First, my sincerest apologies for those involved in or affected by the Maui fires. I’m not going to begin to fathom what that experience feels like, and it is so sad to think that it’s only going to become more common as our climate changes and these weather events become more extreme. I have very fond memories of time spent in Lahaina, both for my honeymoon and as a young family with my daughter snorkeling for the first time on the reef outside the harbor. As sailors, we enjoyed meals at the Lahaina Yacht Club and I remember seeing the photos and award plaques on the wall of Vic-Maui races, which my friends competed in. I’m haunted by the picture of those walls burning, and the residents who fought for, and in some cases lose, their life. Anyway, just wanted to say I’m sorry and that I’m thinking about everyone and wishing you the best.
As most of you know, I have been extremely busy with Evolution Cedrus prototypes. The molds, fixtures, and jigs were a bit behind schedule… about 2 months. The benefit of this is that it gave me a bit of a breather to spend some time with my family and enjoy the first half of the summer on our sailboat. But since returning mid July, it has been all hands on deck laying up the first carbon parts, prepping them for assembly, and bonding them together to form the structural mast section. We’re now attaching leading/trailing edges using our new process, and eager to see the results. We’re targeting launch at AWSI on Sept. 6 in Hood River, but it’s going to be tight. Thanks again for your patience and interest, I’m confident that this will have a bigger impact on the industry than the original Classic which launched in 2018…
First Evolution Cedrus Mast Closeout, August 7, 2023
Thankfully, aluminum mast sales have helped carry the business through this pause in carbon production, and for that we are very grateful. We’ve been streamlining production, and looking for ways to improve this product, and are excited to release updated graphics to the Engineered Aluminum mast. The biggest driver for this, believe it or not, was actually environmental. Plastic stickers suck. They were great at launch, enabling us to design/engineer/extrude the mast in a matter of months, and go to market while other brands were stuck on container ships off Long Beach, but I never liked the stickers. There was such a temporary element to them, but worst of all, was the amount of liner waste we were generating when prepping masts for shipments. The silicone release liners are toxic, and expensive, and we’re excited to eliminate the waste and cost associated with adhesive graphics.
Cedrus x3
The new graphics are etched directly into the mast using our fiber laser, eliminating all waste, inventory, and cost associated with decals. This is a permanent, but non-destructive method that yields beautiful results. Don’t worry-we performed extensive testing on samples at various speeds and power levels, to confirm that the protective anodizing is not damaged in the process. These samples were subject to months of salt exposure, to the point of major barnacle growth, yet revealed no signs of corrosion. We hope you appreciate the new look, and are excited to have already shipped a few!
We have also made updates to the Cedrus Fuselage ecosystem, eliminating the “modular” options and moving to “monolithic” designs. I’ve learned more from my failures than successes, and this was definitely a series of hard lessons. First, very few people actually expressed interest in mixing and matching heads/tails. While aftermarket tails remain a niche for certain riders, the majority of the foiling community is pretty brand-loyal with respect to the empennage of their foil. Furthermore, stocking 3 parts, and 4 different pieces of hardware, was a real pain. A single monolithic fuselage requires only the two M8x40mm standard attachment screws, as opposed to 3 machined aluminum parts and 4 pieces of hardware. Finally, there were a few riders who had some issues with their modular fuselage head, either due to impacts with the bottom or just general riding. So if you’ve been furstrated with your modular fuselage, let me know and I’ll make it right. As an added bonus, we’re able to offer a completely machined-in-USA Armstrong and GoFoil fuselage for just a little more than half the cost of an OEM composite option. So you can be riding Armstrong wings using a super stiff Cedrus Mast and Fuselage for about $500. Thanks for your patience and understanding; I’m still learning!
Cedrus Monolithic Fuselages
Thanks again for all your support and business, and please stay tuned for further announcements related to Evolution Cedrus. I’ve learned that the final 10% really takes 90% of the work, so while we’re close, we’ve got a lot of work ahead.
Sincerely, Kyle
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