Getting into your harness

[Norris]

On a slightly different note, I got into my harness a bit early yesterday and it looks like costing me nearly £500 to repair the damage!! Oh, I was wearing my paramotor at the time and it came into violent contact with the ground!!

[John Nash (Nasher)]

A couple of things:

For Advance harnesses, the 'adjust shoulder straps so that the front of the harness seat hits the back of your knees whilst standing' is still the same. The leg straps don't offer instant adjustment , so just do them up! - thanks to Nick Roberts or that one.

Jeremy - good one - especially for windy UK conditions.

Gareth - a good tip if you have your harness disconnected - for windy UK flying I prefer to keep my harness attached  - it helps to prevent the wing from getting blown away.

[gareth.pawan]

What about the paramotorists trick of facing your wing, holding the risers in one hand and side by side with the 'A's pointing toward the sky. Then simply turn them clockwise until the 'A's are facing the ground and clip the one on the left into the left carabiner and the one on the right into the right. Paul Williams showed me this technique and it works a treat.

[Jeremy]

Another harness tip, but prior to take off.       Particularly useful for putting your harness on safely if it is a bit "blowy" and there may be a chance of getting dragged in a gust !
If you normally lift your right riser over your head to reverse launch then; when the glider is laid out on the floor and ready for you to get in the harness, lift that riser and reverse the harness so it is facing the wing. Now step between the risers and you can put the harness on whilst facing the wing.
The advantages become obvious immediately : If a gust comes you can step towards the wing rather than being pulled off balance backwards ; you have the brakes there in front of you instead of grappling hopelessly behind whilst stumbling backwards; finally the wing is always in sight so you can react to  gusts at once.    If it really blows through then hang onto "c" risers to keep wing pinned to deck.
If you start with the other riser then lift that one .

[John Nash (Nasher)]

On a number of occasions I have seen pilots have trouble getting into their harness after take off.

Most of us set up a harness for comfort suspended form rafters etc this works well for comfort but not for testing the ability to get into the harness.

With the exception of Advance Harnesses (which are very different to most others) the problem is usually that shoulder straps are too tight and the leg straps are too loose.


What works for me is adjusting the shoulder straps so that the front of the seat is level with the backs of my knees when standing upright and then do up the leg straps as low as possible and as tight as possible (as per the attached video capture - from Suppair)

Its best to test with the aid of a couple of strong pilots on the ground lifting you from the risers.

Hope this helps?

Nasher

PS  I seem to remember doing this with Humphrey at a busy Rhossili day with his new harness, he promptly took off and flew for 4 hours, leaving me to do the coaching that day - thanks mate! (it does prove how comfortable it was)