Advice greatly appreciated

[Pete Cooke]

hi gareth mogsie  made a coment aboat balast  ,i used to carry 7kilo,s balast on some days it makes quiet a diference .try it out ! Pete

[gareth.pawan]

Thanks everyone for your really helpful comments and advice. I must be honest and say the Bolero feels like a slab of concrete at times, especially when turning. But then again, that can be sort of reassuring when the air gets rough!
I think I will try and get some test flights on a Tequilla 2, Ozone low end 1/2 and Airwave sport 4 before finally deciding what to do.

Thanks for all your help.

P.s. Steve - no swallows as yet but there are a lot of male skylarks up here doing their thing to impress the ladies! As soon as I see the first swallow, will let you know.

[Mogsie]

Hi Gareth,
              Have you ever considered flying your current wing with ballast to take you further up the weight range. This may help you decide if It's just a problem with you sitting in the middle of your range or the class of wing aswell. I remember moving up from an Advance Alph 2 to an Epsilon 3, the speed increase was fantastic and I felt just as safe. I currently fly a Nova Rookie which I really enjoy, this is a DHV1/2 but only when accelerated for normal flying It's in the DHV1 level. I would say though if you are not happy with your wing then you should try something new. But try a few different wings before you buy. Remember the comment from the BHPA Pilot hand book, It's better to fly a DHV 1 to 100% than say a DHV 2 only at 50%.

Have fun searching for your new wing!

Mogsie...

[John Nash (Nasher)]

Hi Gareth,

What's your naked weight and what's your current gliders weight range (pm me if you're shy about your weight!)

How long has it taken to do your 60 hours?

What other gliders have you flown?

Regards,

John

[Steve Watkins]

I fly an Advance Alpha 3 as well and have done for the past 4 years since passing my training. To be honest, I have not yet reached it's full capabilities as of yet although I think I'm nearly at that level. I wish it would turn better in thermals than it does yet flying alongside others with DHV 1-2's or 2's, I can normally reach the same heights and do the same flying but haven't really done XC to be able to judge glide which would be worse on my DHV 1. But then again thats down to pilot skill again and if a DHV 1 wing with a brill pilot is flying with a DHV 2 average pilot then perhaps the DHV 1 pilot may do better?

I'll be looking at changing next year probably unless this year is excellent and I reach my peak using this wing.

[Richard]

Hi Gareth,
Which wing to get. Probably one of the more difficult questions. All the newish 1-2s are good wings. Remember 'better' in paragliding terms actually means 'suits how I fly' and 'suits where I fly'.
Ask yourself what kind of a pilot you are? How do you use your brakes? What kind of landings do you do? How does the air feel to you when you are flying? How does the wing feel to you? How is your feel for canopy pressure?
DHV1 and low end 1-2's can encourage some real bad habits such as 'mushing in' on landings. You know the kind of thing where a pilot comes in a bit high and has to use excessive brakes to almost stall the wing down or does that ridicuous 'flappy' thing with the brakes. Do you have any bad habits or questionable flying techniques?
Good flying technique is the best safety you can get!
Choose a 1-2 wing on which you sit middle to high on the weight range and like the colours of and you shouldn't go far wrong.
If poss get a demo wing and have a go and see what you think.

My personal opinion is that the 1-2's are easier to 'fly' than the 1's as they respond to the pilot better.

Take it steady, have fun!

Reech

[Alex H]

I currently fly an Alpha 3 (DHV 1) but am looking to move up to something better. I have a demo Sport 4 at the moment and have to say that it doesn't feel any more difficult to fly than the Alpha 3. In fact it almost feels more stable than the Alpha and (disappointingly) not really any more agile which is something I wasn't expecting. Could be because I'm heavy on the Alpha and mid weight on the Sport 4, don't know. I'm going to try a 2 next time I'm out just to see how the handling compares with the Sport 4 because that's my biggest gripe with it at the moment. The Sport 4 does however glide and float a lot better than the 1 (and a number of not so old DHV 2s for that matter, if you believe the numbers) which should make it a pretty decent intermediate XC wing.

[SteveJ]

Hi Gareth,
I remember moving on from my first wing, a Firebird Matrix (low end 1-2) to an Airwave Sport 2 after about 30 hrs. A great improvement in performance and it was still pretty forgiving. Just by asking this question it sounds as if you may be ready to move up a class.
Any sign of the first swallow yet ?
Steve.

[Pete Cooke]

hi gareth ive just changed from a mojo to a rush after around 130 hrs ,i too was under weight medium 80-100 all up at 90 now on a small 70-90.i found the rush a lot diferent ,lots of feelings through harness risers brakes much more lively, faster turning ,beter glide heaps more fun on the ground etc.the reason i moved up is i felt i could not improve my flying skills much any longer on the mojo .mybe 10 hours on the rush now .was a good move for me !  pete

[gareth.pawan]

I'm thinking of trading in my trusty Gin Bolero Plus as really, it's too big for me, (size XL).
Would it be sensible to consider going up a bit to a low end 1/2 - I quite fancy a Skywalk Tequilla 2 or mid range Airwave sport.
Would the perfomance gain be marginal and at the expense of less safety. My total flying hours post C.P. are around 60.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks
gareth, Neath