Hi
Interested in your techniques/cheats to get on foil sooner with a parawing..
When winging I get on foil around 8-10 knts, with the same setup (board foil) but parawing( same size as the wing) i think i need 15 maybe even 17 knts to get on foil.
Do you have some techniques that you use for getting up sooner ? Angle relative to wind, waves, pumping the parawing or not, agressively or not ? If you pump the PW, do you pump it likea wing (horizontally) or vertically to get some lift ?

I cant find the solution. Sometimes i yank the pwing like a chimp and it works, sometimes it looses power in seemingly same wind strenght.
Thank

Yeah totally know the feeling. Ive had a couple days recently where I was either really struggling to get up or not able to get up at all on my 5.5m pwing then went in and got my 5.5m inflatable wing and had ample power. There's so much more you can do to generate power with the inflatable when getting going.
Yesterday I had some success with little baby pumps on the pwing timed perfectly with baby pumps on the board. The problem with pwing pumping is if you pump too hard the pwing loses shape and you lose power. Yesterday I was managing to get just enough of a pump that it was effective but not too much to distort the wing.

I find bump assist can be very helpful but is a bit conditions dependent. In light wind with bumps moving straight downwind it can be very hard to get good bump assist without losing too much apparent wind. When the bumps are moving a bit more side on to the wind, usually closer to shore where they bend in towards the shore, then it can be easier to get really good bump assist.

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Lasuduna said..
Hi
Interested in your techniques/cheats to get on foil sooner with a parawing..
When winging I get on foil around 8-10 knts, with the same setup (board foil) but parawing( same size as the wing) i think i need 15 maybe even 17 knts to get on foil.
Do you have some techniques that you use for getting up sooner ? Angle relative to wind, waves, pumping the parawing or not, agressively or not ? If you pump the PW, do you pump it likea wing (horizontally) or vertically to get some lift ?

I cant find the solution. Sometimes i yank the pwing like a chimp and it works, sometimes it looses power in seemingly same wind strenght.
Thank

yank the pwing like a chimp

Yeah timely post. I've just come in for a session on my DW board, huge foil & was getting up & foiling easily on my 6m wing. I guess it was 12-14 knots & flat water. Since it was so easy I thought it'd be the same if I swapped out the wing for the 4.3 Pocket rocket. Yeah nah, I got up a couple of times & found the foiling was very easy when up but after a few crashes & attempts trying to get up pumping the wing, pumping the board, chasing tiny bumps, going side wind, going downwind, going crazy, I realised there's no substitute for wind power. Lesson learned - I need as much wind as I would need for a 5m.
I realise that the are some guys that can get up in 5knots on their 20L esky lid with a 1m handkerchief but i think the reality for weekend warriors over the 85kg range is the requirement for that upper wind window.

I'll tell you my experience. I can get on foil with the parawing in 10kts with a 4.0 Gong Plus with my downwind gear (7'6"x17" - 95L and 960R). With this set up I can get on foil with a 4.6 wing in maybe 6 knots. In my opinion, the technique of getting on foil with the parawing is closer to getting on foil with the paddle then with the wing. I'll normally try to accelerate at a beam reach without pumping. Once I've the board moving, I'll wait for the chop, let pass the first, go to a broad reach and start pumping uphill with both the pw and the legs and take off downhill when the chop pushes you. Here I've a little clip that shows how.... I hope it helps!!

Ok so basically little PW pumps to gain speed but not too much, then a "paddle up" technique with the legs without going too much downwind to keep apparent wind going...

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Lasuduna said..
Ok so basically little PW pumps to gain speed but not too much, then a "paddle up" technique with the legs without going too much downwind to keep apparent wind going...

yep, that's how I do it, and I think I can take off in pretty light wind.....

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This video is a great explanation of getting a bump assist in lighter winds.

Im still an intermediate with the pwing, but have been pretty successful getting up in light wind. A lot of it translated from the wing, but couple specific things that worked for me:

1. Wait for the gust. Be ready for it, but don't waste your energy until its there. Once its there dont waste it.
2. The takeoff is ~85% legs. Really need to pump efficiently with the legs, particularly as soon as you feel power in the water (even the smallest little wave helps a lot).
3. You can get one or two grunty pulls at the beginning of your takeoff by pulling the backlines and getting the wing deep in the power window. It only lasts a pump or two because the wing will probably shoot to the edge of the window and its too slow to bring it back deep in the power zone. These pulls can bring you up to speed much faster than the pulls at the edge of the window.
4. Know the balance of when you can increase your upwind angle. Too early and you will stall out. Too late and you will oversail the wing and lose power.