Wake to Wave: How Armstrong Changed my Foiling Forever

Armstrong Foil Set Up

Written by Trey McArdle

Edited by Elizabeth Moss

Introduction to foiling

I find that foiling is popular among older wakeboarders and even 3-event skiers because, let’s face it, we have a hard time taking those same hits we did when we were in our teens. It feels like I could keep doing it well into my 80s or even 90s. When I look back at the hits my body took trying flips and raleys, I can’t believe I came out of that period of my life unscathed. As well as being low-impact, foiling requires a lot of skill and technique. It gets us out on the water and fulfills that same desire to progress. In the same way that there was always the next invert or spin to work on in wakeboarding, there is always another skill or discipline to advance to after achieving your previous goals on the foil.

The First Foil

My foiling journey started behind the boat on “The Wakefoil” by Liquid Force. That summer season, I learned behind our trusty Malibu, and sure, I could get up and ride around with the rope, but I couldn’t figure out how to surf the foil without it. The next season, I bought a Slingshot Dwarfcraft Micro board and a Slingshot Infinity 76 foil kit and was able to meet that goal. Without the new board, I would never have made that progression. But there was still more to go. I couldn’t make a transfer from the first to second wave—I had to use a long wakeboard rope to get back to the second wave.

Unable to shake this feeling of failure, the next year I bought an Armstrong foil kit with an HS1850 front wing. It was a game changer. All of a sudden, with practice, I started making those transfers. It’s insane how much the right gear makes all the difference in your progression as a foiler.

Evolution of Riding

After upgrading my gear the next season to an Armstrong MA1475 foil setup, I was able to connect frontside to backside waves, successfully whip out from the first wake to the third wake, and surf multiple wakes back. I was even able to surf into the first wave from a stop-to-start pickup. At the end of the summer, I started getting close to pumping around the boat and picking the wave back up. It finally felt like I was progressing into something great.

At the start of 2024, I upgraded to an HA 980 with the performance mast and the 140 Dart tail. It was instantly a huge difference. The decrease in flex in the mast allowed more energy transfer when pumping, and the mast rake was tuned to the new HA wings. With the new HA wings, I was able to start pumping a circle without whipping off the rope, which I had not been able to do the previous year, despite multiple attempts. I also started having the boat cut the engine—riding into the boat and pumping around it. When I finished pumping around the boat, the driver would start back up, and I would pick up the first wave again. I was riding high on my successes.

What's Next?

Towards the end of the 2024 season, I started pumping out into the flats from the second wave back and catching up to the first wave when the boat would turn around. When the boat turned, the distance from the second wave was reduced, and I started making it back to the first wave with the Armstrong HA 980. This summer season (2025), after spending time out in the ocean tow foiling, I'm ready to advance my pumping and expand to other foiling disciplines and can't wait to take my followers with me.

Check out our Foiling the Caribbean blog post for more of my story from Wake to Wave. Overall, through the past years, my foiling has advanced because of persistent riding, technological advancements, and a lot of trial and error. I hope this saves some people the time and effort I had to go through to find the gear that suited my needs.