There are now many good freeride wind foils for sale, with the Starboard Freeride foil being the best-selling wind foil for years. In this segment you really have to come up with something else to get a foothold. We are therefore curious what the F4 Foils Freeride windfoil adds in this segment. We tested this F4 Foil Freeride in almost the same setup before wingfoiling and we were very happy with this foil. Fast and playful were the most important features. We are curious whether these features will also come out with the F4 Foils Freeride windfoil.
F4 Foils Freeride windfoil: Front wing: 1400 cm2 | Back wing: 228 cm2 | Fuselage: 85 cm | Mast: Aluminium 85 cm | Price: 1.499,-
We have already written about most parts in previous reviews. The great thing about this aluminum foil mast is that it is easy to convert into a wingfoil mast. We also tested the F4 Foils Freerace with the 85 cm long aluminum mast and we were impressed with the stiffness and hydrodynamic profile of the mast. In addition to the version with the 85 cm aluminum mast, the F4 Foils Freeride windfoil is also available with the HM 97 cm carbon mast. The cream of the crop, of course, but we think that most freeride wind foilers opt for the variant with the aluminum mast.
In addition to the 85 cm long aluminum mast, this foil has an aluminum fuselage of 85 cm and full carbon wings. The front wing has an area of 1400 cm2 and the back wing is relatively small with an area of 228 cm2. This F4 Foil Freeride also comes with a very neat foil bag! The quality and finish of this foil is also in good order. The foil is easy and quick to assemble.
F4 Foils Freeride playful and fast
Our bench mark is the Starboard Freeride foil. This foil has been in the range since 2019 and a best seller from day 1. We also like to use this foil for our lessons because this foil is very stable, forgiving and very versatile. A solid all-rounder. As soon as we have properly tuned the F4 Foils Freeride (more on that below), we go on the water with a lot of wind (16 to 22 knots) with a 4.4 m2 sail. Getting on the foil is now very easy of course. The foil builds up a nice lift and accelerates amazingly well for a Freeride foil. Due to the relatively small back wing, the foil is less stable than the Starboard Freeride, but feels a lot more stable than the Starboard SuperCruiser. We notice that the foil challenges us. The F4 Foils Freeride windfoil is like a young dog, he really likes to play, ride wavesf, turn short turns and make jumps. The foil is very agile and that makes playing with waves really fun. At the same time, the foil is very fast. If we steer the foil a little down wind, we easily reach more than 40 km / hour! And that with a front wing of 1400 cm2! Upwind foiling is also going well. That makes the foil also suitable for a small tour on the foil.
We have tested the F4 Foils Freeride under various wind foilboard and we think this foil fits the best on a wind foilboard that is also manoeuvrable. We found the match with the Severne Alien 145 and the Starboard Foil X just a little better than with the Starboard Freeride foilboard 150.
Even with less wind, the F4 Foils Freeride quickly gets on the foil. About as fast as the Starboard Freeride foil. The Severne Redwing does rise a little earlier. With less wind, the F4 Foils glides through the water the easiest and is therefore the fastest compared to the other freeride foils. The range of the F4 Foils Freeride is particularly wide. Flying from 8 to 9 knots with a 7.5 m2 to 8.0m2 is certainly possible. The most fun and distinctive we found the foil with more wind (> 15 knots) and nice and small sails on smaller / more agile wind foilboards. In the higher wind range, the F4 Foils Freeride is faster, more playful and more agile than the other freeride wind foils.
F4 Foils mast extra attention for trim
As with the F4 Foils Freerace , we had to adjust the angle of the mast slightly to ensure that the nose of our board stayed up nicely. The angle of the fuselage to the bottom of the board is standard 0 degrees. We may easily get on the foil, but during wind foiling we have to tilt our sail quite far back to ensure that the nose of our board remains neatly horizontal in the air. In addition, the board slows down considerably as soon as we have a touch down.
The solution is to use special spacers or shims to adjust the angle of the mast in the board. After some trial and error we arrive at an ideal angle of between 2 and 3 degrees. With this angle we have more lift and the nose of the board stays nicely in the air. We feel a better balance in the complete set and that also gives a little more power on average. We stay also more comfortable, which also gives us more control. As an additional advantage, the nose of the board rises nicely again when we have a touch down. We also give the back wing with the included shims a slightly more positive angle to get a little more lift. These 2 adjustments ensure that we have sufficient lift at all times and have a good balance in the set.
F4 Foils Freeride for ‘sportier’ freerider
The feel and performance of the F4 Foils Freeride windfoil is really different from our reference. The foil is very playful, like a young dog. This character will appeal to the (we call it) ‘sportier wind foiler’. The foil challenges you to play, carve, make jumps and ‘accelerate’ on the straight. The foil is less stable than, for example, the Starboard Freeride. The Starboard Freeride is more the foil where you can easily and stably wind foil back and forth. The F4 Foils Freeride comes closer to the Starboard Supercruiser but is much faster, more fun and more stable.
- Suitable for learning wind foiling
- For the heavier wind foilers (> 90 kilos) we recommend purchasing a larger back wing for a little more lift
- Best in combination with smaller / agile wind foilboard with small sails
- For the sportier all-round wind foilers who don’t shy away from speed either
- Quality foil including solid foil bag
The F4 Foils is a sporty freerider that really adds something in this segment. Are you looking for a sportier and more challenging freeride windfoil? Put the F4 Foils Freeride on your list to test out!
Want to test F4 Foils Freeride windfoil?
Do you want to try the F4 Foils Freeride windfoil or another F4 Foils foil yourself or do you want advice? Send us a message and we will be happy to help you.