r/GongGalaxy

ATMO foils

ATMO foils

I bought and tested a few of them

Trail team L, XL and XXL

I had the previous Trail (now perf edition) in L and XL. The team edition offers more glide as expected. More agility at the same size (L vs L), a different agility at same surface (Team XXL vs Perf XL) i.e. it feels more agile sometimes but I can still feel it's really big at other times. The lift per area is definitely higher than previous version (Team XXL vs Perf XL), I'm not 100% sure it exactly as high when you compare the same size (L vs L), it's really high though : I'm 100kg and at my second session I did 7/8 successful beach start on the team L (easy spot, but I'm not even sure I was that high with the Perf XL last year on the same spot). I was at more than 50% success dead starting the team L from a concrete dock. I managed to launch the team L from the BLISS into waves, less than 50% launch success rate, but really fun to surf : agile and allowing me to reconnect for long durations, I plan on trying it in surf foil and I expect it to be an upgrade on the Veloce V3 XXL.

I did my best wake thief ever on the team L. I'm a beginner at that and only ever get few attempts (3-4 last year, only one this year)

It is still not a long distance front wing, I made 3 attempts at lasting on the team XXL and failed to beat my PR on the Perf XL (110s).

Hyper Trail XL

I wasn't planning on buying this one, but when they put it in my hands in the shop, it looked so nice, I changed my order and switch the Ypra Surf Carve L to the HT XL.

I was impressed to be able to beach start and dead start it even if at low success rates.

Beach start of the Trail team L and Hyper Trail XL

Dead start of the Trail team L and Hyper Trail XL

Good glide, feels fast to pump and fun to turn, better on every aspect than the Veloce V3 XXL even launch accessibility and agility.

Tried it in wing in very light wind. I was with the Xiggy 6'11". After the success at beach start I was hoping for really early take offs, but in the end I was not impressed by how early I could pump on foil, maybe the Xiggy is limiting me there. It was flat water, tacks are made easy, it's more agile than a Veloce V3 XXL despite the 4cm additional wingspan and feels like it's be faster if you take it in enough wind to push it. I'm not recommending to buy it for winging, but if you have it, it's a good possible usage.

Veloce FreeFly team edition L and XL

I had the Veloce V3 (now perf edition) in L, XL and XXL. I only tried the FF winging on flat water or a mix of very small swell + chops from different directions. I tried them with a Veloce DW lower XL stab at 0° on tail M which is also supposed to add extra glide over the Veloce L 0° tail M I wave using with the Veloce V3.

Just after the first take off and the first jibe + tack I was nearly disappointed because I couldn't feel the theoretical extra glide but at the end of the session I was totally euphoric about it. The FF as a much lower minimal speed, recovers much better from, it's (a lot) more rigid, really forgiving and much more agile than the previous Veloce overall. It's not as good rail to rail as the Fluid V3, but at least as forgiving on every little mistakes and imprecisions, recovering better from low speed than Fluid or Veloce V3. There is not the "I need to anticipate each change in my turns to stay in control of the foil" that made the Veloce V3 more advanced level than the others. On the glide side, as I said, I can't feel it's more than Veloce V3 on flat water, but when surfing the messy chop I had, I was doing way better, at first I though "here's the better glide", but it's probably also a combinaison with how easy the FF is overall. The FF is so easy that I'm pretty sure it's easier to learn jibes and tacks on it than on the Curve V3 and maybe even the X-Over for the jibes, the only thing that will prevent me to recommending it to a flying beginner will be learning to switch feet.

The FF is not naturally as fast as the Veloce V3, if I don't push it at all I can ride it at a lower average speed. Pushing it feels like it's much faster, in between the Ypra Surf V3 and Veloce V3, maybe closer to the Ypra Surf, I failed to get numbers to confirm the feeling though 😢

PS: for those who didn't notice my profile, I'm a GONG ambassador.

u/Hecubha — 4 days ago