Don’t know about the frigate but yes, you have a point, that’s actually how I described the business case for getting a POW, if you want low end grunt and upwind ability and don’t care about longer lines longer bar heavier canopy materials, you go upwind and stow it just once or just a few times in a good downwind run, or just want sail around not stowing that much, it may be a good option the POW. The only POW I tested was the 4m. Also surprised by how the POW can be overpowered and going upwind and not fluttering the trailing edge, that was really cool, felt nice like a racing kind of feeling, you do need to consider a good wing padded harness.
I got after that the ozone 4.3m and still consider it better all around, may not be as powerful and flutters the trailing edge when overpowered (that’s how it’s depower works) but it feels way lighter in hands, flies easier, it’s more nimble when not up on foil, kinda like a better neutral position while you get on board and prepare yourself, and can keep going upwind or at least not downwind if you stay on board not flying (good for self rescue), the POW it’s so power focused that you gotta be really focused not to end too way downwind ja. Packs better, easier to stow, still very powerful and on the top of upwind abilities for parawings. Can’t tell about quality, time will tell but it looks all fine to me, and for me being lighter in weight and in flight it’s priority.
Still, if you have your priorities clear, yes considering the POW won’t be a bad call.
I’d stay away from Triple7 for now… they seem to have the same bridle trim issues that some of the earlier Flows had. They make amazing paragliders (Love my 23m Knight ) so I’m sure they’ll sort it out eventually.
POW, Frigate, Pocket Rockets are all in good shape, can’t go wrong. Just pick one you like the color of, and have access to
The 5m PR is also a handful because of so many battens. if the PR battens were thicker, it would be easier to stow. it seemingly doesnt pull in a nice flower/ onion either. but that might just be how it is with the bigger sizes.
Seems to me, better to keep the size of the PW below 4.3 which is already a handful and tremendously powerful. Make up the difference on the low end using your DW board and larger foils. Worked well for me at least having only a 3M while learning and taught me a lot about starting underpowered.
Is anyone using McLube or some other spray to re-coat wings to re-up that factory water-repellent coating? I think maybe the rapid development has lead to performance minded folks just getting new wings before thats an issue maybe.
I rode with someone who was testing the Naish Hatch and raved about it, and they had tried most of the other brands out there. They also trashed on the v1 Naish. They may have been partial, but it sounds like it could be a real contender.
I own a 4m v1 brm with mods. It works really well. I mostly ride my proto kalama 8’4”x17 108L if there is any lightness of wind. With bar mods done, i can fly it overpowered and drag it upwind easily.
I own a flow 3m and love this one when it it windy enough. It does everything great. When light, and wet the canopy doesn’t want to fly.
I recently bought a kanaha 4.7 and liked it ok. It wasn’t as easy to drag upwind as my v1. It was also harder to collapse due to the HA shape that made the bridals spread out reslly wide as i took them in. Also, the last set of bridals closest to canopy were noticeably thinner and sharper so really slicey on the hands. Traded it for a 4.2 ka’a and like it a lot more. My stow and re deploy success has skyrocketed with the Ka’a mostly due to the short lines. I thought at first it didn’t go up wind very good but I worked it out and its fine. It likes to be flown off a lines and is sensitive to back bar pressure. The little bar is plenty big enough. I also have a 2.3 Ka’a but haven’t really used it.
I think pw will take a huge bite out of the lei wing market this year. It took me out of it. Pwings dont bag out like lei wings, so I won’t have to replace every 1.5 years. I think that lei wings are too much tech and too delicate to maintain. Once wingers see pwingers not having to replace and repair all the time, they will get it. Pwing is also way more fun to fly around with than having a heavy lei in your face requiring 2 hands. Less is more. Much more pleasurable to fly a pw than an lei, and I don’t miss pumping up.
Without having tried PW, I think this is one overlooked aspect. If an older PW gets the job done as an older wing, especially going upwind; but with the ability to stow it and without having to inflate it, it just feels superior!
they might not bag out, but I think a lot of the potential market is waiting for the evolution to plateau a bit. Seems that the tech is evolving pretty quickly and I know some people don’t want to buy a v1 when a v2 (and v3) are right around the corner. Not sure how big the jumps are going to be, but it always sucks holding the bag (literally) when the next gen is considerably better. Wouldn’t have wanted to be on a v1 or v2 wing when that tech made its jump.
I already took the plunge, but I know firsthand a lot of people are taking a wait and see attitude.
tested the hatch 4.3, night and day difference from the unusable morph. still a bit twitchy but stable enough for pop up and cruised upwind well enough. line length was a single stroke for collapse
Maybe with the young crowd in places with the right wind. I think the uptake will be limited by the lack of low end and lack of range. I’m probably a dozen sessions deep into the PW world and I like the challenge when the conditions are right. PWing has showed me how overpowered I tend to ride on a hand wing, so I’ve been riding at lease a size down.
That’s a decent part of why I’m so interested in that. My main wings used to degrade significantly after 3 months (~30 sessions) and I had also times where they were out of the water for a while due to some repairs requiring proper skills. Maybe it’s just a perception thing, but PWs seem more low tech, and should be able to be repaired more easily. And it’s also a sort of continuity after over 25yrs of kitesurfing.
It definitely brings back the joy of flying kites. Winging is more like windsurfing. Its like a kite that doesn’t take up a 300’ diameter and endanger everyone around it.
) so I’m sure they’ll sort it out eventually.