GIN Gliders' 2024 Lineup: Bonanza 3, Yeti 6, and the Genie Race 5 Competition Harness
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, a team visited GIN Gliders' booth to ask about the company's newest products. The answers came from Petra, a longtime GIN team pilot who introduced themselves as a former multiple-time world champion. They covered the current Bonanza 3, projects nearing completion, what GIN is working on for the following year, and a close look at a pre-series sample of the new competition harness, the Genie Race 5.
Bonanza 3: a two-liner built for comfort rather than top speed
Petra described the Bonanza 3 as GIN's two-line glider in the EN C class. The design goal, they said, was to make it very comfortable to fly and to give it good climbing, which they called a typical GIN trait. Pilots get a very good feeling in thermals, and Petra joked that the climbing lets you "over climb" your friends.
Petra said the glider is not meant to be the fastest competition wing on the market. It is meant to give pilots enjoyable flights, and it may well be their first two-liner. Petra recommended it to anyone who wants an easy flight on a two-line glider, adding that they hope GIN has hit that target.
Nearing completion: Yeti 6 and a new competition harness
GIN was finishing its new hike-and-fly glider, the Yeti 6. Petra called the competition harness the bigger news. Their reasoning was that competition pilots now "need to fight for every little piece of performance," so the harness has become an area of major development this year. The new harness was due on the market soon.
Petra said GIN cared a lot about two things in this harness: pilot comfort and pilot safety. GIN believes both matter even for competition pilots, and the team tried to improve them.
What's coming next year
Petra said it is always hard to know exactly what will arrive the following year or when. They named two projects in progress: a light version of the Bonanza and new tandem harnesses. They expected many more new products and pointed viewers to GIN's website for announcements.
A closer look at the Genie Race 5
Petra then showed one of the latest pre-series samples of the Genie Race 5 at the booth. They said the aerodynamics are clearly improved. GIN did not focus on aerodynamics alone, though, and safety was also a priority. The harness uses the same back protector as GIN's previous competition model, and it carries two reserves, one on each side.
The cockpit has space to mount instruments where they are easy to see. Under the instruments is a dedicated ballast compartment. Petra explained that some competition pilots need to carry a lot of ballast, and this compartment puts the weight in the right place. There are also additional pockets.
Petra singled out the entry and exit system. Two zippers sit together in one accessible spot, so pilots don't have to reach around searching for them. When asked to demonstrate, Petra showed that before landing you pull one zipper to open the harness and step out easily, and a second zipper closes it. The point, they said, is that you don't have to feel around with your hands to find anything.
Petra also noted the weight. Although the harness looks very large, they said it is lighter than the previous Genie Race 4 because of the materials used, and called that the main achievement. They closed by hoping pilots will be happy with it and do well in competitions. They also made clear that it is strictly a competition harness, intended only for competition pilots.
Hello everybody, K to Japan. My name is Petra Sova. I used to be a few times world champion and Gin team pilot for many, many years. I would like to tell you today something about our new products for this year and probably for next year, what's coming.
Coming, well, Bonanza 3 is our two-liner in the EN-C class. We were trying to make the glider very comfortable to fly, with nice climbing, which is quite usual for Gin gliders: in climbing you have a very good feeling, and it's nice and you can outclimb your friends, so it's quite nice. The aim of this glider is not to be the fastest competition wing on the market, but to give the pilots nice feelings from the flights, probably with the first two-liner in their life, and to be comfortable on it. I think everybody who wants to have an easy flight with a two-liner, I think it's good to try, and hopefully we succeed with this target.
Now we are finishing our hike and fly glider, the new Yeti 6, and also our big news is the competition harness, because now, you know, we need to fight for every little piece of performance. So the harness is this year a big evolution. We produced the Genie Race 5, which is coming on the market very soon, and with this harness we care really a lot about the comfort for the pilot and the safety for the pilot. That's two things which we believe are important, even for the competition pilot, so we try to improve this. We will have a look; we have one of the latest pre-serial here, so I can show you.
For the next year it's always difficult to see what exactly is coming, but we are working, and when it's coming it's difficult to say, but we are working on the light version of Bonanza. So I think next year we also have something new to see. We are working on the new tandem harnesses, and I think there will be many new things coming, and you will get the news from the website soon. Okay, thank you so much. Thank you.
Hello, so I have a pleasure to introduce you the Genie Race 5 harness. You can see the aerodynamics are really improved, and we didn't care only about the aerodynamics, but we care also about the safety, so there is a Koroyd protector, the same as our last competition model. There are two reserves, one on the left, one on the right side. We have a nice space on the cockpit for instruments to be really well visible. We have a special place for the ballast under the instruments; you have a special place for the ballast, so for competition some pilots need to bring a lot of ballast, so like this you can put it in the right place, and you have even the pockets.
And to get in and out of the harness, we have a special system of zippers, where you don't need to go with your hand anywhere, but you have both zippers here and you can open and close quite easily.
Can you show us how to open?
Yes, so when it's closed and you go for landing, you just take this zipper and you easily open and go out of the harness. And you have another zipper to close the harness, so it's quite nice that you don't need to use your hands to try to find something.
Also, what's quite interesting is the weight of the harness, because it looks very big, but in fact it's lighter than our Genie Race 4 because of the materials. We succeeded to have it lighter; that's the main thing. And yeah, I hope the pilots will be happy with the harness and they'll have a big success in the competitions, but for sure it's a competition harness, just for comp pilots. Okay, thank you. Arigato.
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