Will Ventum be making wingdings? The Switch wings are fantastic. Great value, super light, huge wind range.

I have used spinnaker tape for decades on paragliders, kites and wings. It sticks very well on ripstop as it is intended to do. I repaired a paraglider mid competition where the leading edge was shredded in 13 places from eagle attack. It held up fine. I have repaired kites that have split from trai...

I think the original idea is in essence have a depower throw of 2m. That's wrong for lots of reasons that I won't go into. The fundamental problem is that it assumes that deadly accidents just happen. There's usually a cause. I am thinking death loops and the like happen because a line gets caught a...

I had a late model Mantis that looked like that. I also tried folding the trailing edge forward before rolling in an attempt to get a neat pack. It worked very well for neatness, but I ended up with a permanent crease across the wing. I quite like the Mantis but I didn't love it, mainly for the hand...

.... Makes me wonder whether attaching a non-stretch tape (Eg dynema or aramid) along the outside edge of the leading edge would help? The idea being that any ‘longitudinal give’ in the leading edge would be constrained along the outside edge and result in a tightening of the canopy? It would be ea...

Says welded leading edge? What about the canopy? You can see at 1:48 in the video they're working on canopy material using a big machine with a blue roller. The machine has a Zoyer name on it. Zoyer make ultrasonic welding machines for fabric but all I can see on the internet is spot welding. Ralf ...

I suspect bagging can be solved using radial panel layouts and improved fabrics for the frame, possibly strategically placed stiffening panels might help. That still leaves resistance to foil strike which is the biggest problem. I don't think exotic fabrics like Allula are helpful. They're too expen...

HendrikVdP wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 02, 2023 6:51 am

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I would never ride any challenging or high wind spot again without a sea anchor. It completely resolves the issue of wings flying off into the distance.

Never underestimate the capacity of wingdingers to come up with new and creative ways of screwing up.

I think exploring all performance improvements for wings is a good thing. Wings are starting from such a low base that any improvement is welcome. My only concern is that they're ignoring the elephant in the room. Wings are ridiculously fragile and vulnerable to damage and loss.There's barely a day ...