At the last Coupe Icare Ukrainian pilot and harness designer Volodymyr Perevavlov from Nearbirds introduced me to the company’s Apex pod harness. As their lightweight pod for hike-and-fly it sits at the lightest end of their pod-harness range. Others in this category include harnesses like the Advance Weightless, Ozone F-Race 2, Supair Strike 3, Niviuk Arrow P2, Woody Valley Race and Neo Stay Up, to name a handful.
Materials and protection
To reach its weight of 1.7kg for the large size most of the outside of the pod is made of rip-stop, so this will need to be treated with respect. This is normal for this class of harness and it doesn’t feel as flimsy as some.
There is a section of Lycra in the pod to allow for some stretch, and the seat area is made from thicker material. There is no seatboard or...
