Montag, 28. April 2014

ADVANCE Sigma 9 Test (english version)

Because someone at the paraglidingforum was asking I have translated my Sigma 9 Testreport to english. I hope you enjoy it...

At the moment we are travelling the world with our Paragliders. We have a Paragliding Travel Blog where you can follow our adventures!

Yesterday at the Testival in Matzendorf I was able to fly the new ADVANCE Sigma 9 in the size 23. As the Weather was better than predicted I was even able to fly some small XC with it.

The Wing

The new Sigma 9 is a 3 liner concept like his predecessor, but with a weight of 4.9kg in size 25 it is 0.7kg lighter than the Sigma 8. Also the size when packed is really small; it's a real hike-and-fly XC wing.
In spite of the weight the construction seems to be durable enough for an everyday wing.
There will be 4 color options available

Farbkombinationen des neuen Sigma 9, Quelle: advance.ch



I tested the Sigma 9 in size 23 (60-85kg). With my SupAir Altirando I had a weight of 84kg all up.

You can find more technical information on the ADVANCE Homepage.

Start

The thin race lines are easy to sort before taking off and the risers are not to small as they are with some other wings.
There was zero wind at the launch site so I choose to forward-launch. The Sigma 9 needed some input to start and had to be guided until it was over my head, otherwise it would "hang" a bit behind (as it is quite normal with EN C wings). There was no tendency to shoot forward, with some light brake input I could almost walk while looking if everything is fine and then after 2-3 steps accelerating I was already flying.



Handling

The thermals were rather small and unreliable and it was not easy to center the wing. Here the Sigma 9 helped because it is able to turn very flat even in narrow circles. It reacts very precise to steering inputs. The handling is easy, it doesn't dive too much. I almost tought it was an EN B wing would it not have been for the short brake travell and the tendency to yaw (or is it to sheer?) in turbulent air.
I did some asymetrics without speedbar and the wing turned no more than 90° but it did dive a bit before opening.

Dave on Sigma 9 25

Performance

The wing turns flat even in narrow thermals and it seems very efficient while thermaling. The gliding is good. I tried it on speedbar and it is also stable.

For further analysis you can find the track on Xcontest.org.

Conclusion

Normally I fly EN B wings but I was feeling very secure under the Sigma 9. It is a fun wing with direct handling and good performance as far as I can tell. I would like to fly it another time, maybe for a bit longer.

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