In September we went to Sicily with Nik Baker and Tim Frampton to test the latest Duotone Units, Dlabs and Slick SLS wings, Fanatic foils and foilboards. Luckily for us we had 3 out of 4 days that were windy that gave us a chance to really test the gear in both flat water and in small waves; talk to the designers and get the full picture of how Duotone have evolved the development for this new model of the Unit.
We had the opportunity to have a chat with Skye Solbach the chief designer/tester – check out the video below where he chats about the new wing design.
Version 3 of the Duotone Unit, 2023 model, looks at first glance not a huge difference from the V2 model – what we noticed straight away is that there is more panels in the canopy, you can feel the power as soon as you get out on the water – its light and responsive when you use the wing the leach holds its shape in the gusts and there is pretty much no billowing. Duotone have also flattened out the dihedral on the leading edge and there is more efficient glide and stability when you are heading downwind. We really liked the fact that this wing has solid handles because you get such direct drive while you are out on the water and real response from the wing when you need it.
You can pump the Unit up to its maximum PSI (each size wing has a different PSI setting) but you can change the performance and soften the feel by taking half a bar of pressure out so as the wind gets stronger you can choose what level of feel you want from the wing. What you do notice when using the new Unit is that its superlight and the weight is not all in the leading edge, the balance feels really good. Duotone are making a DLab version of this new Unit will be launched at the end of November, if you are waiting for this, the extra reason is that the wing is even lighter and because of the extra pressure you can get into the leading edge and centre strut this gives you a bigger wind range than the standard model.
We have most sizes in stock at 2XS and will have on demo and in the school at our beach site.
Sizes available: 2m, 2.5m, 3m, 3.5m, 4m, 4.5m, 5m, 5.5m, 6m & 6.5m
3 colour options: White/heron blue; white/salmon rose; white/aurora
Click here to go to the product page of the Duotone Unit 2023 on the 2XS website
