WAKA Glide

When products focused on portability enter a sports market it’s usually a sign the audience is broadening. The obvious questions to these feature-enhanced products are always that same – firstly, where’s the compromise and is it worth it? And secondly how does it ride?

WAKA are (probably) the first to present the foil world with a fully carbon, foldable design and it’s genuinely impressive both on and off the water. The concept is to improve portability whilst maintaining performance, utilizing a hinged deck to allow its high stiffness and performance-focused design to fold in half in order to avoid the compromises of flexible, inflatable designs. It folds small enough to slide into the back of a small hatchback, tuck under the stairs, or check-in as standard luggage. Its accompany bag and overall pack down is well thought out to the needs of the space-conscious foiler and no doubt the solution some city slickers have been needing.     

Unfolding the board remains a novelty for some time and when opened up its aesthetics make it hard to even see the seam. The halves are held together with a hidden hinge on the top deck and locked in place with two side bolts tucked into the rails and a third on the base hidden in the handle. Some secret sauce is hidden by their simplicity, and whilst it can be a little fiddly without the tool which comes with the WAKA, the extra three minutes set up will be justified by those tight on space or setting up on day one of a trip. Time will tell how durable the system remains, but it’s obvious WAKA have spared no expense when selecting a Carbon layup which feels firm in the hand and crisp under foot, enhanced further by a very smart recessed, high-density deck pad which transfers sensation particularly well.

Its shape is very modern and on-trend with the mid-length revolution. A narrow width, parallel rails and heavy beveling on the base mean it tracks well, accelerates fast, and slices off the water without the need for rider input. Equally suited to wing or parawing, intermediate to advanced wingers could confidently downsize thanks to its high volume feel, whilst parawingers might size up to gain a little more nose length and volume. Not a wave shredder, nor trying to be, its narrow width, higher thickness, and forward-placed track make a loose-feeling ride which might take a few minutes to adjust to and is generally more suited to intermediate and advanced riders. But once dialed in they’ll appreciate its crisp feedback and lovely straight-line touchdown which is well suited to riding fast and gliding downwind bumps.

And as for that seam and any compromises – when trying to look for a fault or any flex, try as you might, unless you are forcing a bad technique and bouncing too far forwards off the front leg, riders will really struggle to even notice it.

The WAKA Glide enters the market as a new niche and whilst many might call it a gimmick, they’ll soon change their tune after riding it, after which point they’ll forget about the extra feature and start talking about how it compares with the wider market of mid-length boards out there. For a first entry into the foil board market, the Glide rides impressively well with a firm feel which is comparable with other market-leading mid-lengths of recent years. And whilst its extra weight and thickness take it out of the ‘pro’ level category, the Glide is quite possibly the ideal problem-solving board for an intermediate shredder whose life needs them to not lug around and store a full-length board.