Slingshot Infinity 76 wing catastrophic delamination

d0uglass

I was just foiling along today, deep water, no obstacles, not doing anything weird... then there was a crunchy feeling and I ended up in the water.

The leading edge of the Infinity 76 front wing had split open, and the top layer of the wing had completely delaminated and been pushed up at a right angle. I folded it back down and slowly sailed back to shore. Pretty disappointing early end to the session.

I got right on the phone with the shop that I bought the foil from and they were super nice about agreeing to send me a new wing under warranty. They said I'm the 4th person this year who has had to get theirs warrantied, and that Slingshot is aware of the issue. When I looked into the split it seemed there were layers of balsa and carbon fiber that met at the front seam, but no layer wrapped over the leading edge that I could see, so maybe that makes it vulnerable to splitting.

Anyway, just thought I'd give a heads up that this is a foil that works well but might not last long, so you should be sure and save your receipt if you buy one.

kevinkan · Joined: 07 Jun 2001 Posts: 1661 Location: San Francisco

I had that happen to my 76 too. Pretty disappointing, and the lack of wrapping layers is the same as your case. wing was relatively new. had an "oh shit" moment wondering if I should be selling these wings.

Slingshot shipped me a new one right away, and all the guys here who have been riding them for many days haven't had this problem. I thought I was the only one.

Sounds like there was a bad batch. Have only seen it on the 76 so far.

freaking love the 76 wing though. hope the production problem has been solved. my replacement wing has lots of days on it now, and no signs of stress/delamination along the leading edge.... only some scratches from grounding into rocks at Candlestick, so I guess that's a good sign!

LUCARO · Joined: 07 Dec 1997 Posts: 661

I had one too. Was way downwind when it happened and I found out how bad a foilboard is at schlogging upwind.

dcharlton · Joined: 24 Apr 2002 Posts: 414

Wow! Nice to know Slingshot backs their products and sends a new one out with no hassle. I'm madly in love with my 84 Infinity wing. The thing never spins out, lifts easy, and moves a LOT faster than I thought it would.

Really enjoying Slingshot setup and just got the Wizard 125 and am having a great time.

DC

wyattmiller · Joined: 23 Jan 2008 Posts: 651

Done and done

NOVAAN · Joined: 28 Sep 1994 Posts: 1548

I'm thinking about getting the 76. Have all the bad wings been removed from stock? I don't really don't to have return issues....

NOVAAN · Joined: 28 Sep 1994 Posts: 1548

Don't want to have return issues...

atlas.wave55 · Joined: 24 Aug 2016 Posts: 111

I'm in the same boat Novaan.

To add to the questions...

Wouldn't this be a problem for all the wings not just the 76 that had a bad batch?
What is the warrenty of this wing. I assume if it was a wing from the bad batch it would fail before the warrenty expires and your SOL . Can you still return it If it fails with the warrenty expired ?

wyattmiller · Joined: 23 Jan 2008 Posts: 651

If the wing fails like that they will warranty it even out of the warranty time. No problem. Slingshot stands by their stuff big time. They know a batch of these had this issue and they will always warranty them no problem. It is really a small number that have had this problem.

You have to remember that these foils are basically hand made, just like windsurf boards. They don't just pop out of a machine, there are guys hand sanding all day, so there can always be some human error.

Maybe 30 wings out of over 1400 sold so far.

Every warranty I have heard of, they send one out next day free of charge.

For how epic that 76 wing is, I wouldn't think twice.

NOVAAN · Joined: 28 Sep 1994 Posts: 1548

Cool thanks for your reply.