Behind the Design – Airush Team Foilboard
We catch up with Designer Clinton Filen on the Airush Team Foilboard, looking into the key features, and insight into the design rationale…
What was the idea behind the Team Foilboard?
We had originally done a bunch of development on racing foilboards and more freeride oriented shapes. I was working with Mark Pattison and Elias Ouahmid on developing the early versions of the Ultra single strut kites, with these being set out as being the ultimate lightwind and foil freeride kite. It made sense for us to take that same concept and apply it to developing a high performance freeride foilboard. As we kept developing the high performance Freeride foil space, the Team Foilboard has continued to evolve.
What is the concept behind the Team Series products?
Essentially, it’s a collection that showcases our kite and board models that sit at the pinnacle of all Airush products. Established to enable you to ride exactly what our Pro Team ride, without compromise. This is our platform for really pushing our product development, which ultimately reflects on everything we do.
Looking at the outline and top deck, what are the key concepts here?
We kept a super parallel outline to keep the board stable, along with a wide nose compared to a lot of what is out there. We found that the wider nose kept the touchdowns more predictable, especially as we reduce the lengths.
Looking at the bottom shape, there is race heritage there, right?
Yes, Elias comes from a racing background and he wanted to ensure the Team Foilboard kept the really easy touchdown. This is critical on a performance foilboard and also really benefits the Freeride customers, possibly even more, as you spend more time going on and off the foil.
You have stainless inserts for the foil instead of traditional boxes, can you take us through this?
The inserts allow us to save over 10% of the board weight. The Team Foilboard weighs spot on 3 kg, and is compatible with most hydrofoils on the market using a 90 x 140mm or 90 x 165mm plate.
What was the focus in the construction?
The loads the foil put onto the board are huge, so we have a full high-density connection from the foil inserts to the top deck. The top deck featured a Carbon Innegra blend that is optimized for impact resistance and overall strength. This continues around the rail as foil boards tend to be put on, or dropped, onto their rail more than other boards. The bottom deck has a UD carbon fiber layer for maximum stiffness; together with the thickness and the concave top deck, the overall stiffness is incredible.
Any other key points?
Yes, we added a front V strap to the version 3 based on the requests from the team, and increased the overall nose rocker, to assist on the touch down recovery.
