- This is Carlo Borsattino, from Flybubble.
I'm at Devil's Dyke in Sussex, in southern England, UK.
I am testing the Supair Savage paraglider
and the Supair Delight 4 Sport pod harness.
Woohoo! (upbeat music)
Very light and scratchy conditions.
Pilots who always fly in places
where the conditions are stronger,
windier or stronger thermals,
with more turbulence, tend to prefer flying heavy loaded.
But if you fly somewhere like the UK,
where the lift is often light and scratchy,
sometimes it's actually better to be lighter loaded.
Being heavier loaded just means you go down.
Also, lighter loading tends to make gliders
a bit more sensitive.
You get a bit more feedback.
And of course if it's really rowdy conditions,
you don't like that.
But if it's really light, scratchy conditions
and the thermals are very subtle and weak,
then you want more feedback.
Hugh's got something below.
It doesn't mean I'll get up.
He does climb rather well. (Vario beeps)
All right. (Vario beeps)
The thermals are being squeezed flat somehow.
It's like there's some windshear.
Feels like an inversion.
But the air is so crisp, (Vario beeps)
it doesn't look like there should be.
There's no doubt about it,
the Savage climbs exceptionally well.
And I have no doubt I'm benefiting from that today,
in these light scratchy conditions.
(Vario beeps)
Really nice feedback, nice handling,
and, particularly, the good climb rate.
It means I can stay in the air,
while others are going down.
(Vario beeps)
Of course there's a certain amount of luck involved.
But, when I was climbing out,
the really scratchy conditions, the light thermals...
If I hadn't had as good a sink rate.
I wouldn't have climbed as well,
and I probably would've gone down.
(Vario beeps)
It just goes to show, on some days
it's better to fly lighter loaded!
(Vario beeps)
Some birds climbing in front of me.
I'm gonna have a look at them.
Maybe I should've just stuck with what I had.
But let's have a look.
I've got a bit of height to explore.
(Vario beeps)
The Savage has
quite long brakes for a High C glider.
Oh, I should be paying attention.
Look, they're catching me up.
So, what I find with the Savage is
I need to take a "classic half-wrap",
same as I did with the AirDesign Volt 4, for example.
But with the Savage
the very soft minimalistic brakes mean
if you don't grab them right,
they can slip on your hands.
So I've had to...
What I found works
is to wrap the brake around the back of my hand.
(Vario beeps)
And now I've got a really nice brake position.
(Vario beeps)
The Delight 4 Sport is a very, very comfortable,
very easy pod harness. (Vario beeps)
The Delight 4 is the same base.
The same chassis, as it were.
The main difference with
the Delight 4 Sport is the tail fairing.
(Vario beeps)
And that means the packing space in the back
is a bit less on the Delight 4 Sport than the Delight 4.
(Vario beeps)
It looks more but is actually less.
And that's because some of the space is taken up with
the sections in it to make it inflate and keep pressurised.
What I'm doing here is...
to stay in the lift,
and try and make the best of the lift...
which I've just fallen out of 'cause I was fiddling
with the camera.
Straightening out now.
(Vario beeps)
Turning a little bit.
So, I'm exploring - this is kind of a wide exploratory turn.
So I feel the lift increase, like I do there,
and straighten up a bit.
I know from thermalling in this...
turning in this thermal before, that
there's an increase in lift on the upwind side
of the thermal. If you leave it a bit too long,
you fall out the front
on the upwind side of the thermal.
So, what I'm doing is...
timing...
feeling when there's a nice push of lift. Like there.
The thermal, the vario beeps, very shortly after.
Almost instantly, but with a slight delay.
There I feel like I've dropped out
of the downwind side of the thermal.
(Vario beeps)
So, now I'm looking at the clouds
to give an indication of lift and sink in the airmass.
Pilots often make the mistake of thinking that
the clouds show you what's happening right now.
Well, they do where they are.
But of course the thermal that made the cumulus cloud
has already been.
So really,
they're more showing you what was, than what is.
You are looking back into the past
when you are looking at the clouds.
You're seeing what happened.
That's why it really pays off to pay attention...
Looking at the clouds, how they develop.
Looking at the cloud shadows.
Watching over time how they're developing.
To then help you with your decision on
when and where next to go
when your thermal runs out
or you reach cloudbase, or whatever.
So now as I'm gliding towards this cloud ahead,
which is quite far away.
I'm gliding cross-upwind and
getting quite a bit of sink.
I'm also looking
for any signs of lift. (Vario beeps)
One of the key things we get around here is birds.
(Vario beeps)
One of the main ones I look out for,
mainly 'cause they're easier to see, are gulls. [Birds of prey are much harder to see.]
(Vario beeps)
I'm gonna carry on this way.
Sometimes you have to commit.
So I'm committing to this cloud.
'Cause that looks like my best chance of getting up.
Oh, this is wonderful.
(Vario beeps)
It's good to be alive!
People ask me sometimes: "Why do you fly?"
(Carlo laughs) (Vario beeps)
Of course it's not everyone's cup of tea,
but I'm generally thinking: "Why wouldn't you fly?"
Okay, it's dangerous. (Vario beeps)
Fair enough. (Vario beeps)
You can get hurt.
(Vario beeps)
But that's why you do everything you can
to put everything in your favour for your safety.
(Vario beeps)
And then you get to enjoy experiences like this.
Woohoo! (Vario beeps)
It's cold up here.
(light upbeat music)
It's a wee bit nippy up here!
(light upbeat music) (Vario beeps)
Woohoo!
(upbeat music)