~Intro~
For the vast majority of 2024 I rode the Sunova Carver 5'10"x20" 85l (I'm 86kg) in vapor build. It's my all time favorite board and I now consider it to be the standard from which I evaluate all boards. So, why bother with the Aviator? For the endless pursuit of knowledge of course. I've been slowly but surely checking off board dims that all land close to neutral buoyancy for me and this was the last one to test.
~Rider Data and Style~
Location: Columbia River Gorge.
Time on water: 150+ days a year. 3000+ miles a year.
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~
These are the boards I've owned and ridden extensively.
Kalama:
E3 5’10”x28.875” 123l
15.54lbs
BAR (board aspect ratio): 2.42
GF (guild factor, board liters/rider kilos): 1.43
BAR*GF (takeoff rating): 3.47
Loved learning on this board. Very sluggish carving.
E3 4’8”x26” 83l
12.7lbs
BAR: 2.15
GF: .97
BAR*GF: 2.08
Least favorite board of all time. Required too much foil and wing to waterstart for me to enjoy.
Barracuda v1 8’x21” 111l
13.1lbs
BAR: 4.57
GF: 1.29
BAR*GF: 5.89
The board responsible for my biggest progression leap. I went from riding 1200/1500 cm^2 foils to riding 550 cm^2 foils in a single season on this board.
E3 5’3”x22” 83l
11.5lbs BAR: 2.86
GF: .97
BAR*GF: 2.76
I was originally told this board would be impossible to wing because it was too narrow. That just speaks to how far the industry has come and how things change. It marked the beginning of my midlength testing/searches and for a summer I thought it was pretty awesome.
Sunova:
5'10"x20" 85l
10.75lbs Carver
BAR: 3.5
GF: .99
BAR*GF: 3.46 (interesting to note that this is the same ranking as my first board for takeoff, but the in flight characteristics are shockingly better.)
The quiver killer. At the time of writing, Fall 2024, if I could only have one board this would be it.
Currently riding, reviewing, and testing:
6'6"x18" 90l
11.25lbs Aviator 18
BAR: 4.33
GF: 1.05
BAR*GF: 4.53
Custom Sunova boards that just arrived but haven't been ridden yet!
5'11"x20" 77l
Carver (target weight 10lbs. Intended use, 20-30 knots).
BAR: 3.55
GF: .9
BAR*GF: 3.18
Testing Goals: Checking slighty lower guild factor while maintaining a high aspect ratio on this board. I expect nice low end and great surf performance in solid conditions. Targeting board weight loss for in flight performance benefits to further evaluate length vs weight impacts.
5'9"x20" 65l
Pilot (target weight 10lbs or less. Intended use, 30+ knots).
BAR: 3.45
GF: .76
BAR*GF: 2.61
Testing Goals: Checking low end and sinker performance of midlength boards in high wind conditions.
~Foils Used~
This board has been tested with the full AFS Silk range, 1050, 850, 650, as well as the Ultra 750. All tests were done on the AFS 75cm skinny UHM mast and AFS 80cm UHM mast.
I've focused on using the Aviator with my Silk 1050 more than my other foils.
~First Impressions~
On land:
Unboxing went smooth, everything looked good, and I got to measuring and weighing a few different elements of the board. First off was checking the balance point and track position. The balance point and foil box position matched up perfectly with my Carver which was exciting. With that info in hand I got to checking the weight as well as the length in front of the foil vs the length behind the foil to compare it to the Carver. The Aviator did come in at .5lbs heavier but that's not unexpected. It was 8" longer with 5 additional liters of volume. I was, however, quite happy to see where the weight and length landed. Of the .5lbs of additional weight, it all landed behind the foil. The extra length landed 1.5" in front, and 6.5" behind the foil.
On the water:
Questions I had for day one were:
Will it be easier to water start? Yes.
The higher BAR keeps the board moving at a quick pace while taxiing, even through lulls. This makes it so that take off is quick and easy if pumping my wing or waiting for a gust.
Will I notice the difference in width? Yes.
I didn't notice any kind of significant instability when doing water starts. What I did notice was a more challenging rail to rail experience on foil.
Will the added length bother me? No.
As mentioned above the length is mainly hidden in the tail of the board and as a result it doesn't feel bad in the air when surfing Gorge swell or doing wing maneuvers.
Was this a good purchase? Yes.
I had a little anxiety over this board selection. I loved my Carver so much that I wasn't sure if this would be a valuable addition to my quiver or not. After my first rides on this board I felt like it would be a nice addition to my quiver.
~Several Hundred Miles Later~
First impressions can be pretty misleading unless you are making a massive upgrade/change. I think we all want new gear to spark immediate joy and it's tough when you're doing a demo and only have a few hours to decide if you want to buy or have to move on. So, I wanted to really unpack the subtle nuances of this board vs others and how certain physical attributes of this board impacted my ride.
Volume: 90l
I consider volume to be my friend. I'm 86kg, dry, on land. With wet clothes, suit, safety gear, this board being 90l is the closest to a true neutral buoyancy volume board I've got (my other recent boards have been 83l and 85l). It prone paddles great, is super fast to slog on, and gives me no issues with water starts in light to extreme winds (under 20 to over 40 knots tested). I commonly sail many miles away from my launch and have zero interest in getting caught on a sinker when I am so far from home so this is the perfect volume and shape to explore on. The cons of volume are weight (11.25lbs is still feather light, but it's my heaviest board now) and the board has to become thicker/wider/longer somewhere which I'll touch on.
90l Aviator at 6'6", 85l Carver at 5'10", 67l Carver at 5'2"
Length: 6'6"
6'6" is now my longest board and it's been interesting seeing the impact that this length has had on my water starts as well as in flight experience. First off, the water starts:
Light wind: I wondered up front if this would be some kind of super weapon for light wind and it's good, but it's not a monumental upgrade over my Carver. This board buys me time in light wind and decreases missed takeoffs. The longer length, matched with narrower width, makes my taxi speed significantly higher than on the Carver. On this board I feel like I'm cruising when taxiing. This can allow for a slightly slower pump cadence with the wing since the board stays at speed better when gliding unpowered on the water. I don't think I'm actually getting up in lighter wind, but when I'm taxiing and waiting for a puff this board keeps my speed up so that when that puff comes, I have a better shot at catching it. On my Carver, I needed that puff to last a little longer, I need it to hit my sail and generate speed for 4-5 seconds and then I could get my takeoff. On the Aviator, I'm already taxiing at speed so when the puff comes I'm going into flight with a 2-3 second puff. So, not a significantly larger wind range, but an easier and more consistent take off in the same light winds.
Insanity wind: My biggest wind day on the Aviator was averaging 40 knots with a 35-50 knot range on the sensor which is on a tower in the middle of the river. The hard thing about crazy winds is that you really want the smallest sail and smallest foil possible to decrease the load on your body. However, if the board is too short it's difficult to get your takeoff when using tiny gear. The same taxi speed benefits that happen at low wind speeds are available at high wind speeds. Even more so due to the swell. When the wind is high I am able to use an extra small sail to position myself going downwind on a piece of swell like a SUP foiler would. This board is excellent at capturing the swell energy, accelerating, and then being capable of taking flight and veering off to engage a 2m sail much easier than other boards. This is really exciting as a high wind rider because it helps me eliminate the need for a harness line in 40+ knots of wind. I'm able to use a small enough sail and foil to decrease the load on my body to the point where I am unhooked and cruising without major fatigue. This is especially valuable because when hooked in during high winds you loose the ability to luff the sail in a gust. Getting tossed in 40+ knots of wind is dangerous because it typically results in the board upwind of you and the possibility of the board and foil hitting you is high. So, the Aviator 18 is a big win in this category. The only negative I can mention about this length in high winds is that when I have a long exposed beach walk in 40 knots of wind it's a bit scary to carry as the wind tries to grab the board and to toss it.
Next on length is how it impacts the overall riding experience on foil. I think of board characteristics the same way I think of foil flight characteristics. Yaw, pitch, roll. The first two are noteworthy on longer boards.
Yaw: Historically I think we've all referred to this characteristic as swing weight. This is where I think the race to shorter sinker boards really came from. Yes, this board is a little longer with a little more weight to it than my Carver. This slows the yaw experience a very small amount but not enough for me to think that I would stop riding this board because of the extra 1.5" of length in front of the nose and extra .5lbs that's probably stuffed behind the foil. Interestingly enough, this decrease in yaw speed can also be considered yaw stability in the right circumstances. I ride a very short chorded mast and typically feel uncomfortable at high speeds. With the added length of this board stabilizing the yaw, I set my high speed record.
I'm becoming pretty far removed from my 5'3"x22.5"83l Kalama e3 but felt as though that boards yaw experience was not as good as the 5'10"x20"85l Carver. This is due to weight and roll characteristics. I would estimate that this Aviator feels a lot like my old Kalama did in flight, but is insanely better at takeoff.
Pitch: This is my least favorite characteristic in foiling. You'll notice that a lot of advanced downwind supfoilers will use short fuses in order to spice up their rides. 8' boards have a lot of pitch stability so shorter fuses help make the ride more fun. This can also be altered by board length. The 8" of added length on this board add pitch stability over my Carver that would definitely be valued by a beginner learning to switch feet but it was hard to tell from an advanced riding perspective if this amount of length increase had any significant impact on my riding experience. I can still tack heelside, toeside. I can still 360 heelside, toeside. So, I wouldn't say this damaged my experience on foil. What I have begun to do is ride this board with a slightly wider stance to be able to manipulate the pitch just a hair more aggressively.
Touch Downs: This board is quite honestly my favorite touch down board I've ever ridden. This will relate to the width as well but this boards ability to come off foil, glide at a high speed, not buck me off, allow me to re-engage the foil, and take flight again, is amazing. This would be useful to a beginner who is learning to switch feet and doing touch downs to switch. This is also useful to advanced riders who are trying unique maneuvers where they might not complete it without dabbing the water but don't want to fall and do a full restart. If you are a dedicated swell rider and trying to avoid re-engaging the wing, this board will impress you with it's ability to glide down swell faces and still be pumped back up onto foil without the sail. The one criticism I have is in tight 360 carves. If I'm leaned over and catch the rail the length wants to track instead of quickly release and it usually results in a missed 360 for me. Not the end of the world, and this isn't the board most people would buy for those maneuvers anyway.
Width: 18"
"Turning a 20" board is more fun than turning an 18" board." - James Casey
I think I heard that quote on the Casey Catch Up podcast and it's been stuck in the back of my head for a while. The whole Carver range is at 20" but I've definitely wondered about the 18" boards. When I first went narrow I noticed how much better they move on the roll axis vs wide boards. Enough so that they defeated the old "swing weight" argument immediately. So, theoretically, you should be able to just go narrower and narrower right? For me, the answer is no. While 18" wide boards have benefits I've found that manipulating them rail to rail is more difficult. Most specifically, once you initiate a carve to the left or right, if you want to quickly roll back to the other direction you are delayed. I quite simply don't have the leverage to manually give aggressive enough inputs into the board to roll the foil back over at the same speed on an 18" board as I would on a 20" board. This results in me riding this board with the toes of my rear foot constantly hanging off the rail of the deck and my front foot positioned running the length of the board on the edge of the deck pad in order to get the power I want. It's there, I can make my turns, but this may feel borderline to some vs a 20" board where I feel as though I have absolute command over aggressive roll input. As such, I don't think of this board as stylistically being my favorite for fast rail to rail performance. I wonder if novice riders would really appreciate the smaller platform that forces them to stay stabilized over the foil giving less dramatic roll inputs.
Thickness: 5-15/16"
This is one physical characteristic that I find zero benefit in and I'm yet to find any situation where I want a thicker board. If you want the volume though, it has to go somewhere. If you only have one board, it probably doesn't matter to you as much because you will adapt to it. However, if you are quivering boards then I notice a few different things as I bounce from one board to the next.
First off it puts you farther from the foil. Some people describe this as feeling "disconnected" and it is similar to having a longer mast. The distance needed to travel on the roll axis to get rail to rail is increased and I think it activates different muscles and stability patterns in my body which can feel a bit awkward at the start of a session, but it goes away after I'm warmed up.
Second, I get more unintended touch downs. I ride low to the water and this boards thickness does result in me occasionally clipping the water when I wasn't planning on it. Again, this thickness touch down issue goes away once I am warmed up and riding the board and usually shows up only when I am really pushing the board to it's carving limits.
Hull and Rail Shape:
I don't want to dive too crazy deep into shapes because there's a ton of theory and tech going into these boards that I, as a rider and not a shaper, simply don't understand. So, I'll just talk about what I, personally, notice and prefer.
Aesthetic: This really has nothing to do with performance but I want to say I think the hull on this board just looks cool. The rail shapes and rounded sections at the foilbox just make it look like a racecar.
Maybe it's just me, but I think the shadowlines and contours of this hull make it look like a beast.
Hull shape: I've always preferred flatter hulls with a touch of V in the nose over rounded hulls and the Aviator 18 continues to confirm this. I simply feel more stable in the water on starts when I am using a flatter hull vs a rounded hull.
A similar nose and hull style to the Carver.
Rail shape: I did learn a significant lesson about rail shapes when I ended up with this board. When I ordered the 18" width I very specifically thought to myself that since I occasionally catch rails on my hardest turns with a 20" board, I should go a little narrower to fight that. Unfortunately, I didn't take two other variables into consideration. Thickness and rail shape. My Carver is thinner, pulling the bottom of the board away from the water, with obvious chine rails that allow it to carve and lay over extremely well, even with 2" of additional width. The Aviator on the other hand is 13/16" thicker with very square/boxy rails, just a bit of a cove shape cut into it. As a result, I've found that I actually catch my rails a lot more on the Aviator when doing hard laid over tacks and 360s, usually heelside. Obviously not the fault of the board here but something that I hadn't been able to fully grasp/consider until I actually got to experience it in real life. Long story short it's hard to conceptualize exactly where the bottom of your rails will fly in relation to the water when picking out a new board but stylistically you might want to think about this.
A boxier shape on the Aviator rails than I am used to.
Weight: 11.25lbs
Board weight matters. If you are turning, carving, slashing waves and swell then you will notice board weight one way or another. In the past the idea of "swing weight" was always fought by dropping volume which usually meant going to fat and short boards. Not anymore. This board is 6'6" and 90l but still lighter than my 5'3" 83l Kalama e3. By dropping board weight you allow more sensitive yaw, pitch, and roll characteristics. I looked around at published weights for other boards in the industry for weights vs the Sunova Vapor builds that I swear by:
Armstrong Midlength, + 1.1-2.2 lbs. (6'5"x20-3/4"x85l).
Duotone Skybird, + 2.5 lbs. (5'8"x22"x85l).
F-One Rocket Midlength + .85 lbs. (5'10"x20"x90l).
KT Super K + 1.5lbs (6'5"x22"x92l).
Appleslice v3 + 2.5lbs (5'6.5"x23.25"x90l).
So, as you can see, the weight of the Aviator 18 Vapor build beats out every other brand on the market for comparable midlength designs around the same volume. For me, this matters a lot. I don't want to ride heavy boards anymore. I honestly will pick a lighter longer board over a shorter heavier board every time. I want responsive gear in flight that is also incredibly fast to get off the water. This board checks those boxes.
~Final Thoughts~
This is a great board to add to my quiver. Its best attributes are undoubtedly its easy takeoffs and great stability when in flight. Its only challenge is that it is technically demanding when I am looking for extreme rail to rail performance. I look at the Aviator 18 as my board for long distance sailing, casual wing maneuver days, or for a more flow base riding experience. I'd expect advanced riders to appreciate the ability to use smaller foils and sails and have touch downs with little to no consequence. I'd expect novice riders to appreciate the carefree riding experience of knowing you can get back on foil easily, having a little more pitch stability, and not having to worry about accidentally giving too much rail to rail input.
~Questions?~
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section below. If you want to know about buying an Aviator, lead times, and customizations, contact Christian at Poseidon Standup. Just a heads up, a new version of the Aviator has been released and it looks pretty sick! I love the idea of this board at 6'4" long and 19" wide.
See you at the river,
Bryan Lee, M.S. Experiential Education.
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