Kind of hard to assess without knowledge of the conditions. Only you know if the wind was gusty or shifty (either of which could lead to lack of control). How much wind was there? Aside from conditions, it could be that you are improperly applying tension to the lines. If you are putting too much tension on the front (a lines) or back (c lines) of the bar, the parawing can collapse, drop, lose steering or otherwise be difficult to control.

Similar to a wing - when I'm on the beach deciding whether a specific parawing size is correct for the conditions, I fly it stable, and lean against it. Typically if I can hold onto the bar and gently lean so that my weight is supported by the power in the parawing - I know its around the right size, but it definitely takes experience and feel. It shouldn't be ripping your arm off, and you should still be able to comfortably hold it in one and and pull it towards you bending an arm.

Trying to be helpful, but pretty hard to tell whats going on without more info though.

I have a Frigate 3.5m V1 and it works well up to 25 knots. Very stable and controllable. I would guess user error possible holding the bar in the wrong position or harness line is not in the correct place. Show it to an experienced para rider.

tartine said..
Hi folks,

I am new to parawing and quite new to foiling in general.
When I had wind conditions that are too strong for my 5m I tried few times a frigate v1 3.5m and even an element freefly 2.8m and it was out of control way beyond just being overpowered and I could not do anything.
There could be partly a skill issue but still, it felt like all skills in the world would not make it practical.

Why is that ?
Is it technically gusts , or more about turbulence (can it be separate things?).
Is it mostly due to wing wrapping around the coast or it is the nature of the wind?
How to predict those conditions?

My take was that high top end does not necessarily means controllable.

Would a double skin or hybrid or whatever help to not waste those sessions ?

Thanks.

When you first try a para - and it seems in some serious wind (don’t know you didn’t say) you think something like “fck me what’s this bloody thing” - esspcially like me who tried to learn in the depths of winter with gusty horrible winds. Then you get it in some proper thermals and presto. But yes - especially the smaller sizes do seem uncontrollable at first - but you soon learn this is not the case. It also helps if you come from say a kiting background where you rode kites that only tied to kill you in the early days. We had no depower and pretty much rode unhooked - until wakesrule come about and we unhooked anyhow.

Give it time bud - and take it out initially in the mid part of its range.

Velocicraptor said..
Kind of hard to assess without knowledge of the conditions. Only you know if the wind was gusty or shifty (either of which could lead to lack of control). How much wind was there? Aside from conditions, it could be that you are improperly applying tension to the lines. If you are putting too much tension on the front (a lines) or back (c lines) of the bar, the parawing can collapse, drop, lose steering or otherwise be difficult to control.

Similar to a wing - when I'm on the beach deciding whether a specific parawing size is correct for the conditions, I fly it stable, and lean against it. Typically if I can hold onto the bar and gently lean so that my weight is supported by the power in the parawing - I know its around the right size, but it definitely takes experience and feel. It shouldn't be ripping your arm off, and you should still be able to comfortably hold it in one and and pull it towards you bending an arm.

Trying to be helpful, but pretty hard to tell whats going on without more info though.

Thanks , that's pretty useful.

The big issue is that I struggle to tell the wind:
Forecast models are +/-5 knots or more and it is said to be 10 meters high.
My device to measure wind only tells me what is on the beach and it is not so helpful.
Recently I could experience that a "concave" coast like a bay make it wind uneven.

I have no sailing background.
It could be that there was more than 30 knots after all. Ironically my wing going wild is the best clue I have of the wind not being steady.

In those cases I either hold only the A lines and it stays still (but flap like hell) or just go crazy.
Wrapping the a lines one time around the bar helped somehow but hard to manage.

And no I am not blaming the wings ,frigate was clearly said not for beginner (though the discount said otherwise...).

Good , cause the quest was 2 times more expensive.

I was gonna suggest that maybe your speed is not enough and it makes things even more overpowered?
But if you don't have enough experience, I would personally just take classes.

That thing about wrapping the lines around the bar is a big NONONONONONO

tartine said..
Wrapping the a lines one time around the bar helped somehow but hard to manage.

I am assuming this comment relates to wrapping the A-lines around the top of the bar to shorten them and give a bit more de-power. Similar to the AFS Stow power loop system which reduces the length of the A/B-lines to lower the parawing's pull.

tartine said..

Urgull said..
I was gonna suggest that maybe your speed is not enough and it makes things even more overpowered?
But if you don't have enough experience, I would personally just take classes.

That thing about wrapping the lines around the bar is a big NONONONONONO

But Greg said that !

It was the 'one at a time' that is really weird. That will unbalance the whole wing, kind of thing that happens when you redeploy and results in a crash.