The RRD WH flight alu 85 wind foil clearly distinguishes itself from most freeride wind foils on the market. We’ve written all the times before. The biggest advantage is that you can use this wind foil in any regular vinbox. Finally, this wind foil is available. Time to get this wind foil on.
RRD looked closely at the Starboard carbon race
Mast length 85 cm | Material: carbon wings, alu mast & fuselage | Surface front: ca 800 cm2 & back ca 250 cm2 | Price € 1.199,-
Now that we have the RRD WH flight aluminium 85 in our hands we see how much it looks like the Starboard carbon race foil. Under the guise of better well nicked than ill-conceived. After 2 season, the Starboard carbon race is still the best wind foil for sale. So, yes, smart again. So the fuselage is almost as long. The shape of the front and back wing are very similar and the surfaces of both wings are more or less similar to that of Starboard.
The RRD wind foil feels solid on land and the construction looks solid. In addition, a large ‘plate’ is directly below the part of the mast that goes into the vinbox. This divides the forces that vinkast endures across the bottom of your board. Sim why doesn’t everyone do this!
In addition, RRD delivers a number of adapters, so you can also use the wind foil in a regular tuttlebox or powerbox. We just wonder if you really want to screw a wind foil into a powerbox with only one bolt!
Very fast up
So fast on the water. We’re sailing the wind foil under the Fanatic Falcon Lightwind. We always use this board when we go out with the Starboard carbon race. What is striking is that the wind foil quickly lifts the board up. We couldn’t make a direct comparison with the Starboard, but we feel like the RRD is going up a little faster than the Starboard. Once it comes up, the big difference comes. The Starboard carbon race continues to generate a lot of upward pressure. For lighter surfers this is sometimes too much. (We also sail our mast foot with this wind foil almost all the way up front.) The RRD you have to stay to the back with your rig, more like on a traditional surfboard. Especially to foil back and forth, this is relaxed. Although the shape of the RRD looks a lot like starboard’s, the RRD is less stable. But to still stability is good. The speed of the wind foil is also good. For our feeling, the speed on the reach is similar to the Starboard Carbon Race.
Don’t push it
Half wind with a not too big sail (up to about 6.5 m2) so the RRD Flight Alu does very well. If you go with a bigger sail (> 7.5 m2) and push it upwind then we noticed that this wind foil is less suitable for that. It seems that the construction is not stiff enough and that the mast is building something. This results in something that is most similar to the onset of a spin-out and less stable flying behavior. Okay we still compare it to the Starboard carbon race.
No fair comparison
Because the RRD flight look so much like the Starboard Carbon Race, we were almost no different from comparing h’m to its great example. On the reaching course the RRD also comes along really well. In fact, we have to compare this wind foil with other freeride wind foils in the price range around 1,200 euros. If the ones do, then we can only conclude that this is a very good wind foil. If we compare h’m to, for example, the Starboard aluminium Freeride or GT, the Starboard wind foils are just as easier and more forgiving, but the RRD is definitely faster and more challenging to foil.