Great insight SailandFish! I’m waiting on the smaller 120 (I think) xs Surf Tail, as I only weigh 67kgs (148lbs). Hoping the smaller size will be a nice nimble option that still holds some glide characteristics.
I had a stellar parawing session yesterday at my local spot, The Straight of Hampton Roads, as I’m calling it now. 18-20mph into a 1.5 knt flood tide over deep water (shipping channel).
There were multiple runs with barely any pumping to link, just pure snowboard carves. I was riding the 685 and 135 xs dw tail. I really started tapping into what felt like a great technique. Rather than going through the carves from heelside to toeside with a static leg bend, I really started focusing on loading into the turn by taking some of the load into my legs (opening or closing shoulders simultanously). This compounds the energy transfer so that on the exit, I was able to really push off the foil and uncoil, adding drive and almost counting as a ‘pump’ going into the next banking turn. A lot of guys probably already do this if the skill is there, but sometimes it’s easy to get locked into safety surfing and not really using your entire body to ergonomically enhance the motions.