I do think having a look at first timers using a new tool to be informative, but to a pretty limited extent, and I certainly wouldn't base a purchase decision on it, since the question to me is how long does it take an average joe to get past that initial lack of control and be effective/efficient using it to do what they intend.
That said, the fairly crazy movement of the parawing in the test ride videos does make me wonder what it takes...
Would like to see someone riding the 5m bunch it up and pack it away while riding. I can see how that would work on the smaller sizes but having spent a ton of time riding a 5m peak it's hard to see just pulling in that much fabric and bridles and reliability packing it away.
So many questions, looking forward to some reviews and more videos.
Just when I thought I had all the foiling gear I need. If this works as shown and I believe it will for anyone with good skills it opens up yet another segment of foiling.
I have been using my downwind board allot doing upwind downwind runs with a small wing flagged out it's good fun but the wing gets in the way and restricts freedom and it's kind of cheating due to the added assist from windage on the wing. I've tried deflating the wing and paddling up which was not fun resulting in long section paddling back in less than ideal bumps.
This Parawing solves that problem and opens up so many places with less than ideal DW conditions, just crank upwind, pack away and you can have a proper go trying to connect and pump sections without a wing or paddle in you hands with the security of getting back on foil easily when you come down.
So I'm all in but just tried to buy the 4m and hit the same problem as when I tried to buy one his BRM cloud kites 5 years ago . Only available to ship to USA addresses, yes I could ship to a relative in Palo Alto but that just adds cost. I know he is a small operation and is probably happy living a chill life on Maui selling a few hundred products a year to US customers . (Who wouldn't be)
For the rest of us let's hope that brands like Ozone and flysurfer will launch something similar soon.
Okay thanks, I see that now on the main site .
I was trying to check out from the shop cart and the only country listed is US.
It would be handy to have a comment there
Here's a DIY version using a Flysurfer Peak 4 3m. It looks like he's removed the lower section of the bridle. Love the high tech control bar. He says he's been using it for downwind/upwind riding since March.
US$1000 plus shipping plus import duties plus GST. Would be close to AU$2000. Wow you do not get much for that.
Flysurfer Peak 5 is AU$1000 including GST.
Less secondhand www.seabreeze.com.au/Classifieds/Kitesurfing-Kites/~kj-q6/Flysurfer-Peak-4-Single-Skin-5-metre.aspx?_page=1&search=6A8gmMqiauZqNvOmaZOoNA%3D%3D
Looks like this guy had a blast on his flysurfer hybrid. Maybe some brand will come up with a similar design for downwinding.
?si=SryfrBYxZK7Bx8KMHere is another photo of the modified Peak. It's taken from a German forum: oaseforum.de/showthread.php?t=185835
I'm guessing that where the yellow line on the bar is there used to be the pulleys and stuff on the lower part of the bridle.
Basically the guy doing it is a committed tinkerer. He's been working on the process and how to use it for a while and getting good results. He reckons it's not a plug and play thing, which hopefully the BRM wing will be. Apparently the handles are some nunchuks he had lying around. I think he can separate them to use as handles.
I think the BRM configuration (single skin, short bridles, low aspect) is probably optimal for downwind riding and surfing and stuff. I can imagine a more freeride oriented wing with bits and pieces of self-draining ram air structures (leading edge, tips, ribs and stuff). I'm not all that committed to packing down and wave riding, but a compact self-inflating wing would be very handy.
Would a kite point better than a wing? Wondering if there is something to using a peak with short lines that I can go steep angles upwind, stow it and send back downwind, I don't mind if it takes 2-3min to pack it, I just don't want to use a wing, but the idea packing and launching a kite and associated tangling doesn't appeal
That Street Star looks far better in the air.
Seems like this is going to be a hot market where the actual materials aren't as costly as a wing.
Tangled up my 4M Parawing my first time practicing the pack up/stuff in the belt, so I quickly figured out how to NOT pack it lol (not sure how I even managed to tangle it). Then I took it out cruising on my onewheel and found a bit of breeze on the coast and was able to pack and relaunch without issue. Pretty cool to just toss it up in the air and see it take flight.
A couple of random thoughts.
That video highlights one of the big attractions of wing foiling. There's always something new to learn and most of those things are not all that hard to do.
The short lines will be easy enough to untangle, they're short and you can see them from end to end. If the front lines were a different colour (say red) all you have to do is hold the bar in one hand, then clear any single front line from the bar to the wing and 99% of the time all the lines will be clear. At worst clearing two front lines will do the job.
It would be a massive bummer to not stow your wing properly and have it fall out while you're ripping downwind. Maybe wear the belt wing forward while you're downwinding.
The guy in the video talks about the big power surge when you throw the wing out. I wonder if that would be enough to do a water start on a long kite/wing foilboard with straps?
Great video & review. All good but I think I'd still have my paddle ninja turtled on my back just in case.
The term gamechanger gets bandied around too often in foiling conversations, but seems like it might be deserving.This looks like it truly unlocks the promise of downwind winging.
I've had mixed success with DW sup foiling, making some good progress, but getting injured at the end of summer, and only now feeling like I can tentatively start paddling again. This was the final capitulation in getting a Foildrive. For DW, this comes with advantages, but no question, you can feel the heft, at least I can. So it will never be more than a DW tool for me (though really enjoying it for the surf).
Here in windy Cape Town, we have some epic DW conditions, but I feel like I'm still a long way from making the most of it with a paddle, especially on the Millers side, which is closer to where I live, and injuries and general body niggles have been a consistent theme.
BRM is a small lean operation, it's pretty much just Greg, no payroll, not much marketing, no team riders, not even much of a social media presence, mainly word of mouth. He definitely doesn't need to follow any regular release cycles, he only releases stuff that really moves the bar. So when he comes up with something totally new it's usually something special. This is not Greg hype it's just giving credit where it's due. Of course I'm partial to BRM, they've met my wind propulsion needs for most of the last 10 years, starting with the cloud C.5 kites. Greg doesn't care about top speeds, VMG upwind or jump height. He really cares most about simplicity, usability and freedom on the water. I still have a quiver of Ds and the W1 and W2 wings. I'm still very happy flying my W1's, they flutter a bit, but are still well behaved and enjoyable to fly 4 years later, much of it with intense usage. How many can say that of their floppy handle jellyfish 2020 wings? I still love my 2018 D kites, and though I don't kitefoil much, love it when I do.
I pulled the trigger on a 2.9m + the belt. That's definitely the money size here - I'm almost always on my 2.2 or 3, hardly ever use the 4 these days. $900+ USD seems pretty steep for a glorified hanky, and many will balk at the cost. I certainly did, but I justify it on the grounds that I haven't had to buy a wing in 3 years, the cloud wings have served me so well, the W2s are nowhere near needing a refresh. You're paying for the fact that it's a niche market and of course the dozens of prototypes and hours and hours of tweaking and tuning to finally bring a truly viable UW-DW product to market. Who can begrudge him the reward for that.
There's two ways this could go. Either it works great and it catches on like crazy. Then a bunch of others will copy what he's done and a bunch of new products will arrive, iteratively refine and improve and bring down costs (but in the meantime it's totally sold out for months, Greg makes limited size batches of things). Or not. As was the case with the strutless kites, they were the only thing of it's kind going for years, nobody tried or succeeded in copying for ages. Gong tried. In the end Slingshot finally brought out the UFOs (don't know if they are better, they are what Fred Hope rides, so can't be too bad) and also the single skin Peaks, which is what I would probably be riding by now if I still kitefoiled seriously. Also as is the case with Foildrive, for many years waiting for competition to arrive to bring down the price. It never arrived. In spite of the high price, they are the only game in town, you'd take a big risk to buy a foil assist from anyone but them. Either way I'm ok with it, I've seen enough to know that this is the future for me. DW Sup foiling is still a goal, but it's no longer the be-all-and-end-all.
With the inflatable strutless kites finally giving way for single skin peaks for the purest freeride kitefoiling experience, it's somehow fitting that inflatable wings go the same way for the purest and freest winging experience.
Sorry for the ramble!
I imagine some of these brands who have their kids/trainer kites, looking now at how to launch their own versions of the same!