Flow Paragliders' 2024 Lineup: A 5 kg Competition Harness, a Two-Line EN-C, and a Lighter Freedom 2
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 Coupe Icare 2023 in Saint-Hilaire, France, Philippe, the owner and designer of Flow Paragliders, spoke to Japanese pilots about what the company plans to release at the end of 2023 and into 2024. Several products were still waiting on certification. He covered three in detail: a lightweight competition harness, a new two-line EN-C glider with a provisional name, and a lightweight version of an existing EN-B wing. He spent most of the interview on the two-liner and on where it fits in Flow's range.
Vista XC: a full competition harness at 5 kilos
The first product Philippe described is Flow's first competition cross-country harness, the Vista XC. He called it "a very special harness" mainly because of its weight. According to him, it is a fully featured competition harness that weighs only 5 kilos. It carries two reserves, and it has pockets on either side for a drogue chute. His main selling point was that it combines the full feature set pilots expect from a comp harness with a low overall weight.
The "Flow Mystic": a two-line wing at the top of the EN-C class
The second product is an EN-C two-liner. Philippe said the name was "not 100% yet," but for now the company is calling it the Flow Mystic. It uses nitinol rods and lightweight construction. He gave the weight of the medium size as 3.9 kilos. He said the team was "very happy with it" and planned to start certification after the Coupe Icare, so at the time of the interview the wing was still in development and not yet certified.
He described the Mystic as sitting at the high end of the EN-C class. He listed the kinds of flying it is meant for: hike-and-fly competitions, cross-country competitions, and general cross-country flights. Despite that positioning, he called it "a very easy glider to fly."
Why two-line technology, and where the design comes from
Later in the interview, Philippe explained why he likes the two-line concept. For him, the main benefit is the connection between pilot and wing. He said that when gliding on speed bar, at either 50% or 100% bar, "you feel really connected to the wing," feeling every small bump and able to correct for it.
He said the Mystic draws on the technology and know-how from Flow's high-end gliders, the Spectra 2 and the XRacer 2. He named the airfoils in particular: the profiles used on those high-end wings have been carried over to the EN-C glider.
What he likes most about the wing is its "really compact feel." He described it as cohesive, pleasant to turn, and a wing on which "you feel really safe."
Who the Mystic is meant for
Philippe described two groups of pilots he expects the wing to suit. The first is pilots moving up from the B class or from classic EN-C wings. He believes they will feel comfortable on it. The second is pilots coming down from the EN-D class or the CCC competition class who want something more comfortable. He expects them to find both enjoyment and excitement, because the wing gives "a little bit of speed" and what he called very efficient performance.
Not a Fusion 2
Many people have asked whether the new wing will be called the Fusion 2, and Philippe's answer was no. The Fusion, a classic EN-C, will stay in the range as Flow's entry-level C. The Mystic will be a separate, more advanced C. He compared this to other manufacturers that offer a more advanced C alongside their standard one, and said Flow's lineup will follow the same pattern.
Freedom 2 Light: the hybrid wing in a lightweight build
The third product is the Freedom 2 Light, an EN-B glider based on the Freedom 2. Philippe described the Freedom 2 as Flow's hybrid three/two-liner. The lightweight version was going through certification at the time of the interview. He gave no further details about it.
The interview ended with the Mystic still awaiting certification and its final name still undecided.
Hello Japanese pilots, we are here at Coupe Icare. My name is Philippe, I'm the owner and designer of Flow Paragliders.
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Yes, for the end of this year and next year we have three products. The first one is our first comp cross-country harness. It's a very special harness because it's only 5 kilos and has two reserves. There's two pockets on either side for drogue chute. It's a fully featured competition harness, but it's only 5 kilos. That's the Vista XC.
Yeah, after that explain about that. Okay, for sure.
The other product is the EN-C 2-liner. The name is not 100% yet, but we are calling it the Flow Mystic. And it's built with nitinol rods and in lightweight construction. We want to keep the Fusion in our range, so the Fusion is a classic EN-C, and the Flow Mystic is going to be the two-liner, more like the high end of the EN-C class, so people can use it for hike and fly competitions like Xop start competitions, or cross-country competitions, or just cross-country flights in general. It's a very easy glider to fly. The medium size is 3.9 kilos and we're very happy with it. We're going to start certification after Coupe Icare.
And the other glider is our EN-B, the Freedom 2 Light, which is based on the Freedom 2. Yeah, it's our hybrid 3-2 liner, and we're certifying now in a lightweight version.
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Yeah, I personally love the technology. I really like how the two-liner technology gives the connection pilot-wing. You feel really connected, especially when you're gliding using bar, either 50% bar or when you're 100% full bar. You feel really connected to the wing, you feel every little bump and you can correct.
And with the Y Tana we use all the technology and know-how from the Spectra 2 and the XC Racer 2 and transfer that across, especially the airfoils that we use on those high-end gliders we use on the EN-C glider. And what I like most about it is it gives this really compact feel, so the wing is really cohesive, it's really nice to turn, you feel really safe.
Yeah, for pilots coming from the B class or classic C pilots, they will feel very comfortable, at home. Or the pilots who are coming from the EN-D class or CCC class and they want something more comfortable, they will have a lot of enjoyment and also excitement, because you get a little bit of speed and it's very efficient performance.
Yeah, so a lot of people were asking, "Oh, are you going to call it the Fusion 2?" I said no, it's a different glider. So the Fusion is going to be entry-level C and this is going to be more advanced C. Some other companies have a more advanced C, so ours is going to be like that.
Yeah, sounds quite exciting. Yeah, very. Yeah, thank you so much. Thank you.
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