Greg Drexler: "Mr Parawing"

Greg Drexler is the reason this site has a subject. On August 21, 2024 his company Boardriding Maui (BRM) launched the Maliko V1, billed as “the first upwind-capable parawing,” and modern parawing foiling dates from that release. The community calls him “Mr Parawing.” Among the riders we track, he anchors the inventor/designer tier.

Did Drexler invent parawinging outright?

No. Per the Kite HI guide, “The sport was pioneered on Maui by Sam Reynolds of Five O in 2023… A year and half later Greg Drexler of BRM took this concept to a user friendly level by adding a vertical control bar.” Cynthia “Cynbad” Brown was also experimenting with rescue-parachute downwinders on Maui in the early days. What Drexler did was turn a fringe experiment into something you could buy and fly: the vertical control bar plus an upwind-capable canopy. That is the design the rest of the industry copied. Within months of the Maliko V1, over a dozen brands shipped parawings: Ozone, Gong, Duotone, F-One, Flysurfer, North, Ensis, Naish, Triple777, Zeeko, Flow, Aeryn.

Design background

He did not arrive from nowhere. Windsurf-shop origins, 4th in the 2001 Kiteboarding World Tour, roughly ten years designing at Naish, then BRM in 2012 to build strutless kites (the BRM Cloud). He designs every BRM product himself. The 2026 range runs the S3 single-skin flagship (launched 30 April 2026, sized 2.1–5.3 m) alongside the legacy single-skin Kanaha and Ka’a and the double-skin Paia, all flown on an ultra-compact two-line carbon bar with a “yoke/mixer” bridging the A and C bridles. For sizing, BRM’s own published guidance puts most 70–85 kg riders in moderate wind on a 4.0–5.5 m single-skin. Useful anchor when you browse the parawing database.

The no-pump pitch

The one direct quote on record is a pitch for simplicity: “I haven’t had a pump in my car in… I don’t even remember when. And I don’t miss it.” No inflatable wing, no pump. A parafoil packs to nothing. His published position goes further: the parawing is the best on-ramp to downwind foiling. Canopy up to get on foil and upwind, stash it, ride swell. That framing, downwind gateway rather than kite substitute, is now the mainstream view, and educators like James Casey echo it.

Where to hear him at length

He was the guest on the LabRat Foiler Podcast episode “Talking to Mr Parawing,” and his Q&A videos get cited as essential beginner viewing. The design reasoning lives there. The sport is young enough that its primary literature is still audio.

What’s documented and what isn’t

Documented: the Maliko V1 launch date, the Naish and BRM history, the 2026 product range, the sizing guidance. Not documented: his personal day-to-day setup (board, foil, preferred sizes), his age, and any competition results in parawing. He shows up as a designer and evangelist, not an SFT racer. We won’t fill those gaps with guesses. Expect this page to change as BRM’s range and the sport’s records do.