Design Insight: Mini Tandems

There are tandems, and there are mini tandems – gliders designed for two but also made for a specific set of circumstances: high-wind soaring at the coast or in laminar conditions; and flying lighter pilots or passengers. “No fly, no eat” is the pro tandem pilots mantra, so these wings help tandem pilots fly more often.

It’s a specialist arena, and until recently Little Cloud was the main player: they brought out their 31m2 Bidule (EN C and D, depending on size) over a decade ago and have recently announced the Puffin Bi (load-tested only) for high-wind soaring. 

Last year, however, Gin Gliders entered the field with the Fuse mini (EN B, 32m2 and 35m2), a tandem designed to allow professional tandem pilots to expand their operation both for light pilots and for stronger conditions. For comparison, a typical standard tandem will be 38m2 in the small size, up to 44m2 in a large size.

Announcing the glider last year owner and designer Gin Seok Song said he’d been inspired watching tandems flying in strong wind in South Korea and on the Atlantic coast. “The pilots told me they flew all the time, and they had different sized tandems for different wind strengths,” he said. 

We talked to designers Gin Seok Song and Tom Bourdeau from Little Cloud about the challenges of creating these small tandems – and what pilots should know about...