Foiltest 2026

I recently had the chance to test one of the new SABFOIL Blackbird foils and compare it directly with my older SABFOIL setup, which uses the 671 front wing.

The Blackbird series is SABFOIL’s new performance-oriented freeride platform, covering everything from freeride and freerace to race and slalom. One of the major changes is the full-carbon monobloc front wing combined with the new aeronautics-inspired “active” fuselage.

With wingfoiling, pump foiling and similar disciplines now making up a large part of the foil market, I was particularly interested in how this new generation of foils translates to kite foiling. Kite foilers typically use considerably smaller wings and, at least for me, low weight and a low takeoff speed are still important characteristics.

The setup

I tested the Blackbird with the 700 front wing and 377 stabilizer. SABFOIL specifies a takeoff speed of around 13–15 knots for this setup.

What I liked

Once up to speed, the Blackbird feels excellent. The stability at higher speeds is particularly impressive. The foil feels very composed and clearly seems designed to be ridden fast. This is probably where the new design shows its biggest advantage over my older setup.

What I would need to get used to

The other side of that performance is the higher takeoff and stall speed.

At lower speeds, the foil stalls noticeably earlier than what I am used to, resulting in more frequent touchdowns. This becomes particularly noticeable during slow-speed maneuvers such as tacks. With my older setup, I can slow down considerably and still glide through the maneuver. With the Blackbird, maintaining speed seems much more important, despite using a front wing with roughly comparable area.

The other noticeable difference is weight. The complete setup is significantly heavier than my older foil, which matters to me particularly in marginal wind conditions.

Who is it for?

A lot depends on what you want from a foil. I tend to ride in relatively light winds, so low weight, early takeoff and good low-speed handling are high on my priority list. At the same time, I still want enough high-end performance that the foil doesn’t become uncomfortable when the wind picks up.

For pure racing, I would probably choose a dedicated race foil anyway. My personal upper comfort zone is somewhere around 25 knots of board speed. If you have ever crashed a foilboard into a floating submerged log or branch, you might understand why chasing another few knots is not necessarily at the top of my wish list.

My conclusion

The Blackbird 700 is clearly a more performance-oriented foil than my older SABFOIL 671 setup. It offers impressive stability at speed and feels like a very refined platform when ridden fast. The trade-off, at least from a kite-foiling perspective, is a higher takeoff and stall speed, less forgiving low-speed handling and noticeably more weight.

For riders prioritizing speed, freerace or racing-oriented performance, those compromises may make perfect sense. For my style of kite foiling—often in light wind, with an emphasis on early takeoff, low-speed maneuverability and low weight—the advantages are less clear.

If I had to choose between the two setups today, I would probably stick with my old 671.

Gear used:

OLD: Moses 101 cm Mast, 671 Front wing, 399 rear wing

NEW: KB-700-377-110/BB – Blade 700-377-110 Blackbird Kit