Ozone neither confirm or deny their R&D on parawing but some very carefully chosen words and an edit seem to give me comfort that they are working on it
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They are totally working on it. that sheepish reaction gave it away lol
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The X-Foils Podcast: Case #22 - Greg from BRM. The man behind The Parawing
In Case 22 of The X-Foils, I sit down with Greg from BoardRiding Maui (BRM) to discuss his latest product making huge waves in the foiling market—the Parawing. This wing is designed to give riders the purest wave-riding experience possible, to get on foil and the possibility to pack it away, and ride freely. Its captivating a wide foiling audience with its potential as we wonder what we could do with it.
We dive into how the Parawing works, what inspired its creation, and how it’s changing the game for foilers looking to connect with the waves and learning to DownWind in a whole new way if you have the right skills.
How great is it that every year we get a new Foil discipline to suck at and find new ways to have fun on foil that we did not expect.
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Thanks Dylan. Great interview. Looking forward to following your journey with the Parawing. Have really been enjoying your podcasts.
Do you have the BRM wings now? Which size(s)? Still on the fence in the viability of the larger sizes. Just saw a good clip of the 5.1 in use and I think I would rather just get a bigger board and ride the 4m but interested to hear others experiences. I know I could make my 48l Omen work sooner with the 5 but that sure looks like a lot of canopy to manage.
Good interview. What interests me is that it was kinda released out of the blue & caused massive interest &, I would speculate, unprecedented sales. He’s obviously been working on it for a long time but in all that time I have seen no pics of it until it hit the market. Was all the testing done in secret or did it fly under the radar as “some backyard inventor trying something silly”?
My sense is that Greg tests a lot of things, a lot of which are pretty far outside of the box, so maybe it just looked like one of many dead-end prototypes and didn’t cause a stir. I saw a photo of him testing some sort of hard framed wing as well (almost looked like a hang glider) - who knows where he’s going next… He’s also been flying wings off of the harness line like a kite for a long time, so it seems like kind of an evolution of that.
Not sure how crowded the areas he tests in Maui are either.
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I ran into Greg last week when I went to Stevenson on one of the easterly days. He was just getting out of the water and I got to chat with him for a couple of minutes. Super nice guy. I commented that it was amazing that he was able to release it without anyone knowing about it and asked if he just went to remote locations to test it? He just grinned and said, oh there were quite a few people in Maui who knew about it! The locals were probably just being respectful and not releasing any photos/videos without his consent. Or it’s like you said, there’s probably tons of prototypes of everything in Maui and no one ever knows what’s actually going to get released.
My hat’s off to Greg. I really relate to his minimalistic approach to design and hope he keeps dreaming up new ways of interacting with the wind and waves.
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Hi guys! First time here. Just did a review on the BRM Parawing 5.1m.
Check it out and if you have questions feel free to ask. Aloha
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Good video thanks for taking the time… From that I would take that it is great when it’s up & working well & when it’s stashed away, but I wonder for an average foiler whether the pain in the arse factor of getting it sorted would almost tip the scale to be not worth the effort. I guess it would be better to buy & commit to it.
It looks like the 5m is getting to the size limit of manageability. It would have been good to see some video of you unstashing it while on foil & throwing it up.
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Thanks for the love. Yup it’s the best feeling to be on a smaller board (Mid Length) and nothing in your hands while downwinding. Just like every discipline in foiling, it takes some time getting used to and learning good technique. I’m still in the beginning stages I feel. Yup, if you’re into you have to commit. The 5m is pretty massive and for a while I was sorta bummed on the size of it but as time has gone by I’m more used to how it works and it actually give me more confidence in getting up on foil. I haven’t done the pack away and throw back up technique yet. That’s a whole nother can of worms but I wanna do it. For sure smaller sizes will help with this. Aloha
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Stoked on your real word review! Parawing All day, Parawing All Night! 
I’ve got the 4M and had a couple sessions in the kiddie pool trying to sort it out. I’m 150 lbs and started with 85L, then 98L then 55L ML and had the most success with the 55L, but that might just be by virtue of more practice.
I made a harness using one of the BRM attachments and a piece of thin gauge stretchy dyneema, made into an adjustable loop with two sliding/locking knots. That seemed to work amazing, allowing me to keep light bar pressure and ride one handed both ways, staying hooked in during jibes.
Going upwind was decent and I was able to keep from going downwind pretty well, despite launching from a corner spot with wind blowing into the corner.
The latest videos Greg posted helped me a lot with stowing and launching etc. check those out if you haven’t.
My target use case is sessioning zones where current opposes wind for a few hundred yards to a mile. Upwind should be easier in that scenario I’m hoping. Also smaller foils should help.
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Still PADPAN lol!
Thanks for sharing as well!
Stoked you’re sending it with your ML! Sup board seems a bit cumbersome.
Would love to see some pics of how you’re harnessing. I can totally see how that could help with cutting up wind and not dislocating them shoulders.
FYI I’ve never kited. The way I learned about wind was from winging.
Yup watched all of Greg’s videos. Good stuff. Wish they were out a few weeks ago but that’s how it goes. And I learn the best suffering lol.
Yup downwinders are where it’s at with these for sure. So much easier getting up and going. So classic cause at first I was thinking of using this in waves but that hasn’t really happened…yet.
Excited for more adventures. Aloha
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Same here, surf to foil surf to wing etc.
Here are a few photos of the harness line.
I’ve also included a track of my session, which was with a 55L ML, 1350 Armie pump foil, 4M in winds around 12-18 Mph. No white caps, minimal bumps. I’m starting to figure out upwind riding.
The harness is great for one handed riding both heelside and toeside. The stretchy bungee feels great at absorbing gusts too. One big one made my knots slip, so I had to shorten once on the water.
To hook in, I just use my free hand to pull the bungee onto the hook.
I used this technique for making my adjustable loop:
Epic! Are you using the brm belt to harness to? If so, got a pic of that?
Thanks
Yeah I’m using the BRM belt, which fits the 4M well btw. I am using a ride engine hook with the belt. Nothing special.
One complaint about the belt is the fact that there is an adjustment needed between when the parawing is packed and then it’s deployed. It’s super loose when you pull it out, but when hooked in, it doesn’t really matter, as it’s held up by the tension.
Yeah my friend has a 4m and he’s able to stow it away as well in the belt. 5m is just too big for it. The pouch needs to be bigger.
Makes sense for belt to be loose when harnessing. I made one yesterday but didn’t have to use it as we headed straight out to the wind line and deployed for a downwinder. That’s where this thing really shines for me. It’s like I’m getting towed into the wind line and deploy and enjoy the ride. Going back upwind would be sick but that’s a whole nother adventure.
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Patrice just posted a Gong version. Dang those guys are fast!
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link? ____
Very similar to BRM (not entirely surprising)
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Had a go on the BRM, got up, it is rad, nothing like a wing on first feel. Wind was too light, but it is super nice, intuitive and stable.
Rule # 1 - Keep it flying, at all costs
If you break rule #1
Rule # 2 - Don’t tangle the lines
Once you pay attention to keeping it off the water, and when it crashes, you don’t put your foot, board, the bar, or anything else through the lines, then it is pretty easy. Needs more wind than equivalent wing for sure, but super viable.
Want one, have one of the 2.5m Nasa kites, it is mega hard in comparison. The BRM is designed for foiling, and it really shows.
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