< Previous20 SKYWINGS MAY 2021 Eventually arriving back at the HQ, tired and grumpy and about to comment on the delays, I saw the team of unpaid volunteers behind their desks, still working at the many tasks that a paragliding comp needs to make it run successfully. Arranging for scores to be published, pilots to be retrieved, dealing with lost kit, the emergencies that can happen and the annoyances like retrieving the trackers which needed to be charged. A foreign pilot was missing but his still-active tracker showed him at a bar in town! The truth is that this was the tip of the iceberg, just a glimpse of the many decisions and hours of work needed to get a comp to run smoothly. Many years later the boot is on the other foot – I am part of the organisation that is responsible for most of the British paragliding competitions (apart from accuracy and paramotoring which arrange their own challenges.) The Comps Panel originated around 30 years ago when a Meet Director was appointed for the British Championships on behalf of the BHPA. Over the years its scope has grown, and it now covers everything from the British Team to the Clubs Challenge (BCC). It’s run by a team of volunteers who meet up online, and at comps, to ensure that we fulfil our remit and discuss any outstanding issues. How is it funded? The British Championships and other events – the XC League, BCC and BPC, etc – are self-funding, covering their costs from entry fees. Prizes are sometimes put up by the BHPA, or benefactors like the late Richard Westgate, to encourage pilots to achieve goals and push records. Other panel activities, such as team training and the BPRA, are funded by any surpluses, or by sponsorship. The BHPA provides a yearly grant to the panel to fulfil its many obligations, but essentially to further our pilots’ standing internationally; there is thus some pressure to get them onto worldwide podiums at the highest level. Historically this grant came from UK Sport but was withdrawn several years ago; funding is now directly from the BHPA’s own funds. The panel answers to, and is represented by, a member of the BHPA Exec, a task very competently overseen in the last few years by Bill Bell. The panel has a treasurer, Sue Britnell; accounts are submitted annually to the BHPA and are available for members’ inspection. The Panel constitution The panel’s main objectives are to run and operate competitions to determine UK paragliding’s male and female Champions, to fairly select the British Team, and to guide British pilots through the different levels of paragliding competitions. Other roles include liaison with formal bodies: BHPA, BP Cup, XC League, FAI, PWCA and CIVL. The dozen or so of the volunteers that make up the Panel have responsibilities for the British Team, the XC League, the British Paragliding Championship and the BCC, as well as the operations of the competitions. The British Championship UK paragliding’s flagship event needs plenty of planning and administration, and the right location for the champs is hotly debated every year. In the past we hosted our own competitions, with every element covered by volunteers from the UK. More recently we have partnered with local clubs having expertise in the region, and employed the best possible qualified meet directors. Panel member Stan Radzikowski has pioneered the new British Sports Championship at Gemona, responding to the popularity of competition on more accessible wings. The event will enable sports class pilots to compete with the best in the world, including top level pilots who normally race on 2-line wings, and learn from their skills. The XC League Managed by its own team led by John Stevenson, the XC League is one of the most popular UK competitions. It is hard fought every year, with many hundreds of pilots submitting their best flights. Loved and loathed by many, it has obsessed pilots over the years. Richard Westgate was a strong supporter and the inspiration behind many of its challenges; a new series of Richard Westgate Challenges is being formulated to encourage pilots to make longer and more difficult XC flights. The British Team The selection process for the team, and managing our top pilots at a world level, is one of the panel’s key responsibilities. Selection is currently based on a combination of WPRS points and performance at PWC events. Team manager Jocky Sanderson brings years of experience to bear on tactics and training programmes that have helped improve our position. Our star comp lines Why is the retrieve bus so late? Who can I blame? CHAIRMAN CHARLES NORWOOD EXPLAINS WHAT THE PARAGLIDING COMPS PANEL IS AND WHAT IT DOES I had been waiting for hours on a remote Spanish hillside for a retrieve driver, having landed out in a competition task. The light was fading and I was having murderous thoughts about the useless bunch that were running retrieves for the competition. Charles Norwood heads the paragliding Comps Panel Stan Radzikowsi leads on the new British Sports Championship Photo: W ayne Seele y Photo: Stan Radzik ow skiMAY 2021 SKYWINGS 21 pilots currently include Russ Ogden, world No. 1 pilot in the WPRS ranking, and current European Champion Theo Warden. Jocky notes that ‘We should be very proud of our British Team pilots who, without the financial support that other European countries get, dedicate their own personal funding to train and represent their country.’ The team are looking at ways for all pilots to follow and support them with live reports, blogs and live tracking during the competitions. The British Paragliding Racing Academy Inspired and operated by Malin Lobb and Barney Woodhead, with practical help from Russ Ogden and Guy Anderson, the BPRA is probably responsible for the greatest improvement in pilot performance in recent years. ‘Our formula, of sharing information in a constructive learning environment, produces many tangible gains,’ says Barney. Who donates the prizes? New panel member Phil Clark, a paramedic who also assists on comp safety, runs event sponsorship. Our sponsors have very generously supported prizes and trophies over the years and our thanks go to Ozone, XC magazine, Flyeo, Aerofix, XCTracer, Green Dragons, Flybubble, Niviuk, XTC and Airtribune. The BP Cup, and Hike & Fly developments Gareth Aston’s role on the panel is to organise and run the British Paragliding Cup. This includes choosing locations, frequency of events, liaising with local clubs, organising scoring systems and the events themselves. ‘I am lucky enough to have a very able assistant in Viv Fouracre, who lightens the load significantly,’ Gareth reports. ‘I am also heading up a committee looking into supporting Hike & Fly pilots. The aim is to have a H&F academy that nurtures and trains promising pilots to enable them to enter and place well in H&F races internationally.’ Gareth is also trying to organise some form of British H&F league. With Steve Bramfitt entering this year’s high-profile X-Alps race we have a UK pilot to support and cheer on. Steve is self-funding his challenge; pilots who wish to support him can do so at Advance British Clubs Challenge (BCC) Matt Tandy coordinates the BCC, the entry-level UK competition and an important stepping-stone to national and international comps. ‘We are looking forward to another rewarding BCC season, ‘says Matt, ‘where we fly safely, have fun and develop our XC skills. Pilots interested in taking part should contact their club’s competition member and ensure they are linked to its BCC chat and co-ord groups on Telegram.’ Competition Safety The panel’s safety representative is Dr. Mike Coupe, whose small group of medic pilots are proactively examining competition safety. A subgroup has been set up to examine safety issues and make recommendations; its first tasks are to examine the benefits of including mandatory search and rescue cover in competition fees, and a rewrite of the panel’s major incident plan. ‘Achieving a zero accident and incident rate in our competitions is a difficult ask,’ says Mike, ‘but we are committed to getting as near to that as possible.’ CIVL Representative Brett Janaway is the BHPA representative at CIVL, the FAI’s free-flight commission. Brett is tireless in his support for British competitions, and his online competition management programme, Airtribune, is used for our pilots’ bookings and information management. Finally … The Comps Panel is always looking for ways to improve standards and encourage competition by British pilots. In our sport the quickest way to accelerated learning is to join a group of like-minded pilots at a competition. Wherever you are in your paragliding career, there’s a competition offering access to the collective skills of other pilots. Those pilots, and guidance from competition organisers, will enable you to get the best possible flights out of the day. And as much can be learned from the informal debrief in the bar or landing field as the flying itself. The key is to enjoying the process and not get too wrapped up in results, especially in the early days. If you are keen to be involved in panel activities, talk to any comp organiser and offer to volunteer. We hope you will all get involved in a competition soon. But do remember that the whole experience was organised by unpaid volunteers, planning the event months in advance for your enjoyment. So please be patient with the retrieve bus drivers! Team manager Jocky Sanderson brings years of experience to bear European Champion Theo Warden, one of many star pilots Barney Woodhead, one of the brains behind the BPRA Photo: F AI/Marcus King Photo: F AI/Marcus King Photo: Tim P entreath 22 SKYWINGS MAY 2021 dead centre Do you have a pre-flight routine? Katie Sykes. I watch other flights whilst listening to an audiobook, so I can switch off but still keep an eye on the conditions. I don’t like to hear or look at the score other pilots get, just watch their set-up. William Lawrence. Before my flight I like to relax and listen to music or an audiobook while observing the conditions. A couple of pilots before my flight I’ll get into my equipment – then I’m ready and I’ll watch the flights and the decisions the pilots make so I can build my flight plan. Simon Sykes. Not really, but I like to have an understanding of what the weather has been doing recently, to understand what I might hit during finals. Andy Webster. On arrival at launch I will take my kit out of the main bag to double check I have not forgotten anything, and pack the bag in the harness. While I am waiting for my turn to fly I like to watch flights and assess the conditions. Based on my observations I will prepare an outline flight plan. I do not like to be rushed and will always get ready in the harness in good time before my flight, watching more flights while I am waiting. What information do you use to assess wind speed? Katie Sykes. I don’t fly as well when actively thinking about conditions, but I’m thinking about my ground speed and watching the glider in front. William Lawrence. Windsocks and streamers are great for direction and wind strength on the ground. But before I make my final approach I apply brake until my glider no longer has any penetration, in order to calculate the wind speed and plan my landing. Simon Sykes. My penetration and the glider in front. Windsocks can give a rough guide, but as they vary massively they are fairly useless. Andy Webster. Observations of other pilots’ flights will give an indication of wind speed and any gradient effects. On approach to the target, windsocks and streamers give an indication of wind speed along with your ground speed. A penetration check can also give good feedback; closer to the target the speed of the anemometer cups’ rotation also give useful information. How does your approach vary with wind speed? Katie Sykes. In light winds I set up far back – I want to give myself a nice Paragliding accuracy target approaches Part 1: General aspects UK squad pilots William Lawrence, Katie Sykes, Simon Sykes and Andy Webster offer their thoughts on the stages of a target approach. Two articles have been created from their varied responses – he first is on the general aspects of an approach and the second (in June Skywings) will concentrate on the final approach to the target. NB. These comments are applicable to both tow and hill launch methods, but please note that some relate to how experienced pilots fly to the target. New pilots should not attempt to fly with deep brake or near the stall point in early flights. Katie Sykes, current Paragliding Accuracy league champion William Lawrence, Paragliding Accuracy league winner and twice national champion Photo: Arthur Bentle y Photo: Arthur Bentle yMAY 2021 SKYWINGS 23 smooth glide in on the wind line so I can kill it at the end if I need to. In strong winds I tend to set up slightly behind and to the side of the target, playing with my brakes and waiting for the right time to slide onto my final approach. William Lawrence. The stronger the wind the closer I aim for an almost vertical approach. In lighter winds I’ll allow for much more of a glide-in approach, while still getting as steep an angle as possible over the target. Simon Sykes. Due to using brakes a lot, I generally set up in the same location (height and distance back) and then use brakes to drop to the required level Andy Webster. Strong winds require a lot steeper approach to the target. I’ll be looking to turn into wind not far behind the target, whereas low winds allow me to pick a point a good distance downwind of the target to turn onto finals. How do you recognise and deal with a wind gradient? Katie Sykes. Normally just with brakes. If it’s a strong gradient then I reassess the approach completely. William Lawrence. Watching the windsocks on the ground and knowing my own ground speed allows me to judge the wind gradient. An ideal approach made with 50% brake allows for the adjustment of your speed depending on the conditions, as they may change. Simon Sykes. In normal conditions this is dealt with on the brakes. However if a large gradient has been seen or is expected, change the initial set-up to take this into consideration. Andy Webster. I am always prepared for some form of gradient. Generally the wind is stronger at altitude, but not always! Some sites are more prone to gradients in certain wind directions than others and local knowledge can come into play. Watching other flights is also useful – unless you are the first to fly! On a tow launch the rate of climb can be used to assess speed and any gradient effects. How do you deal with thermic conditions? Katie Sykes. Make sure you get to the target with plenty of height in case of sink, and then just ride through as smoothly as you can. William Lawrence. Every situation in thermic conditions is different and your reactions must follow suit. For instance, increasing speed through the thermal to reduce the time it has to alter your flight angle works well. Or, when the thermal is over the target and you are low, increasing your brake to sink onto the pad. Simon Sykes. Brakes! Andy Webster. It’s an area that I haven’t fully got to grips with, mainly because thermals can be different in nature and unpredictable. Generally you will fall out of lift onto a steeper glide angle, so I will S-turn in a hot position, listening to my vario, knowing to go straight for the target as soon as the lift disappears. But lift on finals can be followed by sink; maintaining the same brake position can be the best policy to get you to the target – but sometimes the sink does not appear and you float over the target! Very strong lift on finals can be followed by very strong sink and it can be best to release your brakes in such conditions. Do you do a penetration check, and are there certain times you don’t do one? Katie Sykes. Yes, provided I’ve got plenty of height and time. It helps me switch on. William Lawrence. I will always try to do a penetration check, normally off to one side of the target into wind. Simon Sykes. I try to always do initial set-up in front of the target, then drift back behind the target to set up. Andy Webster. I will always do a penetration check if I have the altitude, but you always have to factor in any wind-gradient effects. Penetration checks are useful if you are unsure of the wind conditions or your glide angle. If you have height to burn, a penetration check can be used to lose some altitude to avoid a long finals, which can be draining. Compiled by Andy Webster Simon Skyes, Paragliding Accuracy league winner and three times national champion Andy Webster, former Paragliding Accuracy national champion and four times league winner Photo: Arthur Bentle y Photo: Andre w W ebster24 SKYWINGS MAY 2021 Photo: Ste ve Br amfit tMAY 2021 SKYWINGS 25 pilot profile No. 329: Steve Bramfitt Age? 36 Marital status? In a relationship. Where were you born? Birmingham. Where do you live now? Interlaken, Switzerland. Occupation? Professional paraglider pilot including tandem, 1:1 coaching, vol- biv training, acro and speed flying (see marketing for health products. Previous occupations? Snowboard instructor and raft guide in the summer; I previously served time as a carpenter. How and when did you start flying? I learnt to fly at Queenstown, New Zealand. I was fortunate to have a good mentor in Craig Taylor, who helped guide me into my fascination with flying Acro. Which pilots most influenced you? I watched the Performance Flying film, with Jocky Sanderson and Russ Ogden, time and time again. That was my go-to bible. After I developed a bit in flying Acro, Pál Takáts and Gábor Kézi were quite inspirational. After that and moving to Switzerland, Chrigel and Micky Maurer had quite an influence on me. Where and what was your most memorable flying experience? There have been that many I can’t think of a specific one that stands out! It’s always an amazing feeling when you’re low, in a shit place, close to landing, and you get a pinger and end up somewhere completely different, landing in a place that you would never normally go or hike to. Learning the Infinity was a really memorable journey too. What wing will you be flying for the X-Alps? I’ve tried a lot of wings in the past few months to see if there were any better ones out there for me. Advance is the one I like the most. I’ve had an Omega X-Alps 2 and 3 and I’m looking forward to racing with the XA4 in the X-Alps. What is your favourite flying site in Britain? I’ve never flown in the UK. What is your favourite site in Europe? Niesen, near my home, where some of Switzerland’s longest flights have begun, or Fiesch in Wallis. What is your favourite site in the world? The one with the best conditions for an epic flying day. Who do you most admire in the sport? Chrigel Maurer, Russ Ogden, Guy Anderson and Felix Rodriguez. What trait do you most deplore in yourself? My ability to invariably say exactly the wrong thing in any given situation. What trait do you most deplore in people? Small-mindedness and lack of gratitude. When not flying, what do you do for recreation? I love speed flying, kite surfing/foiling, enduro biking and wingsuit/BASE. What is your favourite piece of music? So many different ones. An old classic must be Underworld’s Born Slippy. Another would be Meat Loaf – You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth. What is your favourite book? At the moment I’m quite stuck into Training for the Uphill Athlete by Steve House, Scott Johnston and Kilian Jornet. What is your favourite film? Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. What is your greatest fear? To look back and regret not having done something because I was afraid to give it a go. What is your idea of perfect happiness? Love, friendship, family, injury-free fulfilment … and of course the perfect flight. What would your motto be? We don’t stop playing because we get old – we get old because we stop playing. How would you like to be remembered? As the rookie that beat Chrigel! Steve started flying in New Zealand in 2008. He rapidly developed a fascination with Acro flying and later become the first British pilot to master infinity tumbling. A former high-level white water kayaker, for the last nine years he has worked as a professional tandem pilot at Interlaken, trying to take the good days off to fly XC. In recent years he has focused more on hike-and-fly comps, while still flying the Opens and a few PWCs – and last year’s British Winter Open at Roldanillo. In the winter he pursues ski touring and speed riding; he says that the positive experience of being in a ‘flow’ state is common to all of these sports. Only the fifth British pilot to enter the arduous Red Bull X-Alps race, Steve’s current training schedule is punishing. In four days in late March he climbed the west flank of the Eiger and skied down, flew 160km from Fiesch, climbed the Jungfrau and ski-flew down and flew from Fiesch to Villeneuve and back. Between now and the start of the X-Alps he is entered for Swiss Paragliding Cup rounds at Biel and Frutigen, Bornes to Fly at Annecy, the Gruyère Fly hike-and-fly event and the ‘11,674 Steps to Niesen’ mountain run. In the X-Alps race Steve will be supported by experienced Swiss-mountain paraglider pilot Matthijs Groeneveld; they start at Salzburg on June 20th. You can support Steve’s X-Alps preparations Photo: Red Bull/Zooom Productionsairmail Please send letters for inclusion in the Airmail pages to or by post to Skywings Magazine, 39 London Road, 26 SKYWINGS MAY 2021 On freedom I sometimes sneak a look at Skywings or Cross Country magazine when no one is looking, and often think about the non- flying partners at home with fingers crossed that their other halves are safe. When I first met my husband I was a professional racing driver and horsewoman. Charles was as passionate about paragliding as he is now, and in those days about climbing too! As we grew closer we made a pact that we would never try to stop each other doing anything dangerous, and with one exception I have kept my end of the bargain. After a friend was killed I did suggest a halt on competition flying, but I failed in my mission! There is no doubt adrenalin is addictive and reason does not always come into it. After the tragic accidents that befell two close friends I hoped that the addiction Charles has would be cured, but it has not gone away and all I can do is be supportive. After 27 years living with a flying addict I thought I should pass my experience on to the less-experienced partners of flying addicts. My advice is this: why try to change the person you fell in love with? You will end up with a safer, but unfulfilled and unhappy person. It is an over-used saying, but hurting yourself ‘doing something you love’, having assessed the risks involved, is living life to the full. Once you know it is a ‘flying day’, ask which hill they are going to. Tell them to have fun and kiss them goodbye, and the the last thing to say is ‘Call me when you land.’ Yes, you will spend the rest of the day with fingers firmly crossed. Yes you will worry; yes you will have a different person home that night, as you can be sure until the adrenalin has left their veins they will still be mentally at cloudbase. But you will also have the happy and fulfilled person you love back in your life. I have lost friends, and had others seriously injured, in both motor racing and various forms of horse competition, and have been injured myself several times. It is inevitable but it has not stopped me. Although these days I’m a (sadly) retired racing driver, I’m still a part-time horsewoman. No-one can deny that truly awful accidents do happen in paragliding. It is undeniably a dangerous sport, and when accidents do happen my heart goes out to the ones left behind. It is unbearably tough, but ask yourself this – if the boot was on the other foot would they stop you doing your sport? In my case, ‘no, never.’ Meregan Norwood, Lambourn Paramotors welcome here! I run Homestead Farm paramotor airfield, about 3.5nm west of Guildford town centre. As things have been a bit quiet since the resumption of flying, I’d like to encourage all paramotor and sub-70 hang glider pilots to visit our 8-acre site. We have an east- west 250m grass runway with clear approaches in both directions. Visitors will always be able to get a cup of coffee; early arrivals at the weekend may even get a bacon butty. We have no fuel at present but are working on it. We also have a campsite, for which we charge £10 for a night for two people. We are situated beneath the edge of Farnborough’s airspace but have a Letter of Agreement to facilitate our operations. As a result, all visits must be strictly Prior Permission Only. If you wish to drop in please contact me first on 07884 261108 when planning your flight, so that I can brief you on the correct procedures. Trikes and light aircraft are welcome too. Some of our visitors tell us we are the closest available small, friendly airfield to London. We’d love to see you at Homestead Farm, and all visits are free. Barry XC book editor needed During my recent stay in Ethiopia – my 10th flying trip there – I wrote a 160-page book about XC flying, and now I’m looking for a passionate pilot and good language editor. I cannot afford to pay for the work, but I hope my 20 years of experience and knowledge to be beneficial for the one who helps. My problem is how to make it sound smooth in English, but keep my ideas and freedom of expression (my native Bulgarian is pretty flexible about the word order, etc). Please contact me if you are able and willing to help. Nikolay Springtime in Cumbria I took this picture on Saturday 10th April, while flying from Burnbank next to the Loweswater lake. The pilot is Paul Summers, flying an Advance Epsilon over Carling Knott. The view is looking back towards mountains Steeple and Pillar, with Sca Fell on the horizon. I took this around 19:30 - 20:00 on a flight in evening restitution lift. Everything was going up and silky smooth. Earlier in the day there had been a snow storm which had just covered the higher mountains. Ollie MAY 2021 SKYWINGS 27 Harleston Norfolk IP20 9BH. Westbury sunset Here’s a picture of sunset flying at Westbury in March. Lou Walker is enjoying beautiful soaring conditions while the White Horse keeps an eye on activities. Rob Hand gliding? The suggestion in the April issue of a Degsy cartoon of ‘hand gliding’ reminded me of a milk bottle I’ve had stashed away for 20 odd years which was originally delivered to our doorstep. I don’t suppose ‘Sue’ was very impressed with the typo. Chris Testival mystery Did anyone else wonder about the aeroplane in last month’s Super Testival advert? It seams to have no landing gear. On close inspection, despite the artfully- applied colour scheme, it’s the ragged old banger parked forever outside Sepp Himberger’s school at Kössen – if you look really closely you can see Sepp himself looking out of the cockpit window. The plane doesn’t fly, and probably hasn’t done so for decades. In fact it’s a rather tatty museum piece, but nothing Photoshop can’t put right! Seriously, if it’s safe to go to the Kössen Testival, go! You won’t regret it. Brett April fool? Ha ha! You almost had me there. When I saw the bit – on page 5 of the last issue – about the BHPA subs increase, my heart sank so much it made my vario extreme sink alarm go off! Then it struck me – this was the April edition and you always put one in to try and fool us all. That said, I still feel we’re getting great value for money. Keep it up guys! Andrew Berzins, Magnets! I thought you might like this photo, taken on a GoPro attached with a magnetic mount to the underside of an Ozone Zero 2 (15m) during looping. I’ve tried to clean it up as best I could from a movie still. There’s a lot of movement from the wing-mounted camera – it looked great on my phone but less so on my desktop! Sam The joy of paramotoring I’m really happy with this shot I took on April 18th while out paramotoring at Cleobury Mortimer. I hope you can use it in the magazine. Kieran If ever a country was a positive setting for dynamic flying in strong laminar winds it is Great Britain. Many of its coastal stretches and inland sites are recognised, through long use, for their near-perfect conjunction of shape and flow. Squeezed in between restrictive air control and lower cloudbases, pilots in these islands lack the luxury of high mountains. As a result, immediately staying up after launching is part of their DNA, as is their understanding of the immediate terrain, evidenced through many site guides. There is also a growing recognition that something is changing in the climate. Winds are getting stronger; the halcyon days of sun-filled thermal flight seem fewer. These factors invite consideration of smaller, faster wings – beyond the wrongly- perceived madness of the speed fliers – that will increase flying days, maintain skills and provide new experiences. The Sol Attak is a such a wing for such a purpose. Sol, a Brazilian company, may be an unknown quantity to the Eurocentric heartland of paragliding, yet they dominate their home market and have worldwide distribution too. They manufacture within their own region and bolster their stability by branching out into other sporting activities, hence the goodies – Sol hat, PE bag and windsock – that the Attak package includes. There is no set definition of the mini-wing paraglider, but they generally lie between the full-size normal paragliders and the speed wings, within a size range of 16 to 20m2. For this review I flew the largest (20m) of the three sizes at 110kg, at the top end of the 95 - 110kg weight range. The right size will vary for your experience as well as weight. More experience will allow flight at the top of the weight range; for less experience the lower end of the range is recommended. Note that it is increments of 10kg or more that have any effect, not the odd kilo here and there. Nevertheless the mini wing will still fly faster – just think about 100kg on 20m2 or on 30m2. The wing reveals the standard build in our sport: internal diagonals, nylon wire nose formers and a three-riser setup, only lacking the big ears outer A. Indeed The Attak feels no different to clip into than any other paraglider. It’s open to be flown with an alpine harness or a lightweight thong setup, but a standard harness works well enough at the 16 size and up. Most control will be done on the brakes but some weight shift is safe enough. Doing a top-to-tail look over, the workmanship is perfect, the materials are used by many and the design holds no surprises. I may as well start with the elephant in the room, more to scotch an issue than to make a fuss of it. The absolute stand-out feature of the Attak that has to be addressed is the price. It currently retails at around £1,220, vastly cheaper than any other comparable mini-wing, some of which are twice the price. How come? Well, it would seem that this is Sol’s marketing decision. It is pretty well known that the price of any new wing has little to do with the manufacturing cost and more to do with the cumulative effect of mark-up through the distribution chain, ending with the dealer. Sol would seem to be going for larger sales, pushing to establish this range, along with cost savings like a much longer period before re- tarting the wing with go-faster stripes and wobbly marketing science. Flight test: Sol Attak 20 BILL MORRIS REPORTS Photo: Sol P ar agliders 28 SKYWINGS MAY 2021 Photo: Jamie GoodreidMAY 2021 SKYWINGS 29 Are corners cut? Imagining that cheaper materials or strength margins are eaten into would be a ridiculous notion and is definitely not the case. This is a well made wing, built to robust standards and with all materials sourced from the usual culprits. The skin of the wing, for example, is predominantly 40g material, generally held to be heavy. The risers are standard size and well stitched; there is nothing that says this is anything but a standard quality build. There have been questions about what pilot skill is needed to fly a mini-wing. The BHPA took the common-sense approach that these are paragliders, just smaller. Sure you need to consider and learn their characteristics, but there no extra chapters needed for the Pilot Handbook and ab-initio training is straight out of the school syllabus. In terms of handling technique they need the usual skills, but as they are often used in windier conditions some aspects need to be spot-on, for example being exactly into wind on launch. Very usefully, wings like the Attak can also serve a dual purpose as a ground handling trainer; many schools now use dedicated wings for this. On launch the Attak in this size will fill very easily. If just holding the wall it should be controlled on the rear risers, and will launch with just the slightest pull on the As. As all good kite fliers and surfers know, the safest place for a launched wing is straight above your head. I let it rise up under its own momentum, with a dab of brake on the turn to face forward, and there it sits. I was not scurrying back and forth, and it could be walked up the hill a bit with only slight control required. Launch in the torpedo position is best. Low-wind forward launches are simple, with far less of a sprint needed than with a speed wing. There is no slump on rotation back into the seat at launch. The brakes are firm for a small wing and very long in travel. Going on and off with them gives some pitching but nothing alarming. The Attak’s easy behaviour will be reassuring to most pilots. There is a fiddly bit. The Attak has a combined speed system of trim tabs and speed bar. Simply put, the trim tabs on the rear risers pull the trailing edge down, increase the angle of attack and slow you down. The speed system lowers the front risers, decreases the angle of attack and speeds you up. Therefore there is quite a combination of speed possibilities – but all are go-faster options from trim, in contrast to many mini-wings which only have slow- down tabs, helpful for soaring flight to spare the arms. As the Attak has the riser tops level when the trimmers are on, you have nowhere to go but faster. The most obvious way to understand the Attak system is to touch nothing at first. Fly the wing as supplied with the trims pulled on. Next, leaving the trimmers alone, you can use the speed bar, pulling the front of the wing down as with a normal paraglider. Letting off the trims gives even more speed; the final option is trims off and applying the speed bar, which is very fast. The trimmers, and indeed the speed bar, have limited travel: just 8cm on the bar and 5cm on the trimmers, but you can feel them. I could quibble and wish that there was a slow-down option, but the brakes are very long if you want to strengthen your arm muscles. Next >