High Modulus eFoil Mast Review: Is Lift's Upgrade Worth the Hype?

[@VerdantRide]

Thanks Leo for letting us borrow your 90HA!

[@gibsoce9]

Thanks for the honest review that I'm not hearing from the affiliates. I hear you loud and clear on the wish they would deal with the faceplate issue before this. To me, the drive signal should be sent in triple channels to the board. If any one of the three throws a different than expected signal it would be discarded before the rider knew it happened!

[@VerdantRide]

I think I found a decent solution for the LFS! I'll share in a future show.

[@VerdantRide]

I think I found the solution to LFS! I'll produce a show about it.

[@ThierryCiot]

I have started using a HA front wing and really like it. Several reasons one could use HA even on lakes: 1) longer ride time (and more distance covered) for same amount of battery as these wings tend to be more efficient. 2) I found it easier to go through wakes and turbulence in water - your lake seems always quiet but at some of the places I have ridden there were times where several boats were going and this tends to create wakes in multiple directions and lots of turbulence. 3) easier to get at higher speed - the wing feels more stable 4) easier to pump for downwind than with low aspect wings. In windsurf foiling, HA wings make a huge difference (positive) in many aspects of sailing but they are more difficult to gybe while still flying which is not an issue with efoils as one can keep the speed constant throughout a turn with just the press of button :)

[@VerdantRide]

1. Most lake riders I know aren't worried about longer ride times. It is easy for us to head to shore and grab a new power source. We're mostly concerned with performance while we ride. 2. The high-aspect isn't better at handling turbulence, but it is better at feeling turbulence. It is a benefit when feeling turbulence is a bonus like when riding waves. My 100 Surf V2 doesn't even really notice when I cut through a wake which is helpful especially when racing through the half-mile slalom when I need to cut across my own wake on pylon #3 on the final pass. 3. Gotta disagree with this one too. I'd say that HA actually doesn't like abrupt changes to speed as much as my surf wings. When I race I rely on throttle feathering as much as I do weight shift to keep my board level and my surf wings just respond much faster. In a race, I very quickly drop from low 30s MPH to as low as 15 MPH on tight turns after a straight-away and then need to accelerate back up to my top speed. The HA glide ratio doesn't allow me to drop my nose quick enough to zip through a turn or accelerate quickly to keep my board level. I'm sticking with my original assessment. HA is GREAT for riding waves especially with a folding prop. For riding flats, they just aren't optimized for the type of carve refinement most of us are after. BUT, I really had a fun time riding it with the new mast. It is very forgiving and kinda fun to glide for so long of the tiniest amount of power, and yes, you can pump it (a little) and it is good at turning altitude into forward momentum. A Surf wing will treat a pump as nothing more than a reduction in nose altitude.

[@NeilSeaver]

I agree 100% that the 2 biggest issues in the entire system are the random disconnects which have dumped me at 25mph causing 2 weeks of neck pain, and the poor placement of the propeller high above the front wing which severely limits high speed carving with safety and slow deep carves while high on the mast. I sincerely hope any future iterations address this stuff.

[@VerdantRide]

I think I found a decent solution for the LFS! I'll share in a future show.

[@NeilSeaver]

@@VerdantRide I’m eager for that episode

[@freddmann]

My local Lift dealer tells me the soon to be released Lift 5 will be a game changer. perhaps the high modulus 32-inch mast is part of a larger plan.

[@NeilSeaver]

I’m curious what could really be a game changer at this point. The main thing would just be getting these boards to be lighter and lighter to blur the line between Efoil and surf foil and increase maneuverability

[@VerdantRide]

People who sell you things always say that the next thing to buy are the best thing ever. No iPhone has ever been released by Apple without the accompanying statement, "this is the best iPhone we've ever made." This isn't always true and even if it is rarely are the advancements worth the cost of upgrading when your current ride investment is still a fantastic ride. But, I'm a guy that buys a new phone when I break or lose my current one, not for new features I rarely need. The best technology I own and use every day is usually considered completely obsolete by whose who benefit from selling new tech. I'm more concerned with keeping the things I own from owning me than I am with having the newest stuff.

[@_JustinChait_]

You gotta get on the new Flite Conical Carbon Dual Drive eFoil with 900Flow C. Major improvement from what your riding. Love your reviews. Very entertaining lol 🤙🏽🤙🏽

[@VerdantRide]

Interesting. I'm just editing a show where I'm going through the process of ordering a Fliteboard. I'm sure we'll have much to discuss when I post it. I look forward to being the first truly unbiased review comparing both Lift's and Fliteboard's highest performance boards back-to-back/side-by-side. I'm looking forward to bringing some true objectivity into the debate between the two leading brands.

[@VerdantRide]

Introducing Captain Riptide!

[@ThierryCiot]

Also, on the mast size, yes in general you want to have as high a mast as possible but there may be good reasons to use a shorter mast, for example, the outer bank in North Carolina is very shallow. I have not efoiled there but I have windsurf foiled and I cannot use my 103cm mast (40.5 inches) - I have to use a 72cm (28inches) and still need to walk in the water a fair distance to be able to take off.

[@VerdantRide]

Are you seriously arguing that having a mast 4 inches shorter is worth a $2000 investment so you can be slightly less likely to crash into a reef? The upsides of an additional 4" are massive when it comes to banking capability and breech reduction but I doubt will make much difference when it comes to hitting underwater obstacles. I think it is safe to argue that a taller mast is even safer when riding over sandbars and reefs because it is less likely to breech when riding high. When I breech my board dives fast and that makes it more likely for me to crash in shallow spots. I hear you, but I disagree with your logic on this one.

[@artemustimenko8191]

@@VerdantRide that's called making adjustments with gear and not your skill

[@VerdantRide]

I agree that skill usually trumps gear but…. Gear certainly can make a difference beyond skill and capability. Wings, for instance, are designed to be capable of certain tasks at certain speeds and are unable to perform reliably outside of their specific criteria they were designed to handle. There are things I can do with a taller mast that I simply cannot with a shorter regardless of how much I practice with it.

[@boatsailmag]

Less cavitation, more control and finesse, maybe?

[@VerdantRide]

I'd say less wiggle and flex and higher predictability because of this.