foilthegreats said..Youngbreezy said..BWalnut said..Youngbreezy said..BWalnut said..
I don't parawing but I'd recommend focusing on your swell riding first. Way easier with a wing. Let the parawings get to v3 or so while you work on staying flagged out for 10+ minutes at a time and then make the transition when you've got the skills and the tech has caught up.
My full runs in the gorge are about 15 minute sections and then I need to go back upwind to reset. At the moment I can downwind for 15 minutes and then upwind for 14 minutes to reset. Once the parawing can get close to that I'll buy in.
I wouldn't let the upwind ability of the parawing put you off. It's really pretty good, I am finding it hard to notice the difference from a normal wing. I have been doing upwind downwind on the wing for quite a while now and the parawing has really taken it to another level.
That's great to hear. Are you on the BRM parawing or something different? It's all changing so fast!
I am on the flow D-wing. From what I understand the BRM's go upwind fairly well in there appropriate wind range but they don't have the depower of the latest wimgs. When overpowered the leading edge collapses and makes upwind impossible. The Flow D wings depower really well and push further upwind as you depower them. This allows you to ride tight and high when powered up and gives some really good upwind angles. I think the latest parawings from ozone, naish and duotone all have this feature, so probably a good time to get into the parawing.
I got to say as I'm highly experienced on the BRM Maliko that the feedback you're referring to is not correct. Maybe a new rider who has not figured it out. The Flow will be more user friendly and easier to use. The BRM goes upwind even better when it's at the top of its range. You need to wear a harness and point higher into the wind that is how you release power. Yes, you can't fly it off the front lines like the flow. You can most definitely ride overpowered and go upwind even better and faster when overpowered you just need to learn the proper technique.
While I agree you can make a BRM go upwind, just like you could make the old Wipika 2 line kites go upwind. But its natural tendency is to pull downwind.
I got to try a Gong 5m Plus Low Kite yesterday and I was surprised how easy it was to go upwind with. Prior to this I had concluded that PW just was not great for upwind riding, doable, but not fun in my opinion. I don't like using a harness and that's part of it for sure. But the Gong just wanted to go upwind even when just dragging around waiting for a gust it was pulling upwind.
The BRM just sits further back in the wind window. This makes it more stable(despite some of the claims out there its a very stable PW in its intended wind range). But it makes going upwind harder. The Gong in contrast sat at the edge of the window, so much so that you had to hold the bar in the middle to avoid it overflying and the LE collapsing. The Gong is made of very heavy material though, and it was very difficult to manage in turns in light wind. For DW and ease of use I strongly prefer my BRM. But if my goal was riding in place or upwind dw runs I would pick the Gong even with its challenges if I had to pick between the two.
My new Ozone Pocket Rocket 3m felt like it was flying further toward the edge of the wind window too but hard to tell for sure until I fly it in more wind, but I am optimistic.
Hope to get a chance to try the Flow one day too. I canceled my order and switched to the Ozone when the shipment was delayed even further after waiting more then a month already. I guess Flow is having trouble keeping up with demand.
Curious to hear how the new BRMs perform, from what I saw their canopy designs don't look all that different, more changes in the bridle design. I could be wrong though....
as least worse option.
