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...

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.

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.

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.