WASP
Had the opportunity to give a 6m WASP a go today in 12 to 15 knots.
My experience is on 4m/5m duotones and a 7m gong.
The 6m wasp is definitely smaller than the 7m gong. I overlayed them and the gong is wider and longer. I didn't think to compare to the 5m duotone, but it feels much bigger.
The wing material reminds me of the stuff they used in the zephyr kite.
Pumped up the wasp and leading edge is bigger than the duotone or gong (it's huge). The centre strut is inflated via thin tube from the leading edge.... the tube is way too thin and it cannot be locked off. Takes time to fill the strut and empty the strut (criticism number 1). The centre strut is used to shape the wing and is fat from start to end. It is as stiff as the duotone boom. There entire wing and boom are stiff and there is no flex. Very similar to the duotone. Whereas the 7m gong flexes a lot and you lose power with the flex.
The wasp is light. Lighter than the gong or duotone and floats nicely on a soft breeze.
(Last criticism)... ****ty cheap nasty thin handles (ozone added the extra side handles and they are STIFF, should have used those on the boom). I plan to attach a solid boom of some sort (paddle probably).
I went out on the AXIS 102 and Naish Hover 125.
Pumping up onto the foil was pretty straight forward. Pumping the wing generates a lot of power (equal to gong). But to my surprise I dragged the wing a bit, pretty sure that is just an experience issue.
Once I got on the foil, I had heaps of power and it was easy to turn it on and off.
Upwind performance was decent. My impression is the duotone is just a tad better, but with more experience there may be little difference.
Coming off the wind was great and wing sat nicely without the duotone fidgeting.
It is powerful little engine and might end up being my biggest wing
Those are my impressions.
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