Which parawing goes upwind better?
Here is what it feels like. Nah. Here is what the data says. Going upwind with the exact same foil setup, back to back with each parawing, recording the data on a simple garmin solar instinct watch, then comparing the upwind legs with average angle, speed, and vmg.
TLTR :
Over all three sessions combined, the Orbit made 1.5 kn more VMG upwind than the 777. Most of that came from pointing about 7° higher; it was only slightly faster.
In details, 3 wind ranges
First session, 20-25kts, silk 950 v2, titanium fuse, carve pro S, 85cm uhm mast. Both parawings felt really powered up, the orbit could go in higher winds potentially.
Second session, at first 18-22kts, same foil but ucarve 130 tail. Felt nicely powered up.
Then 17-20kts, felt a bit on the lower end of the range. The hybrid had more grunt and the orbit was asking for more wind.
The jibes are a bit funky because often I had to jump to clear some seagrass.
As for the feels..
Packing : Super easy on the hybrid, unless in breaking waves, compact ball size. The orbit is definitely bulkier although totally manageable, once packed maybe 30% bigger. Emptying the cells of water is actually easier on the orbit, the ears of the hybrid full of water feel a bit like something that will be improved on a v2. Both pw seem to be using the same fabric grammage.
Takeoff : Hybrid is gruntier, probably able to get going earlier (1-3kts). Tips can drag a bit at take off if wind is low. Orbit is not pulling as hard, and can easily backstall if trimmed all the way.
Flight characteristics : Hybrid is plug and play, very forgiving ride. High camber in the profile that translates to a lot of grunt which is great in the bottom of the range but becomes painful in the top end. Orbit is more nuanced and technical, bar input has to be precise. Tends to side collapse when overtrimmed. Cuts through the air like butter, very little drag. It wants more wind than the hybrid to be in its sweet spot, maybe 20 to 26kts, vs the hybrid, something like 18 to 24kts. The upwind performance difference seem to increase as the wind increases where the orbit can be ridden untrimmed.
Conclusion and up next
It would be interesting to do a run with a smaller faster foil, like the enduro 800, where I expect the orbit to do even better as it’s lower drag through the air. Does the added performance justify the added difficulty of flight and packability? For me above a few km upwind, yes, and to catch waves in short loops, no, but that is very subjective.
I am getting the flysurfer zap 4m to compare to the orbit in the same fashion, with again data and practical feels to see the tradeoffs.
Parawinging is.. awesome.
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