I met up with GorgeSailor for a little Gear Library demo swap. He snatched up the AFS Enduro 700/900 and 85cm skinny UHM from me and I grabbed his 3.5m x2. I tested it at the Hatch in the Columbia River Gorge for a few days using the Silk 1050, 850, 650 and here's my thoughts:
Robust build.
Excellent handling.
Great low end.
Smooth power delivery, never grunty.
Tacks nicely, cut's through the wind great.
Exceptional upwind. Recently I have felt like the best parawingers were matching my upwind ability. On this though, they were all left far behind on upwind runs.
The boom is perfect, just right for my hands.
Great valves that are similar to F-One for accurate PSI management.
Slippery wingtips on water strikes. This is awesome because the wing doesn't tend to roll the leading edge down and dump you. It quickly releases.
Room for improvement:
Weight loss. It's a light wing by most standards at 1950g with the boom but theres some obvious weight loss opportunities (dual valves and one pump tube? Why?) I'd like to see this drop 400g to strive for perfection. This weight loss is most critical for dedicated swell riders who are using a wing for transport.
The published spans don't make sense. The published span is 2.96m but when I measure it comes out to 2.69m (off by 10" or .27m). For me, this is a big deal. I won't order wings with spans over 2.9m. Their 4m is published as having 3.16m span but if it actually measures, inflated, to 2.89m (-.27m like the 3.5m) then it would be the perfect 4m wing for me.
In the end, I'd say this is one of the best wings for winging I have ever used. I can't imagine wanting something much different if you're a winger who intends to interact and play with the wing a lot.
If you have more questions you can hit up the team at Chinook Sailing in Cascade Locks to learn more:
chinooksailing.com/collections/vayu
