2023 Ocean Rodeo Glide AA First Impressions

We finally got our hands on the Ocean Rodeo Glide AA all-Aluula wing. Aluula is a very light and strong material, and this is definitely the lightest 5 meter I've ever flown, by far. Obviously, a full Aluula wing is going to come with a price tag, but it's very light.

How Does It Ride?

The outline is pretty flat, which makes it very powerful. This wing is speedy with a lot of drive. It does have a sweet spot that you have to find, so I would consider this to be a technical wing. It likes to breathe and has a lot of speed when you do find that sweet spot.

It likes to go downwind very well, so getting up is part of the key to getting going with it. You need to let it breathe and go downwind until you can cut up into the wind. I found it to fly better without being harnessed in since it likes to breathe and find a sweet spot. It is very technical and likes to drive upwind very fast, so it's an easy one to start to backwind on. When you're hooked into a harness, it's harder to feel when that starts to happen.

Who Is It For?

It's a good advanced wingers wing, but not something to learn on or mess with if you're just getting into the sport. If you've been riding for a while and you're looking for that high-end performance, something that drives and rockets upwind, and will ride and flag out well on the swell, this wing is awesome.

I would choose this on a powered-up wave day. Because the wing is so light, it felt like I was holding on to nothing while riding a wave downwind.

Handle Options

I'm a hard handle guy, but I felt the soft handle made it feel very comfortable. It helped absorb the gusts, which resulted in a little less fatigue. It does have the option for hard handles, though. You are able to put the Ocean Rodeo carbon fiber hard handles on here if you prefer. We do have the hard handles, but since we just got this wing yesterday, we haven't had a chance to put those on yet. We'll be trying it again with the hard handles and seeing how that performs.

Summary

We're still playing with it, but it's definitely been one of my favorite high-end performance wings that we've tried this summer. We're excited about it. If you have some questions, give us a call. If you'd like something that's full Aluula, super light, and cutting edge, the Glide AA may be the wing for you.

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