Let the development games begin! Imagine what the next couple of years will look like.
Select to expand quotedafish said..
Let the development games begin! Imagine what the next couple of years will look like.
Agreed! I'm going to sit on the sidelines for a few years and see where this all shakes out I think haha!
Select to expand quotedafish said..
Let the development games begin! Imagine what the next couple of years will look like.
Yes! tired of paying to be a beta-tester for gear!
Well, I have been dreaming of this for years as the holy grail. I don't mind beta testing, better than watching! As much as I love kiting, I was getting a little bored at times foiling and we don't really have enough waves around here to get excited on a surfboard. I got my Dwing the other day and my board arrived on Sunday so now it's time to kook around until I feel comfortable on a bigger board. After riding a tiny pocket board for so long turning a big board will feel mighty strange.
I recently ordered the ParaTow (aka P.T.) and should receive it in a week or two. Told me they are shipping out from their first serial batch from Slovenia, some time next week.
Will post my findings (paid full price, no attachments), although this is my first parawing and buddies have not yet received their other brand parawings yet. So comparing will unfortunately have to wait. Surely need some time with this anyway.
Little wind and waves expected in the ocean outside the first month, so first ParaTow days will be with snowboard at the curvy mountain plateaus. My thinking is that snowkiting always works with lots of power to get up and float on powder, winging is super delicious up there when rare conditions meet, and parawing will hopefully provide some of the same winging freedom but let me rest a little in a harness as opposed to big wings that just don't work hooked in. (without the extra hydrofoil height)
The guys at Triple Seven have been quick and helpful. They explained that the production models are not white as in the videos, but with colors as seen in their webshop. Lines will also get color coding, something that is not clear from current pictures and sketches. (as we all have noticed, a number of brands have currently displayed their upcoming parawings, looking just perfect as CAD drawings)
Before ordering it seemed a bit unclear which company I would be buying from, using the linked webshop. So I checked.
The Slovenian company 777 jadralna padala d.o.o. has the well known paraglider brand Triple Seven, with site 777gliders.com. The same company has the separate and newer site 777kites.com, with the ParaTow as the only product right now. Different sites with different activities, the very same guys, same company name and address in the bottom of pages in both sites.
According to a post (777kites.com/general-news/who-are-we/) they have their production facility in Sri Lanka.
They say the PT is easy to take down reasonably quick for holding, by pulling the front/C-lines. That's what is important to me, not so much the packing. I don't worry too much if the birds on my desolated shores will see me foiling, with the laundry in one hand. At least not with my first parawing.
Still, I was told they are designing a chest harness for storing the PT, no date yet.
Not the cheapest parawing, but compared to expensive RAM-air kites this is not bad at all.
The ParaTows were supposed to start shipping earlier this week, but according to Triple Seven they are waiting for missing parts and there's no new date. Will post again.
I got an email last nigh saying that wings would be shipped direct from the factory in Sri Lanka and I received the tracking number today. The expected delivery date is 12/3.
Wings for Europe will be shipped to their office and sent from there.
When I ordered I was given a mid-March date, and maybe a week earlier if production works out. It's encouraging that things have turned out pretty much exactly as they said. Hopefully the same will be true for the wing.
My 5.7m ParaTow arrived last night. I had a bit of a fly of it on the hill behind the beach.
Looks good so far. I'll wait until I use it on the water before commenting further.
Anyone have any water time with the Paratow yet? I can't wait to hear how the upwind compares to their claims of being better than single skin wing. If this gets anywhere near the angles of my Ozone Flux we have a winner!
Got a shipment tracking for my 4.2m a couple of days ago, so I guess they also have sent all PTs that came through their European factory.Select to expand quoteGorgo said..
My 5.7m ParaTow arrived last night. I had a bit of a fly of it on the hill behind the beach.
Looks good so far. I'll wait until I use it on the water before commenting further.
Please share anything on taking down and holding while going downwind.
Easy enough to get out of the way?
If so, I'll also consider a bigger size, if I'm going to like my 4.2 a lot. Select to expand quoteDarripah said..
I can't wait to hear how the upwind compares to their claims of being better than single skin wing. If this gets anywhere near the angles of my Ozone Flux we have a winner!
Triple Seven have not spent too much time with their new parawing webpages, I think they meant single vs twin skin parawings/lowkites, not handwings.
Still, I have the Fluxes and can easily compare upwind angles once the wind is back.
But with my intended use of parawing, the difference between very good and even better upwind, is not of interest. Those wanting a freeride-only parawing may of course think differently.
From 777:
With a new product on the market, it's essential that we provide you with all the information you need to fully enjoy and understand the P.T. parawing. That's why we've now published a detailed manual covering its usage, based on our extensive testing and development.
We hope you find the explanations clear and that the manual helps enhance your performance with the P.T. If you have any questions, we're always here to help.
You can find a direct link to the manual at 777kites.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/PT_EN_version1.2.pdf.
Little wind after I received my 4.2 a week ago. Quality build. Tested a couple of times on the beach. Catches and fills quicker than expected, for a RAM-air, when tossed into the wind.
The manual (watch for updates on the product page 777kites.com/gliders/paratow/) was published shortly after my first try. At that time I, well, tried steering to steer. Only to find that the lower end of the canvas collapsed way too quickly, wing going down fast, apparently without any early warning.Along came the manual saying I had to bank the wing at the same time (or slightly before I'd say) as the yaw movement with the bar. That is, banking by moving the bar to the opposite side of where you want to turn the wing.
Tested again. Not intuitive, but gave better results. Maybe that's how most parawings have to be steered (?), but in this case the required banking movement felt huge. Anyway, now I'm only loosing controls at moments when the wind changes quite a bit.
I have discussed this with the very helpful guys at 777. I was also worried that the channels did not fill well as RAM-air kites do already when standing still, the underside looked too flat, at least below 9m/s. They said the wing would breath better once moving. I decided that the first session should be on snow, not foiling, to get acquainted with the wing more quickly.
Today 777 emailed customers about upcoming adjustments to improve auto-stability. And I picked up a snowboard at the cabin an had a go. Sadly, only half an hour with strong enough wind to really make the small (for snow) 4.2m go as wanted. But then the channels filled better (maybe good enough, forgot to check most of the time), and this wing turned out to be fast. Still not comfortable with the steering, but upwind is so far really promising.
The well fitted harness line is too short for me at 190cm. In fact, I don't think I'll ever be able to steer the PT well enough to be hooked in. The banking movement makes a mess if hooked in.
So I hope 777 will be able to mitigate steering/stability/directional problems.I'm by no means judging the product yet, just want to share a little with you guys buying more parawings any soon. For all I know, the ParaTow can be anything from genius with some tweaks, to a heavily adjusted or abandoned product.
Oh, grabbing and holding a pack at speed was a lot easier than I feared.
Got the "rebuild" procedure video from 777 few days later. Found some time for this joy a couple of days ago. Needed a full 6 hours to complete in a safe way.
Little wind expected this month, but had a while with 5-6 m/s yesterday standing on land. Turned out this was an improvement, but couldn't say how much, in the light wind.
Today, also just standing on land, I practiced turning and dodging occasional gusts in 8-10 m/s. From 8 m/s, the new setup showed itself clearly better. It inflated well, felt quite stable. Much easier to quickly set the wing at the sides of the wind window.
So their adjustment announcement, saying the first batch was "not fully optimal", was quite an understatement.
As usual, the 777-guys were quick and helpful. But I have asked for an explanation to the individual adjustments (which is involving all sets of lines). And it is not clear to me if this was a not so lucky moment of late minute untested design adjustments, or if the initial setup (got the impression that they have done all testing by themselves) turned out to be too radical and unstable for most of us, at least as a starting point.
I was told they initially had trouble with the wing overshooting. The back pairs of the A/front-line cascades were tightened a little, flattening the wing in front, hence counteracting overshooting tendencies. I never came to have this problem with the old setup. Still, sitting slightly more into the wind window seem to be one of the adjustments that is making the wing more stable and easier to steer. We have other things to do, the ParaTow can't have all attention.
I'm still not sure I will ever get used to the rather big banking movement that (for now) is needed for turns, even for smaller corrections. Could be stressful in gusty conditions. And at the same time, hard to ride hooked in, when banking movements become obstructed. Then again, I have eventually adjusted to similar stuff before..
Will hopefully be riding it a bit this weekend and through Easter.
Don't listen to me before I have had more time with the ParaTow.
Just a little somewhat off topic rant, in the early days of kite surfing I was a team rider for a manufacturer.
I became a team rider, not because I was a fantastic rider and super analytical and sensitive to gear changes (which of course I was 
).
I became a team rider because I was an every day user and I would send them emails asking about stuff that didn't work very well, or I didn't like. The designer would send me fixes and adjustments and I would make the changes and tell them what happened. I was amazed at how effective and clean and simple the designer's changes were.
Their factory test rider was a super hotshot who would only go out in 30 knots. Everything works when you have a hotshot in control and shedloads of wind. True testing happens in the lower and moderate extremes with competent people making the mistakes and dealing with the idiosyncrasies of the gear. I would have thought they would have a group of boofhead mates that would try stuff out and get into every dumb situation that could happen.
It continues to disappoint me that products still come to market without that in-depth testing.
Select to expand quoteGorgo said..
Just a little somewhat off topic rant, in the early days of kite surfing I was a team rider for a manufacturer.
I became a team rider, not because I was a fantastic rider and super analytical and sensitive to gear changes (which of course I was ).
I became a team rider because I was an every day user and I would send them emails asking about stuff that didn't work very well, or I didn't like. The designer would send me fixes and adjustments and I would make the changes and tell them what happened. I was amazed at how effective and clean and simple the designer's changes were.
Their factory test rider was a super hotshot who would only go out in 30 knots. Everything works when you have a hotshot in control and shedloads of wind. True testing happens in the lower and moderate extremes with competent people making the mistakes and dealing with the idiosyncrasies of the gear. I would have thought they would have a group of boofhead mates that would try stuff out and get into every dumb situation that could happen.
It continues to disappoint me that products still come to market without that in-depth testing.
Not entirely off topic as 777 did exactly that I believe, they had a call-out for riders to test this product when it was in development.
But yeah I don't think many brands actually get their product tested by the target demographic, which isn't big air contestants and slaying groms.
I've always thought that a better model than team riders and influencers is to find the five people who froth most at every local beach and give them product. Not necessarily the best rider but the ones who are always stoked and give you a thumbs up when you nail a trick.
Call them brand ambassadors and they can basically do the opposite of what f-one team riders did to me and others at one eye (behaved like a bunch of entitled ****wits)
I feel VERY lucky to have found this thread! I've been flying a 777 glider in the mountains for years.. and also I'm avid wave WINGFOILER. was getting ready tu maybe pull the trigger on the 5.7 Mt but I'm setting some discontent here... anybody who has recieved and used the PT REALLY HAPPY?? WITH upwind performance and turning/trimming off the parawing?
at the moment I'm on the fence between the new Duotone Stash and the PT... any more reviews would be MUCH appreciated guys!
The upwind ability and stability is insane. At least as good as my ozone flux for upwind ( this wing points really high). You sacrifice packability though
The first batch out had a translation error from Autocad to the build files and the bridle lines were too long. 777 released a video showing how to do a temporary fix, and are sending out new lines.
I started doing the temporary fix but it was not possible on my 5.7m. There simply wasn't room to make the required adjustment knots.
I told them and they express shipped the new lines to me. It's a bit of a job disassembling the bar and lines and fitting the new ones. It took me an afternoon, into the evening, and a morning to do it, and I have a heap of experience with making and modifying kite and paraglider bridle lines.
I haven't used my ParaTow on the water yet. It felt good flying in clean air but it had erratic behaviour at the edge of the window. Hopefully it will be as good as it is made out to be on the water with the new lines.
The "Servo-Chamber" bar looks a bit agricultural. I think pulley and/or slider bars are necessary to get the range out of parawings and counter twitchy stall behaviour. That seems to be the way things are developing. Hopefully bars will develop quickly to be cleaner.
Select to expand quoteYoungbreezy said..
?si=FLjATBcnIpYWkw1T
777kites.com/gliders/paratow/
Another interesting offering from a paragliding company. A lot of good info on it on the website. Would have to be a bit more bulky to stow. They do say they use fewer lines and have vents to help deflate it so at least they have put some thought into stowing it. Would definitely be a lot more efficient and nicer to sail than a single skin.
Price worked out to be about $1700 aud for a 4.2m (excluding VAT) but then you've got shipping and import duties
interesting info their FAQ's
The P.T. is a Ram-air wing, which results in a slightly higher volume of material. However, even when fully deflated, the compact package ensures a comfortable downwind ride. Deflation time is minimized thanks to special nozzles integrated into the canopy, though it still takes slightly longer than with a single-skin wing. In our tests, we consistently managed to pack the wing during longer runs. For shorter, more technical runs, we keep the P.T. in our hands, holding it by the leading edge plastic reinforcement. That way, the P.T. is ready for the quick transformation to the upwind ride. This is where the P.T. truly excels, delivering outstanding performance that enhances the joy of riding both downwind and upwind.
Now this looks like real innovation. PT could have easily been PL (Peter Lynn) which made very popular ram wings for kites back in the day
Any further updates from the Paratow users ? Sounds like there was the odd issue with these and looks like 777 is specialling them out on their website currently - v2 coming ? I'm still keen on the concept esp as a lighter air super upwind machine , but not keen to buy trouble. Cheers
I have held back on my conclusion, plan to post tomorrow after sorting out some final things with 777.
Let's just say there's a reason you have not seen reviews, more useful videos, team riders or site updates the last two months.
Hi olav,
Please let us know your review of / experience with the 777 PT.
Kind regards
Select to expand quoteolav said..
I have held back on my conclusion, plan to post tomorrow after sorting out some final things with 777.
Let's just say there's a reason you have not seen reviews, more useful videos, team riders or site updates the last two months.
Gotta hear what u have to say man. Please throw your review up.
Hello,
for double skin para wing look at race 2 of Defi wing flysurfer got a proto that smash all the wing
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10171829922460089&set=pcb.10162945576818970
Select to expand quoteSamkyo said..
Hello,
for double skin para wing look at race 2 of Defi wing flysurfer got a proto that smash all the wing
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10171829922460089&set=pcb.10162945576818970
This seems like it is now very close to kite foiling. I can't imagine any race organisers would allow this type of parawing to race against inflatable wings. Then if everyone was using this kind of parawing why not just go to kite foiling? I'm sure this kind of race parawing would beat an inflatable wing as it's definitely a lot more aerodynamic. I can't imagine it would be a race kite though as the lomg lines can generate a lot more power and allow you to use a much larger kite. Twin skin race parawings could be a popular option on their own but I think it will just lead back to kite foiling in the end.
Those long lines and the space they take up, along with the difficult of relaunch/board that can't float you is precisely why this has more utility than kite foiling.
Select to expand quoteolav said..
I have held back on my conclusion, plan to post tomorrow after sorting out some final things with 777.
Let's just say there's a reason you have not seen reviews, more useful videos, team riders or site updates the last two months.
So what's the conclusion?
So sorry about the delayed "conclusion".
Got a few more good days, and needed to communicate back and forth with 777.
I have progressed, but clearly only still learning with the PT.
Here's my complete write-up for a local community, please read:
flowscape.no/learning-parawing-with-doubleskin/
Or, very short:
For most of you, I'd say don't get the PT right now for learning parawinging, before existing owners are sent the coming fixed (no-pulley) bar/lines package and it turns out to make a huge difference.
I strongly recommend attaching two of three freeride covers to stop soaking, that actually worked.
The 777 guys hopes to do the announcements next week, with details.
I'm trying to get their singe-skin to speed up progress in my unstable conditions near shore. Will compare.
Will most likely continue with the PT later, at least for some purposes.
It can be learnt, but it's really hard, specially in less than perfect conditions.
Had two more sessions with the PT 4.2m in strong 12-14m/s, some chats with other users, and some more answers from the guys at 777.
I'm almost sure. For most of us the PT should not be the first parawing. For most of us the PT is only for pretty stable conditions, even when you are progressing. Certainly not a good idea if none of the two conditions are met.
I actually had some nice riding now and then, once out foiling with a non-soaked PT. Also got 800m downwinding back to the shore. Could not get air out the PT before almost back, maybe I grabbed it in a wrong way now that I had the two covers mounted. No biggie, but not possible to do much other than follow the waves and wind, as I felt pretty sure I would not be able to hold on to the PT otherwise.
But most of the time, getting out and going is still a mess.
And I was no longer consistent in not having the PT water filled, when closing with two of three covers.
I have not yet adjusted for the flying. I'm getting a tiny bit better now and then, but it is far from what it would take.
I also think that the higher aspect is making flying tricky, in a little gusty wind. Just add a little water, and it is a lot worse.
I ordered the 777 Skin in 3 and 4m, delivery last part of July.
These are a little lower aspect, and much lighter than the PT. (the PT weight is not bad for what it is)
I just need these single-skins to hopefully progress, because of my wind and coastline conditions.
Will compare later and post back, but it's more than a month until I have strong wind for the PT.
I hear that the 777 guys are a bit divided in product preferences, not all got used to the ParaTow. They have now also ridden the Skin for a short period.
They say the Skin is a much easier to handle, compared to the PT.
If I understood correctly, the Skin design has priority for good upwind, not the absolutely biggest wind range.
If you bought the PT as a first parawing, feel stuck and need a workaround, I guess you also can ask like I did and get a significant extra discount for the Skins. (at least if you sent them a lot of feedback as I did)
The 777 guys have always been helpful and mostly very quick in answering, and if all goes well with the Skin I feel they have sort of tidied up after the ParaTow release mess.
Another way is to just wait for the fixed bar setup. (no news so far this week)
They say the fixed bar have been tested well and is makes learning quite easier. Not sure I will bother to switch lines and bar if I get the Skins first.
While you lose some direct feeling and maybe a little response with the servo bar, I agree that it gives you a huge range and much less fear of being totally overpowered.
