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.