DYNAMICS: Why Choose a Screwless Foil?

The team at Slingshot recently unveiled their new screwless “One-Lock” connection system. They’re pretty convinced they’ve changed the game in terms of a much more pleasant and efficient experience when assembling your foil gear. Slingshot’s Fred Hope explains why…

At Slingshot, we’ve always believed foiling should be fun – not frustrating. When we launched our first modular foil system, it made the magic of flight above water accessible to more riders than ever. It was simple, affordable, and inviting. In 2015, foiling finally clicked for wind and kite athletes, and that moment sparked a movement.

Ten years later, we’ve seen and felt it all. We’ve logged countless hours on the water. We’ve chased perfect sessions – and also limped back to the car after ones that never happened. We’ve celebrated breakthroughs. And we’ve been humbled by setbacks. Especially the small, annoying ones. Like leaving your tool bag at home. Or dropping a screw in the sand. Or realizing your mast is frozen into your fuse because of saltwater corrosion. Or spending half a session trying to back out a stripped screw with a multi-tool that was never meant for that job. I’ve lost track of how many sessions I’ve missed for reasons that all trace back to… screws.

That’s why, three and a half years ago, we decided to flip the script. We scrapped everything – Phantasm, Hover Glide – all of it. We started fresh with zero constraints. No legacy parts. No factory limitations. Just a blank sheet of paper and one question: What would the ideal foil system look like if we designed it today?

From that process came One-Lock. And at the core of it were three goals: No Corrosion. No Screws. No Tools. Nobody in the foil world had done this before, so we didn’t have a blueprint to follow. Instead, we started looking outside our own industry. We tore apart sailboat hardware, bike axles, car hoods, construction clamps – anything that latched, locked, or clicked.

Eventually, we found our path. We borrowed strength from sailboats: Dyneema line – ultra-strong, flexible, and proven under the most brutal marine conditions. We took quick-release ideas from high-end bike skewers: simple, tool-free, and secure. We adapted flush-mount interface designs from automotive engineering to make everything tight, clean, and hydrodynamic.

That hybrid solution became One-Lock: a totally new system with no screws, no fuss, and a whole lot of upside. What surprised us most was how solving for corrosion, screws, and tools led to bigger gains we didn’t expect. Drag dropped. Weight disappeared. And setup time? Cut to seconds.

First, the drag. We didn’t realize how much resistance every exposed screw and bolt created – until we took them away. Suddenly, the same front wing and stabilizer we’d been riding for years felt quieter. Smoother. More alive. The weird “pull-down” feeling you sometimes get when flagging out the wing or catching too much speed? Gone. The foil held lift better. Transitions felt more connected. Turns felt tighter. Our testers kept saying it felt like the foil was just floating better. The whole ride became more fluid.

Then came the weight savings. Without screws, we didn’t need inserts in carbon components. We didn’t need aluminum for strength or durability. We didn’t need grease, anti-seize compound, or complex junctions. That meant less metal, more carbon, and fewer parts. The result? One of the lightest foil setups on the market – and one that stays that way, session after session. 

But maybe the most immediate win is the setup. With no screws or tools, assembly is faster than zipping up your wetsuit. I can put my entire foil together – mast, fuselage, wings – in under 30 seconds. No joke. The first time feels like a magic trick. The tenth time feels like freedom. The hundredth time? You’ll wonder how you ever did it any other way. The speed of assembly also changes how you ride. You’re way more likely to swap wings mid-session. You’ll try different stabs. You’ll tune your setup for conditions instead of forcing the wrong gear to work.

And teardown? Just as easy. Which means your gear doesn’t live assembled in the back of a van or garage. I’ve owned two Sprinter vans just to avoid breaking down foil gear between sessions. Not anymore. With One-Lock, I can ride, rinse, break down, and pack up in under five minutes – no corrosion, no seizing, no problem. So, when someone asks me, “Why go screwless?” I flip the question: What’s the most annoying part of your current setup? Because nine times out of ten, the answer is something One-Lock already solves.

And what we didn’t expect – what we couldn’t predict when we started this journey – is just how much better everything feels when the hassle disappears. You get more time on the water. Your setup feels faster, smoother, more refined. And when you do have that perfect session, nothing gets in the way. Oh, and don’t be surprised when people stop and ask about your setup. The first time someone sees you snap your foil together in under a minute, they’ll do a double take. The second time, they’ll ask where to get one.