This section is for anything which may be of interest to my customers. Of course, what you think is interesting may be very different from this stuff!
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| 5.3.2010: February has gone, and now March is continuing in the same vein. I'm so busy servicing, buying and selling stuff that I just don't have the time to get my office work up to date. If this carries on I'll have to take a few days off to do it! So, there's nothing interesting to say at the moment. |
Firebird Mowenpik |  |
| OMG! The new Firebird Mowenpik (no, I don't know what it means) arrived today, and I'm really impressed. Very light, it is reversible into a really good rucksack. The price is steep, but so is the quality. I can't wait to fly with it! |
| 26.2.10: I can't keep up! Lots of gliders to service, reserves to repack, and all sorts of deals going on - and this is February. Goodness knows what I will do when the season starts - perhaps a three day week would sort it?
Keep an eye on our secondhand lists, because there is a surge of new stock coming in.
Also, I have just received a new harness from Firebird, which is totally ACE! Watch this space.... |
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18.2.2010: Richard Sheppard has another excellent video of flying this legendary site on You Tube. Well worth a couple of minutes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cNxN9x2aEM
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17.2.2010: I'm flat out servicing at the moment, which means that the telephone isn't being answered as reliably as usual. Sorry about that!
Servicing always throws up interesting insights into the way different people go about their flying. For instance, I had an intermediate hang glider in recently which I simply couldn't rig according to the manual. It needed a special tool to rig it, and even then I could only do it when it was flat on the ground! I've no doubt it is nice to fly, but who designed it like that? And why?
Fortunately, there is also plenty of unusual stuff to keep me occupied: Just recently I've checked out a glider called Tarzan (last seen swinging from a tree) and another that had been pushed through a brick wall by a 4 litre Jag! |
14.12.09: I've just been to court!
You can't win them all, and I'm lucky that in 34 years of business I have only had two really unhappy customers. This customer wanted a full refund on his made-to-measure Von Blon harness. He had insisted on taking his own sizes, so I stipulated no returns for whatever reason. When the harness arrived he tried it in my test rig and accepted it (it looked OK to me, too). He then took it to France for three months, during which time he called to arrange an exchange of another item which wasn't to his liking.
On his return he demanded a full refund, saying it wasn't sized correctly. When I declined he accused Vonblon of making harnesses which were not made to measure, and publicly slagged them, and me, off in Skyads. Then he took me to Court.
The Judge threw out his claim on a variety of counts, not least of which was that he had measured his chest 6cm too big!
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MALIBU RHOSILI-BILLY! |  |
October 09: Richard Sheppard has been flying the Malibu in order to write a flight test for Cross Country magazine, and took this lovely photograph during one of his flights. It captures exactly what the glider is all about - having fun in the most spectacular fashion possible.
This photo was taken on a very light wind day, and Rich was surprised to soar so effortlessly. By contrast, I've been trying to fly it off 20' dunes in rather strong winds and, although I'm rubbish at the moment, it was a giggle - and the glider is brilliant! I've also flown it off our Jurassic Coastline, and had a ball there, too. What a glider! |
 | Phoenix Fans! I've not been doing much paragliding this month - it has generally been too windy for my meagre skills. However, I did get into the air at East Hill recently and found my FB Phoenix was a real treat to fly.
It was rather windier than I find ideal - people were getting pegged - but I seemed to have plenty of penetration, and never needed the bar. The glider also seemed to do rather well whenever any surges of lift came through, which augurs well for the thermal season next year!
The glider is also appreciably lighter than my beloved Spider was, and the new 2010 Rucksack has all the features you expect in a much lighter package than before.
If you feel it would be nice to fly something a little bit different, I suggest you ask for a demo on the Phoenix. |
Above Cloud |  |
| October: Our aerotowing group had a very pleasant day, several of us towing up to 6000 feet, passing through gaps in the cloud cover. The views were more than spectacular. Alan Hughes' photograph captures an impression of what we saw, but nothing of what we felt. If you want a reason to go flying - here is one. |
The brand new Eagle 2 is an all-new glider, having a higher aspect ratio than the outgoing Eagle amd 62 cells rather than 56. The EN C rating is indicative of the fact that the glider needs an experienced pilot, but the medium is actually all B' s until you use the speed bar.
Firebird have used their vast experience of skydiving and base jumping canopies to enhance the leading edge construction, giving all sorts of benefits. The weight of the medium is just 5.2kg, so this new wing is well worth trying. |
Available now! SMFC Speedarms are only £29.95! What is more, I'm giving one away with every purchase over £500, and if you buy over £250-worth of goods I'll let you have one at half price. Three colours, two sizes. See front view in the PG Accessories section of the shop, rear view in the HG Accessories.
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| Simon girded up his loins and aerotowed the North Wing Freedom last month. It was his first aerotow for about 18 months, and we can't remember anyone flying a single surface glider behind our tug before, so he was scared witless before take-off. He needn't have worried, the glider handled it very well indeed, and the only problem was that Simon tends to over-control the Freedom because it is SO light and responsive.
Immediately after it was packed up it went off with Alan Hyde, while his Litespeed is repaired. Alan wasn't too impressed at the idea, but now he has flown it a few times, he has changed his opinion! A couple of cross countries have convinced him that it is something rather special. |
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