My brand spanking new, extra large Ozone Mantra R09 proto has finally arrived, just in time to be taken to Mexico.
I spoke with Dav Dagault (the Ozone designer) to discuss the new glider and he talked long and hard about sail cloth tension, wing warping speed bar systems, mini-ribs, low percentage chord ratios and loads of other stuff that I nodded sagely about to make it look as though I understood what he was talking about.
“What does it go like and will it kill me?” I asked when he finally ran out of steam, neatly summarising what most comp pilots want to know about their new gliders.
“Oh, and will it be cheap?” I added, getting the third and most important question out of the way.
This got me thinking about the thankless task of designers of comp wings. They toil long and hard in difficult conditions trying to get these super-high performance gliders to fly properly and then all their customers want to know is if they’ll get them free or cheap followed by a lot of moaning if they don’t fly much better than all the other comp wings.
Of course when things go well us pilots take all the glory for our intelligent lines and masterful reading of the wind and thermals. When things don’t work out the glider flies like a ‘lead balloon’, if the reserve gets thrown it’s a ‘death-ship’ (neatly forgetting the fact that the pilot was usually hard on the bar and lee-side), if we are just short of goal the glide is ‘worse than a DHV 2/3’ and fluffed take offs render it a ‘pig to ground handle’ to anyone willing to listen.
Bearing this in mind why do companies spend tens of thousands of Euros making these things for a bunch of ungrateful, penny-pinching, self-obsessed comp pilots who don’t want to pay for them in the first place?
Perhaps it’s the knock on effect of the technology on the rest of the brand’s wings or maybe the prestige of making the best glider on planet. It could be so that they have something to discuss and show off to the all the other designers when they meet up at St Hilaire each year. Or maybe it’s the feeling of satisfaction watching some lunatic pilot push it to the limit and beyond in a PWC or World Champs.
All I know is that I’m glad Ozone agreed to make me a super-sized comp glider or my 130kg+ all up bulk would be about to have to compete at the Worlds on a small tandem with some thin lines bodged onto it.
Thanks Dav – I owe you a beer!
(Just don’t expect the money for the glider anytime soon… ☺)
Mark H
