HGFA Skysailor Magazine

24 SKY SAILOR March | April 2019 The first 70km were up and down (as one would expect), between 1500 to 2500m, as we individually flew our separate routes through dominantly blue skies. I enthusiastically enjoyed the passive safety of the EN-B, performing some fun helico thermalling and basic acro at the top of most climbs, something I miss flying higher AR wings. The afternoon sky transformed into a beautiful patchwork of thermal marking cumulus clouds as we all coincidently met up and continued enjoying the flight as a small gaggle. We progressed faster with stronger climbs (up to 9.7m/sec) and a higher cloudbase, while the winds remained light and variable. Towards the end of the day, we eventually hit a 6km/h headwind, just as we nervously glided over a large 9km tree crossing. After six and half hours of sailing the skies and the sun low on the horizon, we began our final glide. Following a quick google of the nearest pub, we set our goal to the adjacent field and wing-overed down with five minutes to spare before closing time. A great feeling to all land together, 166km away with a stunning sunset and beers at the ready. While I was impressed that I managed to keep up with high end gliders, it was not that surprising. The trim speed of the EN-B Gravis was very comparable to the EN-Ds, and although glide was marginally worse; e.g. arriving above goal approximately 200m lower on the final 10km glide; it was extremely easy to core the thermals at very similar, if not better climb rate. The most notable performance differences were the speed and glide on bar, with top speed slower than the EN-Ds and the glide angle deteriorating past half bar. I rarely used more than half bar on the flight, but Step Down to Step Up