Spring is coming...ok maybe not as quickly as we would like but it is coming. Some of us are going to have the pleasure of riding a new wing this year so in preparation we are putting out this special issue containing wing reviews!

Julie Spiegler, Scott Hooper, Susan Kent, and Toshiyasu "Toshi" Morita have kindly submitted their experiences with wings they have demoed and then finally selected. Good reading and thank you submitters!

We also put this issue out to "synchronize" our publication. Moving forward we are going to publish the RD bi-monthly. The next issue will be in February.

Stay warm and get what ever flying in you can! Those of you who are lucky enough to go on a flying vacation...enjoy! Then come back and write an article about your adventures! We would all love to hear about it.

Rich 

Hoop

My first wing has been really good to me.  I started on a 1/2, Windtech Kinetic.  The free fly version is the Pulsar.  It is an L wing with 32M of fabric. The Kinetic is the paramotor version.  (stronger and thicker lines)  I learned to free fly on this wing and have about 100 hours flying and another 100 ground handling it.  I purchased this particular wing because I thought I would motor also.

Although I noticed other pilots changing wings, some to noticeable improvements, I stayed with my wing as it really is dynamic and fun to fly.  It just seemed that I never did as well or was as high as other people on similarly rated wings.  I weigh 240 pounds and have always attributed any "lack in performance" to my weight.  Now, I might blame those lines...

Hoop and the Chili

After about 60 hours on my small  DHV 1 Bolero Plus I was ready to move up to a higher performance wing. Since I was fairly happy with the Bolero Plus, the obvious choice was another Gin wing, so I bought a small DHV 1-2 Zulu.. I've since logged 50 hours of airtime on the Zulu. 

Flying the Zulu required a bit of mental adjustment since its flying characteristics are subtly different from the Bolero Plus. Most of the differences seem attributable to the extra-thick center cell which Gin calls the Keel System.

The Keel System 

There seem to be two main benefits to the keel: increased pitch stability and increased collapse resistance. 

The increased pitch stability became very apparent the first time I fell out of a stronger thermal with the Zulu. I had become accustomed to the BP which required fairly quick, aggressive, and prolonged brake input to check the surge, but the Zulu surged much less than I was expecting, and required less brake input for a shorter period of time than the BP, which was a very welcome surprise. 

Gin also claims the increased pitch stability also iimproves the effective glide ratio of the wing when flying into a headwind. A glider which pitches fore/aft tends has an increased descent rate because it "spills air" every time it pitches, whereas a glider which pitches less descends slower and has a better effective glide ratio. I didn't notice a huge different in glide ratio over my BP since I wasn't doing any XC, but I did notice the flights were smoother than the BP with less twitching of the wing in active conditions. 

The keel also decreases the possibility of large collapses due to the increased rigidity in the larger center cell. When pulling an asymmetric collapse using using a single A-riser, it is difficult to pull a collapse larger than 50% because the riser pressure increases when the collapse hits the center keel. 

Another indirect benefit of the keel is an improved glide ratio. Normally, when a wing is made thinner, the brake input tends to deform the wing profile. With the keel, the wing deformation is reduced, which allows the wing to be thinner to reduce drag. 

The only disadvantage to the keel seems to be a decreased sensitivity to weight shift. The Zulu seems to enter spiral dives and other acro maneuvers less quickly than comparable non-keeled wings. 

Apparently Gin liked this feature enough to propagate it to the upcoming Bolero III, because the photos of the prototype show a similar bulge along the centerline. 

Brake design - line-through-ring 

A less visible feature of the wing is the brake arrangement on the wingtip which pulls a line through a metal ring. This feature (which is also on several other recent wings) allows the wing to turn flatter and tighter turns ("turn on a wingtip") by allowing the inside wingtip to fly slower. 

Square wingtips 

The Zulu has the square wingtips inherited from the Boomerang series. Gin claims this increases "aerodynamic efficiency" without being more specific.  

Brake travel 

The brake travel is extermely long on the Zulu and is fairly comparable to the BP. For me, a full flare in zero-wind conditions requires one and a half wraps, and a clean full stall requires two and a half wraps. 

Kiting 

The Zulu kites much easier than the Bolero Plus. The Bolero Plus, being a training wing, has a slow response to brake input and also very high brake pressure.. The Zulu responds much faster, and has lighter brake pressure which requires some acclimating. 

The Zulu has very light brake pressure in low wind conditions. The natural instinct to this is to kite with the hands below waist level to feel brake pressure, but usually this much brake isn't really necessary - it's possible to kite with hands above the waist once you develop more sensitivity to brake pressure. 

Overall 

So far, I like my Zulu. The wing seems to be very well behaved with very neutral characteristics.  The designers of the wing seem to have made good design choices, and have sacrificed a little bit of aerobatic ability in exchange for a very high level of passive safety. 

Thanks to Celia Pender for additional observations on wing characteristics, and Arnel Sanchez, Enleau O'Connor, and Ann O'Connor for various insights into wing construction and design.

Mamboo, Zulu, Hook, Chili, Kali

For over a year, I had been thinking about a new wing. I was now about 10 to 12 kg over the top of the weight range of my trusty Sport 2, and even though I had some great flights on it, the extra weight was making it a bit twitchy, and I couldn’t help have wing envy when looking at the new wings being developed. For a while I thought perhaps I would move to a DHV 2, but in the end, I decided I was the most comfortable and the happiest on a DHV 1-2.

Mamboo

The wing that had received some fabulous reviews in paragliding magazines and also rated at an 8.6 glide was the Nova Mamboo.  I spent many days fantasizing about this wing, pouring over its specs and talking to other pilots on the paragliding forum about it. Most agreed that it was a high performing, upper DHV 1-2.  I thought this was going to be the wing for me, and my only hesitation was that the Nova size small ran big—27.55 m2 for the flat surface area, which was large compared to other brand size smalls. Still I was very interested in trying the wing. Finally the day came, and I took a demo to Ed Levin with lots of anticipation.   

On its first flight, it inflated beautifully and came up easily and symmetrically. No problem at all. Take off and launch were a snap, and I was quickly off the hill in light conditions with a little bit of thermal action.  The first thing I noticed was that the wing seemed “floaty” to me.  Since I was in the upper half of the weight range of 75 to 100 kg, I expected it to behave well. But it wasn’t as responsive as I thought it would be. I stayed up well in the light conditions and had a decent 25-minute flight, trying big ears and doing some 360s. It handled Ok, but I just wasn’t sure about it. Landing was easy and progressive. It did seem to have a bit more forward speed than my Sport 2, but it was easy to slow down and flared well on landing.  

On it’s second flight, I ended up doing a forward launch.  It came up and over head quite easily, but on my Sport 2 once the wing is overhead, I need to apply a little brake as I run and this is what I did for the Mamboo.  That instantly slowed it down, and it rocked behind me. Still running, I let up and the Mamboo came overhead, but then I applied brakes again and it dropped behind.  The wing was more sensitive than I was used to, and I had to abort and do another launch before I got the hang of it.  This was pilot error and not a wing problem. Back in the air, I caught a few thermal bubbles, did a couple of turns, and again got that feeling that the wing was “floaty” and not particularly responsive. It could just have been that I wasn’t used to its nuances, but the two flights on it very much disappointed me, and I decided not to do any more testing on it.

Zulu

Produced by Gin, I also emailed several people online about this wing, looked at its specs, and talked to people who owned one. All feedback on this wing was very positive, and one paragliding magazine rated the glide at 8.5—pretty good for a DHV 1-2.  I borrowed a friend’s size small (weight range 75 to 90kg) and had one short flight on it at Ed Levin. I flew this wing after not having flown for a couple of months, and I pulled it up and dropped it down six or seven times before I felt comfortable enough to launch it. The wing has light brake pressure and it took me a few times of inflating it before I had the “feel” of the wing pressurizing. Flying it was very comfortable: it turns fairly well without diving in the turns, big ears are easy with the special loops and pulleys on the A risers specifically for pulling them, and it landed well. The Zulu also has the “keel system,” which helps stabilize the wing and prevent collapses.  I would have tested the wing some more, but I hesitated to do so because I was right at the top of the weight range and probably a little over when I carried a lot of water. It also had very light and long brake travel, which I wasn’t used to. The combination of brake travel, the weight range, and the price hindered my enthusiasm for it. But one sledder on it is hardly a fair test, and it warrants a closer look for those searching for a good DHV1-2. In general, pilots who own one are quite happy with its performance.

Hook

The Niviuk brand is a newcomer to the paragliding world. Usually it takes a company some time to establish its gliders and to get a following for its wings. But surprisingly this brand has received a lot of attention. Designed by Oliver Nef, who has an excellent reputation with previous brands (I believe he used to work for Advance) and Raul Rodriquez a well-known acro pilot, the wings appear to have excellent workmanship and quality. But I was slow to warm to the idea of trying out such a new company and waited for several reviews to come out on this wing.  The reviews on their DHV 1-2 wing, the Hook were generally good, so I decided to try one.  

I flew this wing in a variety of conditions from easy sledders to fairly turbulent thermal conditions and found this wing to be incredibly easy and very comfortable to fly.  From the first flight on, I was right at home with this wing and felt tuned in and an extension of it. The size small Hook has a weight range of 75-95 kg and a flat surface area of 25.8 m2.

Like a lot of the new DHV 1-2s, it launches very easily with just a slight tug and weight on the harness. It also has special pulleys on the A risers for big ears.  In the air it turns well, but with just a little extra brake input I found it really zings around.  But where it really shined was how it handled turbulence and thermals. For the first thermal on, I felt dialed in to this wing. I can’t tell you that it will seek out and find thermals for you, but it is reliable and easy to fly in thermals without being twitchy. It gives good feedback, tells you where the edge of the thermal is, and once “hooked in” stays spot on.  In turbulence it lets you know what is going on without being overly reactive. For me, it was the right combination of just enough sensitivity and just the right amount of stability. Overall, it wasn’t the highest performing DHV 1-2 that I tried, and its glide is just rated at 8.1 to 8.4. Psychologically it is hard not to want the glider that has supposedly has the best glide and performance, but I went with my comfort level and style of flying, and this is the glider that suited me the best.

Kali

The Windtech Kali size small also has a weight range of 75 to 95 kg and is rated as a solid DHV 1-2. Unfortunately, I only had one flight on the glider. Sometimes it is little details about a wing that makes the difference, and in the Kali the slight differences in details ended up not sitting well with me. There is no color-coding on the risers. In other words, no red webbing on the A risers and no colors on the other risers; they are all black. That put me off a bit, but though it initially bothered me, I believe that if I really liked the glider and bought it, I could always put some colored tape on them myself. The risers also have split Bs, which is unusual, and I guess you would have to pull both of them to do a B-line stall. Also, the magnets were rubberized, but kept coming apart while I was sorting the lines.  

Like the others, the Kali launched quite easily and I was prepared for a nice flight on it. But I was flying it at Dunlap and it can get a little squirrelly right over launch. On this day another pilot on an Advance Epsilon took a 60% collapse on one side of the glider followed by a collapse on the other side and the glider balling up and the pilot going into freefall. Fortunately it all sorted itself out and the glider and pilot recovered, but it was a day that I didn’t feel good about being in the air, so I followed the pilot to the LZ for about a 20-minute flight. I didn’t really give it a good test at all. All I could tell was that it flew OK, turned moderately well, didn’t collapse, and landed well.  It seemed to be a nice stable glider, and I urge any pilots in the market to give this glider a more in-depth look.

Chili

Skywalk Chili, size small is another glider that sits in the 75 to 95 kg range, but of the gliders I tried, it was the smallest at 25.2 m2 flat surface. It also had the highest advertised (not tested) glide with Skywalk claiming 8.8. I had three flights on this glider, two of which were in thermal conditions at Elk, and one sledder at Ed Levin.  This glider was perhaps slightly more sensitive and nervous on launch and just a tad harder to inflate and kite. In the air, it lived up to its reputation as being “turn eager,” and I found it liked to really swoop and dive into its turns.  It was a fun glider to fly, but overall, I found it the twitchiest of the lot. It seemed very sensitive and moved around a lot in the air.  This translated into some good information, but can be disconcerting if you are not used to it. 

This glider also has the Skywalk jet flaps, an innovation that is supposed to let you slow the glider down to stay in thermals better or to land.  On the three flights I had on it, two of which were about 40 minutes, I didn’t really notice any big difference from the jet flaps.  Perhaps on landing it slowed down a bit more as I did a nice no wind landing, but again, I didn’t find any major difference from a regular glider. Overall, this is quite a zippy and sensitive glider, and if that appeals to you, this is the glider to look into.  

In summary, the glider that I would have liked to test more would have been the Gin Zulu. What I liked about it was its glide and stability without losing too much sensitivity. But the glider that I felt suited my type of flying and my comfort level was the Niviuk Hook, so that is what I bought.  On a recent trip to Ecuador, it handled impeccably in light mountain conditions and good coastal flying, and I am very happy with my choice.

Gin Zulu, Advance Epsilon 5, Airwave Sport 3, Nova Mamboo, Gradient Golden, Niviuk Hook

After flying my original Swing Arcus for 5 years (1999-2003) I was ready to start shopping for my next wing.  I flew the Advance Epsilon 4 a lot, but for me it didn't seem to weight-shift well - it might have been since I was a little light on it unless I carried quite a bit of extra water.  I tried the Gin Oasis, but I didn't really like anything about it (I've blocked it out of my memory :-). I was figuring out what else to try, but flying was getting more and more painful.

I realized that a chronic shoulder injury was getting worse and worse, and I needed to stop flying completely to let it heal properly.  In Spring of 2004 I stopped shopping, stopping flying solo, and started my career as a tandem co-pilot.  I put new wings out of my mind - I knew there would be new models available by the time I was ready to buy.

Spring of 2006 I started flying solo again in earnest.  Still not completely recovered, but ready to test my shoulders, I started out on the old demos - the Epsilon 4, the Oasis - and I was reminded that neither one really felt like "the one for me".  By now Advance had the new Epsilon 5, Gin had the new Zulu, I still hadn't tried the Gradient Golden and now there was also the Airwave Sport 3, Nova Mamboo, and Niviuk Hook. And I wanted to try them all!

Unfortunately my shoulders still weren't super-strong, so there were a lot of short flights.  My impressions were sometimes formed based on subtle differences in different phases of flight.  But ultimately I think that's what wing selection is about - getting the one that "feels right".  The performance specifications are all very similar, it's rare to have extended flights in all manner of conditions on every wing you try, so rather than waiting another year I went with my instincts.

My context:  beside wanting to benefit from the improved performance of wings 7 years newer than mine, my wing loading was always light on the Arcus and I wanted to fit into the weight range near the top without carrying a lot of ballast (particularly since my shoulders needed a break from the 55 pound bag I'd been carrying).  And I have just one wing for ridge soaring at the coast and thermal flying in the mountains.

Gin Zulu M:  I had some really great flights on the Zulu.  I liked how it turned in thermals, it was easy to kite, responsive to my weight shift and had moderate brake pressure.  I launched it reverse in light winds, reverse in moderate winds, and forward - always easy to control.  I had sled rides, thermal flights and ridge soaring. However I was carrying water ballast to get good wing loading and into the upper end of the weight range.  I liked how it flew when it was weighted the way I wanted, but my shoulders wouldn't last carrying around all that weight.

Advance Epsilon 5 28:  I found the Epsilon 5 much more responsive to my weight-shift than the Epsilon 4.  It felt "boaty" on my sled rides and I would have considered it more seriously, but my experience on the Zulu (trying to carry ballast to get where I wanted in the weight-range) convinced me that I really wanted a wing with a lower weight range.

Airwave Sport 3 M:  I was hopeful trying the Sport 3, since the weight range is exactly what I was looking for.  It launched quite nicely, was easy to kite, and I liked the way it turned when ridge soaring. But on a sled ride it didn't feel "lifty" but felt very fast (zooming to the LZ).  And even though the thermals weren't strong the tips felt soft and twitchy - more "sporty" than I expected for the conditions. Just not my style.

Nova Mamboo S: I really wanted to love the Mamboo - the right weight range, running out of options, friends with Novas have always loved them.  My first flight was a sled ride off the 600 at Ed Levin - not much time to evaluate it.  It was easy to launch in a light cycle, had a nice feel in the air, but I barely made a turn before it was time to land.  Next I took it to the coast.  Conditions were pretty typical - strong enough to easily stay up, but not too much so.  However the Mamboo felt slow and lifty - but what I want when it's a bit strong at the coast is to feel fast!   And the Mamboo seemed to really dive into the turn, then swing through it.  I just didn't like how it felt in the air at all.

Gradient Golden S:  Although it's an older model (as confirmed by the recent release of the Golden 2), since it was my preferred weight range and a wing that I knew many people liked, I decided it was worth trying. Nothing wrong with a slightly older model if I like it!  But I didn't.  There was nothing dramatically wrong with it, but it was also not particularly memorable.  I felt it was difficult to take advantage of weak thermal lift and not particularly "lifty" at the coast.  It just didn't feel in the same class as the other wings I'd tried.

Niviuk Hook S:  Suddenly everyone was talking about the new manufacturer - Niviuk.  Although the weight range was a little lower than I wanted, I'm continually looking at ways to reduce the weight of my gear so decided it was worth a look.  Maybe because I had no other major contender I was pre-disposed to liking the Hook, but my first flight felt good.  I easily got over launch in light conditions and also made a long LZ that others landed short of.  It's like it was telling me "I'm the one!"  The brake pressure was comfortable for me (I like some feedback, but not too heavy since it tires my shoulders).  It felt lifty but also with enough speed. I liked how it started the turn when I asked, but didn't dive into it like the Mamboo.  It was fun and comfortable - what more could I ask for?

Having tried so many wings over the summer I felt like I really knew what I was looking for, so after only a few flights (2 in the mountains and 2 at the coast) I ordered my Hook. You'll know it's me since I got custom colors (almost identical to my old Arcus :-):  red wing, gold horns with blue shadows.

Epilogue:  Now that I have my own Hook I still like it, although the brake pressure feels stronger than I remembered from the demo.  I haven't found much flying since it arrived at the end of October, though.  I look forward to spending a lot more time in the air on it!