F4 Mya wings received an astonishing reception, with the first production run selling out within a week of launch. We spent over a year working on the design of Mya wings with countless iterations and many innovations. Today, we want to share with you what it takes to actually manufacture a great wing, and all of the processes behind it.
It all starts with material selection and the intense QA process for each one. A wing bladder is made from a material called Thermoplastic Polyurethane, abbreviated as TPU. This material has characteristics of both plastic and rubber, and is known for its durability, flexibility, and excellent tensile strength. TPU comes in large rolls and needs to be "welded" into the shape of the leading edge and strut of the wing. Its performance, durability, and quality vary and are greatly affected by ambient temperature, humidity, and the settings of the welding machine. So every morning before production of bladders, we need to cut pieces, weld them, and hang them with weights for 24 hours to ensure that all settings are good and that the bladders manufactured each day meet specifications. It’s not a very scientific test setup, but believe me, it’s effective! ;-)
UV testing is dull but just as important as the rest of the tests when it comes to the durability of your wing and its appearance. UV rays are very harmful to most materials, and wings are exposed to them all the time, so any and all materials we use go through extensive simulated UV exposure in UV machines.
Rip and tear resistance is crucial. You may have heard about ripstop fabrics used in wings, but not all ripstop fabrics are created equal. And not every batch of fabric is the same as the last one, so when we open a new roll, and before we start cutting any materials, a sample gets run through a rip test machine.
Fabric fraying is another concern. The more you ride and the stronger the wind, the more the wing flaps in the air, especially at speed, which inevitably leads to unraveling along the cloth. To test for fabric fraying, we take a sample from each roll of material and simulate its exposure to strong wind. We do this by attaching it to a motor and swinging it at high speed for a long time. Again, not very sophisticated, but effective.
Microscopic stitch inspection is also critical. The last thing you want out at a lake, sea, or ocean is your wing falling apart. Since a wing is made of fabrics stitched together, it’s only as strong as the stitching itself. We inspect the stitching of each machine every day using a digital microscope.
Don’t forget the laundry! This part is particularly funny but necessary to ensure your wing’s quality and appearance are top-notch. The laundry machine is the best way to test the longevity of any printed graphics on your wing. Any component with print on it is put in the machine and washed repeatedly for days to ensure the print is stable and does not peel or crack.
There is a LOT more to the process of creating and manufacturing a wing, but we hope this behind-the-scenes information is both amusing and informative, so you can appreciate even more the delight this sport gives us every time we are on the water.
If you have any questions, go ahead and contact us. If you want a state-of-the-art wing, go ahead and grab a Mya.
See you on the water,
F4 Team
