Sroka Wing Foil Pack – Our Advice

That's it, Wing Foiling is everywhere, and everyone is talking about it. After reading our article on "How to get started in Wing Foiling," you realize that it's the easiest way to learn how to foil, and above all, one of the most fun ways to enjoy the water compared to other water sports. You then find yourself faced with an abundance of equipment and packs dedicated to Wingfoiling at very different prices. Do you dream of flying on the water and surfing the swell without fighting for overcrowded waves? Now is the time to invest in a pack. But you still need to know how to choose your Wing Pack. We've written this article to answer our customers' recurring questions and to help riders who see our ambassadors progressing on their local spots.

At Sroka Company, we are above all passionate. Our goal is to share this passion with you, through equipment that we enjoy developing and using ourselves, without being overpriced. We want to make high-performance, durable, and evolutionary equipment accessible at an affordable price. In this article, we will simply give you some ideas to consider. All this advice is based on concrete technical elements, such as how we develop our foil wings or boards, and our experience. We illustrate everything with our equipment to help you choose the type of equipment (wing, board, and foil) that suits you best, and that can evolve with you without limiting you to beginner or unsellable equipment later on. Finally, we will present our Wing Foil range and explain our development choices (including why we have been producing full sandwich boards in France for almost 10 years).

• Choosing your wing foil board
• Choosing your foil
• How to choose your wing
• Making a choice for my Wing Foil pack

All our answers to the questions you have about choosing your board!

• What type of board for beginners?
• What type of board for intermediate level?
• Which board for performance?
• The different board constructions
• To summarize…

What type of board for beginners?

To fully enjoy the experience, we advise you not to overestimate yourself, by choosing equipment adapted to your level to fully enjoy the experience. We invite you to pay particular attention to the choice of the board. It is the board that will determine your very first rides: its volume, its length/width ratio, its construction, and its hull, all are important. So, to fully enjoy the moments of happiness of your first flights, avoid at all costs a board that is too small or too technical: for beginners in Wingsurf, the race for miniaturization often means a frustrating experience. Your experience in board sports is a help, but wing foiling remains a new sport with new rules!

With new technologies, inflatable wingfoil boards are becoming an interesting alternative to hardboards. They offer a surprising feeling of comfort and safety on the water (falling on the board will no longer hurt you), making you forget they are under your feet, to give way to all the sensations of gliding. They forgive all impacts, on the slipway or at sea, and avoid having to go to the shaper after each session. They manage the feat of combining good performance with the advantage of easy transport at an affordable price. Everything you expected, in short! If you have a small car trunk, you are a traveler, or you live in an apartment, this is an innovative solution allowing you to fit all your quiver in one bag.

Hardboards remain a safe bet. They are more forgiving of contact with water and offer a more pleasant gliding sensation during take-off. More rigid, they transmit (a little) better support to the foil. However, they remain more fragile than inflatable boards and require increased attention during handling on land, in addition to space to store and transport them.

Wing foiling with a suitable inflatable Paddle (one fin at the back and one in the middle to prevent drifting) is the best way to discover wind sports. The stability of the SUP will build your confidence to easily master the wing. The whole family can get involved.

Click here to learn more about our inflatable SUP + Wing pack.

What type of board for intermediate level?

You already practice foiling on another support (wind foil, surf foil, kite foil...) or wingfoiling. It's time to invest in an intermediate Wing Foil pack. With these packs, you'll start to step out of your comfort zone to discover new sensations. By reducing the dimensions of your board, your pumping will be more efficient, and your turns will be more radical. Welcome to a new world. You'll start to look differently at waves you didn't dare to surf before with your beginner equipment. However, the idea is not to give up all the comfort that makes your sessions enjoyable. The equipment we offer in this category does not require water-starting or an amazing technical level to have fun.

The front wing: To put it simply, there are three families of front wings: Low Aspect, Mid Aspect, and High Aspect (here's a detailed article on aspect ratios). Low Aspect wings are stocky, with a small wingspan. With their fighter jet shape, they are very maneuverable, but their lateral stability, especially on small surfaces, sometimes leaves something to be desired.

High Aspect foils are more elongated, like glider wings. High Aspect foils fly with the stability of an albatross. Your pumping will be effortless and their flying speed is impressive. They offer an excellent gliding sensation. However, these are relatively technical and less maneuverable foils, often requiring the use of a shorter fuselage to compensate.

Mid Aspect foils are forgiving, maneuverable and generate very good lift (we recommend the 1750 for beginners). They represent a good compromise between the two worlds, especially if you can't afford to buy a foil for every spot and condition type. If you are more experienced, you can reduce the surface of your foil (e.g., 1250) to maneuver on demand without ever stalling in turns and waves.

The mast: For beginners or those sailing in shallow, very calm waters, we recommend 70cm masts. They are the safe choice, and falls will be less dramatic than with longer masts. These masts are useful in surf foiling to stay in contact with the wave.

Capable of getting a beginner flying and allowing a more experienced rider to progress with great sensations, the 80cm mast offers excellent versatility. It is the safe choice for a first investment.

For those who truly want to perform, surf big waves, or sail in very choppy waters, we recommend a 90cm mast or longer. You'll be able to angle close to the water to head upwind. These masts are not for beginners as they are less forgiving of mistakes.

Simply put, there are two types of shapes: those that are stubby and those with more span. If you like to twirl freely, we recommend a stubby shape which will have the advantage of being compact and maneuverable. If you are looking for the thrill of exhilarating and controlled top speed, while having very good stability in surfing, opt for a more elongated wing.

Boom or inflatable center strut?

Construction with a boom is very rare. So rare, in fact, that only one brand offers it. While you can place your hands freely, it's non-foldable, cumbersome, and heavier. Your transport comfort will suffer, especially if you're traveling. It's also more dangerous in case of a fall if you hit the boom head-on or if you hit your board's deck with it.

If you took up wingsurfing in part to get rid of the old world of heavy and complicated gear to rig, and you're looking for a wing that can be forgotten when sailing as well as in a car trunk, then the inflatable center strut is the right option. Before making your choice, you need to imagine that you'll be sailing with your arms above your head for the entire session. After two hours, we are absolutely convinced you'll greatly appreciate having a kilo less to carry, the lightness and ease of use.

What's more, you can't imagine an easier setup. A pump stroke and you're done. In less than two minutes, your wing is inflated and only launching stands between you and the joy of flight. And once the session is over, or if you're suddenly overcome with the urge to travel, transport is all the easier. All it takes is a bag to fit the wing into any luggage or car trunk. It's up to you to choose the best option, the one that matches your riding style and desires, but we sincerely believe that the inflatable choice is the one that best matches the spirit of Wingsurf Foil, with its simplicity, the freedom it allows, and its user-friendly aspect never seen before in watersports.

How many handles?

Some brands continue to cover the central strut with handles. Others opt for simplicity, with a front handle and a rear handle. The right question to ask yourself to decide is: what do I really need? If you want to fly gracefully in light wind, have hours of fun in big conditions without getting physically battered, or have complete freedom in surfing, you'll need a light wing. The lighter the wing, the less it needs your help to self-support, and the more freedom of movement you have.

Experience has also shown us that we always place our hands in the same places, regardless of the number of handles. So why bother with extra weight, weak points, and useless, confusing handles? For all these reasons, we choose to have only what is truly necessary on the wing: three comfortable, wide, and sturdy handles. One for the front hand, one for the back hand, and one for surfing located on the leading edge. A portion of this saved weight is reinvested in carefully placed reinforcements, so that it is genuinely useful and not just a selling point.

We also add two V-shaped handles. These allow for overpowered or underpowered sailing, provide freer hand placement, and always ensure support during maneuvers. They are becoming increasingly common.

Why favor a taut canopy on the trailing edge, and what depth?

If you want a responsive, reactive, more performant wing capable of capturing the slightest gust to transform it into propulsive power, a taut trailing edge is essential. For those for whom intense, high-speed sailing is the norm, we still advise leaving a little slack to facilitate flow, as one would do on a tightly sheeted windsurfing sail. A sail that is too taut will quickly become unmanageable in gusts.

The distribution of panels is crucial for maintaining the profile in flight. If they are carefully placed, drag will be significantly reduced, and the wing will be much less physically demanding. You will feel as one with your equipment, which will greatly enhance your sense of pleasure.

To choose your depth, it all depends on what you need at your favorite spot. If you need a super powerful wing capable of getting you started quickly, opt for a deeper draft. However, it will saturate relatively quickly, lose stability at high speeds, and become very physical at the top end of its range. If you are looking to achieve higher maximum speed, choose a shallower draft. Your wing will generate a little less power at low speeds, but will accelerate endlessly like a dream, while providing a much more pleasant feeling of stability and control at the top end.

Windows or not?

Windows in the sail would be practical on crowded spots... which is still far from being the case for now. You also need to be aware that windows add weight to wings and, depending on the quality of the materials used, can be a point of weakness. If you opt for a wing without windows, it will force you to lift the sail to look downwind. So, it's a choice based on your needs.

In a pack, each element is of fundamental importance. Take the best board in the world with a low-end foil and you will never take off. Choosing your pack well will save you the frustration of equipment that is technically inaccessible, or on the contrary too sluggish.

At Sroka Company, we are first and foremost a team of enthusiasts and practitioners. Our goal is to share this passion with you. We are proud to use the equipment we offer here ourselves. There is therefore no question of making you sail with materials that will give up after 10 sessions or making you pay for marketing and supposedly revolutionary innovations that are not. We want to offer you high-end at an accessible price, ensuring that every practitioner finds a pack that perfectly matches their expectations. All our equipment is plug-and-play and versatile, delivered with their leash and a foil transport bag.

Beginner level

• The Sky Rider 6'3 or 5'8 Pack depending on your size
• The Air 6' or 6'4 Pack if you prefer inflatable

Intermediate level

• Sky Rider 5'8 or 5'5
• Air 6' or 5'3

Advanced level

• Sky Rider 5'5, or build your foil as you wish on our website (links below)
• Air 5'3 if you only want one board to take everywhere with you
• the Fast Flyer 4'6 pack, fully customizable on request. No compromises with a 38L Made in France board for performing your best freestyle tricks.

We make sure our packs are as versatile as possible, aware that the investment is substantial. Our goal is not to make you buy a foil every year, and to support your development in the very long term, we have ensured that our foil is fully modular, with parts at a reasonable price. Here are all the possible customizations for your Wingfoil pack, according to your needs:

The different foil parts:

• Our fuselages
• Our masts
• The plate
• All Classic Freeride Foils (Mid Aspect)
• All High Aspect foils
• Adjustment shims

Boards and Wings:

• Sroka Wing
• All Hard Boards
• Surf and Kite foil boards
• All Inflatable Boards

We also support you with various articles and tutorials! Discover how to learn Wingfoiling, how a Surf foil works, or how to choose your spot in the News and Tutorials section of our website!

If you have any questions or want to share moments spent on the water with our community, don't hesitate to join your Sroka Sessions Facebook group!