Hi Flyboy.Flyboy wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 7:16 pmIt is hard to know. This was my 13th day foiling in the waves without dropping my Peaks, but the waves were much bigger yesterday and this breaking wave caught me by surprise. In this case, the wave pushed me violently forward (and spun me around underwater) so the lines slacked completely and for a few seconds I didn't know which way was up. I've been trashed by waves like that with my wave kites on a SB and had the kite invert and/or the bridle lines wrapped around a wing tip ... also a problem. Without the breaking waves I don't feel too concerned about dropping a Peak .. although it does still happen on occasion. I'm glad I was wearing the PFD, because without it it would have been a very arduous swim in and there was absolutely no hope of catching up with my board.
Although I haven't had the same trashing in waves with my Hybrid, I can say after having used them since they came out that you are likely to have had a successful relaunch if you had a Hybrid on the end of your lines. There are a couple of reasons apart from Peter saying they jump out of the water which is true.
The weight of the Hybrid compared to a comparable sized Peak is about the same so it's very light and will float very high on the water ready to relaunch even with crashing waves. Secondly the bridles on the Hybrid are simple and short with a cross bridle which holds the kite in shape even when it's falling in no wind. This is where a Peak with no line tension can lose shape but the Hybrid won't.
There will always be an exceptional circumstance where relaunching won't be possible such as getting your foilboard tangled in the lines. From my experience the Hybrid is so easy to fly it's hard to crash and I've yet to have any of mine accidentally hit the water. I've had to deliberately crash my Hybrid to test the relaunch. Today was gusting 25-30 knots and the 2.5m Hybrid made foiling easy even in 4 foot choppy waves. While not as grunty as the Peaks they are easier to handle in strong gusty wind.