Liquid Force Kites Galaxy and Thruster Foil 4’8 2018
Reviews / Hydrofoil Boards
12,160
At A Glance
With kite foiling becoming a huge part of our sport, we have been checking out more and more hydrofoil products on the market. We have ridden some great foils from LF in prior years, this issue we are taking a look at the new Liquid Force Galaxy foil board and Thruster foil set up.
The Liquid Force Galaxy foil board is a dedicated foil board with bevelled rails and a concaved deck. Designed to sit at the top end of Liquid Forces foil board line up the Galaxy is lightweight and built out of a durable honeycomb construction. A full coverage gripped deck allows those riders wanting a strapless ride the comfort, while the options for all three strap configurations remain present.
The Thruster foil we headed out on incorporated the 2018 LF V2 94.8 cm mast, the alloy HD 81.7cm fuselage and the Thruster Glass wing set. The V2 mast can be used across the LF foil range. The alloy HD fuselage and glass wing sets come as the cheaper and more durable options compared with the carbon options from LF. Thruster foil is designed to be an easy to use, stable yet fast foil boasting more performance than the rocket foil.
The new HD fuselage has undergone some refinements making it more hydrodynamic. The glass wing set is the ideal choice for those wanting durability and a lower cost. One thing you’ll notice with the Thruster wing is the unique front wing design; this is to enables the wing to breach the surface while carving and remain stable.
The Galaxy foil board comes in one size and the Thruster foil wings, and fuselages come in two constructions: Glass and Carbon. These can be placed on either the 94.8cm or 60cm mast options. If you want to vary your ride, all LF foil wings can be fitted to the new fuselages.
“A high performing, robust and accessible freeride foil set up.”
On the Water
Set up of the LF foils is easy. The track system is fantastic, enabling you to completely tailor the feel of the foil. Giving yourself more or less leverage over the foil depending on your ability and style. I opted for the centre and went for a three-strap configuration.
Although we had the alloy and glass versions of this foil, it was apparent while carrying it down to the water’s edge that the new the Galaxy foil board is pretty lightweight.
Getting up on the foil was incredibly easy even in super light wind conditions, the board provides plenty of buoyancy while tracking across the surface, which we don’t see in some twin tip style boards. For myself within moments of getting up on the foil the stability and lift the Thruster creates came to my attention. Even at slow speeds, you have tons of lift, and it is very stable.
The foil isn’t designed to be a super-fast race foil. However, the speeds you can reach on the Thruster wings are going to be enough for 90% of foilers out there. Although you can achieve some serious speed with the Thruster, it remains stable and is very easy going to ride.
We started to chuck some carves in on this foil and found it to be incredibly smooth and effortless to turn. The foil transfers from side to side incredibly smoothly with no tendency to bite and crank over if you lean too far. The foil can indeed breach the surface while carving and doesn’t cause any loss of stability. The foil was also very smooth when performing jumps, the wings exit the water easily and get you foiling again with ease.
We enjoyed the bevelled edges on the Galaxy board, being able to really crank the board over and hammer upwind while having some forgiveness when the board touched through chop was excellent. The concaved deck is very comfortable underfoot and does indeed provide a great sense of feeling for the foil underneath.
Overall
The Galaxy and Thruster foil set up from Liquid Force is a high performing, robust and accessible freeride foil set up. The Thruster is stable enough for entry-level foilers, yet it has the performance for experienced riders. We found no issues at all with this set up and thoroughly enjoyed its feel on the water. Top points were stability at low speeds, stability at high speeds and the flowing nature of its carves.
Videos
This review was in Issue 69 of IKSURFMAG.
For more information visit Liquid Force KitesRelated
By Robin and Sukie
With years of kite sport experience combined, you can be sure you’ll be receiving the highest quality of knowledge on the best equipment the industry has to offer.
