F-One

Major French foil, wing, kite and board brand — one of the most-covered manufacturers on the show, largely through general manager Julien Salles.

• Julien Salles (GM, and head of sister brand Manera) appears repeatedly: F-One & Manera (Ep 47), in person with Raphaël Salles (Ep 90), and on the Plume “Pluming” and Frigate shapes (Ep 111).
• Design detail from naval architect Charles Bertrand (Ep 26), plus recurring tech references: HM carbon Masts (Ep 32), the SK8 board (Ep 29) and the Titan2 (Ep 140).
• Edo Tanas left F-One for Slingshot (Ep 139); Jack Ho signed a headline deal with F-One (Ep 101).
• Ep 47 (Julien Salles): founded by Raphaël Salles and his wife from nothing (“the potato years”), still 100% family-owned with no outside investors. Kiting remains roughly a third of turnover despite the wing/foil marketing push. Foil range: Skate (F-One’s best-selling foil ever, only ~6 months old at the time), Seven Seas (underrated downwind-glide foil), Phantom (beginner/intermediate, “makes you look good”) with a Phantom V2 confirmed for ~1–1.5 years out. Two masts sold: HM (14mm, €1,500) and standard carbon (16mm, €1,000) — a production batch of the newer slim mast had to be recalled after the factory deviated from the specified carbon layup; the run was redone with the same long-term factory. New Jam wing series (1900 for dock-starts, 1600 to learn downwind) targets deflator-style downwinding. F-One shared a wing pattern with Duotone (Ventus/CWC) for a small commission, framed as IP protection rather than profit. Sticks with soft wing handles by choice but is adding hard handles as a spare-part option on a new third (comfort/cruising) wing model alongside the Strike and Swing.

Ripple additions (batch 2, 2026-07-20)

• Ep 38 (Armie Armstrong): Raphaël Salles rejected a varying-taper F-One mast prototype purely for the feel of a consistent 14mm section, prioritising feel over engineered stiffness gains.
• Ep 60 (Ken Adgate): F-One is his pick for a production board if barred from Mikes Lab/Ozone/his own boards, largely via a distributor friend.
• Ep 84 (Fred Hope, Slingshot): his favoured kitefoil is an F-One Skate/Eagle-style foil (deliberately low glide, no low end, sharp leading edge); rates the F-One Swing wing.
• Ep 73 (Klaas Voget, Duotone) names F-One as the strongest early wing competitor and the reference point on the Spitfire outline vs Duotone’s Whiz.