Great to read your review. I too was crazy impressed with this set up, so much so I bought the kit and am patiently waiting for it all to come in.
I spoke with both Matt and Sam prior to demoing and was concerned that my light weight and their lack of shims was going to make things hard for me since I have never had a kit that didn’t need some tuning for me to feel comfortable. I was dead wrong, and they were correct. The set up is so stable and easy to use that I found it felt perfect for me right out of the box. No difficult pitch adjustments during critical sections, no unbalanced leg weighting necessary while speeding down waves, it just felt stable and smooth no matter what was going on. I was super impressed, and the slipperiness of the ultra thin mast, fuse, and lack of fasteners was immediately apparent. I’m really looking forward to putting in the miles on this kit when it gets here.
Comparisons?
How long until @FSM is on Hydroflex?
It definitely left me wondering “what if?” I’ve spent a lot of time pushing myself on challenging gear. To ride something that was so friendly was an incredible experience. Chill and easy to ride in the soft sections but locked and loaded to shred when performance sections showed up.
Did you go with the 775 kit? Parawing or wing?
I am parawinging, and went with the 775/140 kit on their recommendation. It’s what I demoed and I loved it, it just felt incredibly comfortable. Waiting for it is killing me though.
I was going to go F4 but I really love the HC connection and the mast seems competitive with anything else out there. I also tend to be rough on my wings as I seem to be unable to avoid the reef when proning or the rocks when entering and exiting the river so I was happy to see that the Hydrocraft was a fairly robust wing, not super razor thin at the edges and appears capable of taking some abuse.
Good enough to bail on AFS? I still feel their connection is the best to date.
My goal isn’t to compel anyone to swap quivers or promote Brand A over Brand B. I just want to celebrate that Hydrocraft has built something legit that deserves to be on any stoked foiler’s radar.
As I always say, “Know yourself.” That’s how I make the best gear choices in foiling. Different riders are looking for different experiences on the water.
For me, this session showed that Hydrocraft has built a fun and progressive product worth checking out.