Sunova Aviator Part 2: Parawing Review

Speed PR set this day!

~Intro~

This article is a reboot of my original Aviator 18 review. In my original review I only used this as a wingfoil board and it did great. This review is going to focus solely on my use with it in parawinging. I had settled into my Pilot and Carver combo really nicely and was actually looking to sell this board. Then the parawing came along and wow... I'm so glad I kept this beast!

~Rider Data and Style~

Location: Columbia River Gorge.

Time on water: 150+ days a year. 3000+ miles a year.

Weight: 86kg

Style: I only parawing when it's pumping out east in the Gorge. I'm looking for monster swell and powerful carving on the AFS Silk foils most days. If I can't keep my Pocket Rockets packed away for 10-20 minutes I'm probably pulling out my wings.

~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:

6'6"x18" 90l (+4l for me)

11.25lbs (5.11kg) Vapor build. Reinforced deck.

BAR*GF: 4.53 (click here to learn more about BARG Factors)

~Foils Used~

This board has been tested with the AFS Silk range, 1050, 850, 650, Enduro 700, 900, 1100 standard and short fuses, as well as the Ultra 750. All tests were done on the AFS 75cm skinny UHM mast.

I've focused on using the Aviator with my Silk 1050 more than my other foils.

~First Impressions: Learning to Parawing~

Brutal. My very first attempt at parawinging was on this board and it simply punished me. I consider myself to have really good balance and intuition on how to move when getting to my feet and onto foil with narrow boards and a wing. It's a skill you develop and I'm not afraid of skinny boards. However, with the 2.3m BRM Ka'a in hand I floundered hard. The balance is very different, the Ka'a was nervous in flight. It was extremely challenging for me and quite honestly pretty defeating. Not only was finding balance hard but I never damage my boards and all it took was my first session with the parawing to accidentally drag my harness hook across the deck pad and leave it with a big scuff. Lesson learned!

I abandoned this board for a few sessions after that first day. I didn't think it would work for parawinging so I switched over to my Custom Carver for a few sessions while I sorted out the parawing basics. Two things happened that brought me back to the Aviator.

1. I had a 1 hour paddle home when my amateur water start skills on the 2.4m Pocket Rocket failed me as the wind shut down.

2. A forum user on Seabreeze mentioned that they liked to be hooked in on their board before getting to their feet. I thought that sounded kinda funky but it made me wonder...

With a newfound desire to never paddle for an hour again I grabbed the Aviator knowing that it would definitely paddle faster than my Carver if I blundered another end of day session. With that, I pondered the hooked in comment that had been mentioned. They didn't say anything about board stability but for those of us who use narrow boards we all know that as soon as you get them moving they become dramatically more stable. I wondered, could it be possible to generate board speed and stability while hooked in prior to getting to your feet? The answer was yes. It took some tinkering, the right harness loop and hook, but once I sorted it out I was very stable. Even more so than when I was winging. Here's a video to show what I'm talking about:

~The Ride Experience~

I find myself riding in a much more relaxed and stylish fashion on this board. I was getting pretty used to the hack and slash short board vibes of the Sunova Pilot and being back on this board has been a shift that I have enjoyed. Flowy turns, excellent pumping, drawn out lines, it's just loads of fun. There's never a concern about falling or getting home so I end up dancing around on the board trying new things more than usual. It was never a goal or plan to start riding like that, it just naturally presented itself when my gear shifted and the wing disappeared from my hand.

~Re-evaluating the Dims~

Volume: 90l

I consider volume to be my friend. I'm 86kg, dry. With wet clothes, suit, safety gear, this board being 90l is the closest to a true neutral buoyancy volume board I've got but still ends up a little negative after 10kg of wet winter gear is on me. It's legendary for prone paddles, is super fast to slog on, and gives me no issues with water starts in light to extreme winds (20 to 43 knots tested with 2.4m and 3m Pocket Rockets). I've seen a lot of chatter on social media about people sizing up boards for parawinging again and I'm really glad I have this one in my quiver. 90l is currently really friendly for use as I continue to grow my parawing skills.

90l Aviator at 6'6", 85l Carver at 5'10", 67l Carver at 5'2"

Length: 6'6"

I've been riding longer than average boards for years now and this Aviator is the longest I currently own. The length never bothers me as most of it is hidden in the tail but 6'6" a valued asset during touchdowns and takeoffs. The one small negative I have noticed occurs when I am sitting in the water and my rockets are laying in the water. I find the nose of this board does tend to fish its way into the lines and it can be a bit awkward trying to back the board up to unhook the lines. On my slightly shorter boards I can just reach forward with my hand to clear the lines but with my height at 5'6" I don't quite have the reach from my normal balance point to do so on this 6'6".

Touch downs and take offs are both awesome with a board at these dimensions.

Width: 18"

"Turning a 20" board is more fun than turning an 18" board." - James Casey

There's no major change here from what I originally discussed in the wingfoil edition of this board. Turns and carving are more relaxed due the to fact that you don't have as much command over the board. Finding stability in your initial water start requires a bit of effort and a new technique as I showed above. The one thing that I do think I have noticed over time is that an 18" board feels like it pumps better than a 20" board for me. I ride a short chorded mast, MA foils, and small tails. All of these elements remove stability from the system and punish poor technique and foot positioning. The 18" board forces my feet closer to neutral and I do seem to get higher quality pumping from it.

Thickness: 5-15/16"

I'm never cheering for a thicker board. I prefer thinner whenever I get the chance to ride it. After a few sessions though, you get used to it and if you aren't swapping boards back and forth all the time it's not a big deal.

Deck, 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: Winging this board I commented on the boxy shape of the design and rails and how I caught edges more often with it. My parawinging so far (just a few hundred miles in) has been more relaxed than my winging due to the fact that I'm spending more time on 895mm (+/-20mm) span foils than when I was winging on a 720mm span foil. As such, the rails aren't catching as much in this discipline.

A boxier shape on the Aviator rails than I am used to.

• Deck shape: There's a mild concave in the center of the deck, something that is hard to notice while riding. The edges of the deck roll off the sides smoothly and the deck pad doesn't quite stretch to the extreme edges of the deck. Having spent a bunch of time on the new Pilot models I will order all my future boards with the wider concavity, especially on boards of this width. While the relaxed nature of this deck shape is awesome for every day riding if you really want to push it hard the wider concavity allows you to slot your feet in and gain leverage over the setup.

• Tail shape: I will say that this tail shape seems to excel parawinging when you don't have much push from swell. The chopped tail of my -10l custom Carver get's pushed nicely by the swell but this board wants to plane quickly and skip across the top of the water better. This is especially critical if you are riding in flatwater.

Weight: 11.25lbs

This board still lands on the lighter side of production kits and over time I have come to value a little bit of weight. When I dropped my boards below 10lbs I started to have issues with them being too easily grabbed by the strong winds I commonly ride in. A lot of crazy things start to happen at 40 knots, especially when you're not on the board! Since I'm still learning the nuanced behaviors of the pocket rockets having a board that has just enough weight to stay nice and calm in extreme conditions is appreciated.

Accessory Options!?:

The back of my Aviator appears to have 2 inserts and it has gotten me thinking. Do you remember how all the old gen 1 foildrivers were attaching the battery to their deck via the footstrap inserts? Well, that's why Sunova put these insert in. Now I'm really wondering, why not use them to stash a drybag on the tail? Having a backup pocket rocket on hand is really nice if the wind dies or ends up building to a stronger level than planned for. Of course, you can always get back to shore pretty easy in the river but I wonder if folks doing open ocean runs would especially appreciate the security of having it with them and not strapped to their body.

Perfect for strapping your spare Pocket Rockets behind your rear foot???

What about intentionally built-in rigging points for future parawing boards?

The tail of the Sunova Expedition. What if I have my next custom board designed with these rigging points included on the tail so that extra parawings could be strapped there instead of carried in a pack? Crazy or worth exploring?

~Final Thoughts~

I'm so glad I kept this board in my quiver. It has been stunning for parawinging and its best attributes are undoubtedly the easy takeoffs and great stability when in flight. Without it, I don't think I would have learned so much so quickly with the Pocket Rockets. I look at the Aviator as my most reliable board for long distance/duration sessions where the winds can change and I want reassurance that I'll get home easy. The stylish longboard experience has also been a welcomed change to my foiling days and I'm sure that it will simply keep adding to my skillset as the months go by.

~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. A new version of the Aviator has been out for a while now 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.