Sunday, February 14, 2010

Pre-party Party at Kahana

Twenty pilots flew Kahana in the light north breeze all day today, including five visitors from Japan and Bill from BC. Conditions were challenging, and many pilots sank out. But out of the lucky ones that made it up, five made it across the bay, two of us twice, one for the first time ever, and three of us went to Kualoa and back.

I got to try the Ozone Swift for one bay crossing, and handed it over to Jeff and Berndt afterwards. I loved it. It's the lightest, twitchiest wing I ever flew. But it seems a bit delicate for our rough launches here. Then I flew Jeff's Axis Vega 2 for the next crossing. That's another great wing.

Jim led the way for the second crossing, and I followed, with Joey just behind. It was Joey's first time over there - maybe he'll post his pictures and a story.

Thanks to Jeff for the beverages at the LZ. Thanks to Yoshi and crew for the $50 donation to our party tonight.

5 comments:

Mad Dog said...

Mahalo Alex for the write up! I just got home cracked a beer open to enjoy Pictures & Story. Glad you guys had a blast, looked like a great Bay crossing day. I thought the swift would be a pretty boy wing & not hold up to our Hawaii Launches as it states in thier own commercial write up that it will not withstand abuse & needs to be well taken care of to last hundreds of hours. I did think it would fly like Magic thou, no pun intended. He he he

paraguide said...

I had a report that Yama-San had a good flight on the Ozone swift, Alex Please try the Swift in better conditions, give it a chance to impress you all, enjoy after all its a LTF 1-2 /EN B... Twitchy ? NE winds, your launches still need a little work (cleaning)... unsheathed lines = speed, Please take care in folding the leading edge... get it in the air, while its there... Its the future

JeffMc said...

paraguide - I was only able to scratch around for a few minutes in the Swift (conditions a little light). But I liked the way it felt, and LOVED how lightweight it was (launched and kited so easy!). I didn't find it twitchy at all (in fact, the brakes were super long and I had to really mash it in to scratch). But then, I normally fly a DHV 2 (equivalent) well over the weight range. Also, Alex flies a Kortel with his chest strap wide open, so that may have added to his perceived sensitivity?

In any case, mahalo for providing Oahu with the Ozone demos (can't wait to see the Delta!). I can't get out today, but maybe I can sneak in another demo before Reaper sends it back.

-Jeff

Paraguide said...

Jeff, Thanks for the feedback, your next flight with the Ozone Swift, Try taking a wrap on the brakes, keep the swift in the air while its overthere, it's headed to the Maui pilots next, Enjoy

Alex said...

Christopher, didn't mean to make it sound like the wing or the conditions that day were anything but perfect. I really enjoyed the wing and it got me across the bay on a day when other folks were struggling to stay up.

I was very impressed with the light weight of this wing - I think if I got this wing along with one of those light reversible harnesses I could probably go down a size to a Small.

I think I weighed in on the lower half of the weight range on the Medium, which is what Ozone recommends for this wing.

When I said the wing was twitchy, I guess I really meant highly communicative. More than what I'm used to, anyway. Berndt said he felt the same thing. Also, as Jeff mentioned, I normally fly with my carabiners as far apart as possible - my chest strap is slack. That gives me as much information as any wing is able to deliver, along with good weight shift authority.

The Swift has a lot lower aspect ratio than what I'm used to on the Cobra and the Magics, but that makes sense because it's a 1-2. But the performance definitely seemed to be top notch for that level.

I didn't find the wing especially fast at trim, although that may be because I was in the lower half of the weight range.

The skinny lines were more tangly than the unsheathed uppers I've dealt with in the past - definitely required some extra care. Also because the glider is so light it just leaps overhead during launch, and when launching in stronger wind it takes a little getting used to.

As a comparison, I tried Jeff's glider next as he tried the Swift. I'm at the top of the weight range on his glider, which is agile to begin with, but also much more solid and consequenly less talkative than the Swift. I enjoyed it a lot, and was lucky enough to get some easier bay crossing conditions for that wing as well by the end of the day.

Thanks for the demo wings Christopher! I have tried the Mantra 2 and the Swift and enjoyed them both mightily. No one else sends demo wings over here - we appreciate what you are doing for us. Maybe one day we'll all be flying on Ozone wings around here.