Looking for some advice to see if there is such a thing as a combination board that would work well for prone and for parawing - a one board quiver. I parawing (downwinding and up/downwind laps) mainly in the Gorge all summer and several trips during shoulder seasons and prone only on trips to Southern California 2-3 times a year. I currently prone a 4’6 (~45 liter) and parawing on a 6’0 (~85 liter) downwind shape. I weigh 168, probably 175-180 with wetsuit and gear; 48 yrs old, and competent on foil in both disciplines.
I’m guessing something in the 5’2-5’6 range, 19-20 wide, and around 3 inches thick might do the trick? Would a Unifoil Quiverkiller 5’6 work for parawing? I know it would be great for prone. I build all my own boards from scratch so I can do any shape but I never quite know what my volume is because it’s all done with pencil, paper, and ruler. haha
The main goal here is to have a one board quiver to take to foiling destinations with waves and potential wind - Maui, Florida, California, etc. Thanks in advance for any advice!!
I think its going to be a pretty big compromise to achieve both with a single board and you are going to limit your versatility within both of the disciplines.
That said - I have a 60L, 6’0 x 19.25" midlength that at 80kg, I can parawing when I’m well powered. I have a friend (similar to my size) who is very good at prone and has also been proning that same board. He uses it more for downwinder type riding and catches unbroken waves. I think that a board that long and high volume would be very tricky to catch broken waves with. So - for the record - you can do both, but it is going to fit a more specific use case for each. There are definitely people who parawing on the quiverkiller but I think its probably a bigger size than they would use for prone.
Thanks for the insight! I’ve proned on my 6’0 and it wasn’t too bad - a little harder to pump for connections, but carving wasn’t bad at all and catching waves was a breeze. I’ve also parawinged on my 4’6 and it was really fun once up, but it took being overpowered on the PW to work and that makes going upwind challenging. Just wondering if I change the shape to a flatter, planing hull with a wider outline (my 6’0 is 17” wide), would it offset the need for lots of volume when parawinging… Northeastern Washington state doesn’t offer many ways to demo anything unfortunately.
I am a fan of wider planing hulls and I find that the surface area brings a lower volume board to the surface much quicker with a wing or parawing. I find keeping the tail wider definitely helps the board get planing more efficiently vs a pin tail (but you may catch it if you lay the board over hard). Personally I’d skew more towards the 6’ length than the 4’6", but given your experience at both sides of the spectrum, it sounds like you know where to go with this. FYI - Im more experienced with the wing/pwing than I am prone. I find the long high volume boards get tracky and weird for whitewater takeoffs, but that could be biased to my skillset.
You are spot on about the weird/tracky nature of a long-skinny shape for whitewater takeoffs. Definitely felt that with mine. Really appreciate your feedback - I’ll likely obsess about dimensions for another 3 weeks before I’m brave enough to start cutting!! Haha. Thanks again!
You can prone anything, but parawing is really hard unless powered up and an expert. Living in the Gorge and prone foiling the Oregon Coast, I’d say whatever works for wing for you would work for prone and for a few travel days in Maui. Socal or Oahu, you’d want a smaller prone board and a bigger parawing board, so no point in compromising on your preferred activity. But I think a high volume soft railed board with some rocker is better than a super narrow hard railed bownwind board… like the Unifoil QK.
I also have the V1 Malikos and have done the two updates on them. They are great but man they get difficult being overpowered when I PW my 4’6. That’s why I’m looking to make something a bit bigger but keep the surfy feel of a prone board.
Why 1 board? Cost or trying to minimize stuff? If you can have a complete parawing quiver it’s easier to get by on smaller boards.
I’ve got a 60L omen flux 5’2. With my 4 meter frigate I need probably 17 or 18 knots to get up, and it’s hard to get up, so ideally want closer to 20. Edit: dw board gets up closer to 14 or 15 and much more tolerant of lulls. Point being the small board reduces the usable wind range by about 1/2 for me on a 4 meter wing
Learned to prone on that board, but when I got a 4’6 dedicated prone board I wouldn’t go back.
Basically if I can get the board to the surface I can get up. Not sure how much benefit longer and narrower would help
Agreed- less range. but keep in mind smaller boards give you way more top end on the PW as far as getting on foil
for example the other day I accidentally brought my 6.2 maliko v1 with winds 30+ on 45L. getting on foil was not comfortable but not terrible.
On a DW board it would be near impossible. I’d be struggling before winds hit 20 .
On the other hand, if I had my 25L I would have been somewhat comfortable getting on foil in those winds
The big compromise is if you need the PW up for a more than a very short while, that’s where the PW range is horrible with small boards.
I just love being on the smaller boards for DW- turns so well and just feels so much better. As a bonus, being on the same board that I prone and only having 1 board in the car regardless of activity
I’m a fan of the one board quiver. I just am back from a month in South America and only brought my SuperK 60L 5’9”. I’m about 60kg and really love that board size for both disciplines. I have smaller prone boards but find the SuperK to be so easy to paddle that unless it’s big it really is my preferred prone board even if I’m not traveling and have options.
For parawing I do prefer my DW board if things are light but I really got used to the smaller SuperK on this trip and am not sure how much I’ll use my DW board going forward. Like others have said, it did mean that if I wanted easy starts I was a bit overpowered when on foil but with my pocket rocket I was still able to make good ground upwind. With my Kanaha it was a bit less successful, that wing is really good and stable when de-powered but it’s hard to point very high when it’s at the top of it’s range in my experience.
So I think that with a carefully curated set of parawings with this goal in mind you can definitely successfully run a one board quiver with only a little compromise.
I did my own K2 based design and went for 5’5” x 18.5” x 55L liters on shape 3d my shaper built it, so that’s why I can give numbers. Can’t remember the thickness.
I’m 70kg / 154 or 155 lbs. I’ve prone it, but only on small mellow breaking waves, as soon as the beach break gets more aggressive I’m on my 29L prone board.
About the parawing, I consider having a good de powering system of a more modern PW would be great for pulling off the compromise of a smaller board with bigger PW so when it’s time for prone you don’t sacrifice as much either.
At my weight with my 55L I go with KT Nomad 700 And 3m Ozone pocket rocket (just got the power packs but haven’t touched the water) on like 18 to 20+ knots. And with the 4.2 from around 14-15+ knots. I’ve gone even to the 25-30 gusts on the 4.3m and small 570 atlas, it’s not comfortable but doable.
There’s always compromise. I would say go for around 5’6” not narrower than 18” and looking for around 55 lts so proning doesn’t become uncomfortable with too much volume.
Good point. My main thought was to travel with just one foil board that I can use for both prone and parawing. Then bring one surfboard and that would cover all conditions. But now I’m leaning toward only bringing the 6’0 board and just sacrificing the pump while proning. It’s also winter - the more I’m out of the water, the more gear I think I need.
