Friday, October 11, 2013
Paraglider Control: Finding Your Stall Point
Flybubble Paragliding has been producing some fantastic, possibly the best, paragliding reviews and tutorials on the web right now. I especially like this one to really get to know your wing and it's stall point and flying characteristics.
Aaron Durogati kiting his Gin Carrera
This is a beautiful looking wing with fantastic performance! Looks pretty stable in kiting for such a high performance wing and I expect it to feel pretty good in the air but that remains to be seen... Waiting impatiently for the demo to come into to SuperFly Paragliding shop in Utah.
Gin Seok Song talks about the new GIN Carrera
To me Gin Seok Song is the BOSS of paragliding. The godfather. I love his philosophy and devotion to the sport of paragliding.
His latest wings the Gin Atlas and the Gin Carrera are wings I am very very excited about. The mix of performance and safety is exactly what I'm looking for. Gin paragliders are beautifully constructed, with excellent craftsmanship in the sewing and a beautiful design.
Hoping to have some reviews of these new wings soon.
1
His latest wings the Gin Atlas and the Gin Carrera are wings I am very very excited about. The mix of performance and safety is exactly what I'm looking for. Gin paragliders are beautifully constructed, with excellent craftsmanship in the sewing and a beautiful design.
Hoping to have some reviews of these new wings soon.
1
Monday, September 2, 2013
Paraglider Review - Zephyr size small - Initial thoughts at the local training hill
Pilot Weight all up: around 90kg.
Harness: Gin Genie Lite without pod attachment.
Location: South Side, Point of the Mountain, Utah.
Wind speed: around 12-15 mph nearly straight in 9:30 AM.
Construction: The fabric feels solid and the sewing well done. Plastic ribs in front only. 3 thin risers with a snap/button clip for brake lines, I prefer magnets. Feels well manufactured.
Design: Ok nothing special.
Weight: a bit lighter than other wings.
Launching: very easy to launch, wing tips stayed folded in for longer than I would like but came out with a quick pump of the breaks. Does not hang back or overshoot even in relatively strong winds.
Soaring: Soars well and communicates the lift. I was able to stay above most other pilots on the training hill although to their credit many of them are relatively new pilots. Windtech web site says this "The trim speed is the highest among all the wings and the glide ratio is clearly above 9 as it is proved and tested by the best magazines wordlwide." and that is impressive.
Turning: I was not able to get high enough and far enough away from other pilots to put this wing through some hard spirals but was able to pull the brakes down pretty hard. It felt rather slow to react, with heavy brake pressure required and a tendency to level out. Perfect for newer pilots, think I'm just getting used to EN C or 2 rated wings and smaller wings.
Landing: Wing is able to retain a lot of energy and I was even able to soar the bottom of the hill for a while before landing which is unusual, meaning this wing may give you some low saves and has quite a good glide ratio. When I did set up my landing it almost set me down then lifted up again then settled down and gave me a sweet two step landing. I would say that this wing is very easy to land for any intermediate pilot with over 15+ hours.
In conclusion: Not really enough time to thoroughly test but I think I can make some accurate impressions of this wing. It is constructed well and will not deteriorate quickly which is very important value when making a paraglider purchase decision. I would recommend it to the advancing newer pilot with solid skills. It does talk to you and can take a beginner off course but with good training and active piloting skills easy to manage. Takeoff and launching are very easy. Feels pitch and roll stable while still doing a good job of communicating where the lift is. It does not feel as directly connected to me and solid as the Gin Sprint Evo which is still my top choice of the paragliders I have so far reviewed and use a benchmark. By solid I mean the wing will cut through turbulence and retain its shape vs soft where the wing may flutter and/or slightly change shape temporarily as it hits different wind elements. Overall I would say this is a really nice intermediate wing with easy take-off and landings and a surprising ability to stay up in marginal conditions. Not quite as sporty as I would like but that really can be a good thing for the intermediate pilot and a safer? more comfortable experience in flight.
http://www.windtech.es/en/products/zephyr/index.html
Special thanks to The BirdMan Acadamy for letting me demo this wing, they primarily teach hang gliding but also import WindTech paragliders.
Harness: Gin Genie Lite without pod attachment.
Location: South Side, Point of the Mountain, Utah.
Wind speed: around 12-15 mph nearly straight in 9:30 AM.
Construction: The fabric feels solid and the sewing well done. Plastic ribs in front only. 3 thin risers with a snap/button clip for brake lines, I prefer magnets. Feels well manufactured.
Design: Ok nothing special.
Weight: a bit lighter than other wings.
Launching: very easy to launch, wing tips stayed folded in for longer than I would like but came out with a quick pump of the breaks. Does not hang back or overshoot even in relatively strong winds.
Soaring: Soars well and communicates the lift. I was able to stay above most other pilots on the training hill although to their credit many of them are relatively new pilots. Windtech web site says this "The trim speed is the highest among all the wings and the glide ratio is clearly above 9 as it is proved and tested by the best magazines wordlwide." and that is impressive.
Turning: I was not able to get high enough and far enough away from other pilots to put this wing through some hard spirals but was able to pull the brakes down pretty hard. It felt rather slow to react, with heavy brake pressure required and a tendency to level out. Perfect for newer pilots, think I'm just getting used to EN C or 2 rated wings and smaller wings.
Landing: Wing is able to retain a lot of energy and I was even able to soar the bottom of the hill for a while before landing which is unusual, meaning this wing may give you some low saves and has quite a good glide ratio. When I did set up my landing it almost set me down then lifted up again then settled down and gave me a sweet two step landing. I would say that this wing is very easy to land for any intermediate pilot with over 15+ hours.
In conclusion: Not really enough time to thoroughly test but I think I can make some accurate impressions of this wing. It is constructed well and will not deteriorate quickly which is very important value when making a paraglider purchase decision. I would recommend it to the advancing newer pilot with solid skills. It does talk to you and can take a beginner off course but with good training and active piloting skills easy to manage. Takeoff and launching are very easy. Feels pitch and roll stable while still doing a good job of communicating where the lift is. It does not feel as directly connected to me and solid as the Gin Sprint Evo which is still my top choice of the paragliders I have so far reviewed and use a benchmark. By solid I mean the wing will cut through turbulence and retain its shape vs soft where the wing may flutter and/or slightly change shape temporarily as it hits different wind elements. Overall I would say this is a really nice intermediate wing with easy take-off and landings and a surprising ability to stay up in marginal conditions. Not quite as sporty as I would like but that really can be a good thing for the intermediate pilot and a safer? more comfortable experience in flight.
http://www.windtech.es/en/products/zephyr/index.html
Special thanks to The BirdMan Acadamy for letting me demo this wing, they primarily teach hang gliding but also import WindTech paragliders.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Paraglider full horseshoe captured on helmet reflection
Full screen and hd this video to see the ides of march surprise me with a major full frontal paragling experience!
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