Foilboard Comparison - What is better the mid length shape or the soap bar shape

After ridding a mid length shape board for a long time, I wanted to see how it feels to be back on a shorter more compact board like the Armstrong FG board. It was actually a quite interesting experience.

0:00 Intro
0:48 Compare the shapes
1:19 A confession and the conditions that day
1:44 Getting the board started
2:47 Riding the waves
3:19 The conclusion

[mauryjacob]

Thanks for this excellent comparison. I have been thinking about midlengths but just advanced to my 80L bar soap board and love it! I wing flatwater inland and working into Gorge swell riding.
Biggest advantage of the bar soap shape for me? It fits in the van! 😅.
Anything over 5.5’ and I have a major redesign on my hands so it is unlikely I will go that route, but “bi-curious” 😂.
Anyway, your comparison eases my mind that I won’t need to remodel the van anytime soon.
Thanks for that!

[oceanpixels]

I like the format of video. I have actually asked myself the exact same thing as I ride the same 2 boards but I came up with different conclusions. I preferred ml unstrapped in waves as it has a real surfy projection feel to it.
However the soap bar I prefer with straps and better for airs.

What’s easier to get up is totally debatable in light winds. I find the ml harder to get on surface but once there it takes off much easier with such better glide

[avinashbikha]

I've been going back and forth between my 80L KT wingdrifter and 115L AK Nomad (which i bought for trying DW) after seeing all the pain on YT to learn paddling straight etc I'm holding off to learn DW. I am venturing out with the 7' * 23" in 1m waves and its surprisingly very surfy. The best part is the stability getting up and going. But everytime I'm on the KT wingdrifter its refreshingly stable in jibes and tacks and feels so much lighter. Yes donkeying off the front happens when trying to get up but once you switch the mind and technique getting up and going is also very easy (as thats what i did for nearly 1.5 year on this KT) So even if have a 35L difference between my board I still find it hard to choose. Probably if I had a 95L AK Nomad I would settle for that as a single board. If the 115L is that good in wave riding the 95 can only be better!

[larsbellmann]

In your opinion, a perfect set up would be a ml at body weight for light wind and a fg -20 for stronger wind?

[innovruptly]

The rig on a windsurfer is designed to keep pressure which keeps the nose of the board trimmed. With wing foiling and rig foiling what are the limitations? At what point does the wind begin lifting the nose, is this a problem and is it easy to correct?
I gues that with foiling there is no cavitation aka spin-out of the tail?

[ApriliaRSV-]

Cash still uses and wins events on the soap bar shape

[venomguysydney]

The raised edge rails on the FG boards are a real negative, the ML55 flat surface is a winner everytime.