F4 Foils and Roberts Composites partner to deliver the ultimate windwing board.
To commemorate the launch of the F4 board product lines, F4 Foils and Roberts Composites partner to deliver the ultimate combination. The best of foils and boards to enable unparalleled performance and user experience.
Roberts Composites started in 1984 as a typical startup in a …. garage! Over three decades later the board building progression and evolution continues, driven by the endless pursuit of craftsmanship perfection. As Rob calls it – Boardbuilding is a lifestyle! Roberts Composites has been one of the key innovators in board building technology. From the invention of cutouts, shorter radical shapes, tail entry tracks, and board construction types, Rob has led the design and evolution of windsurfing and windwinging boards.
This initial collaboration is limited to only 20 custom build boards in 2 configurations, a 85 litres – 22 1/2 x 4′ 6” 4- 41/2 thick – 4.2 kilograms Flight GP F4 board, and 95 litre – 24” x 4′ 8” 4 1/2 – 5 ” thick 4.8 kilograms Flight GP F4 Board. The carbon fiber and epoxy sandwich boards are specifically designed and shaped by Rob to match the performance characteristics of the F4 GP foils. They feature the patent pending Tail entry track system allowing riders to mount and dismount the foil from the board in seconds, and provide much broader tuning and placement options. The Flight GP F4 board is the lightest and stiffest on the market, providing you better feedback from your foil, and better pumping action for faster take off, while requiring much less energy so you can enjoy much longer riding sessions. The boards are made exclusively for F4 Foils by hand in North Vancouver, BC Canada and sold through F4foils.com
Shapes and design
With winging rapidly changing it is hard to know what is new, what is old, what works and what doesn’t.
Volume – we put the volume in the right spot so when you stand up you are in your foiling stance. Generally our volume is thicker further aft than most boards, allowing the rider to mount their foil furter aft while enabling us to make the board shorter. Having a shorter board provides huge benefits in maneuvering and control and eliminates the need to shift your weight making takeoff, pumping, and tricks a joy!
Cutaways – This is a very important aspect of our design. The reduced surface in the back of the board allows the rider to pump more efficiently while pushing the tail down to get flight. All edges are sharp for fast water release and early flight. The cutaways are also cut quite deep into the board both forward and up into the deck allowing you to ride waves, cut hard turns and land epic jumps while the corners of the board will not catch.
Bottom chines – A great way of getting more clearance on the rail and also gives the board a much narrower feel because the rails don’t touch down as easily.
Deck concave – Once riders try them, they can not live without them. The key benefits are weight loss and a stronger deck shape which adds stiffness to the board, and much better leverage over the board and foil for the rider.
Outline – we are continually working on this and early on in wing board design we tested endless configurations. We are very happy with the final outline design of this board – great balance for many conditions.
Construction – Once shaped high density Divinycell sheet foam it is cut and perfectly fit to the EPS foam blank. Carbon and S-Glass are wetted out with epoxy resin on the EPS Foam the sheet foam is placed on the wet the Glass and Vacuum bagged. Once cured the blank is reshaped once again. Inserts are laid out and installed. The outside skins of the board are once again Vacuum S- glass epoxy. Once cured this is about the halfway point upon completion. In total it can take 25- 30 hours to build one hand made piece of art. We use nothing but the best materials that we can find in all our builds. The sandwich construction is difficult but we have never found a better way to build boards. They are strong and light and have proved this over decades.
Tail entry track system – The patent pending Tail entry track system is a Roberts Composites invention. A fully carbon box which is built in house. This box is so strong and stiff it actually adds to the performance of the board!
The bespoke launch edition of Flight GP F4 board is available now through www.f4foils.com
