News

New developments at Gin Gliders

Fri, 03 May 2013 12:00:00 +0100

This spring has seen some personnel changes in the GIN R&D team. Torsten Siegel has joined Gin Seok Song to work as designer and test pilot with the R&D team in Europe and Korea.

Koni Schafroth, Swiss inventor and engineer, is another addition to the team. Koni has used aerodynamics technology from his Aerospace research to develop EPT—"Equalized Pressure Technology"—first introduced on the Boomerang 9 and Atlas. EPT incorporates a CFD (computational fluid dynamics) approach to find the optimum parameters for any given airfoil.

Adrian Thomas, University of Oxford professor of Biomechanics and World Cup pilot, has also been collaborating with Gin in a consultancy role.

Meanwhile, Robert Graham, designer with GIN since 2004, has left the company to pursue more fully his passion for kite design. We thank him for his contribution over many years and wish him well with his future venture.

The new R&D team is busy putting the finishing touches to several new wings. Torsten comments, "It's an exciting time to join GIN and I am looking forward to taking our new technology a step further and to an even wider range of pilots. Gin and myself have a shared passion for competition paragliding, so we're naturally on the same wavelength. The whole team have been so welcoming and I already feel part of the family."

Torsten and Gin

Torsten and Max (Gin's dog)

New National paragliding record: 161km on the Atlas in South Korea

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0100

On 21st April, Kang Hyuk Lim flew 161km on the GIN Atlas, the longest ever paragliding flight on the Korean peninsular.

The turbulent spring thermals, strong winds and mountainous terrain meant challenging conditions. Most pilots were grounded for the day.

But Lim, a highly experienced XC pilot, felt comfortable during the whole flight—despite groundspeeds of up to 90km/h. "It was the security and stability of the Atlas that made such a flight possible in these conditions. Thank you Gin Gliders, for producing a glider that is so wonderful to fly!", said Lim.

Download the tracklog

World Cup Brazil: GIN Boomerang 9's 1st and 2nd

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Congratulations to Michael Sigel and Adrian Hachen, 1st and 2nd in the Paragliding World Cup Brazil in Baixo Guandu. Conditions during the competition were weak and the battle for the top places was fierce. Overall, 7 Boomerang 9's placed in the top 10.

The full results are here, task reports on the GIN team blog. Thanks to Adrian Hachen for the photos.

GIN Gingo Airlite harness Inspection Recall

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0100

Gin Gliders Inc. are recalling the last Gingo Airlite model (launched in 2012) for inspection as a precautionary measure to ensure that the product, after use, still meets our standards of quality.

We kindly ask owners of affected harnesses (serial numbers whose 3rd and 4th digits contain "12" i.e. xx12-xxxx) to contact their local GIN dealer where they purchased the harness, to return their harness for factory inspection.

Gin Gliders — 15.4.2013

The GIN Wide Open: Meduno, Italy 19-26th May

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:00:00 +0000

The GIN Wide Open is a new fun paragliding competition and annual flying event aimed at XC pilots wishing to improve their skills, get a taste of competition flying, or just have fun with friends and meet pilots from around the world.

The GIN Wide Open takes place from 19-26th May in Meduno, Italy. The site was chosen for its huge grassy launch, plentiful land-out options and reliable flying conditions. The competition is ideal for pilots wishing to improve their flying skills—there will be detailed task briefs/de-briefs and talks by experienced XC and competition pilots including GIN team pilots. For the running of the competition, we have teamed up with professional guides and competition organizers Brett Janaway and Toby Colombé.

All competitors will be eligible for the prize draw to win a GIN paraglider, harness or rescue parachute, in addition to other great prizes.

For full details and to reserve your place now, see www.flywideopen.org

Japanese league round 2: Another victory for the Boomerang 9

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:00:00 +0000

GIN test pilot Kaoru "Ogi" Ogisawa won the second round of the JPA Japanese league, held at Koo on 23-24th March. Ogi was the only pilot to make the 50km goal in the strong wind. Overall, the 5 Boomerang 9's in the competition finished in the top 6.

This success follows Shoichiro Tadano's win in the first round of the 2013 Japanese League in January in Asagiri, also on the Boomerang 9.

Both Ogi and Shoichiro will fly GIN in the Red Bull X-Alps—see their profiles here.

Full results

Andre Rainsford wins World Cup South Africa on the Boomerang 9

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 12:00:00 +0000

After some uncooperative weather in the early stages of the competition, conditions improved to allow some good racing. Andre Rainsford won the penultimate task and kept his cool in the final task to secure overall victory.

Thanks and congratulations Andre!

Full overall results

Grant Middendorf wins New Zealand Championships

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 21:00:00 +0000

GIN pilot Grant Middendorf won the New Zealand Championships and Open held at Wanaka, New Zealand February 1st - February 9th. Evan Lamberton also made the podium, finishing 3rd. GIN distributor Eva Walton was 2nd woman (11th overall).

All pilots flew the Boomerang X.

Full results here

Grant Middendorf

Grant Middendorf, Dominique Guenard, Evan Lamberton

Eva Walton

New Touch-tech glove

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:00:00 +0000

The new GIN Touch-tech glove is an ideal all-round paragliding glove for warmer conditions. The Conductive PU technology woven into the polyester palm makes it easy to use touch-screen devices and the tough nylon shell keeps out the wind. With the increased dexterity of the Touch-tech glove you can easily operate all your instruments and better feel the air through your brake lines.

More details here

Aaron Durogati World Cup Champion on the Boomerang 9

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:00:00 +0000

GIN factory pilot Aaron Durogati (I) flew his Boomerang 9 to victory in the PWC Superfinal 2012, held in Roldanillo, Colombia 15-26th January. Congratulations, Aaron!

Michael Maurer (CH), also on the Boomerang 9, was 2nd and there were strong performances from Jimmy Pacher, 7th and Anders Baerheim, 18th.

The Boomerang 9 is the first wing featuring GIN's new optimized airfoil technology and is the result of many hours of development work by the test pilots. Special thanks to Kaoru Ogisawa and the team in Japan.

GIN team pilots are looking forward to the 2013 competition season, and leisure and XC pilots will soon be able to enjoy our new serial wings featuring airfoil technology derived from the Boomerang 9 project.

Read the inside story on the GIN team blog

Full overall results

The GIN Atlas in Morocco

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 12:00:00 +0000

At the end of last year, GIN pilots and photographer Jerome Maupoint took the GIN Atlas, our forthcoming EN B wing, for a photoshooting in Morocco.

Jerome takes up the story:

"In December, the forthcoming EN B wing from GIN passed EN flight tests, and soon after I received 3 pre-serial wings to go for a photoshooting. We had already planned to go to Morocco, to the classic flying sites of Aguergour and Ait Ourir. These famous ridges are about 30kms in front of the Atlas range which crosses Morocco from West to East. The ridges face north west and collect all the flow coming from the flatlands in front. Aguergour and Ait Ourir are natural thermal ramps. In December, there is a short daily window of thermal activity. Some days only very weak bubbles give you only one chance to stay at take-off level. All in all, the place offers ideal conditions and scenery to produce photos of the fittingly named Atlas wing, as well as to reveal the real performance of the wing. To produce good product and action shots, we need to climb reliably all together. Scratching under take off is not an option and bombing out at the bottom of the hill would be a disaster!

We are 3 pilots, one photographer and one good friend, offering his time for the needs of retrieve in return for comfortable hospitality in a little riad in the medina (popular quarters of Marrakech).

Everyday we arrive early at take off before the thermal activity really starts. The key is not to miss even a single minute of potential flying. We need to be ready and play with the wings on the ground with the first cycles and then let the wings go when we are pulled off the ground naturally. At less than 80kg (total weight), Marc Boyer is as light as a feather under his wing—he stays in the air more easily than us in the very first bubbles. As the activity becomes more regular, we all converge towards the best thermal Marc shoes us. There starts the photoshooting. Aguergour is generally easy to fly but can be turbulent when the main flow comes across. We try to make the best of each minute we can in flight. Each one not only has to take care his of flying but to stay close enough to each other to make the little gaggle as photogenic as possible. I try to put the green Atlas between me and the 2 others as it fits perfectly with the beautiful green that lightens the plateau of Kik below our feet. Though the day was short, the harvest of images was plentiful!

We also visited Ait Ourir, a long ridge south East of Marrakech, but it was a very tricky hour of flight that day. Never more than 1 m/s climb in the best core and nothing consistent around. The real thermal trigger is far away along the ridge as the cliff gets higher. It's a magic one—but only just big enough to fit a single wing inside, so we couldn't fly together for a long time. But at least we'd got enough photos in the box already. Thanks Allah!

Special thanks to Marc Boyer (Soaring school in Luchon, France) and Laurent Pascal (A soon-to-be happy Atlas pilot)

—Jerome M.

Boomerang 9 certified EN D

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 08:00:00 +0000

The Boomerang 9 is now certified EN D / LTF D in size M (95-115kg). The wing has an aspect ratio of 7.75 and features new airfoil technology that will also appear in the next generation of our serial wings.

Selected GIN team pilots have been out training on their new wings in preparation for the PWC 2012 Superfinal in Colombia from 15th-26th January. Thanks to Adrian Hachen for these photos taken with Michael Sigel, Michael Maurer and Anders Baerheim in Adelboden, Switzerland last Saturday.

GIN team traverse 690km "Baekdu daegan" route

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 06:00:00 +0000

GIN pilots Pil Pyo Hong, Chi Kyung Ha and Hyun Hee Kim have completed the first traverse by paraglider of the "Baekdu daegan", the mountain range that forms the backbone of the Korean peninsular.

The range runs 1625km from Mt Jiri in the South to the symbolic peak of Mt Baekdu in North Korea. The GIN pilots traversed the 690km section that lies within South Korea over a period of 6 months.

A documentary film of their adventure was produced by Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) and screened over the New Year.

The adventure continues in 2013 for the team leader Pil Pyo Hong, whose next challenge will be the Red Bull X-Alps. Read his athlete profile here.

Taking off from Mt Jiri (1915m) 26/05/2012

Pil Pyo Hong

Hyun Hee Kim

GIN test pilot Chi Kyung Ha "Hachi"

GIN to sponsor the Red Bull X-Alps 2013

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 06:00:00 +0000

We are pleased to announce that we are once again official sponsors of the Red Bull X-Alps.

5 GIN pilots have been selected, congratulations to Kaoru "Ogi" Ogisawa (JPN), Aaron Durogati (ITA), Shoichiro Tadano (JPN), Pil Pyo Hong (KOR) and Victor Sebe (FR).

Ogi and Aaron are our test pilots and are now busy working on the equipment they will use in the race!

Read the full athlete profiles here.

Photo: Aaron Durogati training for the X-Alps

2nd reserve option for Genie Race 2 pilots

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 12:00:00 +0000

The Rescue Deck Race is for Genie Race 2 pilots who wish to fly with a 2nd rescue. To be able to place a front-mounted rescue on a cocoon harness, we have developed an innovative system that opens your cocoon when you pull the rescue handle. So even in high G situations, your second rescue is always easy to reach with either hand.

A second reserve will be mandatory in FAI Category 1 events from May 1st 2014, as announced by CIVL last week.

More information on the Rescue Deck Race or see the other external containers in our range

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GIN Team 1st in Australia

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:00:00 +0000

The GIN team took 1st place at the Canungra Cup 2012, Oct 20-27. The competition is the first round of the Australian Nationals. Celebrating the win are Ian McFarlane (Boomerang X), Phil Hystek (Tribe), Grant Middendorf, Eva Walton-Keim and Shane Hill (all Boomerang X).

Eva also topped the female ranking.

Middy (Grant Middendorf) won the last day and thus had the honor of wearing the yellow "leader shorts"!

Congratuations to all!

Team results

GIN Rage: first look

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 12:00:00 +0100

GIN photographer Jerome Maupoint has been out shooting the new Rage prototypes, flown here by Yoan Castagnoli and Cyril Planton, finalizing the trimming.

The Rage is aimed at both world-class acro and freestyle pilots for the 2013 season. More details to follow!

Safari tandem certified to 369kg, ideal for trike use

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:00:00 +0100

The GIN Safari 42 tandem (EN B) has been load tested with an extended maximum weight of 369kg. This makes the Safari ideal for paramotor trike use. The trike option can be specified at the time of order, or a kit consisting of Safari trike risers and an upgraded line set is available from Gin Gliders distributors.

More details on the Safari

Official Vantage paramotor video!

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 12:00:00 +0100

French paramotorists Jean Mateos and Michel Touitou found the new GIN Vantage a real all-round wing, "playful, handy and sweet in all situations". Watch the official video.

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Finnish National Paramotoring Championships: GIN Mirage on the podium

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:00:00 +0100

GIN importer Ari Sahlström discovered what the new GIN Mirage is capable of, with a strong showing at the Finnish National Paramotoring Championships, held August 24th-26th at Leivonmäki flying paradise in central Finland.

16 tasks were flown. Ari won a couple of tasks and and finished 2nd overall. The other Mirage pilot, Ilkka Peura, was 4th. The pilots reported enjoying the combination of the nice feeling and sporty handling. A pretty good start for the new wing!

Results here