After asking for advice from l’Ours on our Forum, Jérôme let himself be tempted by this 9m Superpower wing to navigate in light wind. Here is his feedback :
“I sailed with the GONG Superpower 9m, and I was the only one on the water (apart from a few guys Foils).
That was 3 weeks ago and it seems so far away now.
I bought the Wing in Good Deals off the online shop, a pre-series of the 9m Superpower, which distinguishes itself at first sight only by the absence of a window. And that’s actually good for me because I think it lightens the Wing quite a lot.
I’m 1m75, 70kg, not a giant and I’ve been doing Wing for a few months in Toulouse. After exchanging with Patrice Guénolé on the GONG forum about the Wing in the light wind, I decided for this Wing with some apprehension anyway. But I have some overweight friends and I thought I could always sell it to them.
So the Wing is awesome and when you inflate it’s easy to see the difference with my classic 5m. The diameter of the central batten is impressive.
There were 8-10 knots, a Windfoileur came out but didn’t really manage to take off.
No worries at the launch, I’m happy to have a Zuma 6’6 with shape and volume stability. I stand up and position the Wing, a little pumping and I finally managed to get off quite easily. Well concentrated to keep the kite high enough, in the beginning, over 2 hours I didn’t fall as often as I did, because of the Wing dragging in the water.
The falls are mainly due to changes of direction, I don’t really know how to do it in flight yet and while landing it’s clear that the size disorientates a bit at the beginning but frankly you get used to it quite quickly.
What surprised me was the feeling when the wind is a little stronger, it’s like hanging from the Wing. It’s a slightly different way of sailing.
I still managed to do two hours, with a little break, and in the end I was as much blown off my arms as my legs. The energetic pumping needed to take off below 10 knots quickly depleted the reserves. But there is a big margin of progress on the pumping technique, a lot more with this Wing than with my 5m. Not bad with the front arm bringing it back towards you.
Clearly I’m going to be happy to keep this Wing and use it in the lighter and lighter conditions found in the summer thermals of the South East.
At the end of the session I came across a kiteflier with a 12m but the satisfaction of being the only one on the water in WING was absolutely thrilling.
In short, I was able to Win it and no one else could.
Thank you GONG!”
Wing foiler : Jérôme and his GONG SUP 6’6 Zuma 100% Foil FSP, and GONG Wing 9m Superpower.
