Price € 799,- | Mast 85 cm | Fuselage 70 cm | Frontwing width 68 cm | Back wing width 42cm | Alu mast and fuselage, wings G10
Neil Pryde can be seen as one of the forerunners when it comes to wind foiling. Neil Pryde has 2 wind foils in the range of rs Flight F4 Carbon and the RS Flight ALU tested by us. There are currently only a few wind foils on the market and they are a lot more expensive than this one. This wind foil costs ‘only’ € 799,-.
More wind needed
The construction feels solid and pretty stiff. As a result, this wind foil is quite heavy. We had to file a small piece of the frontwing because otherwise it didn’t fit on the fuselage. The wings are relatively small compared to the Starboard GT Carbon. You can tell that on the water. This wind foil clearly needs more wind to give you enough lift to fly and is therefore less stable. Where the Starboard GT Carbon flies with about 8 to 9 knots, you need at least 2 to 3 knots more here.
If you fly once then the search for the right balance is. The wind foil exhibits quite ‘dolphin’ behaviour (this means that during wind foils you alternately go up and down). After a while, things got better. Partly because the wind was increasing. If the wind drops away, you also sink back into the water faster than with the Starboard GT carbon and it is also more difficult to keep the right balance
Once accustomed to this wind foil, the sailing behaviour is fairly predictable and friendly. It is clearly less fast than the Starboard GT carbon and also points less high upwind. This makes this wind foil fine as an ‘entry level wind foil’. Once at speed, a terrible whistle sound develops in the mast. This is a common complaint to this wind foil. Too bad because it’s so special that you can be silently over the water.
Value for money
Especially considering the price (and also compared to the more expensive Starboard) this is a pretty good wind foil. Of course, he misses the speed of the more expensive wind foil and also needs more wind to let you fly. For most windsurfers, this is a wind foil that they can handle well.