Inbound: the AXIS Spitfire
ART Pro Foiling Magazine Inbound Spitfire Surf foil
This interview first appeared in Foiling Magazine issue 17 (September 2023) as "AXIS Spitfire", in the magazine's Inbound series, where the editors quiz a brand about a new product. Republished with the magazine's kind permission.
We (and much of the foiling community) had been anticipating the arrival of the Spitfire well in advance, as rumors swirled and “chatter” got increasingly louder. It arrived to suitable fanfare from AXIS fans, and we swiftly got in touch with the AXIS team to find out a little more.
The Spitfire has been a whisper on the lips of foilers for quite some time now, with some very exciting photos floating around the internet. Has it been a simple process to get it to market?
From a product development and design perspective, much of the foundation for Spitfire stemmed from the ARTPRO development programme that started almost two years ago. About a year ago we identified the need for a modern versatile performance medium chord length wing in our range to rejuvenate our Surf offering. Design progression was rapid, but we took our time to rejuvenate the packaging and appearance of the product to reflect our vision.
What were the key points that set your design direction?
We had a very ambitious vision for this new wing – Its primary purpose, to serve the needs of our performance surf riders, while being versatile enough to use across many other disciplines. The list of must-haves was a long one, and included:
- Gentle lift for effortless take-offs.
- Turning that more closely imitates actual surfing, allowing riders to stay more in the pocket, with a smooth transition from rail to rail.
- Capable of operating smoothly at variable speeds as waves steepen and become faster or slow and lose energy.
- Excellent recovery from breaching, white-water hits and aerial re-entry.
- Great pump to link waves.
How does it fit in with the rest of the AXIS range from a performance perspective?
The Spitfire sits alongside the ART range and the HPS ranges, and we believe it complements both, as a more targeted Surf offering.
How does the Spitfire handle breaches? And what’s been implemented here to assist that?
Its distinctive elliptical outline, straight median line and lack of aggressive turndown through the tips, that taper smoothly from the center to the tips, encourage smooth, predictable water flow.
So just how much of the Spitfire’s DNA comes out of AXIS Research Team (ART/ARTPRO) R&D?
Nothing happens in isolation, as indicated earlier everything about the Spitfire is a direct result of the progression in development that started with the original ART and has evolved from there. We have been making elliptical wings albeit with chopped-off tips since the first ART’s. Much has been refined since, with the reduction in sweep creating a straight median line, paired with very little turndown in the tips.
What’s the feedback been like from the team? We saw some amazing shots of Luke Atkinson…
Everyone is fizzing about them, everyone has their favorite for different reasons and conditions. Our riders like Luke Atkinson and Edo Tanas (seen in this magazine – Ed.) are demonstrating some of the awesome potential stored up in these wings.
You guys are very prolific with your product releases and have one of the most comprehensive ranges out there. Anything else in the pipeline you want to divulge now?
With the recent downwind events in Hawaii, like the M2M, Paddle Imua and M2O, our soon to be released ARTPRO range made a bit of a stir. Taking Olivia Piana, Edo Tanas, Kai Lenny and Perth Standlick to very respectable placing against the best in the world. It seems AXIS is incapable of bringing a product to market sneakily, haha!
There is always something new and exciting we are working on. As we are focused on not just one foiling sport, but multiple foiling disciplines, our R&D team never stops, and is continuously developing and improving. The recent Maui experience and specifically the Molokai 2 Oahu race, proved our foils are now as fast as anything on the market, but there is still so much we can do.
The wings in this interview
Read more from Foiling Magazine, and find issue 17 online.
← Older Post Newer Post →