Théo de Blic has recently been practising his acro routines on a 9.5m² Glitch – “probably the smallest acro paraglider in the world at the moment”.
Like the 14m² Glitch he usually competes on, it’s a development project and not for sale. The high wing loading means everything happens really fast, and even Théo admits it took l him a long time to master flying it well. The question is, does it allow him to do tricks he couldn’t do on a bigger wing?
“When I got it in early December 2021, it was clear to me that it was on a completely different level to any other glider I had ever flown. The 9.5 is the most radical, fastest and most extreme paraglider I have ever flown. It took me several flights to master the simplest tricks, even launches and landings were difficult!
“So, I spent the last two months secretly training with this wing to be able to fly it properly before I could film with it. Today I can finally say I’m flying it properly. I can fly a good amount of the acro tricks – even twisted tricks – and I’m getting more comfortable with it. I feel that soon I will be able to fly all the extreme tricks that are available to me with this glider.
“I’ve also noticed that flying my normal Glitch 14 has become much easier now and this one, although already one of the smallest gliders in the world, seems almost as slow as a tandem…”
