Holly and myself were pretty excited to be invited to the 2026 Duotone Dealer meeting in Dakhla. All the new toys were there from Duotone windsurfing, wingfoiling, parawinging, kitesurfing, ION and the new addition of power assisted foils. We had never been to Morocco before, let alone Dakhla, so knew this was going to be a fun trip. All the top ION and Duotone designers and product developers were there along with some of the main riders, which gave us the perfect opportunity to get to know the Duotone team, plus get the chance to try plenty of the newest gear !

The flight from London took just over 3 hours to Casablanca – then a few hours layover followed by a slight delay we finally got to Dakhla Attitude in the early hours. The days included a morning of talks and meetings with the afternoon reserved for testing!  One thing we discovered was that it was windy all day, every day!

In October we were expecting it to be baking hot but infact the mornings are cool on the edge of the desert, then it heats up in the afternoon – I used a 3/2 summer suit most of the time – but you could get away with a shortie for a single session.

We had a lot of kit to try!

It was great to get out windsurfing. I tested the new D/LAB Super Hero with both the new carbon boom and the unique ‘ovalised’ alloy boom, the new Duotone Duke and the SlS Tri Fin and Ultra Free Wave SLS 95l. I was using the 5.0m in both sails, when I could have been on a 4.2m,  both felt super light and controllable. I found both booms extremely stiff and felt they handled gusty conditions well.

The Duotone Duke seems to be much closer and similar to the performance of the D/LAB constructions, in the way the sail handles and its overall light feel; however, the Duotone  Super Hero D/LAB has exceptional power control and lightness in comparison to the Duke, the D?LAB construction sail also has the most wind range and will happily sit overpowered with a great degree of control. After a few runs on the windsurf set up I tuned the mast foot position on the SLS Ultra Free Wave, moving it to the back of the board for me, was pretty epic in its performance handling.

I also tried the new windsurfing ION Icon harness (size LT). I have been wearing Dakine harnesses for around 30 years and have got used to the sliding hook and softer DK T-10 harness. However, I could be converted, the Icon is a breakthrough product with far superior support than previous models, meaning no back pain for me whilst on the water or after. You can easily power through gusts by loading the harness up, with no issues adjusting to the fixed bar position.

Duotone has put in some serious changes and upgrades for 2026. The range of Units have been tuned up and I feel across the whole range there are some major steps forward in design and performance. Changes that effect the entire range, include the Fusion Boom/Handles position has been shifted towards the leading edge a few inches, giving more control on your front hand and a lighter feel. The canopy is re-shaped flatter in the middle section, resulting in it being more stable and with a tighter leech. On the water it generally feels lighter in your hands, feel faster at all points of your session. Front handle feels stiffer, there is less tip movement when flagging and greater stability, plus tacking and gybing just feels smoother with the 2026 Units.

Plus, each wing has an improved wind range at both the lower and upper wind speeds .The Duotone D/LAB is the lightest of the three 2026 Units, with the narrowest diameter leading edge and centre strut (there is a 10% difference in leading edge size on the D/LAB to standard construction unit). The SLS Unit has the D/LAB material in the centre of the leading edge so this wing is stiffer than the standard unit and its leading and centre strut is 5% smaller than the standard construction Unit.

The standard construction 2026 Duotone Unit has the same overall shape and panel layout as the SLS and D/LAB, it feels light, fast and handles the gusts without the price tag of the D/LAB or SLS constructions. We enjoyed all three models so much, that to be honest I have ordered all versions. What I have noticed is the Fusion Boom is the most popular and more superior option, over the Fusion handles, as it adds greater stiffness to centre strut and feels perfect when your wingfoiling.

Duotone have also launched the new 2026 version of the Float wing, which is more suited to surf and wave riding or down-winding conditions. I personally really like what they have done to the canopy, which has been re-shaped. I found this felt very light in your hands, a lot more stable especially upwind, had a greater wind range and was super stable downwind with less horizontal tip movement. Holly took the 2.5m Float on a 20km downwinder and loved every second of it.

Both Holly and I tended to use alot of the D/LAB set ups when it comes to Duotone foils, enjoying the Glide 2.0. However, after a talk from Klaus Voget we were excited to try the latest innovation: The Crest. The Crest sits between the Carve and Glide models, with a new profile (resembling a moustache) that is not found in any other front wings on the market – it has a tolerant profile with thickness at the front of the wing and is super easy to use. Radically lighter and in the D/LAB construction outs it in the big performance foil mix and boy did it exceed its expectations! During one of the talks from Jermone Bonnieux (Duotone Foils designer) made a claim that the new mono block tail PX and S back ends, improves the performance of ANY Duotone foil. Being the non-believer that I am, I  had to try this out. Nik Baker set it up for me and Holly to test out the mono block tails with multiple foil combinations .I can only say WOW – it is true that the mono block PX is insane and improves upwind control and smoother -over the bolt on tail wing version .

The Duotone Crest is a mighty fine front wing – we tested the 950 & 800 and found it to be very easy to ride in overpowered conditions, with me on a 3.5m and Holly on a 2.5m with some chunky wind swells in the middle of the bay. We both found you could stay in control without breaching, even when carving and turning in swell. It handled choppy turbulent water with ease and is fast and fires upwind, Holly also used the 950 on the downwinder and had no trouble in slightly larger swell. We were both very impressed. The moustache shaped leading edge, thicker centre chord and overall outline makes this a very forgiving performance foil to use, that is also surprisingly quick to get going with low stall speed and still a good overall top speed.

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We checked out the new Duotone Stash – their new parawing – but didn’t get the chance to test it out. However, the new handle shape with integrated harness loop looks pretty trick, and is completely unique to Duotone, improving the handling when winging one handed and for easy stashing. The canopy has had a whole redesign, with the leading edges being different blocks colours for easier identification to get it back int he air whist on the water. Plus a new line system.

Holly tested out the new Duotone Foil assist on the Midfish which she enjoyed in small bumps in the bay. These new foil assists launched on 26th November, the development Duotone have done is very much evident in the detail in the product and how every bolt, bearing, prop, leash cable, harness and operating remote. The set up does not require any gaffer tape to secure the cable to the board or motor to the mast. The flight ready batteries have a smart charger system with battery usage lights, and the batteries sit in a custom made waterproof box on your waist to keep the board light and responsive. You can use numerous other brand’s with the alloy mast system adapters, including: Axis, Armstrong, KT, F-One ,Code and others. Or, you just plug your normal Duotone foil wings to either an alloy 3BS 84 mast or the D/LAB system. The control system is on a finger trigger from a smart watch which allows more rail grip control, simulating prone foiling and minimising the tech getting in the way of that surf/down-winding feeling. The foil assist has 5speed on standard mode and 7speeds on boost mode. It’s hard to give an exact time on the batteries – as this all depends on the set up you are riding.

Julian from ION, demonstrated the new advancements and offerings from ION water and apparel, with a great showcase of suits, harnesses, neoprene, accessories and clothing. It was interesting to see the introduction of a unique cut resistant material for some foiling specific garments, that are constructed of a Grade 4 material that is resistance to foil slices – it comes with a large price tag but an interesting development to tackle some of those issues when in warmer waters. For us neoprene is a non-negotiable in the UK – major upgrades have gone into both the men and women’s lines of wetsuits from ION in 2026, with fabrics being far more flexible thanks to more lining and less seams in major part of the suit, more sustainable, all with one handed front zips. The Select suit is 37% lighter in the 5/4 and 6/5 models, and 15% lighter in the 4/3.

Holly and Brandon Baker also went winging at the Daklha speed spot with the kite crew. The location is an offshore part of the bay that is butter flat and is super deep close to the shoreline. The kiters went mental for it doing massive airs! Max Tulley, Jerome Bonnieux the Crest  foil designer, Leo (WOO CEO) and rest of the gang!

We had great time with the K-66 Team: Nik and Brandon Baker, Oli Fernadez and Tim Frampton.

We had a great time with the other UK Duotone Dealers: Nadine, Jamie, Leo, Layton, Tony, Christian, George, Ian, Max, Brad, Dan, Sam and Dec. And Essex’s very own Crocodile Dundee – Jamie Dodds, who managed to fall on a shark whilst doing a wingfoil downwinder (both were unharmed).

Thanks to Dakhla Club Attitude, especially Magid for helping us out with kit and recommendations.

Thanks to the Duotone Team: Til, Klass Voget, Raul Joa, Jerome Bonnieux and Cyril Coste .