I am loving every second of it. I got to meet a comp pilot named Chris. He gave me some really good tips on flying. We are already strategizing a XC for the spring. I am saving every penny I can for a new wing. I need something that can take me the distance. I am flying a 30m 1-2 Ozone Vibe from 2004. Its in good condition for the age, but I need something that is a little quicker if I am going to fly XC. Where is Hat Creek?
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PS. If you're looking for a new wing buying one used with maybe a year of air time is often a great deal. Your instructor will often want you to buy new from them but I got mine on eBay in great shape. There is also a "paragliding gear for sale" group on Facebook that has many wings up for grabs every week.
If the wing doesn't have a recent inspection you can suggest they do the sale contingent on inspection. They send it in for inspection and have the person doing talk to you after, if you're happy with the result send the seller the money and get the inspector to mail it direct to you with authorization from the seller.
A fair thing to do would be to offer to split the inspection costs if you buy. If you don't then they have a new inspection that will help sell the wing. If they don't want to do an inspection that's a red flag to me.
That is a great idea. Thank you
Oh I think you'll definitely notice an improvement with an current design wing. I started out on a 1999 Gin Bolero (DHV-1 EN-A). Flew it in the mountains for a long time before upgrading to an Airwave Sport 4 (DHV-1-2 EN-B) and it was an instant win in terms of thermal and glide performance. I still have it and I got it out to kite a few years back - that wing is soooo heavy and soooo slow. When I wore out the Sport 4 I went to a Nova Ion 3 Light and stepped down a size. Again, night and day in how responsive it is, and much more stable - in three seasons of flying I don't recall having more than a 25% asym collapse and no frontals. Having a wing that is solid as a rock is very confidence building when you're flying in shitty mountain air. I mean you usually get used to stuff - but the first time I saw my Sport 4 go below me after a massive sink induced frontal... well I wasn't happy and it cut my flight short.
Hat Creek is in NorCal - just north of Lassen. It's a 2000' volanic ridge that is usually only for evening ridge soaring / glass off - it generally howls from noon onwards in the summer. So unless you're into an epic and super spicy ride over the back and into the wilderness you'll launch about an hour or two before sunset as the wind backs off (if it backs off) and soar / glass-off until sun-down.