It’s almost as if backflips aren’t actually hard and any 12 year old with a trampoline should be able to do them.
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2nd day riding this thing. And this time with a smaller foil and board, and with the new BRM settings which I found were even easier, or perhaps it felt that way because the learning progress is so high in the beginning and every next time feels easier? With a 70 litres KT Super K (I’m 72 kg) and 850 cm2 foil, BRM 2.9. The upwind angles are great now. Terribly gusty and lots of leaves in the water, there was pretty much always something around the mast or front wing. But other than that the riding gets more and more enjoyable. In super strong gusts it’s a survival mode (I edited these out) but I’d like to think in pleasant steady winds (which we never have) it would be amazing. Well, lots to learn still. Tried to tack once, but did not make it yet 
Second session in the bumps, also second session with the new bridal config. Great DW Training session! I went on a DW run with some SUPrs but saw my winging buddies along the way and decided to join them. Ended up doing two hours of upwind / downwind riding and it was a blast. Great to be able to exhaust myself riding dw hunting bumps and then just toss up the wing and rest on the way back upwind. I had one completely successful packaway to a 2 minute ride, to redeployment on foil.
Here’s the tracks from the 2nd half of the session. 4M PW with 1080 foil and 55L board (i’m 68kgs). Wind was in the 15-24 mph range and it went perfect. Wind was sideshore and there was a 1 knot flood tide working with the wind, so angles were hurt a bit.
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I definitely want to give it a shot. I’m a newbie winger that regularly uses a 4.5M wing and a 5.5 in lighter wind. I figure a 5.0 parawing is ideal size. I’ve just heard they are hard to pack while riding.
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1.8M session in the books. Had a gale warning with gusty 20 gusting to 40 at times. When it was 30 and above, getting up was pretty easy, especially pumping into the waist high swell. The 1.8M with 880 foil and 55L went amazing. May have been the strongest winds I’ve been out in and actually the most comfortable I’ve been in high winds. Flying one handed the whole time.
At first it was too light so I swapped the 2.9 out of my little waterproof pack and got a good amount of time way overpowered with that wing, and got more comfortable taming the gusts. I learned to resist feathering the PW too much and rather really power it up even more and really cant over on foil. Better behaved PW when doing this, but I did get completely pulled airborne 2 or 3 times. That was when I switched back to the 1.8 and had a blast. Getting better at flying it more like I would with a wing. Jamming gybes on swells etc.
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I have the 5.1. It’s not terrible to collapse and carry but if I already had a dw board or even something closer to neutral volume and narrow I think the 4m would be fine for 15+. I weigh 195lbs for reference.
I got at 6’1x18 70l board which is ideal as a light wind wing board for me, but so far I had two failed dw runs where I could not figure out the balance with the parawing. I switched out to my bigger 95l 5’5 x 26 first wing board and the starts be came easy.
The parawing start is more similar to a dw paddle up then wing. So I think the ideal setup would be a stable 20” mid length that’s close to neutral volume. With that setup I think a 4m would work in 15-20. If you have a dw board it would likely work in 10-15.
Great info! Yeah I figured I could get away with a 4M on a DW SUP and some decent wind. And then a 4M on a 55L midlength with some solid wind. Thanks! I’m gonna try the 4M. I have a 5.4 and 7 Armstrong XPS for regular winging. The parawing is tempting to try as a regular wing setup though.
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I JUST realized a use-case I haven’t seen. I could prone foil at my typical spot. But rather than kicking out and pumping to the outside sets, I could whip out a parawing and snag some swell. wad up the parawing and then surf. Kick out and toss the wing up again. I’m definitely ordering.
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Not to discourage you, but the bridles and white water are a bad mix. On my first successful run I managed to breach while my parawing was semi stowed and my bridles got snagged in my coil leash and then some how wrapped around my foil. Ended up having to swim in.
I think a wing is better in breaking waves, atleast until you’re at a level where mistakes are rare. Just trying to keep it real. It is a really fun new discipline but it does have trade offs
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I’ve prone foiled for years and second nature for me. I’d much rather surf with this. I use a short straight leash. Inflatable Wings are too easy to destroy in the surf. Worst case scenario this gets ripped and can be repaired cheaper and easier than a popped wing. I’m curious to test it out.
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And as long as it’s flying or completely packed up you’re fine. It’s that in between state when you just start to stash it where I think there’s a tangle risk depending on how you fall. I’ll be honest I thought I was going to have a cut or two in the canopy but it was fine. Took 10 min to untangle and I was off again. Would be awesome for your use case once you get it dialed
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I just can’t decide between 4 or 5 meter. Wind is typically 10-15 knots. Rarely is it over 17-20. Figured maybe the 5 makes most sense as my favorite wing has been a 5.5. 4.5 is usually a struggle most days.
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The 5.1 sounds like the right call for those conditions. Better to have enough to start and deal with packing the larger size then being frustrated and not able to start.
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I’m 165 lbs (75 kg) and just getting started with the Parawings. A this point I would say that I need at least 13 knots to get going on the 4m and a DW board.
Had my second solid dw run on the parawing yesterday. Starting to get pretty comfortable now with collapsing and snatching it. Which is a little trickier to do while riding. Definitely helps to be going dw which kills most of the power and allows the wing to fold up pretty easy.
One thing that I was slow to realize is the importance of running the bar through your hand as you gather the bridles. This guarantees that you will get all the bridles. I was just grabbing the bridles themselves without following the bar which often missed some of the leading edge bridles. This can lead to the wing spinning some as you gather the rest of the lines and kite. Anyway hopefully this little tip helps someone.
On my last run I pretty quickly snatched it and the run was going long enough to where I felt comfortable stowing it under my rash guard beer belly style. Had a nice 3+min run which is just the beginning. Man I am totally hooked now and can’t wait for the next dw day!
Can’t see myself pumping up the wing again for a dw run.
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Please update with your results for prone foiling. I was thinking the same thing.
do you think you could sinker start your prone setup with a parawing? Or are you thinking about doing a regular prone takeoff and then whipping the parawing out?
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I’ve started my prone board with the parawing, not that hard provided you size up a wing size. It would work fine for DW runs if you think the wind will stay consistently strong. I’ve generally been doing upwind/downwind runs so prefer my longer 66L Emissary (6’ x 19.5") since I can get on foil with the same wing that flies comfortably upwind.
With the prone board it’s harder to manage the power in the wing once up and riding.
The other factor is the smaller wings are easier to stow and easier to relaunch/handle in the water so I haven’t really spent anytime with the PW on the prone board aside from the first session to see if it was possible.
If I lived somewhere with consistent wind and had more time to coordinate shuttles for DW runs I may be chasing the prone board PWing more. For me the simplicity and functionality of the upwind/downwind has just been too great to pass up. 66L also gives me the extra safety factor of paddle speed should I get stranded far out or separated from my parawing.
I’ve only full let go of it twice and it wasn’t hard to get to but I was grateful to have a the longer, higher volume board to chase it down quick!
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Mind if I ask what you weigh? I’m parawinging currently with a 60L Appleslice V3, which is 5’ long. I weigh ~80 kilos, but I’m needing a fair bit of power to get that board going. I like the idea of a longer, narrower board but I’m not sure what volume to target.
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