BBQdSunfish forum posts in last 60 days

How are the lines to handle? Closer to BRM or Pocket Rocket?

Does it fly off the front handle or further back?

Can you get the leading edge to collapse?

I have two buddies that bought the PT Skin 7.3 when I bought the PT Skin 5.4. One on them then wanted a smaller PW for when the wind picked up, so I sold him the 5.4 - and I turned around and bought the Hybrid 5.7

They have similar low end - but the Hybrid has about 40% more on the high end (for me).

The Skin flies similar to most of the single skin PWs out there - no surprises, well behaved and easy to relaunch.

If the hybrid does take on water (after I wipeout), I usually just gently pull in on the front lines, gather up the leading edge, hold it up out of the water and the slots at the trailing edge of the double skin section drains the water quickly. Then I hold the PW open facing the wind and it is back up in the air. It is "different" to get back in the air than a single skin - but I wouldn't say it is worse. You don't want to rush this process - as you may damage the double skin opening (I'm guessing on this). When the PW get fully submerged and the double skin portion is full of water, it does get "heavy". But if you don't fight it, it really isn't a big deal to purge and get back to flying.

I still have (and fly) my bar modified BRM Maliko V1s (5.1, 4.0, 2.9) - and as far as single skins go these have persisted in my quiver because they do what they are supposed to (and even if I tried to sell them, I wouldn't get nearly what they are worth - darn secondary market on any PW sucks). I still think Greg Drexler got it right out the gate (and rumor has it he'll be releasing a hybrid in a couple of months - I'm interested in that). I've used Flow Dwing (v1), BRM Ka'a, Flysurfer POW, Ozone PR, and the 777 PT Skin - they all had their individual characteristics - but I just kept going back to the Malikos which was brilliant at the basics. I am adding the Hybrids to the line up because they fly different - the power up different, have a wide range, turn better (once you figure out how to turn them) and are different than everything else.

I will say that I have learned to use the 4.3 through it's range already. The low end of the 5.7 sometimes gets tricky to jibe or tack - but I know that is more me and less the PW (I went through this with the Flysurfer POW 5.0 and 4.0 - the 4.0 was easier, the 5.0 took a bit longer to get to tack and jibe on the low end).

If you want a pure light wind PW, you may want to look at the 777 Skin 7.3 - my buddies are heavier than I am and that PW gets them powered when I'm still trying to get the Hybrid 5.7 to stay aloft. It's big, but you just have to learn to manage it. When the wind get that light, I'd rather move to Foil Drive or go surf.

I sold my BRM Ka'as, my Triple Seven PT Skin and one of my Flysurfer POWs (still trying to sell the last one) - and I picked up the Triple Seven PT Hybrid 4.3 and 5.7

These PWs have such a wide wind range, they haul upwind better than the POWs, and once you figure out the steering they are a ton of fun to fly/tack/jibe. This is the easiest PW to down loop jibe.

I am still working on developing a retracting technique (I am 5'7" and did the two pull on the Flysurfer POWs without any issue; just still in figuring it out mode with the Hybrids and the wind we've been getting is nearly straight offshore, so pretty tough sailing conditions). When I have ridden with the PW retracted, the lines do not get tangled up on each other and redeploy is drama free.

If the cells on the double skin side get flooded, I just bring the PW onto my board, pull on the front lines to get the PW to concertina, then hold it up by the front end - any water drains out fast, then relaunch is easy.

I'm glad I went this direction and the hybrid is pretty much just that - the best of the Paia and the single skin PWs