foot-launched Speed Flying

Foot-launched Speed Flying developed from speed riding on skis, from parachuting and paragliding. Days, too windy to fly normal sized paragliders, motivated paragliding pilots and designers to find ways to expand the wind strength in which paragliders can operate. Speed riders did not want to miss out when the snow had melted. At the same time, parachutist became keen to foot-launch and fly close to the terrain.

GIN BobcatGIN Bobcat

Gin just released the first proper foot launched speed glider: The GIN Bobcat. A new concept, fun and easy glider which is built for fast mountain descents, for soaring in strong wind and generally flying in conditions too strong for paragliding. The difference to gliders currently on the market is, that this one is designed to be small and heavily loaded, designed to a size of 15 sqm.

Frustrated sitting on the hill when the wind was too strong to fly their paragliders, in the past, some pilots used gliders far too small for their weight, trying to increase their forward speed. Bearing in mind, that every 10kg extra wing-loading on a given wing, will only increase the speed by about 2 km/h. In addition, smaller gliders are generally slower than bigger gliders. Still, some mini-paragliders like the Yeti 19 are a load of fun to play with, if you appreciate the effects of over-loading a paraglider. A 90kg+ pilot was thermalling the Yeti 19 in Nelson, circling up in the middle of a gaggle, with some insane speed.

The Gin Bobcat is the fun and sensible answer to flying small gliders: The profile and the layout of the glider are quite unique and different to the average paraglider. Fast by design, stable and safe it is a great fun toy for good pilots!

In light wind, the Bobcat flies fast for fast descents, precise handling close to the ground. It is ideal for mountain descents as the Bobcat is safely flyable in a wide range of conditions, is light and compact to carry up the hill and easy to launch even is less than ideal conditions.

In strong wind, the Bobcat is the ultimate soaring machine. See a clip of Jeff Ripley (green Bobcat 15) and Eva (blue Bobcat 13.5) soaring at Kariohitahi in +50km/h. We were still flying with the trimmers on slow and lots brakes on. We are still to find the maximum wind strength we can fly in.

Speedgliders, a new concept in wing design

Speedriding and speedflying are both based on a new design concept developed by Gin Gliders.

There are 5 important elements in speedglider design:

  • Pitch stability
  • Angle of attack control
  • Variable glide ratio
  • Wide speed range control
  • Compact shape

Flying is easy, but requires paragliding or parachuting skills. The canopy is stable, launch and landing are easy, but paraglider pilots need to appreciate the higher speed and increased agility of the glider due to the higher wing loading.

Parachutists will love this wing just the same: Great ground inflation, good speed, must less radical to fly close to the terrain than your sky diving rigs. This is the perfect entry level or intermediate ground launch glider! (Not suitable for sky diving.)

Before summer, we are running a special on Bobcat and harness packages.

The pre-series gliders are in Auckland now. Let me know if you would like to do a test flight or would like a quote! We can usually arrange test flights in your area.