At the intersection of kiteboarding and wingfoiling, maybe is it time to create a new category on the forum…
There’s a bit of a buzz about who will be the first WingFoil brand to arrive on the market to compete with the BRM parawing.
It would be unfair not to start this thread mentionning Steffen BORN and his company born-kite.de, the believer and developper of the concept based on the Paraskiflex wing and bar dear to Canadians. The concept presented as an innovation last August 2024 by BRM Maui exists since 2017 with the Streetstar produced by born-kites who has a patent on the kite and a patent on an “Ego bar”.
Today, the range offers two water wings the FoilStar and the WaveStar but not many water tests since September…
I’m curious as to how the droid is still storable when it is a double skin kite. I love the parawing concept for the specific purpose of down winding on wind blown waves. This is where the brm looks to excel. The neutra is closest to this concept but the lines still look quite a bit longer than the brm. Also Patrice states that the neutra doesn’t fly well upwind. It is possible to get a slight upwind angle on the right foil but not easy. I’ve seen footage of the brm where it is going up d pretty well. Is it that the brm has a better bridle configuration that allows this? Who knows. Time will tell.
I do know that these things need to be cheaper than the brm model. Ensis have brought out their one now for preorder and that is cheaper than the brm but still very expensive for what it is as £750 here in the UK for a 3m.
The BRM modified bridling has supposedly improved its upwind (no more tip fluttering)
Details about the upcoming ROGER wing launch unveiled this Friday Nov. 15th.
The 3.0m model is announced late December for 790€ (800GBP), at a BRM price That is 270€/GBP per square meter of fabrics !
Will that force Gong to unveil their strategy in the coming days ?
In the meantime, ENSIS is offering the first “Learn to parawing” tutorial video proposed by a wingfoil brand … waterlaunch, jibe, downwinding, wing packing, … nice, simple, effective… promising.
The prices of these are hilarious. If you look at the price of single skin trainer kites the 2.5m are around £150. All these parawings have are a few extra bridles and shorter lines.
The profit margins in the foiling game are insane!
Even guys repurposing a single skin Flysurfer PEAK didn’t get a convincing result that needs time. Bridle simplicity is another aspect.
Sure, prices are insane. Looking forward to seeing what price range Gong is coming up with. Their philosophy so far has been sthg like “effective solutions, cheaper than competition but wjth same or higher quality”
There are guys that have gotten decent results with repurposing (there’s actually a tutorial somewhere). But you’ll probably find most people don’t have the knowledge to repurpose. I’d expect cheap one to come out in a few months though. China will drop loads on AliExpress etc.
Ding Dong: Ensis friday site update but no price, just an official release date for the 3m2: “available from December 15” no year.
The claims: “Exceptional upwind performance”,
A clever center line through a bar center hole - out of the born-kites patent - kind of safety chicken loop
Safety system
The bar’s unique design features a center hole for mid-line routing, allowing the parawing to safely collapse when released. A leash can be tied to the loop at the end of the centre line to keep the parawing connected to you.
A paraglider quality at the price/surface ratio higher than that of a… paraglider… but still cheaper than the BRM Maliko
How to shake the market up and create frustration ? From an online shop:
100 copies will be available throughout Europe in a single size of 3 m2. Pre-orders will be served first. If there are too many pre-orders: first-come, first-served basis. Unserved orders will be refunded in full and a discount voucher will be offered for the next series (March/April 2025).
New alternative :
The pocketWing (V1), using two handles, developped in Mauï by SamNoKaOi Reynolds like the BRM Maliko but shown to the public 3 months before in May 2024.
A v2 model is to be released in December 2024.
A harness with a pulley could be used here (see Peter Lynn buggy pulley bar) or modified not to ding the board
I’ve listened to a few podcasts lately, PPC are in development with a Parawing. F-One say they tried but didn’t like their results, but are coming up with ‘something’ that will make DW more accessible.
That is 270€/GBP per square meter of fabrics !
