F2
But now! After F2 already announced another comeback last year and a well-stocked model range, things went quiet again for the former market leader. "It all took much longer," laughs shaper Sergio Alonso Minuth when we meet him, "but now we're done!" For him, finished means that the sails and boards have been developed and production can begin. Over the course of the past year, a new factory had to be found and the design of the boards was changed, Sergio explains. "We are pretty happy with the result, but it took time." The aim was to achieve good quality and durability; according to Sergio, almost all the boards come with double sandwich technology and carbon boxes. "We're not the lightest, but 100 grams more makes a difference in terms of durability!"
The F2 range includes two wave boards, the Barracuda and the high-slip Rave, the freewave model Rebel and the Rodeo, a "radical freestyle board": "The segment is small, but there are a lot of freaks," says Sergio, who previously made his own brand Sailboards Tarifa big. With Sunset, Bullitt, Ride and Vegas, F2 also wants to launch a broad freeride range on the market - all with legendary names from the brand's heyday. A Lightning raceboard is also planned for next year, with a matching sail: "There is a market for this, but only a few good boards. 50 to 100 boards per year are possible, so it's worth it," says Sergio. Otherwise, he wants to take things slowly with the comeback of F2: "We're in no rush, we know that it could take two or three years until we've rebuilt everything." The plan is to slowly build up a presence via a few shops and to hire team riders. In addition to the boards, a range of three sail models - Wave, Freeride and Freestyle - has also been finalised. Peter Weitenberg from Tribal Windsurfing was developed.
Tahé
Tahé, formerly Bic, is still present in two areas. On the one hand, the French brand offers robust training boards, with the Beach 260 D being a new addition this year: "This is a classic, long shape for training in one to two wind forces," explains Malte Büchler from importer Choppy Water. With the smaller sizes in the range in 160, 185 or 225 litres, you can also start planing, while the boards are very robust thanks to the PE construction, "it can even fall off the roof of a car!"
Tahé's second area is the established One Design boards Techno and Techno Windfoil. "We are building up a youth class, which is an ideal introduction to foil surfing with a good price-performance ratio." The foil is kept very simple and robust with an aluminium mast and fuselage, while the front wing is made of GRP and is very easy to repair.
AHD
Naughty, what's that sparkling in the corner at the entrance to Hall 16? At the AFS Foil stand are two boards from AHD, somewhat bashfully hidden behind lots of carbon wings and wingboards. "AHD built the first foil, the AFS 1, in 2009," explains developer Bruno André. "But the foil sector quickly became so big that AFS became its own brand." However, Bruno emphasises that AHD has never gone away and is still very present on the home market in France, including with the "fishy" waveboard Sealion ( We tested a predecessor in 2017 ). AHD is currently looking for a new partner for Germany and has therefore brought along the two new additions to the model range, the freerider Fury and the slalom racer SL-S. The boards are built in Tunisia, "We have worked a lot on the construction to be able to offer lightweight yet durable boards," says Bruno. The carbon foils and the new downwind board, on the other hand, are manufactured in the company's own factory in Brittany.
