Air Design at Coupe Icare 2023: The Ronin, Livi and Vivo 2, and New Sock and Le Slip Harnesses
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 2023 Coupe Icare in Saint-Hilaire, France, the Austrian paraglider manufacturer Air Design showed its latest products at its stand. Two members of the team did the presenting. Test pilot Mike gave a quick rundown of the new gliders and harnesses. Nicholas, who co-designs all of Air Design's harnesses, then went through the harness range in detail. His main point was how the company cuts weight while keeping comfort by changing the construction itself.
New gliders: the Ronin and the Livi / Vivo 2
Mike started with the Ronin, Air Design's new single-skin glider. He described it as faster and smaller, with weights starting from 1 kilo. He gave no further detail on its specifications.
Next was a new low-B glider, the Vivo 2. It also comes in a lighter version called the Livi, which Mike described as the light version of the Vivo 2.
He also briefly mentioned the new pod harness, the Sock Super Light. According to Mike, it is 1 kilo lighter than the standard version and starts from 1.4 kilos.
Mike hinted that more products are on the way. He said he wasn't allowed to talk about plans for next year, and that the company would announce them when they are finished. With that, he handed over to the harness presentation.
The Sock: a pod harness for cross-country and everyday flying
Nicholas began with the standard Sock. He described it as a pod harness for cross-country and everyday use. It is already a light harness, but he stressed that it is also robust, and said there is no reason not to use it for everyday flights.
The key feature he highlighted was the seat design. The Sock has no seat board. Instead, the leg straps have a specific design. Nicholas said this keeps the harness stable in all conditions while still giving good agility and efficient weight shifting. He described the bags as quite strong and comfortable.
Other features he pointed out:
- A front container for the rescue parachute, connected to the shoulders
- Lots of pockets
- Plenty of room in the back
He summed it up as a truly multi-purpose harness.
The Sock Super Light: same construction, lighter materials
The Super Light version is derived from the standard Sock. On the stand, sizes were shown in different colours: medium is blue, large is lime, and small is red.
Nicholas said the construction, structure, and level of comfort are exactly the same as the standard version. The difference is that every heavier material has been replaced with a super-light one. For example, there is no foam in the back. The comfort comes from the construction and design rather than from padding.
He gave the weights for the large size. The Super Light version weighs 1.8 kg, while the heavier standard version weighs 2.8 kg. That is a saving of 1 kilo for what he called a very similar harness.
He also showed a packed medium-size Sock Super Light, which he said weighed 1.75 kilos. He named several uses it is perfect for:
- Traveling
- Hike-and-fly racing
- Vol-biv (bivouac) flying
- Fitting into a small kit on a plane
When the interviewer remarked on how small it packs, Nicholas agreed. He said the team was very happy with it and that it is still comfortable.
Le Slip: a new version of the superlight mountain harness
The other harness launched at Coupe Icare was a new version of Le Slip, Air Design's superlight mountain harness. Nicholas said it weighs 240 to 250 grams, depending on size.
The main change from previous generations is more sizes. There are now three sizes plus a very small kid size. The kid size is intended for young pilots, or for tandem flights with children.
Nicholas explained the name: "slip" is the French word for men's underwear. He said the harness feels like wearing your underwear, super comfy while still super light. As with the Sock Super Light, he emphasized that the comfort comes mainly from the design.
He listed several more features:
- Two back adjustment positions, for leaning a bit further forward or back. He described the adjustment as very simple.
- An optional airbag back protector. He said it gets very good shock-absorption results.
- More accessories that are currently in preparation.
He closed by saying that was all Air Design could share about its new harnesses for now. Together with Mike's comment that he couldn't discuss next year's plans, the presentation ended with the suggestion that more products are coming.
Hi, I'm Mike from Air Design. I'm the test pilot of Air Design. I will introduce you into our new product.
We have the Ronin. It's our new single skin glider. It's faster, it's smaller, it's up from 1 kilo.
We also have a new low B glider. It's a Livi or Vivo 2. Livi is the light version of the Vivo 2.
And we also have the new pod harness, the Sock Superlight. It's 1 kilo lighter than the standard version. It starts from 1.4 kilos.
That's the news for now, but there's some stuff coming in the future also. I'm not allowed to tell you for next year, we just say when it's finished, but this is for now.
Okay, so let's show me about... Yeah, we go and have a look to the harness. Let's go.
Hi, I'm Nicholas from Air Design and I'm here on the Air Design stand at the Coupe Icare. I will present you the harnesses because I'm a co-designer for all the harnesses for Air Design. So quickly the range.
This is the Sock. It's a pod harness for cross country and everyday use. It's already a light harness, light and robust. There's no reason why you wouldn't use that for everyday flight.
It's a specific construction with a seat which has no seat board but a specific design for the leg straps that helps you to keep a good stability for the harness in all conditions, but also a very good agility and weight shifting efficiency. Quite strong and comfortable bags.
One more detail: it's a front container for the rescue, which is connected to the shoulders. Lots of pockets, lot of room in the back, really multi-purpose harness.
And from this harness we have designed a super light version, so I'll lead you to that one.
Here you see different colors. It's just a different size with a different color. The medium size for instance is blue, whereas the large size is lime and the small size is red. So that's the large size for instance.
So it's exactly the same construction, the same structure, the same level of comfort, but every heavier material has been replaced by super light material. So there is no foam in the back; the comfort comes from the construction and the design.
Here for this large size harness we are at 1.8 kilo, whereas the heavier version is only 2.8 kilo. So we save 1 kilo for really similar harness, but all lighter.
I can show you briefly, if you follow me, how it looks like when it's packed.
So this is the super light pod harness. That's a medium size inside, it's 1.75 kilo, and that's the perfect harness for traveling, but also for hike and fly racing, for bivy flying, and for traveling in your short small kit in the plane for instance.
Unbelievably small. Yeah, it's very small, we're super happy, and still comfortable as I said.
The other product we are launching at Coupe Icare is the new version of Le Slip, our superlight mountain harness. So here we are at 240, 250 g depending on the size.
What's new compared to the previous generations: there are more sizes. We now have three sizes plus a kid size, very small, for young pilots or for tandem flying with kids.
So a lot of comfort, but mainly through design. It's called the Slip; it's the name of the underwear, the male underwear, in French. The design of it feels like you're in your underwear. It's super comfy and still super light.
Two positions for back adjustments, leaning a bit more forward or backwards, very simple. You can connect an airbag to it, a back protector, which has a very good result in terms of shock absorption. And then some more accessories are in preparation.
So that's what we can say for what's new here in terms of harnesses.
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