Parawing Techniques & Tips

1

As a bunch of us get into Parawinging, we need a place to share tips and tricks. There are a few threads floating around, but mostly pertaining to a specific brand PW.

Freeride tip:
For when the wind is perfectly powered and you want to try powered up turns on swells, try the technique shown here on this Triple7 tutorial video at around the 4:07 mark:

By pushing the bar down and away while simultaneously turning your bar/wrist in the direction of the turn, the PW will hold a clean airfoil and bank into the turn. This can allow for some really fun turns on wind swell while powered. I had enjoyed this style of with the wing and had not considered it as a use case for the PW until I saw this video and tried it my last session. It may be more fun than with a wing, as the PW doesn’t block your view/path as much.
I believe this technique can also help gybes in marginal conditions as it really reduces the likliehood of collapsing wingtips and backwinding. Learning to really bank and fly the PW efficiently is key. Synching up timing with the gybe is tricky!

Lightwind Tip
I am finding that I can get up with the PW and a large pump foil in pretty light wind, so long as there are bumps and a neutral to opposing current. I had a session with a 5M traditional wing and struggled to get up, as I would turn downwind and not be able to pump the wing going in the direction of the bumps (Wing would backwind after 1-2 arm pumps). I switched out to a 4M Maliko and was able to get a few extra leg pumps in the downwind direction by starting with an extended arm and pulling in lightly while engaging the bump. (55L w/ 1350 armie pump foil at 65kgs, wind around 10-11knts). I may try attaching a short wing leash to the powered bar position to ‘reel in’ the PW while pumping to get an extra bit of room to perform the leg/dw pump motion.

Baseplate shims?
I have started to shim the rear of my armstrong baseplate with my ML to help with lowend. It requires a different technique when taking off, but once up, it makes the low end range on smaller swell much more comfortable and easier to pump/maintain mast elevation. It may have doubled my pumping efficiency. The 1 Degree shim feels too drastic, so I have a set with .25 and .5 shims on the way to test. I think .5 degrees may be the sweet spot.

Anyone else have any tips/tricks that they’ve come across on this learning curve?

3 Likes
2

Overpowered tip:
I’ve had some overpowered downwinding sessions where I was having trouble with accelerating and launching onto foil before I had a chance to get to my feet. I found the solution is to wait in rodeo position for a big bump and then quickly get to my feet on the backside of the swell, the swell will slow you down giving you time to pop up and get balanced before getting on foil.

3 Likes
3

Stowing technique: The Dmitry Method.

Here’s my variation of the front line stow technique. I haven’t had much luck on the water, but after this practice session, I think I might have it locked, especially after stumbling on the ‘armpit reach through to grab all lines’ step.

For Dan’s (@foilrat) concern about the harness hook catching lines, you can rotate the belt around so the hook is on the back before starting this stow. Otherwise, it’s a bitch with the snags.

4 Likes
4

Harness line Tips: here’s a demonstration of my 4mm dyneema bungee harness line. Im extremely satisfied with it.

2 Likes
5

Nice! I’ll give this a shot! I’m still new to PWing but had luck with pushing the handle through the belt and freeing up both hands for the scrunch-up.
This was still in HR though, and I could probably tie my shoelaces on those bumps - so not really an accurate measure of effectiveness.

2 Likes
6

Yeah, I have been doing the ‘gather all the lines’ technique, with around 50-75% success rate when relaunching from a partial stow, but my full stow re-deployment rate is lower using that method. I’m hoping this method will get me above 75% for both partial and full stows.

1 Like
7

Also having some success immediately stuffing the bar between my harness and body, then working on the wing and lines. Haven’t done any DW yet long enough to bother stuffing the mess into anything other than my left hand :sweat_smile:

1 Like