Coming in with a boss name such as ElCapitano leads us to think that Reedin’s Co-founder & Head of Design Damien Girardin has a lot of well-reasoned confidence in this brand new foil range. We got in touch with Damien to find out all about it.
Photos Andy Troy
All hail the ElCapitano! This sounds like a progressive new range… what’s pushed you in this design direction?
ElCapitano has been on our minds since we first started making foils: a high-performance, fast, forgiving, easy pumping machine. To achieve this, we needed the right manufacturing. This year, we began working with a new production facility truly capable of delivering the high quality that ElCapitano requires.
The design is relatively simple; we built on the FlightAttendant range, which has proven to be very easy yet high-performing thanks to its unique outlines and profiles. When we launched FlightAttendant three seasons ago, its convex trailing edge was unique and innovative. This shape has proven to be extremely stable and easy to handle, while also providing excellent pump performance for a medium AR foil. ElCapitano is essentially a higher AR version of FlightAttendant.
Can you walk us through your size choices for the range and their intended usage?
Our range was designed so we would have the perfect size for every type and size of rider. It ranges from the smallest at 575, requested by our team riders who want to ride fast and jump high, to the 1695 for dock start pumping. Of course, there's the 995 in the middle, which delights all good wingers out there!
You’ve implemented an all-new foil section, how did you decide on this iteration in particular and was it a long process?
The foil section is an improvement on our FlightAttendant design. It allows for a longer chord, providing more lift at lower speeds during take-off. The concave shape effectively creates a higher AR while you're up and riding, leading to a faster and more efficient performance.
Those wingtips look to have a cheeky flick at the end, talk to us about the effect they have on the ride.
The wingtips are intriguing in several ways; the raised tips help maintain most of the swirls on an angular plane, preventing them from moving from the top to the bottom of the wing. They also prevent water bubbles from disrupting the water flow when breaching, by keeping the air vortex only in the wingtip area. From the top view, you can see that the last section of the wingtip is not convex but transitions back to concave. This greatly helps to reduce any ventilation, similar to how a fish fin naturally functions in nature.
What gear would you look to pair up with the ElCapitanos?
ElCapitano pairs perfectly with our Feather board range, whether it's winging in super light conditions on one of the Feather LWs using the 1395, or kiting on the 575 and Feather 20. Wing-wise, our new SuperNatural wings were primarily tested using ElCapitano 995, so we can say they were clearly designed in tandem!
You lead the foil design at Reedin HQ, but do others feed into the process?
Yes, I lead all product design at Reedin, including foils. However, the work is truly a collaboration involving our team of riders, input from our distributors, shops, and clients. And ultimately, Kevin (Langeree, co-founder) must be thrilled with the products when he rides them!
So the team have been getting some water time on the range… What’s their feedback like?
Our foiling prodigy from Oahu, Parker Sage, was very involved in the creation of this new range. He had been dreaming about us making this foil for a while and has absolutely loved using them for pump foiling, prone surfing, and downwinds on Oahu. The rest of the team, including our young Hood River ripper Quinn Boren, who claimed it was the best foil he’s ever tried after his first few minutes on it! When Hugo Marin and River Moore joined the team, the performance of ElCapitano (along with SuperNatural, of course) was also a determining factor in their motivation to join..
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