~Intro~
I ordered two new boards for 2025 and am excited for another big year in the water. A significant change for me this year is going from riding all production dimensioned boards to riding customs. I've ridden enough boards at this point to have started to hone in on certain dimensions that I really like. For this year I decided to ask Christian from Poseidon and Dylan from Sunova to help me customize the dims on a new Carver as well as to set me up with this reviews board, a custom Sunova Pilot. I love the Carver and feel it to be the best board I've ever ridden as a performance all-rounder. The goal with the Pilot is to let go of a bit of the all-rounder element and lean towards a board that is higher performance in specific circumstances.
~Rider Data and Style~
Location: Columbia River Gorge.
Experience: 150+ days a year. 8000+ miles on foil.
Weight: 86kg
Style: I'm winging and riding on swell while specifically looking for down the line, steeper, wave like setups. I prefer top to bottom turns with fast rail to rail action. If it's flat, I usually spend my time sailing around exploring the river, pushing myself on small swell and/or working on more aggressive tacks and 360s so I can more easily transfer those skills into swell riding.
~Board History~
For reference sake, feel free to take a quick look at my board history so you can tell how my quiver has evolved and where I'm coming from: Complete Board History
This board showed up with the following dims:
5'9"x20" 65.7l
9.3lbs (4.2kg) with my deck pad added. (Delivered under 9lbs).
BAR*GF: 2.61 (click here to learn more about BARG Factors)
~Gear and Conditions Used in Testing~
Foils:
AFS Silk 1050 w/132 and Ultra 750 w/ha38. Skinny 75cm UHM mast.
Sails:
3m and 4m Ocean Rodeo AA as well as the 2m Strike v3.
Wind and Swell:
Tested in flat water to chest high swell with winds ranging from 20 knot average to 38 knot average.
High End: I had no problems when the wind was gusting to 45 knots. The only thing worth noting in those situations is that when walking through shallow water with the foil up my kit was light enough to flip up and fly away in the wind so be careful. Otherwise, it was excellent in high winds and large swell.
Low End: TBD. I don't really intend to use this in lighter conditions as the volume to kilogram deficit removes it from lightwind superiority. I bought this for high end shredding and intend to use it that way.
~First Impressions~
On land:
As always, my Sunova boards show up well packaged. Typically to the point where I need an assist getting them out of the box since they are so meticulously wrapped and sealed up for transit from overseas. I always love the surprise that comes with unwrapping a new one. As a woodworker I appreciate seeing the wood grain and am always intrigued as to how my boards will look when they show up. I'm 5 boards deep into my Sunova journey and I'm yet to be disappointed. The other thing I immediately noticed was the board weight. It's really light. I asked for this, but you never know exact weights until its on a scale. My last board was a 5'10" Carver that weighed 10.75lbs. This Pilot showed up nearly 2lbs lighter before throwing on a deck pad which brought it to about 1.5lbs lighter which is a huge weight drop. It's worth noting that this board does not come with a deck pad. I'm fine with this as I prefer to DIY mine.
On the water:
I took this little beauty out to my favorite spot for its first ride on a day that the conditions couldn't be more perfect for answering questions. The wind was averaging 20 knots, there was flatwater zones, swell riding areas, and 3 mile downwind upwind laps to complete. 20 knots is a decision making point for me, moving from the 4mAA down to my 3mAA when using my Carver and when just over 20 knots I can usually switch to the 750 Ultra with the 3mAA. So, for a first test I grabbed the 3mAA and the Silk 1050 and headed out.
First things first was the balance and water start on this board which was a non issue for me. I stuck to my tried and true variation on the knee water start and didn't have balance problems (nor have I needed another water start in any wind and swell conditions). I noticed a small decrease in the efficiency of my water start and had to sit through a few lulls but that was to be expected. I was dropping 20 liters off of my 5'10"x20" Carver and I wasn't sizing up wings or foils to accommodate.
The second thing I noticed was how the deck felt which is immediate and undeniable. The Carver and my Aviator have a more relaxed deck embracing a flowy riding style. The Pilot on the other hand has slightly wider concavity built into it (much more on this below) and provides a more direct/immediate response to foil inputs.
The third thing I noticed that was standout enough for my buddy to also point out immediately was how well this kit pumped. This board is really light and when matched with my foil set the total weight of this kit (board, foil, mast) comes in at 14.8lbs or 6.73kg. This weight reduction makes pumping a breeze.
~Dims Analysis~
Volume: 65.7l
I'm a big fan of volume because I lean heavily towards smaller foils/wings, sail in gusty/holey areas, and am commonly far from home. Liters matched with the correct shape guarantees me the best chance at not prone paddling for miles when the wind shuts down. This board has a lot fewer liters packed into it than any of the past boards that I have owned. At 86kg bodyweight this is -20l or sitting at a guild factor of .76 depending on how you prefer to look at the rider weight to board volume relationship. The overall shape of this board makes the most out of the lower volume and the takeoffs excel over wider and shorter shaped boards making the negative liter penalty feel less impactful. If you are in steady winds and have normal sail sizes you will have zero issues with this board as far as I can tell. That being said, my 85l 5'10"x20" Carver was better at slogging and light wind starts with undersized sails which is fine, since I did not buy this board for light winds.
Length: 5'9"
I chose this length for a variety of reasons. One is because it's close to my other 5'10" and 5'11" length Carvers and I don't like big dim changes in multiple categories. Another is that I want to maintain the best takeoff characteristics I can get, especially when dropping volume since I ride pretty aggressively and falls aren't uncommon. I also prefer to be prepared to swim back on most of my sessions and prone paddling longer boards has always proven to be far easier than short ones. I'm completely satisfied with this length and have found it meets all of my needs for a board that is more performance oriented. I wouldn't shy away from the stock Pilot Mid lengths of 6'1" or 6'5" in the future.
Width: 20"
I don't expect to ride boards wider than 20" ever again and didn't see any reason to go wider on this one. After trying the 18" wide Aviator I had also come to the conclusion that 20" was perfection as I needed some width to put power into my turns. However, I can say I was surprised to experience the slightly different deck shape (stretched concavity) on the Pilot vs the Carver. The slightly altered concavity is wildly noticeable to me and when I order my next version of this board I will consider it at 19". Right now, I think 20" wide is still perfection for upping the performance of foils with spans over 900mm (my two most common are AFS Silk 1050 at 916mm and AFS Ultra 750 at 1024mm) as it gives me powerful command over the rail to rail performance. I do wonder though, if riders who use spans in the 700s and 800s more commonly would consider a 20" wide Pilot to potentially be overkill? I am yet to try this board with my Silk 650 (which excels on the 18" Aviator deck) at a span of 720mm or the Silk 850 at 824mm which I love on the classic Carver deck and I'm intrigued to see how that goes. I'll update this review when that opportunity presents itself when spring west winds return to the Gorge.
Touch Downs:
Full speed touch downs are still inconsequential with the length/width of this board but slower touch downs will sink faster with the lower volume. What's nice though is that the flatter rocker'd bottom doesn't feel like it grabs as much on this 5'9" Pilot as it did on my 5'10" Carver. I'd say that the impact of dropping off foil into a full touch down on this board actually feels a bit more like my Aviator at 6'6".
Thickness: 4-5/16" or 11cm
I'm always trying to push my skills to be able to ride the shortest mast possible. The faster rail to rail performance is worth it to me. The board dims say this Pilot is 13/16" or 2cm thinner than my Carver which feels great in hand and under foot. This puts my mast+board distance from deck to fuse at 86cm in total which gives me an extremely responsive kit when using my biggest foils. Add to that the fact that I don't think I've had a single unintentional touch down with this board makes me really pleased with the thickness. However, I've found that I, personally, have zero breach issues riding in the biggest swell when my board+mast distance from deck to fuse is 93cm. As such, I do breach more on this board (which may get better over time) but I'll get the most out of this thickness if I bump my mast length from 75cm up to 80cm (for a 91cm total) which is something I've been holding off on for a while but think this board will force the issue.
Deck, Hull, Rail Shape:
I'm not a shaper myself so I'm just going to share the shape details direct from Sunova and will add a few comments below:
I'd say everything they listed on the Sunova site is dead on with this board and I want to make a specific comment about the deck which I mentioned several times above. Sunova states: "The deck line has been pulled right out to the edge of the rail edge, making the usable deck area as large as possible." When I was ordering this board I didn't notice this comment in the design and don't visually notice this on the board when it's just laying in the grass next to the Carver. However, it's IMMEDIATELY apparent when you get up on foil and is, in my opinion, the most valuable and critical upgrades to a narrow deck that I have experienced.
Weight: 9.3lbs
This being the lightest board I've ridden gives me a handful of benefits that are worthwhile continuing to pursue. Pumping is excellent. It's the first time I've changed an element of a wingfoil board and found a direct impact on pump. My larger foils feel more lively on this lighter board as well, but there is also the element of the deck shape to consider on that front. Small weight changes are hard to notice but this 1.5lbs drop is quite significant and noticeable on the water. Last, and probably least important, I still get shocked every time I pick this kit up on the beach. It's so light that it makes me smile every time.
~Final Thoughts~
The new Sunova Pilot is not just a welcomed sinker option to my quiver. It's an outstanding high performance board that unexpectedly has taught me several new lessons on weight, hull shape, and deck design that instantly made it my favorite board in the air. If you are already familiar with the Carver you should expect this to be an exciting next step performance addition to your board quiver. If you are new to Sunova boards and looking for an option that doesn't hold back in its pursuit of excellence in swell riding and updated designs this is an excellent option to consider.
~Questions?~
Thanks for taking the time to read and I hope you enjoyed this Sunova Pilot Wingfoil Review. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section below (join the site for free) or shoot me an email and I'll do my best to answer your questions!
See you at the river,
Bryan Lee, M.S. Experiential Education.
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