Gear

Don’t worry about the lightweight stuff they say, just hike and fly, just travel with the normal stuff…just do it.

Bugger that.

The lightweight stuff is great…its makes the whole idea more comfortable and hence easier to do again. Travel isn’t as accessible with a bloody great wind and harness, trust me – I hauled one round europe and long long time ago.

So I have gone for light, safe, high quality and sensible.

Things I’ve picked up. I’m looking for a setup that suits me. I’m definitely still a novice with quite low air time so looking for a combination of light weight but safe. I intend to travel and so a hike a fly type setup is probably a good fit. I’ve spent a long time looking into this and have come up with the following:

Advance Pi3 wing. It’s lightweight, a great brand with a legendary reputation and its a certified as EN-A at my weight in the 25m so safe and forgiving. It might not be a robust as other wings but treating it with love and care will hopefully pay off.

An Easiness 3 reversible harness – beautiful piece of workmanship, air bag, and reserve. It converts to a rucksack that can apparently hold the Pi3…yet to be seen. I’m not keen on the buckles – don’t allow for quick release and the soft speedbar is a bit floppy…so will see how that goes – may swap for a right one.

A SQL lite reserve.

Bluefly Vario.. tiny and sensitive – it connects to my FlySkyHy app on my iPhone.

An iphone case the will hold by phone either to my risers, or leg mount, or on the flight deck…I have a old one from Gin.

A sea to summit dry bag/day bag ruck sack…very small when packed away.

A snowboarding helmet that I haven’t ordered yet. Change of plan, I ended up getting a lightweight motorbike helmet (Bell) that I will use for biking and flying – stupid to need 2 helmets. It’s only 800g and certified for road use for versatile and not much heavier than a flying helmet.

Icom radio – programmed with SAFA channels.

That whole lot should weight in at about 8kg and be small enough to fit in a suitcase or on my back riding a motorbike.

Update: Sept 2023

Yes it does.