After almost a year of work, I finally got to fly one of the new WW harnesses. I can't explain how satisfying it was to pin off and zip up for the first time on a nice Florida day after so much work. Fillipo (from the Italian gold medal team) was here and it was such a pleasure to race around on a new sail, in my new harness with him and the others here at Quest.



This project has been so rewarding in so many ways. It has been a true collaboration with some of the people that I have the most respect for in this industry and sport. Objectively and unarguably, Steve Pearson is one of the most experienced and successful designers of hang gliders and hang gliding equipment in the history of our sport. Many don't know but he was the first to do many things relating to harnesses (first cocoon in production, first side mount parachute, etc.) and it's been not just helpful but absolutely necessary for success to have him working with me on this project. Steve and I (along with input from Dustin, Mike and Jeff) came up with what we thought was a good shape as a starting point. Over the months of development, Steve was patient enough to help me understand pattern development, teach me how to use the latest in 3d shapes CAD software and help me to develop some skills necessary to change the patterns to adjust for fit. His experience and expertise were also required to translating what we wanted for components into tangible parts by using the CNC machine and other resources at WW to make our designs reality. Without his involvement, it would have taken me 5-10 years to get to the same place in shape and pattern and it would have been impossible to achieve the same level of component design involved with this harness.



Dustin has been equally important in the product that pilots will receive. For pilots that know him, most are familiar with his scrutiny and "Drag Nazi" tendencies. Believe me when I say, his critical opinion was, and continues to be, necessary to produce what I think people want in a clean comp harness. His motivation to make the best back plate in the world is astounding. He has been working 15 hour days to come up with a lay up and process to achieve the strongest and most durable result possible. He is using ski core technology and believe me when I say, you can stand on top of his back plate and jump up and down on it without it so much as flexing. I am really looking forward to it's test results to be represented by hard numbers after Demo Days. I have a strong suspicion that it will exceed our expectations.



When I arrived at Wills Wing before the drive to Florida, Mike and I had a conversation that made me feel so incredibly lucky to have him support this venture as well. His experience and expertise in establishing industry safety standards for hang gliding have contributed to our sport over the years in a lasting and impacting way. When he mentioned that he wanted to come up with a series of tests and procedures to create a rigorous certification standard for harnesses based on testable structural results, my eyes lit up. I love the idea that we can create a quantifiable test of the structural limitations of the harnesses that we produce. With his level of understanding and execution, it will do nothing but drive the product design to the highest level. I can't wait to start the testing process.



As for my part, I am committed to producing harnesses for pilots needs that fit their expectations based on their flying styles and to the customer service that is helpful both for the customer (pilots) and to me to insure that the folks ordering harnesses get exactly what they want in fit and function. Essentially, the difference in race, comp and XC models will only differ in boot style and choice of options. The construction, attention to detail and overall look of the harness (and certainly customer service) will be vertually the same in most ways.



I have spent a lot of time researching textiles to achieve the balance of all that is required of the material in the place that it is used. For instance, the outer shell material has to be the blend of durability and abrasion resistance along with the correct amount of elasticity to achieve a skin tension that translates the least chance for wrinkles (even with a correct pattern). I feel that things like using a Polyether Polyurethane for the boot area (a thicker version of what is used to build white water rafts and is designed to bounce off rocks) is a huge improvemnt in durability over leather. Coming from a climbing back ground, it is extrememly important to me to balance the duriblity factor with the asthetics and function in a way that those of us passionate about hang gliding will appreciate. I am going to be flying this harness too and want to feel good about what I'm flying in as well as representing.



I wanted to basically say thanks to those involved. I will be taking in air photos to post as soon as the weather improves on Tuesday or Wednesday for pilots to get a better detailed look at the improvements made from the prototype Dustin was flying in the photos on the OZ report. We should be able to start taking orders and will have a sizing and ordering page up on the web site shortly after the Florida Comps are over. During the time between now and then will allow for us to accomplish the load testing and to make whatever necessary changes are required to finalize the harness and ready it for delivery to interested pilots.

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Quite a collaboration...



"Covert" - Feather on a bird which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. To blend the body into the wings.

It's been over a year since the brainstorming sessions started, and I spent almost three hours up in a Covert harness yesterday. Objectively, it's great, and already there's talk of further improvement and renovation.





The project has been a collaboration between Wills Wing, Jeff Shapiro, and Dustin Martin. For Shapiro, several aspects of his past have melded toward this culmination. First there was design school which included lots of sewing among other creative pursuits. Then there is extensive advanced climbing experience. And of course 15+ years of hang gliding.



Installing backplates and parachutes.

Dustin has been manufacturing all the carbon componentry with Wills Wing supplying the computer drawn 3D molds. Dustin's carbon work has become refined over the past couple of years. Anyone who has one of his instrument pods knows how perfect his friction tolerances are. He's laid up a backplate you can probably park a truck on, and it really gives you peace of mind to see how robust the construction is.

The harness boots are a piece of work as well. I was surprised how light and seemingly fragile the boot was, until I started pushing on it with my hands. Feather light construction, yet much more stout than the weight indicates.



Straight out of the climbing industry, Shapiro has constructed "screamer" type parachute connections to reduce opening shock by hundreds of pounds during a high speed deployment.

The keystone of the collaboration has been Wills Wing. They have brought the computer aided design to the table and have provided the molds, templates, and components which is the cornerstone of the design. Nothing on on the harness is linear, it's ergonomic and organic in shape, with state of the art components.



First fitting sessions in the harness. Note the lack of any 'shelf' behind the shoulders. The parachute compartment has been completely rethought, making it truly possible to open the container with either hand. The backplate has compound ergonomic curves to conform to the back with just enough room for pitch hardware.



Jeff Shapiro in his harness. I'll have to get a shot of the drogue chute deployment as it's a revolutionary design.



The heart of the backplate is a CNC'd slider chip from solid billet. The chip is Teflon coated and the slider sandwiches another Teflon coated plate to provide slippery transitions from prone to upright. Wills Wing's expertise has been invaluable with the generation of components like this along with fabric patterns, composite molds, and construction insight.



Note the compound curves on the slider chip flanges to conform perfectly to the backplate.



The skin is CLEAN, again with no shelf behind the shoulders and reduced cross sectional area behind the parachute containers.

So how does the harness fly? Great. After a five month break, I needed a long flight yesterday to orient myself to the harness. The harness cradles and supports without pressure points. It pitches up and down effortlessly, and feels tight and clean. See below how happy it feels :)



Note the camera pocket with welded seams. There's a structural lanyard bungee inside.

I'm looking forward to getting in flight photos of the harness next including rocked up landing photos. More to come...

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It's a soggy foggy morning. Soggy from the rain last night, foggy from the bottle of whiskey we polished off at 3am. I'm HAPPY to be here. Back to LIVING.



The boys rolled in before 11pm last night and we chatted away until we were the last standing. Sun is streaming in the clubhouse windows this morning, classical music in the background, the smell of coffee. The usual suspects milling about quietly. Deep breath in... Ahhhhh....



We might not fly today due to possible rain or wind, but there's plenty to do regardless. More soon.

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The boys with the trailer are somewhere in Louisiana rolling east. I'm sitting on the floor at the airport, soaking up free wifi, waiting on my flight. Got a shine on watching a jazz band last night and hence it's a foggy morning. Proper way to start a travel. Airport network won't let me upload photos.

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The crew is in AZ somewhere last I heard. Blew out of the LA basin at 3am. The two caffeinated fools won't sleep tonight so we'll see when they send me another update.



Resurrection (for me) is imminent.

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How NOT to do it... Thanks to Eric Donaldson

VIDEO HERE

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Video I've seen in quite sometime.

VIDEO

http://www.zapiks.com/speed-riding-antoine-montant-1.html

The North face of Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix. I've seen the terrain. It's shown briefly at the beginning of the video. Antoine triggers the avalanche and simply pulls up to escape.

This is absolutely the future of ski films. He hits knife edge ridges skipping off thousand foot cliffs and gliding to the next. Avalanches are dispatched with pitch.

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Ryan Voight, South side - Point of the Mountain - 3.2.10

VIDEO HERE

Feeling Good on the South Side from Ryan Voight on Vimeo.

The last week has been exciting for me. I finished the final prototype of the Wills Wing "Covert" before starting to build 4 team harnesses signifying the "pre-release production phase".



This being the first that will be flown, I felt pretty strong satisfaction boxing it up and shipping it off to Florida to get some much appreciated feed back from Dustin. It's too snowy to access any of the flying sites here in Missoula so it was a huge benefit to have someone, who's opinion I respect, ready and willing to test it out for me. I decided to simplify the overall package to make for clean lines while retaining the same chute deployment layout and structure. I was pleased with the understated result and based on the finished proto, am looking forward to building the harness that I'll race on this season.



Dustin has the lay up dialed for the back plate and the boot. Apparently, the back plate is strong enough to kill a donkey with. He said this morning, "I could drive up onto this thing with my car to change the transmission". Sounds pretty freakin strong. It will be nice to not have to worry about mid loop carbon failures on the back plate! Believe me;-)



I will have at least a couple finished to see, hands on, at Demo Days later this month and plan to be ready to take orders and measurements during the event. I'm really excited to start building custom harnesses for pilots around the world and am happy with where we are at in the progression toward achieving that goal. I will make sure to post "in air" photos as soon as Dustin is able to get some.



On a bit of a whim, I took Saturday off to go and "celebrate" a little. Haven't been doing much in the way of exercise lately so when my friends, Jim and Lori Chase, called to see if I wanted to go run the "SnoJoke 1/2 marathon" with them, I said, why not. It's an annual winter event that makes a lap around the scenic Seeley Lake here in western Montana. Not a real long one, but over 500 people showed up and it was cool to have good conversation with new people while running in a beautiful place. There was less snow and ice on the course than most years so it ended up being really pleasant and a great way to enjoy the afternoon.

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