We had a rough flying day last Saturday, with 12/14km/h of wind from Est and sudden, gusty +6m/s thermals (
https://www.xcontest.org/italia/voli/de ... #fd=flight ).
Feltre (IT) mountain range is an amazing area to fly, but it can be demanding when strong condition is on. Paragliding World Championship will be held here in July and we could not miss the opportunity to visit the "other side" of our usual site.
Time to test my new UP Trango X-Race, size M loaded at 112kg.
What I like:
- the wing is flawless in strong alpine condition:
* in strong turbulence it reacts dampening the first part of the shots (I mean a couple of tenth of a second, not more), so you can act in time to apply the right traction on the brakes/C-lines and/or roll your center of gravity in the harness to be always in control of your route.
* in strong thermal it is absolutely reliable: solid and quick on turning and very efficient on climbing. It is possible to turn very tight, trying to trap the fast and flickering bubble that just leaving the ground and it also is profitable when larger radius is required in wide thermals.
The wing is very upstanding and you can trust on it in the worst situation you can experiment in a long day of alpine XC.
- it has very good L/D and it remains good at second bar (my second bar keep 4cm from pulley to pulley). I'm sorry, but I prefer to have more hours on my new Trango before test full bar in turbulence... I will tell you next.
In the end, I agree with all the benefits Ziad reported about this wing and IMHO:
- it requires a pilot able to control a D (in the middle of the D class) wing. My old Gin GTO2 was more nervous and a little more demanding than this Trango X-Race.
- It feels like a real C class for safety. We will wait for any concrete evidence from the real (SIV, video, etc...) to confirm it. But I'm pretty sure I won't be undermined.
- It is very nice glider to lead and very effective in hooking up thermals. Maybe, the last is one of the best tool Trango X-Race has in its equipment.
- Performances are equal to the last EN D on the market (GTO2, M6 ), but less demanding. But, again, we have to wait results in competition for assuming this for real.What I do not like:
- Second speed bar becomes hard to push and it can be tiring to keep on during long transition.
- C-balls are effective, but they are too hard to pull for me. It feels like every action resulting from pulling the C-balls turn out to be too slow in order to work properly. Time to work in the gym to get fit!