Matt Nuzzo: What's up everybody? Matt Nuzzo hanging out here in the foil factory with Armie Armstrong. Thanks for coming all the way to China to the factory. Stoked. It is kind of crazy checking all the materials, checking all the testing stuff, seeing how it all works, and being here firsthand, taking some sessions on the new product. It's been really awesome to kind of see what you guys have created over here and how you're getting the quality and the standards of what you guys are making out here at the Armstrong factory.
Armie Armstrong: So, we have three new masts in the range, three new carbon masts. Really impressive stuff and a really impressive setup. Let's go through here. Start out at this first mast right here. What is this and who is it for?
Matt Nuzzo: Well, the Carbon MKII. The carbon mast has been a mainstay right from the beginning and we've updated this. All new size is 16 mil with a bigger chord. This is going to be a little bit easier for your beginner and lower price point because it's got more chord and it is thicker. You don't have to put such expensive high-end materials into it. It is quite a bit stiffer than the Mark 1, so it works for all size riders as well as all size foils. It's still a great mast, but it has our most chord and our most thickness out of any carbon mast we've made. It's grunty and it's really focused on that more beginner rider that wants to go have slow speed stability, be on foil, and be comfortable.
Armie Armstrong: Moving on to number two, we've got the Performance MKII. What's up with this mast?
Matt Nuzzo: We've poured so much tech into the Performance MKII in terms of the layout. The Performance MKII and the PMX, which we'll get to next, both have the highest grade composite that you can basically put into this kind of product. We've thrown the ball as far as we can with that. This is like the main mast most people need for most riding as soon as you can foil reasonably well. For anyone that's out there already ripping around, the Performance MKII is our most stable, most all-around mast ready to shred. We've thrown the kitchen sink at the materials on this one as well. It's 30% stiffer in straight stiffness and 20% stiffer torsionally. It is just way more reactive with way more drive to your feet.
Armie Armstrong: And this also has ultra-high modulus materials. Correct. Moving on to the third foil, we've got the Performance X.
Matt Nuzzo: If you're really looking for performance, we came up with the shortest chord foil we could. We've also taken it down to 12 mil. This thing is spicy. With this Performance X, what we really found was you have more glide. It's easier to maintain that glide and it is quicker rail to rail.
Armie Armstrong: Yeah, less drag. That just means that your foil is not slowing down as much between your pumps and it's way easier to stay high. You get way more projection. So, smaller bump riding, winging, para-winging; you just connect bumps like crazy on this thing and redirects. It's like changing to a smaller foil. It really makes a massive difference but increases your glide. On the UHA 770, I get the pump that I do on the 870 just by changing to this mast.
Matt Nuzzo: The shortest chord and the thinnest mast is the Performance X, then the mid-chord and mid-thickness, and then the biggest chord and the thickest. You've got performance going this way across the range. But the tough part about that is to get enough rigidity out of these dimensions. A 106 chord is tiny compared to pretty much anything that's out there. That is a big challenge structurally.
Armie Armstrong: And so we threw the kitchen sink at it. We went all the way to the M55, Toray, UHM. This stuff is very difficult to even procure; you've got to get massive orders of it, but we've committed. Our last mast range lasted for over three years and we're frothing on that. This range we've built out and made it really simple: the fattest, the all-around, and then the spicy. They all work for what they're intended to do.
Matt Nuzzo: Right on. Thanks for making great gear. If you want more reviews, reach out online at REALwatersports.com. Find out what mast is going to be right for your foiling and for your setup. Give us a call at the shop at 252-987-6000. We'll see you guys on the water for the next session.
