Niviuk's Drifter 2: A "Hybrid" Race Harness That Is Closed but Not Inflated
パラワールド【超多面的パラグライダー情報チャンネル】PARAWORLD
At the Icarus Cup 2023 in Saint-Hilaire, France, Niviuk factory pilot and harness designer walked through the brand's new competition harness, the Drifter 2. His central claim is that Niviuk deliberately did not follow the trend toward fully inflated, pressurized race harnesses. Instead, the company built what he calls a "hybrid": a harness that is fully enclosed for performance but not pressurized, so that it stays easy to set up, use, and get in and out of. He describes it as "the most optimized harness we made until today."
Why a Hybrid Instead of a Fully Inflated Harness
The designer contrasts the Drifter with harnesses that other manufacturers make "completely inflated," naming the Ozone Submarine as an example. Niviuk chose a different approach. The goal, in his words, was something "usable by anyone," durable, and simple to use.
He argues that inflated harnesses are complicated to set up and use: if they are not adjusted correctly, they don't work. The Drifter's leg cover is elastic, so it flexes, and he says this gives more tolerance across different settings. The pilot can adjust everything without needing the precise setup a pressurized harness demands.
Materials, Rescue Pockets, and Comfort
He points out that the harness is made from strong materials. There is a rescue parachute pocket on each side. He describes them as quite large, simple to close, and able to take big reserves. He treats this as a safety point, saying it is good to be able to carry a good rescue.
Niviuk also put a lot of work into comfort. The whole upper body section is shaped in 3D. His reasoning is that pilots fly this kind of harness for hours in competition or cross-country, so it has to be comfortable over long flights.
The team also worked extensively on triangulation. The aim was to balance stability against the freedom to move and to fly efficiently in thermals. The result, he says, is a wide triangulation that remains adjustable.
Aerodynamics: Reducing Drag Through the Front Section
The optimization work covered several areas, and aerodynamics was a major one. Niviuk used 3D simulation to find the best tail shape and length and to see where drag could be cut. The biggest gains, according to the designer, came from the front panel.
That brought the team to the back protector. A large protector means a large frontal section, so Niviuk researched protection heavily. He says the result is a new and innovative protector. He declined to explain how it works, calling it "kind of secret for now" and promising information soon.
He makes strong claims for it. He believes it is the thinnest protector ever certified to EN/LTF, and says it can take multiple impacts without its safety performance changing. The figure he reports is a test result of 40–42 G with only 5.5 cm of protection, which he calls very efficient for that thickness. The thin protector in turn shrinks the front section and reduces drag.
Getting In: Jacket, Leg Cover, and Closing the Harness
He then demonstrated how the harness closes. The harness has two parts: a jacket, and a leg cover that closes against it. The pilot gets into the harness, then closes the leg cover by pulling a line upward. Once in, the pilot is fully enclosed. He made a small adjustment and showed that everything was sealed.
Instruments Inside, Yet Easy to Reach
Because the harness is not pressurized, the instruments can sit inside the enclosure. They are placed just behind a window in front of the pilot. The pilot can put a hand inside to touch them without losing any pressure, since there is no pressure to lose. The designer says having everything enclosed like this performs much better than before, while the instruments stay easy to see and reach.
Exiting Before Landing and Venting in the Heat
He stresses that the closed design does not make the harness hard to leave. Near the landing, the pilot just pushes the feet out and can step out of the harness easily. He counts this as a safety advantage.
The same logic applies to heat. In hot conditions or hot locations during competitions, the pilot can open the zipper and part of the harness to get fresh air. He says this won't affect the tail or anything else, because the tail is inflated through two air intakes on the sides, not through the nose.
He closes by calling the Drifter 2 "a good compromise": enclosed and aerodynamically optimized, but free of the setup demands and handling constraints he associates with fully inflated harnesses.
So here you have the new Drifter. Drifter is our new competition harness. I think it's the most optimized harness we made until today. We chose the option to make something hybrid. By hybrid, what I mean is we don't make something completely inflated like the others are making, like Ozone with the Submarine. We chose a different approach. For us, the idea was to make something usable by anyone, durable and, yeah, simple to use.
You can see that it's in strong material. You have the pockets for the rescue on each side that are quite big, simple to close and accepting big rescues also. And for me, I think as a safety point, it's good to have the possibility to put some good rescue in it.
And after, checking inside, we also really worked on the comfort. All the body, all the top part, all this part is worked in 3D in order to make something very comfortable. And this is really a harness that you will fly for hours in competition or in cross country. You will fly for hours, so you need to have something comfortable.
We also worked a lot on the triangulation to have something well balanced between stability and the possibility to move and to be efficient in the thermal. So it's something that we worked on quite a lot, with a big triangulation but making it adjustable and efficient.
Then what we made on this harness was optimization in different aspects. The optimization of the aerodynamics: we worked a lot in 3D simulation in order to find the best shape for the tail, the balance, and also to see where we can reduce the drag. Where we reduced the drag was on the front part, on the front panel, and that's going through the protection, because if you have a huge protection, you have a huge front section.
So we made a lot of research on the protection side and we came with a really new and really innovative protection. Actually, I cannot tell you more about what it is. It's kind of secret for now, but you will have information soon. I think we have the thinnest protection ever made certified EN/LTF. And with this protection you can do many impacts with the same protection without changing the safety. And the result: we are at 42 G with only 5.5 cm of protection. Oh yeah, this is really efficient for such a thickness, and this thickness of protection helps us to reduce the front section and reduce the drag.
And after, I will show you a bit how it's closed, because as I said, it's a hybrid harness. Everything is closed but not inflated. Not inflated means that you can put your arm inside, you can access your instruments super easily, and without losing the pressure because it's not pressurized. So yeah, you will see.
In this, all the cover leg is elastic, so it's flexible. You have the possibility to adjust everything and you have flexibility in the adjustments, compared to the harnesses that are inflated and are complicated to set and to use. If you are not well set, it's not working. Here there's more tolerance between the different settings.
You have two parts. I keep the microphone out, but yeah, you have the jacket and you can close the cover leg with this. And then you go inside the harness. Up here, you close the cover leg by pulling this line up, and here you are fully inside. I adjust it a bit.
And here you can see that everything is closed, but as I said, it's not pressurized, so you can access the instruments that are inside. Okay, they are inside, but it's super easy to access. You have the possibility to go inside by this and to touch your instruments that are just here in front of the window. They are inside here, and it's easy to see and easy to access.
And in terms of performance, to have all this closed is much better than before. But as I said, it's easy to go in, to go out. When you are close to the landing, you just have to put your feet out, do like this, and you can go outside of the harness. It's super easy, and for safety it's a good point.
And it's the same when it's super hot, when you are in hot places, when you are doing competition. As it's not pressurized, again, you can open the zipper, you can breathe a bit, you can open here a bit, you can have some fresh air inside, and it will not affect the tail. It will not affect anything, because the tail is inflated by the two intakes that are on the side and not from the nose. So yeah, I think it's a good compromise.
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