Bowen Dwelle

Bowen Dwelle got to the keyboard before anyone else. The first parawing feature in Foiling Magazine and The Inertia’s parawing buyer’s guide are both his, written from San Francisco by a lifelong wind-sports rider who has been, at various points, a sailor, windsurfer, kitesurfer, kitefoiler, wingfoiler and paraglider pilot. That made him the sport’s leading text-based gear analyst, testing demo gear from BRM and Zeeko and publishing rankings when most parawing knowledge still lived only in podcasts.

Why his gear analysis carries weight

Background, and timing. Dwelle has flown paragliders and ridden kite foils, so he reads a bridled single-skin canopy the way most reviewers can’t: he’s handled this class of wing in the air, not just on the water. As for timing, the modern parawing only exists since Greg Drexler’s Maliko V1 launched on August 21, 2024 (Boardriding Maui), and within months more than a dozen brands shipped their own. Someone had to sort that flood in writing. Dwelle’s feature in Foiling Magazine and his buyer’s guide at The Inertia did exactly that. Alongside Matt Kaufmann’s scale-and-tape-measure testing, his text guides are one of the two reference points I check against my own on-water impressions. See the rest of the riders section for how those roles split.

The work has a price, too. He picked up an overuse wrist injury from testing (The Inertia). Test a dozen canopies in a season and your body sends the invoice.

His published positions

• Mission first. “The first and most important question in selecting a parawing is: how are you going to use it?” (The Inertia). Short wave laps, long downwinders and upwind grinding want different wings. Our parawing database is organized around that same question.
• Douse, don’t pack, for short laps. Hold the wing wadded up between waves rather than fully stashing it, and skip the leash, which his guide flags as extra tangle risk when dousing frequently in waves. The full-pack version of this skill is covered in stashing mid-ride.
• Upwind pecking order. In the guide’s 2026 update, the Triple Seven P.T. Hybrid, F-One Frigate and BRM Paia lead upwind; his earlier edition had F-One, Flysurfer and Ozone winning max VMG, with the BRM Kanaha and original Maliko close behind. Technique matters as much as gear. See riding upwind.
• Foils. Parawinging invites slightly bigger foils than winging; brands riders love in his survey include Code, Unifoil, AXIS, Armstrong, F-One and Lift.
• Light wind. A parawing can’t be pumped like an inflatable wing. Pump the board and foil instead; lower-aspect, sturdier parawings pump better.
• Progression. Parawinging is harder than wing foiling. Don’t make it your first foil sport. That is the same warning The Inertia’s explainer, Parawing Foiling, Explained (by his colleague Will Sileo), makes at length.

Where to start with his work

Read The Inertia explainer first, then his buyer’s guide, then cross-check any specific model against fresh reviews. Parawing model cycles are annual, and the guide itself is revised as new models land (latest update July 2026). His mission-first framework ages well; specific brand orderings won’t.