Duotone Trace SLS 2027 — Duotone's New Wave Wing Foil Board

The 2027 Duotone range has a new shape in it, and it's not another version of something you already know. The Trace SLS is Duotone's dedicated wave board for wing foiling — built specifically for tight, aggressive carving and clean whitewater control, sitting in a gap that genuinely didn't have a proper answer before.

Duotone's own positioning for it is blunt about the job: a compact outline sat between the Sky Style SLS and the Paradox SLS. In this post we're covering what that actually means on the water — how it differs from the Sky Style SLS and the Skybrid SLS, where it borrows shaping ideas from the Paradox SLS, and which of the four sizes suits which rider.

What is the Trace SLS?

It's Duotone's new Wave category board for wing foiling — the first dedicated wave-specific shape in the SLS line-up. The pointy nose cuts through whitewater while keeping swing weight down, the narrower outline and narrow bottom shape open up clearance for tight turns, and high apex bevelled rails let you carve hard without catching a rail. The step tail is there for release — less wetted surface behind the foil means earlier lift and a more responsive feel coming out of a turn.

It's built in Biax Carbon PVC construction with carbon foil tracks and rear track openings, so it's stiff, direct, and quick to set up on the beach.

Trace SLS vs Sky Style SLS — different jobs entirely

The Sky Style SLS is Duotone's freestyle board — a wide nose and tail for stable take-offs and forgiving landings, a cork shock absorber to soften hard landings, and a high rocker line that gives clearance for jumps. It's built to rotate fast and land big moves, not to carve a wave face.

The Trace SLS goes the other way on almost every one of those calls. Where the Sky Style SLS is wide at the nose and tail for stability in the air, the Trace SLS is narrow throughout for clearance in a turn. Both boards actually use a step tail, but for opposite reasons — on the Sky Style SLS it's tuned for pop and re-pop between freestyle moves, on the Trace SLS it's tuned for early release and lift out of a wave turn. Two very different riding styles built from a similar shaping tool.

Trace SLS vs Skybrid SLS — specialist shape vs midlength allrounder

The Skybrid SLS is Duotone's true allrounder — a midlength diamond-tail shape with a wider stance area and a moderate rocker line, built to be stable, easy to ride, and jumpable with both feet strapped in. It runs bigger too: 5'5" up to 6'1", 60L to 100L, with no overlap at all against the Trace SLS's 4'7"–5'6", 45L–90L range.

That size gap isn't an accident — the two boards aren't chasing the same rider. The Skybrid SLS is the accessible, do-everything midlength; the Trace SLS is the compact, purpose-built wave tool for riders who specifically want to carve.

What it shares with the Paradox SLS

Duotone's own comparison copy for the Paradox SLS leans on the same shaping language as the Trace SLS: a pointy, surfy nose to cut swing weight, high apex rails and increased bevels for clearance and clean release, and a step tail to reduce the wetted area behind the foil. Both boards use that toolkit to get the board out of the water and turning as efficiently as possible.

Where they part ways is what that efficiency is for. The Paradox SLS points it at downwind pumping and parawing take-off — getting up on foil with minimal power and holding a bump-riding line. The Trace SLS points the same ideas at wave riding — tight, aggressive, surf-style turns rather than a straight pumping line. Similar tools, different discipline.

Why the range needed it

Before the Trace SLS, Duotone's SLS wing foil boards covered freestyle (Sky Style SLS), an accessible midlength allrounder (Skybrid SLS), and downwind/parawing (Paradox SLS) — but nothing built specifically for carving a wave. The Trace SLS closes that gap: Duotone's own line puts it as "positioned between Sky Style SLS and Paradox SLS", and on spec that's exactly where it sits — narrower and more specialist than the Skybrid SLS, sharing shaping ideas with the Paradox SLS, but purpose-built for wave riding rather than either freestyle or downwind.