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How about for an absolute beginner to wind foiling?
I’ve never done any wind sports and live an an area that generally has less than 15kts of wind 11 months of the year, but we have foilable waves almost every single day.
Intuitive to fly.
Really nice on waves.
But It has the least low end of all the toys. So 15 knots is wing as far as I’m concerned for where you are
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It is pw training wheels in my opinion. From all reports it has good top end but terrible low end. Stick with wings if your in a light wind area. I come from a kite and wing background and I don’t understand the market for the plume. But if it excites you and it’s regularly 15-20 perhaps it could be your jam
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No. Stick to your FD. Don’t bother with wind unless you want to kite foil.
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I’m sure it’s great to fly but not having to deal with a pump is probably my favorite part of parawing
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Agree that kites are the low wind champs but I have a ton of fun in 10-12mph conditions with a mid length and a 5.5m wing. Even more fun with a drift anchor in those conditions. Kites, even super drifting FS peaks don’t allow pure swell riding. I am lucky enough to have a FD and I prefer to be wind powered when I can. It’s just more satisfying then pulling a trigger and having a light board with no drag makes a big difference. Fun to do it all really. But I see the plume and have no interest
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Plume flagging is WAY better than a wing, light, can’t feel the drag.
The range is pretty insane (4.2 from 20 to 35 knots)
Excellent effortless upwind. Most stable and least tiring of the 3 flying across.
Low end sucks. Having to pump is not great. No tangling.
Best if all 3 going across the water laying in your board when the wind drops.
Just another option.
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I agree with the other guys a 5-5.5m regular wing in 10-15 with waves is so much fun.
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If you have a good pump up skills you can make a lot of stuff work under 15 knots, especially with a wave assist if you have good bumps.
I’m 75 kg and ride a +10L board and I can get going pretty easily in 8 knots of wind with decent bumps and my 4.2m D-Wing. Trouble is that to go upwind on foil without pumping I need 9-10 knots and even then the angle isn’t great. Once it hits 11-12 knots though pumping up is easy and upwind is 20-25°. By 15 knots I’m doing 25-35° upwind.
I’m not saying this would be easy to do as a beginner, just saying the possibilities are there depending on your weight and the gear you want to use.
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Thanks for all the feedback!
Question about the “wind range,” coming from a newby. Is the low end referring to the absolute least amount of wind to get you up flying? I have a foil drive, does that expand the low end window?
If you are using it with FD then your low end will be similar to someone with pump up skills but way less work
for long upwinders, this might be a very good option instead of a double skin (which has a poor low end and is hard to fly)
Yes, it definitely can be. I’ve had five sessions on the Plume now and am looking to migrate to the Frigate Parawing. The Plume is a much lower risk entry into parawinging. It is almost impossible to tangle the bridges as they are so short, it floats at the edge of the window like a kite waiting to launch while you get onto the board and into position with almost no pull or piloting needed, flies incredibly smoothly, absorbing gusts, and goes upwind remarkably well with little pull. Top end and ability to handle gusts make it really confidence inspiring if the wind forecast is to start lighter and pick up as it is very easy to depower and ride without worry about bar pressure being too much.
The last Plume session I had at the weekend was 4 hours continuous riding without using a harness on the 4.2m with around 20-24 knots, gusting to 28. It was just great fun to ride and freefly on the waves - made me realise how much weight and counterbalance a normal wing provides when wave riding. My typical wing sessions are around 2.5 hours with a harness for comparison. For these same wind conditions I would have been happy to ride a 3m hand wing.
Downsides with the Plume are that it flaps a lot during wave riding and is still in the way when turning on a wave. The low end is terrible as it cannot really be pumped when there isn’t much wind. You need to use board pumping with your legs and wave assistance to get on to foil nearer its low end. There was a worry that if the wind drops on a session it could be a real slog to get back off foil, whereas with a hand wing you can at least attempt some all out wing pumping to get on foil. For comparison I can use my 4.6m hand wing down to 10-12 knots with the same board and foil using efficient pumping technique.
Personally I feel more confident now with picking up the parawing in the future after my experience riding the Plume. The sessions were also really good fun as it was something different from winging and learning new skills. Wave riding with the Plume is slightly different to using a wing. Some annoyance too when trying to retrieve the bar after wave riding which is a bit of a challenge and also when out running the Plume during a gybe and riding into it.
I have no affiliation with F-One and paid full price for the Plume.
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Agree with all these points, and written in a much more concise way than what I just said!
I’ve never rode one but I still cannot find a reason to buy one.
The only value that I see is that its an introduction to parawinging for people that never winged. But damn that’s an expensive set of training wheel. And if you plan to parawing in the future, better to buy 2 parawings over a plume with zero resale value and a future parawing.
On a side note, I wonder if the release of the Plume as more to do to with the emergence of the parawing or more to do to with the closure of a company named ParaskiFlex, a popular snow traction kite in Quebec, Canada. A company that ran for almost 25 years and had patent on the kite.
Great review, thanks for the feedback. Sounds like a fun toy that would be interesting to try.
Interesting to hear that it flags better then a wing, I find when its 20+ which sounds like the Plume’s sweet spot, wings flag really well so surprised that is seen as advantage. The flapping plume looks pretty annoying.
Lots of options these days which is great. Had a crossed up parawing downwind session last night that helped me see the light that we should pick the right tool for the job. With the mix of swell directions I think I would have had more fun on my wing. It was difficult to link for long runs so I probably should not have been stashing. A wing is just more automatic then even semi stashing a pw.
Exciting times, lots of great options to have fun on foil.
Maybe no interest for you, but safety might be a key reason. When it all goes horribly wrong you can just let go and it will flag out on the wrist leash and then just float on the water completely depowered while you sort yourself out. Lower risk of tangles and sinking compared to a parawing and it also doesn’t tend to flap about when left on its own like a hand wing can.
Those ParaskiFlex kites looks pretty cool, way ahead of their time!
https://www.instagram.com/p/DOHWaVRCCn3/
Plume 4.2 = so much fun ! The kwing really sits half way between a regular wing and a pocket wing. Your lines will never get tangled, upwind ability is crazy, you won’t feel as free as when you pack a Frigate for a downwind or surfing but you really feel less « airdrag » and weight than with a Wing .