[jany77]

i flown falcon 170 on beach its nothing compare to pulse it does not has that penetration you need crosing the low dunes at light winds

[hiflioz]

[waltspoint]

The low dunes at Marina are, what, maybe 1 meter? Less, trying to get some lift off of that driftwood log? I'm guessing that Jany77 has in mind a decent glide & sink through patches of almost no lift when mentioning penetration.

I'll be down at Marina with my Freedom later this spring, and we'll see how it stacks up. It seems to do noticably better than a Falcon in glide and sink, but not as nimble at slow speeds. I'm figuring I'd do better on a Falcon195 on the lightest days, but Freedom170 would win out when there's a bit of a push off the ocean. I've got high hopes! /jd

[jany77]

im very courious how the freedom will perform here on marina beach since im thinking get new wing next year and freedom was one of the choices ,the dunes here starting with sloping beach and than they become real dunes ranging from 5-20' and about 1/2 mile in lenght than there is gap between those and the bigger dunes ranging from 20'-150' when i was flying mark iv i never make it over the gap i have to relounch from what we call it north dune and than continue since i have pulse im flying over the gap at 8-15',and that is big differnce ,so i never relounch ,before i bought my pulse i tried several different wings and most of locals flying the wing i mention pulse,spectrum,formula,sport2 ,i even flown big falcon 195 which is realy big for my weight ,im not saying those wings you guys mention are bad im just talking with my experience from beach dune going ,we fly in winds from 10 and up miles the most we can take here is about 20 but even that is strong ,some guy flying in stronger winds ,but the best wind so far seems to be W 14 mph

[clifft]

take a look at you tube vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVSwRBeL8is to get an idea of what I mean

[clifft]

and here is another of an older glider doing it oh so well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCSCE2NN0YI

[clifft]

and here is another, get my drift? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N24NgmVKo1Q

[IcRus]

My vote is on the Falcon 3 195...I have flown it and the 10M Pulse on the beach.

The Falcon 3 has better penetration than its predecesors and turns on a dime.
My 9 yo son on the Falcon 3
[/img]

And the Pulse

[jany77]

in this case you should go with biggest wing you can find lot area will help,i didnot know that you guys flying as i say walmart curb ,i was just talking from my experience from marina beach ,it makes big difference if you fly 7 miles or 70 yards long beach

[hiflioz]

[kamikaze]

[clifft]

kamikaze that vid of yours looks to me like just the right amount of FUN or Malibu.
try some coconut airways
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fATG4qAWmVU

[kamikaze]

Cant take the credit for that one but anyone know who that is at the beginning
on launch with the wheels...
The vids pre malibu.. but just very relaxing to watch one of my top ten

[Benno]

Hi, a question for RALLYANT and whoever else is familiar with the funky 15,

people say this glider is one of the best SS gliders around and arguably provides slightly more performance and learning experience potential than say a Fun (and the curved wing tips look mad too!), but can it dune goon okay? I am keen to dune goon some of the coastal areas north and south of Sydney sometime after I get my license as I heard dune gooning is a great way to build up hang hours. Of course I want to do higher altitude coastal flying too like Stanwell.

You can't always believe the marketing spiels from each company so any comments would be appreciated.

Cheers

[fakeDecoy]

Kinda depends on what kind of dunes. I know at Marina Beach the dirty gap eats Falcons no matter what the wind speed is. I had a Super Sport that worked well there as a nice balance between glide and control. I hope to try my HPAT there soon.

[J Fritsche]

Sure, there are some differences among the gliders mentioned in this thread, but ultimately they are SO subtle that they hardly matter! EVERY single-surface glider and novice-rated double-surface glider made in the past 20 years (I've tried most of them) is going to do just fine floating around in smooth 20mph winds. Every lower-performance (intentionally lower-performing, that is) glider produced since the late 80s has been sweet-handling and great for dune gooning.

[lizzard]

[Avnav8r]

Hey,

I believe the Freedom http://www.northwing.com/freedom-hang-glider.htm has a higher aspect ratio (6.2-170,6.4-190) than a Funky or Relax/RX2. This may translate to higher performance and penetration. In the loose setting (in the three position haulback), the handling is excellent! The medium setting is stiffer but may provide an edge in stronger winds.

John Stokes

[Flyking]

I love my Dream 220. Easy everything They are hard to come by. I would go with a Falcon 190.

[hiflioz]

When I get my Malibu 166 in the next month or so, I'm hoping to organise a comparison day with two friends on their Falcon3 170 and Fun160. We will hopefully swap around, each fly each glider and record our thoughts on each. Together with our differing weights (relatively low, medium and high wing loadings) and experience levels (30 yrs, 10 yrs, 18 months) the three perspectives should be fascinating!