I’m a beginner parawinger and I’m terrible at it, but making progress bit by bit. I have no experience with kiting or performance windsurfing and I feel completely lost on the harness thing.
I have an NSI stash belt with an Ozone hook on it and a stretchy PKS Parawing harness line that I attach to the bar of the wing. I’ve occasionally managed to hook in but I feel so out of control without the shock absorbing ability of my arms and subtle bar/power control, and that little string harness is always moving around on the bar and really affecting my ability to sheet in or out, not to mention it’s in the way all the time.
Here’s some general questions but feel free to tell me whatever you think will help. What lines, hooks, and belts are you guys using? Do you jibe with it hooked? Do you start with it hooked? When should I be hooked and when not? Do you hook in on both toe side and heel side reaches? What harness and hooks do you recommend? Etc.
I know harness technique is important but I never really see any discussion on it. I would really appreciate any dialog at all on the topic, so go ahead and just dump your thoughts, recommendations, and tips here please. Thanks so much for any input!
Get up and foiling. Set your angle. Bear off slightly to release some power out of the parawing. Hook in. Angle upwind. Stay hooked in until you’re ready to turn or do something else. If a big gust comes, edge harder against the gust and let the rear/bottom of the bar move away from you. If it get’s too light, unhook so you can use your arms to help pump.
Hooked in riding for me, is when I’m trying to get somewhere. It let’s my arms relax a bit since it’s a third point of contact taking some of the pressure. I unhook to do every transition.
To hook in toeside I slide the hook to my front hip and then hook in. At least 1 hand is always on the bar even hooked in.
That’s super helpful, thanks Hdip. I read a comment somewhere that described hooking in while kneeling before even getting up to free up a hand for pressing up off the board. Is that something you find helpful? I tried it and it was nice to sit there on the board without getting my arm yanked by the wing, but it put me off balance a bit while I was getting to my feet.
Those are good tips. If you are losing subtlety and getting yanked too much while hooked in then the harness line is too far back on the bar. I like it towards the front (sheeted out) and then I use my back hand to sheet in.
I’ve played around with hooking in while on my knees and it didn’t work for me. I found myself losing control of the sail and catching the wingtips on the water. I only hook in once I’m up and going. I never gybe while hooked in and I’m not sure anyone really does that.
I’ve used the NSI wing belt but I don’t like that it doesn’t stretch out. Works ok as a harness but not a lot of support. I’ve used a harness bar hook but didn’t like how it dangled so now I’m just using a standard harness hook and bar line like you. I think your setup is fine - just need to practice. Venstrata came out with the bar wrap which looks super interesting and I’d like to try it but I think I’d eventually get annoyed with the dangling.
Dont worry, you’ll get the use of your harness line in no time!
Its all personnal preference but my favorite harness system is a simple DIY bungee line. Hand sowed 3/4"wide webbing with 3mm dyneema bungee line. (yes, I’m canadian )
The elasticity give you around 10 inches to play with. So you keep the shock absorbing ability of your arm and the feeling of the parawing. Its also easier to jibe while hooked-in. Plus, you can hook in by just pulling the bungee with your free hand without pulling the parawing. Finally, its super low profile so its not in the way while stashing/redeploying.
I saw it on this forum first by FoilGraham I think. Now PKS make one too.
The bungee is crucial with the PW in my opinion. The nuance required to fly them and keep them trimmed correctly requires a lot of pilot input. If you have a static line, you lose the ‘in/out’ plane of flying the PW, as you run the risk of unhooking accidentally when pulling the bar towards your body.
The bungee also keeps some upper body physicality involved, as I tend to take a lot of the load and only rely completely on the line during big gusts. (This keeps tennis elbow etc at bay).
I’ve since moved to a reverse harness hook on a sliding low friction ring, set at chest level (using a wingman harness vest). This provides maximum ergonomics for me as someone not skilled enough to ride switch. When flying one handed, the line automatically aligns with the flying arm. I cobbled this together using two dyneema wing leash extensions and a piece of clear tubing to make the harness line semi rigid.
I stay hooked in all the time…until I’m about 5 seconds from turning DW and stowing. Those 5 seconds are used to make sure I’m unhooked and it is stashed under my vest. The amount of energy saved being hooked in while off the board and getting going really helps keep the tank full for the DW challenges. I think the bungee can also help here with balance, as it’s not all On or Off power - there’s a nice gradient/buffer.
Here’s a photo of the harness slider while attached to my ozone stash belt (also works great).
Thanks so much for all the great input fellas, I really appreciate it and I learned a lot. I’m just in from a gusty session here out by Rufus. It was blowing 18-26 according to my handheld anemometer, I was riding my Power Pack 2.4m and tried to use the knowledge you all shared with me but I’ve still got a long ways to go before I’m comfortable enough on my feet to hook in without getting manhandled.
I definitely want to try something like LaPaloude shared, my PKS line doesn’t hold it’s cinch and floats all over the bar so it’s not in position when I want to hook in. It’s super annoying, and I am sure I want something different. That said, the elastic benefits make sense to me. Graham your set up looks killer! I think once I can ride hooked in without freaking out I’ll start experimenting with reverse set ups. I did successfully do some relaxing while hooked in sitting on the board between runs/falls and that was really nice to save my energy that way. Thanks again all, and if anyone else wants to share their set up I’m sure we’d all love to see it.
Yeah FluidFoil, you 100% need to have confidence when you hook in that you know the power balance of the harness. If it’s sliding all over the place, forget about it! Sounds like you def need a new harness line at a bare minimum, or a technique for setting the position without slipping.
My BRMs have worked perfectly with the reverse hook because the hook nestles into the back of the A-line connection for the perfect 80% depower setting. Just enough to keep some steering in the A-Lines and not enough to yank me around in gusts.
The new S3 doesn’t have that luxury with the D handle so I’m working on a solution for that. My first go in well overpowered conditions left me in a similar situation you described. Not confident in the harness and in strong gusty conditions is not ideal. Best idea is to spend some time on land dialing it in.
Something doesn’t add up here, a 2.4m in 18-26 (either knots or miles) should be very well behaved and easy to ride harnessed in.
Have you confirmed your PW is flying well?
I use the Jeff Howard bungee loop for my 2.5m POW and it works very well. Before that I was using my F-one loop with it. The bungee loop is a bit harder to hook in but better overall.
The easiest way to hook in is to grab the loop with your hand and then stretch it out as wide as it goes and then move the whole thing so the stretched out part catches your hook (and your hand is off to the side). Ozone hooks are pretty much perfect.
Here is the 2.5m POW with the bungee loop in 18-28 knots:
I hook in while I’m in the water to get on my board and up to my knees. Once I’m on my knees I unhook to get to my feet. Then follow HDIP’s method of get going, bear off, hook in, angle upwind.
I don’t think Rufus is a very user-friendly spot to learn it. The Hatch might be easier.
Edit - I am using the Ozone harness line hooking into my ride engine waist harness with sliding hook. I have the new ozone stash harness and I’m not in love with it so far. I don’t like having to rotate my board leash around. I have one of the new Kaohi leashes on order…
Haha well what isn’t adding up is you aren’t accounting for how bad I am at this, and how good you are! I love watching your youtube vids btw, you make it look way too easy. That video you posted makes your 18-28k look so much more mellow than the way it feels to me!
My readings were in MPH, and when I got in I saw a few gusts to 30mph so it was likely a little stronger than my original estimate, but still, it’s mostly just that I suck. I am about 140lbs and the wing is a new power pack and is mostly well behaved. Mostly the issue is on toe side I don’t point high enough and once I get hit by a big gust I usually find myself on a broad reach and falling off the wind unintentionally and going way faster than I’m comfortable with. I’m on a big foil to make up for being a beginner at the parawing and it usually results in a breach or just general yard sale when I start going mach 3 across/down wind in the gusts and then overspeed on a downhill. The waves are fairly significant compared to what’s going on in your vid. I’ll get there, I think my wing is probably great, I actually had some really good upwind reaches on my heel side.
What is a Jeff Howard bungee loop? Is it something I can buy somewhere, that’s still what I haven’t really figured out is a good single point harness I can buy somewhere? Someone suggest an Ozone loop but I haven’t been able to find it on any of the regular USA online foil vendor sites.
Thanks Tommy, it’s really helpful to hear about the specifics of when you are hooked in to save energy and when you unhook while getting going. I’ll probably copy your method next time I’m out.
To be specific I just used Rufus as a reference everyone would know. I did do my first sessions there but I live a few miles West of there and am usually launching and learning at a pretty good beginner spot with less wave action than Rufus and easy get out and walk back when I blow down wind, which is starting to become less common after the last few sessions thankfully! I found the Hatch to be really challenging with all of the cross chop and bumps, it seems like there is a lot of wave reflections mixing things up there, not to mention it’s a scene. My spot is usually just me and maybe one other person which I think makes it a good place to be learning since I’m in the water more than on the board currently.
That’s definitely an issue when riding toeside, you need to really lean in to the wind and I find it helps if I rotate my harness a bit so the hook is all the way at my side. I assume you aren’t switching your feet yet? If you are working on foot switches my biggest piece of advice is to open your hips and turn your front foot straight before you initiate the swap.
Another thing I like to do is point really high upwind instead of get going too fast. I just prefer to go slower and with the Frigate (never tried a power pack) you can point really high to shed your speed and it still flies happy (I found the Pocket Rocket to be less happy with this).
LaPaloude posted the link to the Jeff Howard bungee loop, definitely worth getting. I got a medium and am happy with the length.
@slappy Are you using a waist or chest harness with the medium? The video says small for the waste harness and medium for the chest harness which contradicts what is written in the description.
Im 6’2" and I bought a medium and a large for the waist harness. I prefer the length on the large personally. I think their recommendations are on the short side for me at least.
Thank you for the quick response. I like the idea of a softer loop for stashing. I do wonder about the durability. Any concerns for those who have one already?
Ozone plastic loop, smallest size. Place it on the bar where you can let go and the wing will still fly but is mostly depowered.
Ozone stash belt, with plastic hook. No modifications. It’s getting kind of ratty through overuse, but still works perfectly fine.
Unhook for waterstarts, maneuvers, waves, assing around. Hooked in all other times.
Stashing with a solid loop isn’t an issue. In fact I find it makes redeployment easier because you can easily find the right way to pull the bar out of the pouch without pulling it through any other loose lines.
@FluidFoil the Power Packs are nice, but probably the worst wing to learn how to feel confident being hooked in overpowered and in gusts. It pulls like a truck
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