciat-
ed and explored, providing crisp response to foot
steering. Certainly one of the easiest to carve tightly
both upwind and downwind, it would be a great
option for the manoeuvre oriented sailor, looking
for a foil to rejuvenate those marginal days in typi-
cal coastal conditions. The 70 cm mast does require
concentration when used in heavy seas and is not
really one to be loaded or pushed hard, preferring
a more dynamic sailing style for quick switches be-
tween speed and direction. This becomes very ap-
parent in the gybe, where the Glide Wind provides
a lovely balance of easy lift, stability and response
to get through full flight gybes at will. Partnering
the JP 120 with an 85 cm plus masted foil, yousoon appreciate the extra width, helping you to
load the foil and really push its performance. With
the footstraps in their outboard position, the width
helps you to canter the board over to windward and
charge around the bay in what is best described as
freerace foiling mode. Short and compact under-
foot, it is also crisp and responsive in transition, the
wider tail meaning you need to step over a little
more, its leverage requiring a deft touch so as to not
deviate from a smooth carving path. For a more re-
laxed riding style, the change to the inset footstrap
positions makes a significant difference, tempering
the board’s immediacy in response and allowing the
rider to adopt a more relaxed upright posture.VITAL STATSBOARD
- Length: 209 cm • Width: 78 cm
- Volume: 120 L. • Foil Box: Deep Tuttle
- Sail Range (Quoted): <6.7m
- Sizes Available: 105,120,135,150,175,190.
FOIL
- Head: Powerbox • Mast Length: 70 cm
- Mast Material: Aluminium • Fuselage Length:
80.7 cm • Fuselage Material: Aluminium - Front Wing Span: 64 cm • Front Wing Chord:
22.2 cm • Tail Wing Span: 40 cm • Wing Material:
Pre-preg Carbon • Weight: 5.06 kg
N EIL PRYDE GLIDE WIND & JP HYDROFOIL 120 FWS
WEB WWW.NEILPRYDE.COM | WWW.JP-AUSTRALIA.COM PRICE FOIL: £749 BOARD: PRO £1999 FWS: £1699 ES: £1299