Daniel Paronetto, "Foil Rat"

Daniel Paronetto is the closest thing parawinging has to a full-time teacher. He came into the sport the long way (winging and kiting first, then SUP downwind) and now runs the LabRat Foiler Podcast out of Melbourne, Australia, backed by Ozone and Code Foils. Among the riders we track he sits firmly in the educator tier. No SFT podiums. His fingerprints, though, are on how most people learn this sport.

The podcast is the sport’s paper trail

Parawinging is roughly two years old and almost none of its knowledge is written down. It lives in podcasts and YouTube. The LabRat Foiler Podcast is the only show we’ve found dedicated entirely to parawinging, and its guest list reads like the sport’s founding roster: Greg Drexler, Balz Müller, Guy Bridge, Patrick Rebstock, Dom Zimmermann, Aljaz Valic. If you want the source material behind half the technique advice circulating in 2026, start there. One caveat: most of his tips reach us through audio, so anything below that couldn’t be verified word-for-word is marked as paraphrased.

Start oversized on everything

That’s the method. On Foil Life Podcast episode 91 he put it plainly: “When I learn I just put my biggest board and my biggest wing, my biggest foil… If you’re not up you’re not experiencing the sport.” Published sizing guidance backs him up: BRM puts most 70–85 kg riders on a 4.0–5.5 m single-skin in moderate wind, and Duotone’s chart sends a 60–70 kg rider to an ~85–100 L board with a 900–1100 cm² front wing to start. The uncomfortable corollary, which Paronetto doesn’t sugarcoat: parawinging is harder than wing foiling (The Inertia’s guide says the same), so don’t make it your first foil sport, and expect the big-gear phase to last longer than your ego wants.

He also pushes two process habits. Film your own sessions and review them. Accept that progression is patience plus water time; there is no shortcut phase.

Safety rules he won’t bend on

His safety list is the strictest of any educator we cover: life vest, phone or tracker/beacon, a tourniquet in the kit, never downwind alone, and no harness while learning: a crash with a harness line multiplies tangle risk. On technique, he teaches syncing foil pumps with cautious parawing tugs rather than yanking the canopy, and drilling the stash deliberately instead of improvising it mid-run. Going anywhere near open water? Pair his kit list with a real self-rescue and drift plan.

Gear

Ozone parawings (he’s a team rider; his exact models and sizes aren’t in the sources we cite, so no guessing here) and Code X-series low-aspect front wings. Before you copy any of it, know that sponsorships and setups in this sport churn on an annual cycle, and Ozone’s own line (like the Pocket Rocket V2) is already on its second generation. A rider’s spec sheet is a snapshot, not a recommendation.

Where to find his teaching

The LabRat Foiler Podcast for long-form interviews, the LabRat Academy for structured coaching, YouTube @foilratvids for visual breakdowns, Instagram @foilrat for session notes.