Possible “string wing” release from ensis on friday
the victory lapping tone of this gong post is pretty funny, any bets on “Lowkites” sticking or replacing parawing?
inspired by my experiences with the early days of kiteboarding when I was surfing on a longboard with a line-free foil kite, I wanted to take things further by creating “Lowkites” to give this downwind concept a new dimension.
string-wing is a pretty good name for this, I’m going to start using it from now on
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My guess is:
(1) Gong will sell a good number of these as first mover doing something other than a BRM single skin copy, assuming the price point is right
(2) the brands will continue to iterate until v2 or 3 goes up wind well, is stable, relaunches off the water and depowers, while remaining easy to pack down
(3) no one other than Gong will ever refer to them as low kites, as the name doesn’t work in English.
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Perfect! Tagged them
I’d call that semi-closed cell. You see it sometimes on paragliders, most recently the “La Mouette” from LittleCloud. Traditional paragliders & snow kites use “open cell”, and then foilkites used for kite racing and boosting use “closed cell” (only a couple of smaller cell openings, often covered with a mesh membrane so that they don’t immediately deflate or take-on water).
Real closed-cell kite designs probably won’t work with the string-wing’s intended purpose? If you’ve ever used one, you’ll know they fly like garbage until the cells are completely filled with air and pressurize the canopy (which means gently teasing the leading edge to face into the wind and letting it slowly fill with air before you launch off the ground). Launching before then is like flying a wet piece of spaghetti. And even if you then manage to inflate it properly, DEFLATING it would be impossibly awkward.
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I’m actually intrigued by the highest AR gong option - I know that they will attract a lot of criticism from kiters hanging onto their sport, or from folks not wanting it for quick stowing, but it really seems like the ideal option for folks trying to avoid a car shuttle. Yes … kites are technically more efficient, and yes I think I would need a harness to make the 12mile trip upwind to gain my 4.5mile return paddle … and no I don’t know where I would put the paddle.
But, currently the whole backpack / dry bag / deflate routine with a wing is pretty tricky. I think this has potential to be half the weight and bulk. I also couldn’t see trying to launch a kite on 10M+ lines for a number of my take out points. Now to wait and see pricing…
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Yeah, I’m curious about that option as well, I do deflate DWers here in Santa Cruz and there’s no good beach to land and deflate so packdown is offshore and I always end up with water in my drybag… If these can pack down better at sea it could be a winner.
I’ve done several combo runs with my pocket wing and paddle. A 20" bike innertube tied to the middle of the paddle makes a good sling to hold it on your back
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Around 10 minutes of upwind and I got a PB 5 minute downwind ride with the PW packed fully away. Not too bad! Quick 45 minute session from launch to land. Lulls were tough getting going at times though on my 4M and 55L ML at 68 kgs. Wind 12-20 mph sideshore from the north.
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As in this Norwegian kite, we’ll likely see the total line count continue to go down as happened in paragliders. The lines account for a significant percentage of overall drag. The BRM looks like an early 90’s paraglider line configuration. Price looks good, $635USD for a 3M. Unfortunately it won’t ship until late spring '25.
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List updated with all the new goodies!
Roger that. ENSIS ROGER parawing | ENSIS
I have a 15 year old HQ scout ram air 2 skin that I literally pulled out of a dumpster. I just sailed it around off 2 pieces of string tied to the bridles and I feel like I could have winged it no problem. Could probably do with a bridle remix and a legit bar. If every ram air manufacturer isn’t putting one out in 6 months I’ll be amazed
A fishing rod butt with EVA grip makes a perfect bar, more dumpster diving is in order!
I converted a flysurfer peak4 as a few other people have and it works. I agree completely. But it seems small tweaks can make a big difference in the upwind performance, so while its easy to get something to work, probably takes quite a bit more effort to optimize
Another PW:
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Just my two cents of personal experience so far.
I have a pocket wing, find it very unstable to fly.
Got some BRMs after trying the pocket wing about twice. I have been riding Greg’s kites and wings for years, which helped me with trusting his product to order 2.9, 4 and 5m
For reference, my weight’s 68kg.
First tries were with the 5m on a F-One Downwind board 6’7 x 97l and Progression 200.
First time i got flying a couple times for some meters, but wind was around 10-13kts straight offshore in flat water and very very flukey, so far from ideal. Beautiful clear mediterranean water made up for it though.
Board felt a bit long, sometimes the nose and lines interfere when sitting on the board with the PW in the water, but a 8’0 would be way worse. Sometimes it was hard to lean against the pull of the PW in gusts and keep balance, sometimes the board would accelerate too much straightaway, but doable if getting used to i guess.
My coiled board knee leash likes to snag the PW lines, will try a custom XM longboard knee leash with the first straight bit longer to avoid this. Don’t like ankle leashes foiling or belt board leashes.
Second time again in the med, wind a bit stronger more like 12-15kts, still very gusty and offshore but managed some short flights, felt overpowered as soon as up though, could keep height but not go upwind much. Had fun though.
Third time on Lake Uri, Switzerland, the infamous Föhn did not show up, wind was too light, i couldn’t get up. But Michi Näf of Ensis showed me how it’s done pumping the hell out of my board board basically flatwater starting without paddle, just holding my 5m in the air, very impressive. Saw his 3m Roger prototype, looked very good, seemed very stable in the air.
Some Gin folks were testing smaller parawings as well with limited success, but wind was too light anyway, so not their fault i guess.
I afterwards updated all 3 PW’s bridles according to Greg’s video and mounted harness lines.
Put a manera hook on the BRM belt, that hook is nice. (Manera stuff is good imho, the X10D lobster gloves are excellent, no cramps, very grippy, warm enough and very flexible neoprene)
4th time it started clicking, Lake Walensee Switzerland, some Föhn at last, Wind 25-30kts, bigger lulls at first. Still progression 200 but this time with my AK Phazer 5’1 x 55l wingboard. Tried with the 4m first because of the lulls, wow, got up straightaway on my bad side, but realised i was way overpowered, although the bridle change made a massive difference in depower. Kept trying for 15min, could ride back and forth no big problem, harness made a big difference too. . Switched to 2.9m, again got up easy, still a lot of power…actually felt it was easier with the smaller board, more control…figured out that In gusts it helps to push sideways against the mast/lean and turn slightly upwind to slow down, similar as with a kite when you crank on the edge and fins of the kiteboard to move the wing fwd in the window…could go back and forth no problem, probably looking a bit wobbly but who cares for the 4th time…made some jibes straigtaway, managed to go upwind no problem, i’d say only slightly less than with a wing…Also managed to retract the PW once and rode some lake swell for some metres, fell off foil soon…but still very stoked.
Can’t wait to try again.
Not sure about the BRM belt though, maybe it’s a bit big for me, kept moving around, not much sliding space for the hook and packing the pw in there while flying seems complicated…will try sewing a kanga rashie like the Ensis boys.
Also i got a manera offshore vest to mount a 3 piece paddle to (black project do that with the foil X on request, very sturdy hexagonal connection, a bit heavier) in a small 3 piece paddle bag. I plan to use the PW to shuttle myself upwind to then struggle and swear working on my paddleups;)… but at least knowing i have a simple to use backup and not a deflated wing i would need to pump back up…
Hope that’s helpful to you guys out there…
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