Sounds great! Any pictures sharing?

At 175lbs +gear I've had a few great sessions on the HA725. Need to get it into some decent size waves soon. Don't see myself ever winging the HA525. Looking forward to your insights.

HubDekkers said..
At 81kg I have been using the 725 quite a lot for winging. I am able to use it on flat water, but also in bigger waves and strong wind downwinders. I have been spending quite some time on the 525 too. I have used it only on flat water. My setup has been 50/v200 and 60/195. Both with red shims.

Getting on foil requires more effort compared to the 725 (as you would expect). It feels (much) faster compared to the 725. It is also more lose. Going back to the 925 afterwards it feels super slow. I am even able to tack the 525 without dropping of the foil in 50-75% of the cases (I am able to tack the 725 successfully 99% of the cases).

I would have never expected that I could ride the 525 comfortably with my weight. After riding it a few times I would have never expected that I would be able to tack it. The bar gets raised automatically. It is a matter of getting used to and spending time on it. The possibilities of the foil are far greater than you would expect. For sure they are far greater than I expected.

If there are specific questions, just shout.

Awesome feedback, thanks!
Curious about wind speeds and wing sizes you've used it in so far. Sinker board or semi sinker?
I chatted with an Olympic kiwi sailor who is around my weight and she loves it. Kinda mirrored your thoughts, but said it wasn't much harder to get up than the 725.

First session on the 525. Flat(ish) water with gusty 10-30 mph range with averages right around 20. Mostly overpowered on a 5M OR Glide.

Few weeks ago, I couldn't get the 525 up in 15mph, almost.just kept slamming down. Today no problem with power so I got to figure out the launch technique. As others have said, it doesn't like to be deweighted upon liftoff. I had to keep steady, quiet pressure on my front leg until up to about 10mph speed, then game on. I think I was on foil at around 6-8mph, but those extra few mph while taking off really require some patience.


At first it was as if I was 6 years old again, trying out a bicycle without training wheels.twitchy and unstable. I quickly realized the foil wasn't unstable, it was me being a spaz. I chilled out and eased into the flow of the wing. First go on my heelside tack I felt like I was rocketing straight upwind. Bearing off the wind was nuts.so much speed. I didn't find the top end limit of course, but did hit 20mph on a broad reach followed by a high radius Heineken gybe, which felt amazing (entered at 19mph and exited at 15mph).

Felt like I could have gone much faster, but pitchiness was there and reaction time is magnified.
Stall speed seemed to be around 8-9mph for me. I made all of my toeside tacks with brief touch downs, mostly due to poor wing handling. Coming out of gybes with hardly any apparent wind was no problem (so long as I handled the wing right). It just glides and builds apparent wind. Also no problems goink through the holes of the wind. So efficient.


Can't wait to get this wing into some wave/bump sessions and also dial in configurations. Going to try Hubs 50/fv200 combo for sure and maybe even a 70 with -1 shim for a speed run.

So much potential with this wing. Definitely demanding, but much easier than I thought it would be. Only fell in twice during the (short) session

Sonsaleta said..
I usually use for winging the 725 with 50 fuse + vflying chopped + mast 72. No shim (-1)
But I have also the 525. The 525 start to fly from 14-15 knots with a 5m (my weight 77kg).

The main difference between the 725 and 525 to my point of view is that the 525 need for my weight to do "snowboard trajectory". If the turns are short the 525 fall. It need always a good speed, it demands more physically, you go also quicker than the 725 clearly...If you don't need to turn short it's not tough to maintain the fly even if the wind drop (good pumping). The tacks are tougher in the sens that you have to do them quickly and you can not sleep doing them. :)

The 725 need maybe 13 knots to start with a 5m and you have the possibility to turn or to tack short and to find the way to keep going. It's more confortable. It doesn't demand so much physically.
I keep the 525 basically for big waves.

Yeah 'snowboard trajectory' is a great way to put it! I'm a downhill snowboard groomer ripper at heart so maybe that is why I'm psyching on it. Tuning it to your liking is probably even more crucial for these faster wings. Mast placement being a bigger deal maybe. Laying a fast gybe with balance for or aft can make or break the feel you want.

Updated review after a few more sessions.

First off, its crazy how little wind it takes to get this foil going. I was using a 5.2M Reeding Superwing 2 today in 10-15mph winds and was on foil. That said, while it's doable in these lighter conditions the 525 really starts to shine at 15+. Trying to jibe the 525 in super light wind is really challenging for me. It's very easy to over-run your wing and get backwinded and the 525 is not forgiving in those moments, it drops right off foil in turns if you are not banking off a wave to carry you through a lull in a turn.

Something unexpected, as a result of riding the 525, I sold my 925. I realized that I can ride one size up in my hand wing and easily cover all the same wind range with a 725 and 525 as I used to cover with a 925 and 725.

Update to thought from last post... where I was describing a feeling like I had just as much glide with the 525 I think I figured out where that was coming from. One of the most exciting things about this tiny foil is that you can turn on and stay in the steepest part of a swell and not worry about foiling out. This means that you can carry a lot more speed when banking into a wave. With speed being one of the factors for glide, I think the perception of "just as much glide" comes into play. In reality, while the glide is excellent and it is very responsive to pumping (at 75kg,) the 725 has a good bit more glide and is considerably more forgiving to rider error or slowing down during jibes.