Moses Fluente T40

Moses were one of the first brands into the kite foil market, production wise, and their foil range now comprehensively covers all foiling requirements – from entry level through to racing – with three foils and two boards now available. In our foil mega-test last issue we found that the foils from ‘non kite’ brands were very competitive and were some of the best value and favorites that we tested, and first impressions of the Moses Fluente T40 suggested that this might well be the case here.

The Fluente is, pretty amazingly, a full carbon foil which comes in at the same (or in some cases below) the price of many of the aluminum/carbon foils currently on the market. The Fluente set up utilizes their new W550 front wing which offers the size and power to get going early whilst still being able to handle a solid amount of speed. If you then want to step up the speed then wings are interchangeable so you could switch up to the Silente wing if you would like some more performance.

The board is the T40 which is a foil specific board and weighs in at an impressive 3.3kg. There is a nice amount of nose rocker to help you to keep everything above water when you’re starting out, and there is enough volume to relieve a lot of the pain of your first few sessions… In terms of slotting it all together and everything is pretty straightforward with M6 screws throughout. Once constructed the foil feels solid and impressively light for a foil at this price point.

On the water and the first thing you notice is how quickly it comes up onto the foil – you can get going at very low speeds which is a real plus if you are just starting out or are getting going in marginal or gusty conditions. And then it has to be said that this is just an incredibly stable foil… It really does feel solid beneath your feet and acceleration or deceleration are supremely smooth. In performance terms the Fluente setup is great. It is not going to win any races, but it is quite likely to be the board underneath you on your first planing tack, or your first fast broad reach run without wiping out. If you do then want to turn it on then the top end of the setup is beyond where you would expect it to be and you can get up to some decent speeds before you reach its limit – certainly fast enough to get the heart rate up!

For us this is one of the easiest to learn on and gives more future potential than many of the alternative entry level alloy and plastic setups.

In a sentence: A very impressive foil by any standards with excellent accessibility for beginners, but with plenty of performance beyond that too.