Packed up.

Note: The FlyinOrange has moved to: flyinorange.blog

Sometimes, just sometimes I even impress myself.

The travel kit is down to the bare minimum with the wing, harness, reserve, and all of my clothing in a 60 litre glider bag (for reference, a typical glider bag runs about 110 litres - so I am working with just over half the capacity many of my counterparts will be travelling with).

3 outfits of clothing in the Scrubba (my portable washing machine).

Glider in ultralight concertina bag.

Gin X-Lite bag with Skywalk RangeAir, Source hydration pouch and the Scrubba.

Wing added.

And voila.

Likewise the carry on is little more than a 5.11 MOAB 6 (with approximately 16 litres capacity) with my helmet strapped to the outside (using the included 5.11 Tier system straps looped around the chin strap).

Carry on + helmet.

This setup allows for the glider bag to be back mounted while the MOAB rides in the front. Call it lessons learned galavanting around the globe going from plane to train to bus to foot and back. No suitcases or drag bags here. Mobility is key.

Full kit + the obligatory One Shot Tactical 'Team Canada' cap.

Onto the trip ...

Gin X-Lite + Gin Explorer + Skywalk Range Air.

Note: The FlyinOrange has moved to: flyinorange.blog

Doesn't get much lighter (or smaller than this). Wing+harness+reserve+helmet = 60 litres. The whole setup doesn't weight much more than my old Icaro Wildcat wing by itself.

Another trip, another kit prep: Part 2.

Pack: 5.11 Rush 24. This pack has followed me to all corners of the world and has been utterly bombproof.

Boots: 5.11 Taclite 8" boots. The most comfortable pair of boots I've owned. This is my 4th pair as they typically only last for about half a year of use.

Dry/Wash Bag: Scrubba. This has allowed me to get my clothing footprint down to 3 days, irregardless the length of the trip.

Wing: Gin Explorer (was Gin Carrera Plus when photo taken).

Harness: Skywalk Range Air.

Hydration Bladder: Source WidePac 2L + insulated tubing.

... and the end result.

Part2: Xiaomi Yi 4K + Feiyu WG3 Gimbal + Flytec Paragliding Camera mount.

With the mount assembled, time for some testing @ the local rigging loft.

... and video while sitting in the harness and weight shifting around.

I'm all about cloudbase, 'bout cloudbase, no sink out: Part 1

I think its Tuesday now - but I am not quite sure. I guess that is a good sign - once one forgets which day of the week it is, they are truly on vacation.

The forecast is starting to resemble what GV is all about - scattered clouds, light winds. There is a risk of a thunderstorm mid afternoon - but that is the norm here in the summer and nothing to really worry about. Where the appearance of a CuNim (Cumulonimbus -> thunder cloud) in the mountains would have pilots frantically looking at LZ options, here there are no terrain features to channel and focus the gust front. An unseen storm in the Rockies could be a threat to pilots a hundred plus kms away, but here, it is normal to be in the air with a solitary CuNim 30 to 50 km behind or to the side. Mind you when they start popping up all around, the usual rules apply - get down fast.

Up top, we settle into the usual wait routine -> cloud base needs to lift.

Left: a visiting American pilot that lives in Australia.
The price/hassle of the tourist visa tends to discourage some Canucks and most Yanks.
Especially with Mexico and Columbia as winter flying alternatives.

Two guesses at the topic of conversation - todays weather or yesterdays flying.

Jawboning is the order of the morning. This stuff will burn off, won't it?

The cloud relents and Dean suggests slowly getting ready. Ever the calm, orderly one Dean is when it comes to getting kit ready. Quite the contrast to back home when the sound of a truck cresting the last climb to launch has one scurrying thinking its loaded full of launch potato students.

Then I spot the Germans starting to gathering their bags. Ain't no fraking way I am getting a repeat of this. Hoist kit, trot quickly on down to the nice part of launch, pull out the wing, and claim my space.

Get word we are switching both flying and retrieve frequencies due to interference the previous flying day. Unfortunately, everyone else heard as well -> we had occurrences in Annecy of other pilots hoping on the tour frequency and trying to tag along as the guides led the group around. There was an attempt to create a more secure implementation of family radio called XMRS (I think) that used spread spectrum. Basically the signal is spread across multiple channels keyed by a code -> Code Division Multiplexing - a trade off of higher user density within the band vs. battery life. The signal is pseudo randomized using a key code (akin to a  channel - except your channel count could be in the billions) and reassembled by the receiver using the same code. No code, no listen in. Not quite encryption, but beyond the ability of a human to scan for and listen in. Sadly it never took off.

Anyways, Dean lays out next to me and Simon next to him. As we get ready, the conversation turns to hydration pouches - Dean pulls his 'Source' out for a gander - the big selling point in his mind is the ease with which it can be cleaned. Will give one a look when I get home - the hose connectors on the Camelback were too big to fit through the hydration line hole in the RangeAir, necessitating pulling the connectors off, threading through the hose, then reattaching (dear Skywalk - what kind of pouch did you test this thing with?). Needless to say I now have a slow water leak - dumping the water prior to retrieve is the short term 'fix'. Benefit number 2 of a front mounted reserve - if your Camelback starts leaking, it won't soak your reserve (Benefit #1 is having your reserve handle in your line of sight rather than fishing for it to one side and below - a byproduct bias from my jumping days with 'look, reach, pull').

Everything sorted. The gent with the blue Ozone Delta 2 walks by, hunting for a spot. Our Deutsch friends have long since claimed the remaining decent space on launch and are sitting on the ground in their harnesses, leaving scraps. Rosetting the wing, I call the Delta 2 over and offer up my slot. Dean will be first off today, so I can just lay out into his space once he is clear.

Hrm. Nil-ish winds. Another forward.

That said, I have a good feeling about today - I think we might actually go XC.

Onto Part 2

Back in the saddle: Part 2 (with the Skywalk RangeAir)

The wind sock goes from limp to a south, to a southwest, back to limp. The wing 'breathes' with the rise (the nose rising, A's tensioning ) and fall of the cycles (nose rolling over, A's going slack).

A cycle presents itself - going from a south to straight in southwest. Pull up and the high AR (aspect ratio) of the wing makes itself felt. Half the wing orients south, the other half more west.

Herding wingtips.

Having experienced this a few times while kiting the Delta2, I ease off the right side brake and let the lagging side 'snap' back into alignment. Kite for a second to let the wing settle, turn, and kite another second to be sure everything is good to go (an instructor from Germany mentioned letting the wing settle a second after it reaches the apex).

The cycle ebbs as I start the run. Airborne, touchdown, airborne, touchdown, airborne and away.

Long runways and weak days go hand in hand.

Two tries and I'm in the pod of the Skywalk RangeAir. The RangeAir is an extra light airbag XC harness. I have been a huge fan of airbag based back protection after watching a low airtime pilot spin a wing at tree top height, have it surge, pendulum him underneath then drop him hard. Running over, I fully expected to find a corpse. Instead the pilot was standing up and brushing himself off. The airbag harness absorbed the brunt of the fall.

The catch to an airbag system is that it needs to be inflated (by ram air) for it to work. Maybe not particularly well suited to those who are likely to suffer a drop launching such as a student who lacks the kiting skill to manage a wing or a comp pilot who doesn't have the luxury of being picky about the cycle they launch in. But for those in the middle, it is a viable option if weight and pack volume are limited - hike and fly pilots along with the globetrotting crowd come to mind.

As for the effectiveness of airbags - give this spreadsheet a gander. The lower the G force value listed (in column H), the lower the impact force passed onto the pilot. 'Schaumstoff' is foam based back protection (as opposed to airbag).

Back to the RangeAir, comments sent back to the dealer include:

A few observations - the weight and pack volume phenomenal. I can fit the harness + reserve in the Gin concertina bag with the Carrera. The reduction allowed me to drop to a 90L pack (from a 130L) with the possibility of dropping to a 70L. The loss in overall weight has me on the cusp of downsizing to a small wing.

Setup is a bit fiddly. I found the best way to accommodate is leave everything attached and loosen the shoulder straps for step in/out. Extra attention to the speedbag closing lines is needed in this case during donning - they like to pop loose.

The speedbag is very easy to get into post launch - I don't need my foot leash like I do with the Impress 3.

The chest strap appears to be non adjustable. I found out how much wider I normally run the Impress 3 in comparison when I near line twisted myself up leaning in aggressively on entry to a tight core.

I am leaning towards saying the Range Air provides more feedback vs. the Impress 3 but need more airtime to be sure.

Two additional features of note - the reserve is front mounted, which satisfies the growing comp requirement that the reserve be reachable by either hand. The front mount also eliminates the possibility that pilot weight in a hammock harness (as opposed to those with a seat board) will interfere with reserve extraction. There is also the matter of an underseat reserve potentially placing a non compressible perch between the pilot and the ground. The first thing that will hit may well be that  un-deployed reserve, prevent the remainder of the body from absorbing any impact - driving the entire impact force up into the spine. Something to think about - is the underseat reserve under your spine or your upper legs?

The second is the flight deck/front mount reserve container that is held in place by attaching to the chest strap. This helps eliminate the possibility of launching without having the leg straps done up. I had crossed paths with a fellow Impress3 owner who had launched with the flight deck secured but not the leg straps. The small snap shackle held them in long enough to get into the harness, but the shackle design would not have held them long if they could not hook their feet into the speed bag (based on comments from a harness designer back in 2012).

RangeAir

Flight Deck/Front Mount Reserve Container

Reserve Container Flipped. Leg straps tread through.

Two step speed system.

Speed bag closing loops

Opening for hydration bladder.

Velcro and securing tab for Spot or micro vario.

Back to the flight.

The trusty spine.

After a few beats back and forth, there isn't much out here yet. I try my goto trigger, the spine to the north. There is some lift, but not much. Time to push out.

The vario shows a south wind @ 8kph (2 m/s). Climbs are also 2 m/s. Add that to a 1 m/s sink.

Quick mental math time: 2 m/s horizontal vs. 3 m/s vertical. Move upwind, but not much today.

And I find it, 5 seconds of climb along a southerly course. A turn right and I fall out the side. Get it around quick then begin to widen the turn. More chirps from the vario. Tighten it up and we have a core.

Bring it around. Bring it around.

399 m.
400 m.
401 m.
401 m.
400 m.

An inversion establishing or did I just lose the core altogether?

Widening the turn again, looking for a way to keep climbing.

The Carrera starts 'sniffing'/edging right. I align the wing with it and feel myself being sucked in.

Another climb, this one breaks through and gets me to 460m, but has me pretty far north. Zero chance of making Riverside, still a chance of making the Ranch. Time to push out, keeping some margin for error on a day the winds are forecast to climb quite a bit. Not a lot to be found, again bouncing off an invisible ceiling around 400 m.

Not much from the farm buildings today.

Eventually, gravity claims both the wing and I as we set down at the Ranch.


The afternoon is punctuated with a bit of kiting in the growing valley winds. Attempts at A+C'ng the Carrera is met with frustration as the wing repeatedly tries to horseshoe. Hopefully the C+ addresses this, as this is my go to technique for stronger mid afternoon conditions.

No point in fretting about it until I have the new line set installed.

Otherwise a good day to be back in the saddle.