What Is a Parawing And Why Is Everyone Talking About It?

If you've been anywhere near the foiling world in the last year or so, you've probably seen one. A small, compact canopy on short lines, held by a bar, flying above a rider who's gliding across the water completely hands-free. It looks like a kite. It looks like a wing. It's neither and it might be the most significant thing to happen to foiling since the wing itself.

This is the parawing. And right now, it's having a moment.

Where It Came From

The parawing is genuinely new. The first upwind-capable parawing appeared in August 2024, debuted by a rider called Greg Drexler in Maui. Within months, every major foil brand had one in development. By 2025, the Ozone Pocket Rocket was on the water. By 2026, there are multiple models across multiple brands and the discipline has its own world competition circuit.

That's a fast arc. Fast enough that most people who aren't deep in the foiling world haven't had time to figure out what it actually is or why it's worth paying attention to.

So What Is It?

A parawing is a lightweight, ram-air canopy, think paraglider, not an inflatable wing, it is flown on short lines from a bar. It doesn't need pumping to inflate. It doesn't have a rigid frame. It packs down to roughly the size of a backpack and weighs almost nothing.

You use it to get onto your foil. Once you're flying, you pack it away,  tucking the whole thing into a harness or stash belt and ride hands-free. When the run ends, you redeploy it, get back upwind, and go again.

That last bit is what changes everything. With an inflatable wing, the wing is always there. You're always managing it, always holding it, always aware of it. The parawing disappears. The moment you stash it, the session becomes pure foiling just you, the board, and whatever energy the water is giving you. Wave, bump, downwind run, it doesn't matter. The wing is gone, and the riding is what's left.

Why It's Different to Wing Foiling

Wing foiling and parawing foiling use similar equipment; foil board, foil but they feel completely different in practice.

With a wing, the wing is generating power throughout the ride. You're always in contact with it. That's fine for a lot of riding, and wing foiling is brilliant in the right conditions. But it's not hands-free. The parawing's value is that it gives you the assist to get on foil and then steps back.

Parawings also pack far smaller than inflatable wings and require no pump. On a practical level, that makes them easier to travel with, easier to launch from tighter spots, and generally less faff to use once you know what you're doing.

The tradeoff is that the usable wind range is narrower than a wing, and there's more to learn upfront. A wing is more forgiving when you're out of the ideal window. With a parawing, you need to be in the right conditions for the size you're on.

The Ozone Range

Ozone were one of the first serious brands into parawings, which makes sense - they've been building paragliders and foil kites for 25 years. That background shows in how their parawings fly.

They currently make two: the Pocket Rocket V2 and the PowerPack. They're different products for different riders.

Pocket Rocket V2 is the all-rounder. It's designed for most riders at most levels accessible enough to learn on, capable enough to keep experienced riders happy. The V2 version refined the profile, reduced the aspect ratio for more low-end grunt, and added a diagonal rib structure that improves canopy tension and upwind performance. The new Bow Bar carried over from the PowerPack makes handling more intuitive. If you're coming into parawings for the first time, this is the right starting point. It's also the one you'll reach for in 90% of conditions once you're past the learning phase.

PowerPack is for riders who already know how to parawing and want the most stashable, packable option possible. It's built for the stash-and-glide style, pack it down fast, ride long hands-free, redeploy clean. It generates strong downwind pull and packs to an even more compact size than the Pocket Rocket, but it sits deeper in the window which means it doesn't push upwind quite as aggressively. Ozone are clear: it's not designed for learning on. It's a tool for experienced parawingers who want the least amount of wing possible between them and pure downwind foiling.

The simple version: start on the Pocket Rocket V2. If you end up spending more time with the wing stashed than flying, the PowerPack is the next conversation.

Is It Right for North Devon?

North Devon has useful conditions for parawing foiling. Woolacombe Bay on a moderate onshore day gives you the kind of open water and consistent wind that parawings work well in. The Taw Torridge estuary has reach for downwind runs. The coast is varied enough that you can find spots that suit the conditions rather than forcing the issue.

That said, parawing foiling isn't a beginner's discipline. It rewards riders who already have solid foil control and confident take-offs, good foil height management, and the ability to read conditions. If you're working through your eFoil or surf foil progression, the parawing is something to keep in sight as a next step, not a starting point.

Shop Ozone Parawings at Slack Tide

We stock both the Ozone Pocket Rocket V2 and PowerPack at Slack Tide. If you want to understand which one makes sense for where you are in your riding, get in touch and we'll give you a straight answer.

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