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.

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.

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...

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