Ok, I never wrote a 3 foil quiver blog for March because March wasn’t great for wind so I didn’t have much to write about and ended up a bit busy in April and May. However in April I received not one, but 2 parawings to see what all the hype was and to finally follow up on my last parawing blog post. Both of these parawings work great, so I’m not really going to go into the differences between them (I’ll leave that for the parawing connoisseurs). Now that I’ve had a good amount of time on them, I plan to talk more about the usage of parawings from a downwinding and learning to downwind lens rather than ‘which is best’. The parawings I have are the Flow D-wing 4.2m and the Ozone pocket rocket 3m.
What do I use them for? Primarily for improving angles with slightly more onshore wind so that I can focus on going straighter and faster instead of constantly quartering out (Patrick Rebstock has plenty of great content on this). Secondary use case is upwind / downwind (mix of packing the parawing away and paddling up and just riding with it stowed) or mini laps if I don’t have a shuttle. I think it’s important to specify use case as parawinging seems to be breaking out as its ‘own thing’ with people equally as happy to go upwind as downwind too, but there are also those looking to use it solely as a paddle alternative to downwind (more on that later), and from a coaching / learning perspective – this was the area I am most keen to explore and elaborate on.
So what has my experience been so far? I’ll start with a refresh on my background for context. I started kitefoiling in 2019 before venturing into prone foiling (and dockstarting) and winging (just to learn to DW) prior to getting on the SUP DW train. I do think that being able to kitefoil made it a lot easier to just grab the parawing as a lot of it is just like kitefoiling without a depower (basically unhooked kite foiling with short lines), using your angle relative to the wind to manage speed and line tension. Anyways – as I’ve implied. I didn’t find it too challenging to get going. I watched some videos, listened to some podcasts (thanks Foilrat) for the following important tips:
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Use a big / stable board but not too long as the nose can end up in the lines: I used my 7’4” x 18.5” 105L Skipper DW V2. Probably on the long side. Yet to get a mid length for parawinging – doubt i will.
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Use a big foil: First few sessions I used the Code Foils 1300S
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Have enough wind: First couple sessions I was a bit underpowered (intentionally as I like to know the low end of my kit), but on gusts I could get started and it was good practice for a bit more finesse handling the parawing in lighter conditions
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Don’t use a coil leash: I switched to a straight leash as I heard about how lines can get all caught up in the coil leash.
So – does it live up to the hype? That depends what you want to use it for. The range is certainly more limited than a wing and it’s not as easy to pump yourself on foil as with a wing, I typically also size up a little on my foil vs what I can paddle and what I could get going with a wing (but I’m sure if I put more time into it this wouldn’t be an issue). So if you want to sail around on a gusty lake. Maybe sticking on the wing is a better option. Is it nice to foil hands free? Absolutely, though having done it back to back with a run with my paddle, the paddle is nowhere near the hindrance people seem to be making it out to be. But I can see the appeal – especially to prone foilers. But the upsell there is more the use of small boards rather than hands free (IMO).
Bringing it back to my use cases
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Improving angles: For run angle optimisation it’s great since once it’s packed away (especially the 3m) it takes up barely any space. I’ve been packing my parawing back into the Ozone mesh bag as it’s square and flatter, then putting it under my Vaikobi vest. Yes it means I have to take my vest off, but it sits out the way and doesn’t move around this way. I do this, as I still want to keep working on my paddle downwinding and the parawing on my back is less annoying than a paddle on my back.
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Upwind downwind: I think the most important thing to consider is ensuring you have enough power in the wing (but also not too much). I did a partly underpowered upwind / downwind in 15-20 knots with the 3m ozone and 1130S. First part of the upwind leg with rain and on /off wind was really crap and took ages. I was traversing bumps and pumping a lot to keep speed and took a while to get upwind. Once the wind cleaned up the angles got good again. So if you do want to upwind. Make sure you’re powered. On the flip side, when powered, if you want to go upwind, use a harness. For longer upwind runs it gets a bit tiring on the arms. For mini laps it’s fine. I must say I’m not a fan of upwinding, I personally find it boring and more like sailing than foiling – so I think I’ll stick to mini laps over the big upwind downwind (shuttles are better for that, better banter too). I think mini laps cruising 1-3 km’s in a mix of bumps / breaking waves on sandbanks are super fun and will be the main way I use the parawing when I can’t get a shuttle. I’m still 100% convinced that for any decent length run (25-30 km and over) a shuttle is more time efficient too but i understand those who feel they would rather be on the water. Each to their own.
So how about as a paddle alternative when learning to downwind? There’s no doubt that for some, this will be an easier way to get more time on foil when learning to downwind (note I say some, not all). How much downwind foil time you can gain from the parawing really depends on your foil competence and your ability to subsequently stow your parawing. If you’re struggling with this (and can wing) I would recommend you to work on your foiling and downwind foiling with your wing first. For learning to downwind, the key factor to consider is ‘reset time’ / how quickly you can get back on foil and be riding bumps again (so parawing stowed again, wing to the side, pod out the water etc. depending on your chosen tool) to rack up those downwind foil hours (don’t kid yourself, sailing around and sailing upwind is not downwind foil time).
With the uptick in interest in parawinging as a separate discipline (people discussing modifications / upwinding etc) I thought I’d summarise the basic competencies needed for getting into downwinding with the parawing as an alternative to the paddle. Please note this is purely from a learning to DW perspective with the parawing as a paddle alternative.
Basic skills to get the hang of on flat water before going in the bumps:
- Start both ways
- Stow
- Untangle (just bundle it up, paddle a bit prone, then see how it looks after, be patient and methodical)
Skills you do not need to be able to do (for DW)
- Redeploy on foil. Just let yourself fall. Sort the wing out. Start again
- Ride upwind and tack. Unless you have no shuttle. But I would just encourage people to shuttle, to focus on downwind foiling. That is the key skill to be learnt. Whilst getting on foil is important, I truly believe it’s a much smaller piece of the puzzle than people are making it out to be.
- Jibes. You can always just start the other way to change direction. Though jibe competency is linked to minimum foil riding competency for bump riding. Wouldn’t waste too much time figuring out the wing handling side of it.
So in summary? I quite like the parawing for mini laps at a single spot, optimising my angle and also potentially downwinding with my prone set up like the crew in the Gorge. Do I think it can help people learn to downwind? Yes, for some (just don’t waste your time upwinding, and spend your time focusing on downwind foiling). However, before looking to get a parawing to try and make your downwind journey easier, I would do a quick skill inventory check / self reflection (I think this will be my next blog post) to see what you really should be focusing on before picking up a new discipline where the learning curve may distract from the downwind foiling part of the learning curve. I’d also like to add, one of the things that I personally really enjoy about downwinding is the community, shuttling together and having good conversations. Do I worry that parawinging and ‘shuttleless downwinding’ will detract from that? Not really, as I said before most decent length runs still take less time with a shuttle so I think we will retain that – but let’s try and encourage those in our communities who are parawinging to come along on shuttle runs and keep the sport growing! As always, feel free to ping me a message with any feedback or questions.