Does anyone have this wing?
I’m adding a 5.5 to my quiver and want something with a grunty low end.
Hi! About two weeks ago, I slashed my 4m F-One Swing V4 that I brought to Maui. While it was getting repaired, I rented a 4m Firefly Pro.
The characteristics of the wing were a really nice surprise. It is incredibly well-behaved; when flagging it out, the wing feels almost self-stabilizing. Since you are looking at a larger size, the Aluula construction will come in handy by reducing weight, making it much more effective on light-wind days.
Even though the Swing V4 is a stable wing, the Firefly was in a league of its own. In my experience, I used it while fairly powered up, so I can’t say much about its performance in borderline conditions. However, the “grunt” seems to come from its ease of use—you don’t have to micro-adjust to get lift. The power delivery is there the moment you sheet in.
Another thing I noticed is that the wing doesn’t try to “twist” your body. The angle of the handles relative to the canopy was greater than what I’m used to, making the flying position very comfortable.
The flip side of this design is that you can’t really squeeze more top-end speed out of it when overpowered (like you could with a “race” or high-performance wing) by micro-trimming. But that’s not really what I’m looking for. I want a wing to act like a “chairlift”—taking me up so I can ride waves and flag it out without a second thought. That way, I can focus entirely on carving and trimming the foil.
1 Like
Phioz, thanks so much for the reply, it’s hard to find a lot of info on them…they look very well made and behaved in their youtube videos. Thanks for the feedback!
Well I picked up a 5.5 firefly pro. Robby at https://robbyswift.com/ was awesome, very responsive and answered all of my questions. The wing arrived to my door in 2 days! I was able to take it out yesterday for a 2 hour surf session, wow this wing did not disappoint, it was not overly stiff and the low end was great. Flagged out like a dream, the 5.5 felt much more like a 5 in my hands. Stoked to be riding this wing!