It seems that all companies are still working on their parawings and their handling.
Is there any parawing on the market, which makes going upwind with a downwind board acceptable easy?
Thanks
BRM is all I’ve tried. It goes upwind enough to be effective, but one small mistake and you lose a ton of progress. It also has a really narrow wind range where it go upwind well. I have a 777 Paratow on the way which is supposed to be way better. Let’s see!
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I’m waiting for your test result. Thanks.
Gong has 4 models. 2 of them single skin and two double. The doubles go radically up wind based on their description (compared to the single skin kites). But the double skins are a pain to put up and down and have significantly longer lines. I have already seen that people might get one of the doubles to get way upwind quickly and switch to a single skin (or paddle) to get home.
Seems like everything else on the market does short runs upwind (500m to a mile). The gong guy was saying if you want to do 10 miles upwind, you’re going to kill yourself trying to do it with a single skin.
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Does anyone have any experience with a double skin yet? I’m really looking for any excuse possible to transition from inflatables
People have anecdotally said that the Flow & Ensis ride upwind better than the BRM. FiveO doesn’t go upwind at all.
I’m interested HOW much better the doubleskins will be at upwind. I don’t think anyone’s really proven it yet?
I’m actually thinking of using my Peak kite to fly upwind on 14m lines with my lightweight kitebar & harness, doing a packdown at the top, then starting the DW run with a parawing. My 5m Peak packs down smaller than a parawing, and the bar isn’t much longer than the parawing handle.
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That sounds just as viable as the double skin pw’s to me. I used to pretty regularly do long upwind runs on my peaks. The smaller ones pack down pretty easily on the water.
I have the BRM 5.1. It would go upwind as well as an early gen hand wing with a harness. Without a harness you would not want to go far as it can be quite hard on your arms. I never use a harness on my wings but I would definitely use one on a pw if upwind was a requirement.
I feel lucky to have such an easy dw setup though that I don’t need to think about this problem much. But I will say I was initially skeptical about the claims of the flow being much better at going upwind. But I have now heard it from enough people that I trust it. I ordered a 3m Flow. Hopefully I will have it by the end of the month. It would be nice to have the option to ride in place when time is short.
I’ve logged 16 days w/ the 4M, 2.9M and 1.8M Maliko and the last 30% of my sessions are really starting to click. For example, yesterday I was out with some winging friends and I was doing 8 minute upwind with 2 minute DW runs on repeat. The wingers couldn’t come close to matching my DW angles, as the bumps were going predominately rights, directly downwind. Just carve after carve, with no wing in the way!! So stoked.
The upwind riding is actually pretty fun. One hand on the bar, staying in surf stance, harnessed in and really hiked over. Looking at my heart rate, the upwind was just enough time to get my HR back a bit more reasonable level before sending DW in the somewhat challenging to read DW bumps in the waist high range. I’d end the run near max HR and re-deploy for the trip back upwind.
This session was in 18-38 mph with a 3M, riding a 55L ML and an 880HA foil (65kgs dry w/ 5/4, vest, and waterproof pack with 1.8M as backup). I only fell one time going upwind when I went too broad after a gybe during a gust and started going super fast on my toeside before swan diving off the nose of the board and body dragging on my belly for a few seconds, ending with the PW still flying, still hooked in - no drama.
The key to having fun in this style of riding is dialing in your harness setup. I stay hooked in 95% of the time that I’m flying the PW, only unhooking when I’m at the top of the run and getting ready to stow or ‘take out the trash’. I use a 4MM dyneema bungee single loop, sized so that I can outstretch one arm to get full extension but also fly with a bit of elbow bend with help from the bungee to manage the load for when things get hairy, which happens in gusty conditions. The stronger the gust, the more I point upwind and hike over, but you have to be ready to ease off the wind and pump the foil a couple times after the gust to re-set the angle. In the water, being harnessed in makes getting on the board and going so much easier.
I’ve yet to hear much feedback from the D-Wing Flow guys about going upwind. It sounds like it likes to fly off the front lines, which may be nice for broad reaches and DW floating in strong conditions - not a requirement for me. The BRM does not like to fly off the front lines in strong gusts, you gotta hike over and let the harness do it’s thing. If you are powered on the BRM, it goes upwind well because of this.
Lab Rat doesn’t ride his Flow’s with a harness because he’s concerned about the hook catching the lines…I’m sorry, but that is a non-issue. The key to re-deployment and avoiding tangles is to drop the PW 10 seconds before you think you should. This gives it time to hang from an outstretched arm and release from any catch points (free hand can help if needed), then as you start to turn into a broad reach, the PW will right itself and off you go. At this point, I use my free hand to hook in the bungee harness onto the brm belt loop / ride engine harness hook (not an issue even wearing mitts).
It’s been a tough learning curve, but I’m almost to the point where I’m confident enough to go out at some of our more exposed spots to tap into the really amazing current against wind conditions we get. Can’t wait for the spot that gets head high and ‘as good as the gorge can get’ according to my seasoned friend. The wing is kinda a hinderance at that spot, swinging it around going full tilt. Will be nice to be hands free, fully surfing.
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Great report. Du you have a foto of your harness setup please?
The one on the left is my first proto, with an adjustable 3MM dyneema setup. The right is my goto now, with 4MM dyneema shock cord from west marine I think. Super minimalist when not in use (stowing the PW). The BRM anchor points come with the Maliko (2 per PW).
The other benefit of the bungee is that you do not come unhooked by mistake. You need to make a concerted effort to unhook. So when in gusty wild conditions, you can rely on the connection and also use your strength when needed/wanted.
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Totally agree about using a harness, I am actually 100% harnessed in. I use a bungeed dyneema rope tied to my BRM belt and a clove hitch to the handle at the balance point so the wing will fly no-hands.
For upwind performance, I am seeing just under 5 knots upwind VMG on 4.0, so not too bad. It is a lot more work than a wing though, quite a bit less efficient and you need to just power through the gusts.
A little surf cam footage from a stormy session a few days ago overpowered on the 4.0, 25-30 knots or so: https://youtu.be/-uPZcrNeWws
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Right on! Can you post a photo of your harness setup?
I agree about it being more physical going upwind than the wing. Not a bad thing in my opinion.
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I’ve got 6 session on the Flow D-Wing now. I’m able to make the 4.2m work in a good variety of conditions but I have yet to make the 3m work even when it feels like it should.
When riding upwind I’m 100% hooked in to the harness, you definitely want to get your harness setup sorted. I tried a single line and hated it, swapped to a standard Ozone bungee wing harness line with a 10 cm extension and it’s great. Keep the line at the front of the bar and the mid point of the bar.
It actually feels a lot more like kitefoiling than wingfoiling to me when going upwind. Sadly no loops though.
I post my angles in my videos, I’m getting about 25-31° depending on wind strength and cleanliness.
Use the timecodes if you just want angles.
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I only lasted about two sessions before I set up a harness line. My grip was giving out when the rest of me wanted more 
It feels more comfortable cruising upwind hooked in than with a wing, at least in perfect wind… and yes, the 8’ DW board extends the range of my 3M considerably.
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Sadly yesterday my watch was dead, and my phone case had water in it - so I couldnt get a strava track. But wanted to share with the parawing support group here that I had a great session! 
This was my first time going out now on a very light SUP (12lb, 100L 7’ — pls don’t make this a board thread!). I only have a 4.2M, and it was blowing nearly 20kts, so I downsized to an HA-880 for this session.
Initially very lit but able to get up to 1mile upwind riding heelside both directions. Especially when it died to around 15kts, riding became much easier, and was able to get 50% of the gybes.
One of the techniques that seems to be working well for me is to have a harness line – this allows for more extension with outstretched arms when trying to get up on plane, and allows for a few near techniques for pumping. I am tempted to try out a camcleat to make it easier to hook in, and then bring in tight, but there are probably multiple ways to skin that cat as alternatives to loop and hook (e.g. plastic ball that you push through an eye of dyneema?)
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What sort of up wind angles are you getting on a 5m Peak compared to a wing or parawing? Seems like the way to get up wind fast and easy.
Parawing Support Group!
I’m using the BRM belt w/ a plastic hook and do a fair bit of tightening/loosening the webbing, which sort of acts as a cam cleat. Definitely room for improvement, as it can inadvertently loosen if the hook gets too close to the buckle.
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I don’t really ride my Peaks anymore in favor of the UFOs, but my upwind angles on kite are always better than on wing.
(Although that might be because I’m not the best winger!)
I’ll probably give it a shot at the end of the year when I’m back in Australia and reunited with my Peaks 
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What do you think about using a dinghy trapeze setup for adjustability?