The Plume is known for its horrible low end. Single skin parawings have a much lower starting wind speed but will become overpowered much sooner as well.
Had my first session on the 4.3 Hatch today, as a semi-beginner usually on Quest 4.5. For absolute ease of use the Quest when powered properly might still be better to learn on for the first few sessions for people who have 0 flying experience because it is so easy to handle. However, with perhaps a tiny bit more technical riding skills required, the Hatch v2 takes the cake for ease of use AND performance. Much more responsive, faster, better upwind, comfortable in the gusts, easy to find power without backstalling, excellent retract and redeploy, and overall just really well balanced. Coming off the Quest it took me 5 minutes to dial it in and get used to the more responsive wing but then I figured it out and after that I was ripping upwind, jibing, retracting/redeploying, etc. Still super easy to use and just clearly a higher performance wing where this performance is easily accessible.
More back to back tests coming in the next few days but these are my first impressions, and they are very good so far.
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Anyone know if you can run a 5.1m and 3.5m Hatch V2 quiver and skip the 4.2m size?
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Yes, the Hatch V2 quiver as it stands is meant to skip a size. This was told to me by Ewan Jaspen at the hatch a month ago. The starting and ending point depends on rider preference. I’m 145lbs and have had a couple of sessions on my 3.5 in wind ranging from mid teens to low 20s, great range IMO. I’m looking to add just a 4.3 for my lighter wind days, and that should cover most of my conditions here in FL.
Potential negatives with the hatch depending on your riding style is that if you are very accustomed to hooking in, there is a bit of learning curve of getting used to the built in bar line. I mostly ride unhooked so it doesn’t bother me much but I am working on it, and I definitely love the fact that it retracts immediately and completely out of the way when riding.
The other potential downside and this is more of a personal issue is that the bar is a little bit bigger than other bars due to the candy cane shape and if you use a pretty small stash belt like I do, it’s a bit of a tight fit.
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On the Hatch V2, is the bar that sinks not an issue? Especially for beginners.
In my opinion, the reason to PW is if you want to foil surf waves without holding an inflatable wing. If you want that feeling you got from sailing around with a Plume, I would consider kitefoiling with very short lines.
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I’ve had it in the water plenty in the surf and haven’t had an issue. I also don’t wait around and watch it drift away from me either. So far doesn’t seem to be in issue for anyone beginner or advanced IMO.
Its not completely out of the ordinary for the parawing to get ripped out of my hands doing something weird like a bad tack. Doesn’t happen often, but with a floating bar I can always swim to it. Sinking bar would make me nervous in those situations.
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I tested my Hatch v2 this afternoon and not sure where this “sinking bar” thing comes from? Maybe Slappy at AWSI had a dud but my bar today didn’t really sink sink when I dropped the whole para… Does it float like a rubber ducky in a bathtub bopping around, no. Does it sink like a rock? Also no. It seemed pretty neutral buoyanced to me, just kinda stayed on the surface when I dropped it. Maybe it would sink eventually after being unattended for 10 minutes but for normal use I am not expecting issues. Perhaps if it gets taken by an overhead set it would be harder to relocate though, but then you probably have other things to worry about, even with PWs with better floating bars…
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My sinking bar was in river water. Perhaps it’s not as bad if you are in salt.
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Fresh water gives you much less float than salty water. Maybe i should add a little floating foam thing inside the bar of the hatch v2, in a way that the cord still has plenty of freedom to move.
One of my mates here has 2 of the Hatch V2’s. I’ve only land flown them so far and they seem really nice!
Having said that he did mention yesterday that his bars sink (we are in ocean salt water)
I don’t know if that would or wouldn’t be an issue for me but right on cue I got absolutely blown up in a shorebreak coming in. Got back to the surface to find my Quest about 20m away from me. Fortunately only just staying on the surface.
Definitely keen to give them a crack in the water soon though. But again my quests really are doing a very good job especially in the smaller sizes.
i have a few 777 pws, but my daily driver 95% of the time is their 7.3m. it doesnt feel big at all, im 95kg. and i dont mind being slightly overpowered like up to 16kn, i still need around 11-12kn gusts to get going. dont know why people think its too big, i dont stash, but ride bumps with it bunched off in my hands, jibe is easy on the 7.3 pt skin. id ride a 10m parawing in a heartbeat if they made one so i can go sub 8kn and a 20m parawing to go at 5kn. sign me up!
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What size boards are most people using for their parawing setup once they get the basics down?
Im 84 kg. Learned on a 6’4" x 22", 86 liter then went down to a 6’ x 20", 74 liter. Its not much harder on the small board so long as you have enough power. I still use the bigger board when its light sometimes since it adds a couple knots to the low end (or at least makes low end takeoff a little easier). I had a lot of winging experience on lower volume boards (60L was my all around board) prior to parawing.
relevant to this thread - Ill probably be selling a 5/4/3 quiver of Quests in a month if there is interest.
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I’m about 65 kg and learned on a 66 liter Omen emissary and Armstrong HA 780 foil. That board will sink a bit in a dead calm, but stays on the surface if there’s even a slight pull from the parawing. I never felt like more volume was required to learn. Like many, I had a lot of winging time before trying parawing.
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I tried the L1 in both 7.5 and 6.5 today and was very impressed how easy it was to manage. I am 160lbs and was riding a 55l board and 750 ish piranha in 10-20 kts. I did not miss a single gybe. Packed down easily and really small.
I have earlier tried the s3 5.3 in 12-20 kts and was struggeling hard. I did not manage a single gybe and i was even struggeling to keep it in the air. L1 is a different beast. So easy
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Meow, if you don’t stash then you could also use a kite as your biggest one, with the very long lines you can grab way more air in those superlight conditions. Or did you already try it and did not like kiting? Flysurfer has the soul4 in 18meter, and the sonic5 in 15meter. I hate kitesurfing but many of my friends do it.
He collapses and rides with it in his hand. Something I used to do with my big PW (4.7m) until upgrading to the Kaohi Stowaway from v1 Ozone pouch.
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Oh, that clarifies the sutuation, then the kite is no good… Is the Kaohi Stowaway much better than the Ozone pouch? And are the Stowaways of Venstrata and Kaohi identical?