Mark Shinn has kindly sent us this piece about the parawing and its place in kite/foil sports…

(if you don’t know who he is a little Google search will tell you he knows what he is talking about when it comes to windsports! )

“After 3 months on the parawing in sizes 2.9, 4 and 5.1 I can safely say that this is not a fad, this is a tool that solves some of the biggest obstacles in down winding – namely ease of getting on foil, the ability to downwind with nothing in your hands and on smaller boards than a downwind SUP and most importantly the ability to go up wind EASILY.”

“Yes, I can paddle up a DW sup no problem but the transport logistics are always a pain, yes I have done a tonne of deflator downwinders but this still requires the paddle and full sized board and once deflated the wing offers no benefit to get on foil or recover yourself upwind.”

“The parawing makes it easy to get on foil and can be stowed and re deployed unlimited times during one session, unless you are crazy over powered it doesn’t allow you to down wind on boards and foils as small as a Foil Drive would but you can certainly downsize from a full length DW board to a mid length.”

“Regarding foil size I suspect that this choice has more to do with your downwind abilities and conditions than the actual parawing itself.”

The Benefits

  • The ability to stow and deploy the wing unlimited times during a session
  • The ability to ride upwind quickly and easily
  • The ability to ride smaller mid length boards
  • Hands free down winding
  • Speed of set up, after a few sessions on the parawing pumping inflatables and laying out lines really does seem time consuming

The Drawbacks

  • The parawing is a tool not a toy. I don’t see myself using it unless it is for down wind riding
  • The wind range of the wings is relatively small…. They are not super powerful and become over powered quite fast
  • The bridle can be annoying  – but if you have a foil kite background it is really very simple