Your First Session

You have rigged your parawing, run through your pre-flight checks, and the wind looks good. Time to get on the water. As an experienced foiler, you will find some of this intuitive. Other parts will catch you off guard.

Launching

This is the step that feels most different from wingfoiling. You cannot just grab your wing and walk into the water. A parawing needs to be launched, similar to a kite.

Beach launch (with help). The safest option for your first session. Have someone hold the wing tip while you walk to the water’s edge with the bar. When you signal, they release, and the wing inflates and rises. Keep tension on the lines as it comes up.

Self-launch. Possible with most parawings, but not recommended for your first session. The technique varies by brand and conditions. Once you have a few sessions under your belt, our how to parawing foil guide covers self-launch methods.

Coming from kiteboarding? You already know how to do an assisted launch. The process is similar but less powerful. The wing comes up gently rather than snapping overhead.

Coming from wingfoiling? This is genuinely new. The key is to stay calm and keep the lines tensioned. If the wing starts to loop or dive, let go of the bar (your safety will depower it) and start again. Do not try to fight a bad launch.

Getting into the water

Once the wing is overhead and stable:

1. Walk into the water with your board, keeping the wing at a neutral position (roughly overhead)
2. Get on your board as you normally would
3. Let the wing pull you gently as you settle into your stance
4. Sheet in (pull the bar) to build power, and let the board start moving

The transition from standing in the water to riding is more gradual than wingfoiling. There is no aggressive pump. The wing builds pull steadily, and you ease onto foil as speed increases.

Body position differences

This is where your existing foil skills help, but your muscle memory may fight you:

Stay upright. In wingfoiling, you often lean into the wing and extend your arms for leverage. With a parawing, the power goes through your harness. Stand tall, keep your hips forward, and let the harness take the load.

Hands guide, hips drive. Your hands on the bar control direction and power. But the actual force transfer is through the spreader bar to your hips. Think of the bar as a steering wheel, not a power source.

Eyes forward. Resist the temptation to look up at the wing constantly. As with kiting, you want to develop a feel for where the wing is without needing to stare at it. Focus on the water ahead.

Getting onto foil

As an experienced foiler, you know the feeling of the board lifting. With a parawing, the buildup is gentler:

1. Sheet in to build speed. The pull is smooth, not jerky
2. Shift your weight slightly back to encourage the foil to engage
3. As the board lifts, centre your weight over the mast
4. Use small bar inputs to manage power. Too much pull and you will accelerate faster than expected. Too little and you will sink back down

The first time you get on foil with a parawing, it will likely feel remarkably quiet and smooth compared to wingfoiling. There is no wing in your hands creating drag and turbulence. Just clean, uninterrupted glide.

What to expect from your first session

Be realistic. Even experienced foilers typically spend their first parawing session doing the following:

• Learning to launch and manage the wing on the beach
• Getting comfortable with the bar feel and harness connection
• A few water starts, some successful, some not
• Short rides as you figure out the power delivery
• At least one moment where you forget to look at the water instead of the wing

That is completely normal. By session two or three, the launch becomes routine and you start focusing on riding. By session five, most crossover riders feel genuinely comfortable.

Watch: ENSIS tutorial with Michi and Laura

One of the most accessible beginner tutorials available. Laura and Michi walk through board selection, foil choices, conditions, and launching safely.

Watch: Flysurfer POW Academy handling

Covers setup and launch through to steering, depowering, and emergency procedures. The handling fundamentals apply regardless of which parawing you ride.

Watch: Duotone Academy: Enter the water and get on your board

Finn Spencer demonstrates the transition from beach to water with a parawing. Getting from standing on the shore to riding on your board.

Watch: Gwen Le Tutour’s first parawing session

A well-filmed first session that shows the progression from launch through to riding.

For the complete step-by-step technique breakdown, read our how to parawing foil guide. For common first-session mistakes, see our beginner mistakes guide.