Interesting techniques. So weird you still talking in mph and American still uses the imperial system.while the rest of the world uses metric. Only America Myanmar and Liberia use imperial.
I'm a complete beginner to paragliding so sorry if the answer to my question is obvious, but when launching by turning to the right (meaning right risers are on top of the left risers when standing in reversed position), should I do everything the opposite way (holding middle A's in my right hand, grabbing the big ear A's with my left hand and put them in my right hand while running out approximately 2 feet of line with my left hand, release the big ear A's from the right hand and then split the middle A's to both hands) or should I still do it the way you do it? Also, did you intentionally fold the sides of the paraglider downwards? Won't this technique work with a regular c-shaped wall?
@@stevevanfleet756 Thanks for quick reply! And what about the shape of the glider? Found this other video where a guy launches with a modified technique of yours and his glider doesn't seem to have the wingtips folded at all? ruclips.net/video/YlMx1NLmj7o/видео.htmlsi=r-bYAcjiNVFEWm7D Lastly thanks for a great video. Cheers from Sweden!
He learned that from JC. JC is also a tandem where I work. I taught JC this launch. But JC does set up his glider same as I do before inflation. This guy just didn’t bother because it wasn’t very windy. You have to when it’s windy, otherwise the wingtips will inflate when you try to gather the ear lines. Also, today was 20 mph and I got turned with my right riser on top and noticed that I did switch and gather the ears in my left hand
@@stevevanfleet756 I see! You discover something new everyday. Since I prefer turning to the right I will then do it the opposite way. Btw would love to see a complete demonstration from you setting the paraglider up in 20 mph wind to launching. Totally understand if you don't have the time to do this, but maybe someday you will and then I'll be here watching:) Thanks again!
I'm flying heavy on the epsilon 9 I was in a 9 mi an hour wind I got yanked into the sky about five feet and I landed on my face. Thank God I'm ugly already it didn't hurt at all. You've got that giant looks like a circus tent you are alone and handling this with your weight and not jumping into the air at those kind of wind speeds. I'm only a great big Irish potato because I'm Irish and I've ate 1000 lb of potatoes so I made out of potatoes.I Have to fly like a great big potato. I'm still learning ground handling it when I see you doing this I'm wanting to let out a trouser biscuit. Thank God for you sharing this with us I'm going to try and apply it to my epsilon nine flying and I'm going to do this kind of ground handling all the time slow in fast when I don't care what it is and if this will not work I might revert to what the instructor told me to do but got me landed on my face at 9 miles an hour. How do you think of guy that shared something, to save a guy a broken bone? From the bottom of my heart thank you for sure.
@@stevevanfleet756 yeah I got if I could ever do so cuz I'm old and poor my mom died and left me some money and I spent the last of it on my house and a paraglider and lessons to fly it. I'm forming the bloody 13 cloud seeding squadron. I have one farm I can fly from for sure and I'm going to try and fly straight up as high as I can up wind and get under a cloud and throw out a big box of cornstarch. Then I can see if it will suck up in the cloud Make It rain. If I can just one time get this to work and it rains on my friends farm and makes him a bunch of money I will have plenty of launch from my farm invitations. Just north of me a couple hundred miles is 11 thousand square miles, of the Sioux Indian reservation. It's a very strange place with long giant hills that you can run down to get your lunch and there's eroded things called Badlands and they are like a bunch of cones that are about 70 degrees and steep walls and weird shaves and when the sun comes up in the morning those bare dirt surfaces are almost perpendicular to the Sun at sun rise. When I get my pilot license I'm going to go up there and fly a lot take videos in-store up a lot of them and then tell everybody I am the Sioux sky you are only the Sioux and see if I can make those Indian scorching mad at me meantime I'm going to try and make everybody else that can fly a paraglider and has money mad at me because I'm telling them they can come here and they got a right to fly the sky. Hopefully I can get it so stirred up the people will demand to come here and money will fall out of the sky and hit indians. For 15 years I've came up with every kind of business scheme that you could imagine. Nothing his work so now I'm going to try and get money to fall out of the air and hit the Indians. But thanks for writing back to me and appreciate the invitation I wish I had some way to go there and see it but I don't. I'm been working out my own ideas about what kind of education I need to be a paraglider pilot because nobody else is flying all alone every time all day long. One rule I have is buckle your harness on completely or unbuckle your harness off completely do not have any half-way state. I saw a couple of people say to the pilot hey buckle straps your legs buckle your legs. It was no big deal everybody is there watching each other and they can do anything they want but when I go to fly alone I better be my own ground man to and if I don't build a set of impenetrable habits like a fortress I'm screwed.
Come out to Torrey Pines Gliderport. I'll be happy to demonstrate. I can inflate in anything a glider can penetrate. Even stronger, because I've used this inflation only to have to shut it down because I was going backwards
Hey Steve. Thank you so much! So smart! It looks like you have outside A’s in your right hand and inside A’s in your left. Is it possible to combine all A’s in your right hand so you can have the rear risers in the left hand to steer it through the inflation and set it back down if necessary?
Hi Curtis. I'm actually kinda anti-rears for anything other than killing in high wind. I actually have the outside A in one hand and split the inner. I always inflate with split A. Steering is controlled by asymmetrical input to the A. But ultimately, this requires some care laying the glider directly in the wind. If it comes up a little skew, I just release the ears and finish the inflation with a cobra
I don’t understand the split inners. I’d love to see that in more detail if you get a chance to do another video. Show how to control a cross-wind inflation would be amazing. Thanks again!
@@curtispons8613 Just like you have two brakes (left & right) you have two gas pedals if you have one A in each. That's how you bring a wing up symmetrically without rear risers. If one side has an advantage don't give it any gas until the other side comes into balance. I never touch my rears whether I'm using this launch or not. It's like having one foot on the brake and one on the gas. No one drives like this. I will inflate my glider in up to 15 mph with no A , no rear, and no brakes in my hand. Just the hips. Footwork is the key
@@curtispons8613 Just means not having all the A gathered in one hand. Just like we have Two brakes operated independently. We have two gas pedals. Come hang out with me at Torrey Pines. Happy to demonstrate
I have done lots of big big ears while flying, but was told to never do them near the ground. This sorta negates that though, so yep I'm going to try it next chance I get. So logical, I can't believe I am just seeing this now after 3 years of paragliding! Thanks man!
Inflation from a ball or inflation from a concertina works well too. Great in snow, sand and small spaces. Basically ears from the start and no need to hold ears on. Finishes over your head without ears ready to go. That’s what I use anyway. Thanks for video
I found it was a bit harder to bring in straight without it falling to one side on a solo wing. Also felt like 2 feet was too much on a solo wing so I took less and less. Have you experienced it being hard to bring up straight? Nothing to correct it on the rise.
I end up bringing it up sideways all the time. Just because I’m in a hurry when laying it out and I don’t care if it does. Just transition to a cobra style launch. However, if I’m meticulous on laying it out, it never comes up sideways.
@@stevevanfleet756 so let out the ears quickly and switch to cobra. Ok I'll play a bit more. A lot less dragging on the pull up with this. I never knew the tips made that much difference!
Nachname Vorname you launch full size wing at 50 kph...???? Who does this.... I mean no one ... do you really mean “above 50 kph” and if so I’m amazed cause your pretty much in your own... I guess u might know this
I should have shot this with no gloves. I hardly ever wear them. I’ve only been burned once, and I was wearing gloves. Went right through them. After doing hundreds in rippin wind, I started to develop a way too relaxed grip. If you keep just a little squeeze, it won’t slip
Steve, thank you so much for sharing your technique. I tried it and it is very effective! I really appreciate that you took the time to help other pilots. I have one question tough: wouldn’t it be preferable to find a way to hold the single As (the one of the ears) with the same hand holding the main A risers, and to find a way to release them “one-handed”? In other words, to release the ears while still holding the center As. That way the other hand may be used to steer the glider if it comes up skew... did you come up with some variations during the last two years after shooting this video or are you still using the same exact technique that you originally described in this video? Did you find some improvements? Thank you so much! Freddy
I always inflate with “split” A’s. On this or any other technique. The glider doesn’t come up skew if you have the ability to make an asymmetrical input on your inflation. The only exception would be if you inflated out of a complete mess that required massive simultaneous brake on one wing. Anyway, if it does come up skew from poor layout or turbulence, release the ears and continue with a “cobra”.
Please show it used in strong conditions, this was pretty tame stuff. It all makes sense though. Cobra is my go to method , yet it is still not enough sometimes on a 33m wing....yeah I'm a teletubby, get over it !
I'm on a 43m tandem by myself. Any stronger wind and, and I would have to finish the video 10 miles inland after being blown backwards through the parking lot. If I get a chance I can grab a solo in 20mph and reshoot.... works fine.
Just happened onto your video Steve and it looks neat. So this technique is glider dependant? One of the down sides of big-ear launches are not being able to steer if it comes up a bit skew... Your comment on this will be appreciated. :)
Works on every glider. Although if a glider has weak tip pressure, you may need to kite for a few seconds to get the ears out. Also take a smaller bight on the ears. If it comes up skew... my tendency is to always try to save an inflated glider, rather than put it back down (avoids getting holes in it from surrounding bushes/rocks, and that unnerving slam to the ground in big wind) so, if it comes up skew, I release the ears and finish off a semi-big-ear/cobra launch....which has been working well. If you do put it back down, you have to switch to an A/Rear riser, since the wing is no longer in rosette or re-rosette the glider. What's interesting about this technique is that even if you do get picked off the ground, you don't get the disorienting violent rotation. I think this is because the lack of tension to the wing tips pulling the risers apart. Even on tandem, if I get snatched, my passenger is rotated to face the glider (reverse kiting with me) and we slowly rotate forward together...very mellow!
Wish I had known about this last weekend. It was the first time I was doing any sort of kiting in wind above 5 knots. I got my ass handed to me. Looking forward to next weekend!
Sorry, but the wind is too loud, I can't understand one word. So the trick/technique is to lay out the glider with the ears folded in so they only unfold when the glider is already in the air?
The glider is in rosette so the ears won't inflate. You must also hold the outer A lines so they do not become pressurized through the inside of the glider. The ears will pop out after you let go of the outer A's, but you are still on the ground. Some gliders stay stuck in big ears, because they don't have much pressure in the tips (like Gin Carrera). These won't be as nice for this technique. No one wants to launch with big ears, or have to pump them out with the brakes while still standing on a windy cliff.
Best solutions are the simpliest one. Finding those "grips" will take time - its working, but it is definitely far from simple. I launched in 12+ m/s winds and never needed such a complex moves. Simple A+D techniques is enought. Or just run towards the wing... ruclips.net/video/D5Q1PVW-cKw/видео.html
"definitely far from simple" - come on man... it's simple. But I can understand that "just run towards the wing" is simpler ;) but its not really a technique though ;)
Interesting techniques. So weird you still talking in mph and American still uses the imperial system.while the rest of the world uses metric. Only America Myanmar and Liberia use imperial.
I'm a complete beginner to paragliding so sorry if the answer to my question is obvious, but when launching by turning to the right (meaning right risers are on top of the left risers when standing in reversed position), should I do everything the opposite way (holding middle A's in my right hand, grabbing the big ear A's with my left hand and put them in my right hand while running out approximately 2 feet of line with my left hand, release the big ear A's from the right hand and then split the middle A's to both hands) or should I still do it the way you do it? Also, did you intentionally fold the sides of the paraglider downwards? Won't this technique work with a regular c-shaped wall?
I use the same whether I turn left or right.
@@stevevanfleet756 Thanks for quick reply! And what about the shape of the glider? Found this other video where a guy launches with a modified technique of yours and his glider doesn't seem to have the wingtips folded at all? ruclips.net/video/YlMx1NLmj7o/видео.htmlsi=r-bYAcjiNVFEWm7D Lastly thanks for a great video. Cheers from Sweden!
He learned that from JC. JC is also a tandem where I work. I taught JC this launch. But JC does set up his glider same as I do before inflation. This guy just didn’t bother because it wasn’t very windy. You have to when it’s windy, otherwise the wingtips will inflate when you try to gather the ear lines. Also, today was 20 mph and I got turned with my right riser on top and noticed that I did switch and gather the ears in my left hand
@@stevevanfleet756 I see! You discover something new everyday. Since I prefer turning to the right I will then do it the opposite way. Btw would love to see a complete demonstration from you setting the paraglider up in 20 mph wind to launching. Totally understand if you don't have the time to do this, but maybe someday you will and then I'll be here watching:) Thanks again!
I got to try this.
Pretty smart! Thanks for sharing :)
1:13 ❤❤❤
I'm flying heavy on the epsilon 9 I was in a 9 mi an hour wind I got yanked into the sky about five feet and I landed on my face. Thank God I'm ugly already it didn't hurt at all. You've got that giant looks like a circus tent you are alone and handling this with your weight and not jumping into the air at those kind of wind speeds. I'm only a great big Irish potato because I'm Irish and I've ate 1000 lb of potatoes so I made out of potatoes.I Have to fly like a great big potato. I'm still learning ground handling it when I see you doing this I'm wanting to let out a trouser biscuit. Thank God for you sharing this with us I'm going to try and apply it to my epsilon nine flying and I'm going to do this kind of ground handling all the time slow in fast when I don't care what it is and if this will not work I might revert to what the instructor told me to do but got me landed on my face at 9 miles an hour. How do you think of guy that shared something, to save a guy a broken bone? From the bottom of my heart thank you for sure.
Glad to help Mark. You're always welcome to come to Torrey Pines Gliderport for a demonstration
@@stevevanfleet756 yeah I got if I could ever do so cuz I'm old and poor my mom died and left me some money and I spent the last of it on my house and a paraglider and lessons to fly it. I'm forming the bloody 13 cloud seeding squadron. I have one farm I can fly from for sure and I'm going to try and fly straight up as high as I can up wind and get under a cloud and throw out a big box of cornstarch. Then I can see if it will suck up in the cloud Make It rain. If I can just one time get this to work and it rains on my friends farm and makes him a bunch of money I will have plenty of launch from my farm invitations. Just north of me a couple hundred miles is 11 thousand square miles, of the Sioux Indian reservation. It's a very strange place with long giant hills that you can run down to get your lunch and there's eroded things called Badlands and they are like a bunch of cones that are about 70 degrees and steep walls and weird shaves and when the sun comes up in the morning those bare dirt surfaces are almost perpendicular to the Sun at sun rise. When I get my pilot license I'm going to go up there and fly a lot take videos in-store up a lot of them and then tell everybody I am the Sioux sky you are only the Sioux and see if I can make those Indian scorching mad at me meantime I'm going to try and make everybody else that can fly a paraglider and has money mad at me because I'm telling them they can come here and they got a right to fly the sky. Hopefully I can get it so stirred up the people will demand to come here and money will fall out of the sky and hit indians. For 15 years I've came up with every kind of business scheme that you could imagine. Nothing his work so now I'm going to try and get money to fall out of the air and hit the Indians. But thanks for writing back to me and appreciate the invitation I wish I had some way to go there and see it but I don't. I'm been working out my own ideas about what kind of education I need to be a paraglider pilot because nobody else is flying all alone every time all day long. One rule I have is buckle your harness on completely or unbuckle your harness off completely do not have any half-way state. I saw a couple of people say to the pilot hey buckle straps your legs buckle your legs. It was no big deal everybody is there watching each other and they can do anything they want but when I go to fly alone I better be my own ground man to and if I don't build a set of impenetrable habits like a fortress I'm screwed.
Would like to see that technique used in windy conditions.
Come out to Torrey Pines Gliderport. I'll be happy to demonstrate. I can inflate in anything a glider can penetrate. Even stronger, because I've used this inflation only to have to shut it down because I was going backwards
Hey Steve. Thank you so much! So smart! It looks like you have outside A’s in your right hand and inside A’s in your left. Is it possible to combine all A’s in your right hand so you can have the rear risers in the left hand to steer it through the inflation and set it back down if necessary?
Hi Curtis. I'm actually kinda anti-rears for anything other than killing in high wind. I actually have the outside A in one hand and split the inner. I always inflate with split A. Steering is controlled by asymmetrical input to the A. But ultimately, this requires some care laying the glider directly in the wind. If it comes up a little skew, I just release the ears and finish the inflation with a cobra
I don’t understand the split inners. I’d love to see that in more detail if you get a chance to do another video. Show how to control a cross-wind inflation would be amazing. Thanks again!
@@curtispons8613 Just like you have two brakes (left & right) you have two gas pedals if you have one A in each. That's how you bring a wing up symmetrically without rear risers. If one side has an advantage don't give it any gas until the other side comes into balance. I never touch my rears whether I'm using this launch or not. It's like having one foot on the brake and one on the gas. No one drives like this. I will inflate my glider in up to 15 mph with no A , no rear, and no brakes in my hand. Just the hips. Footwork is the key
@@curtispons8613 Just means not having all the A gathered in one hand. Just like we have Two brakes operated independently. We have two gas pedals. Come hang out with me at Torrey Pines. Happy to demonstrate
Thank you so much
Very helpful. Thanks!
terrible audio, use a real mic and camera crew.
Buy a microphone and hire a camera crew to share free information with an ungrateful ass wipe like you ?
i use this from big wings to small enB to enD...variations with ccc and enD...great insight bro... sometimes a cobra is simply not appropriate
Glad you dig it
I'm going to try this next time I'm out with the glider. I like the your fighting video
Brilliant.
Why should I fly in such weather if it's very windy, safty first no ??🤔
Why stop there? Perhaps it’s time to trade your glider for a big screen tv and a rocking chair. Safety first!
20 mph was the wind speed here? Thanks
Probably 12 mph. Just demonstrating “how”. This technique will easily let you bring up a wing in wind that your glider can’t even penetrate
Neat. Sure going to try that pullup sometime.
Very nice, it would be interesting to see with really strong wind
Hello, thank you for your video. I like it. You can show more~ 👍
I have done lots of big big ears while flying, but was told to never do them near the ground. This sorta negates that though, so yep I'm going to try it next chance I get. So logical, I can't believe I am just seeing this now after 3 years of paragliding! Thanks man!
They are right. Big ears coming in to land is dangerous. But this isn’t that.
Fantastic
Inflation from a ball or inflation from a concertina works well too. Great in snow, sand and small spaces. Basically ears from the start and no need to hold ears on. Finishes over your head without ears ready to go. That’s what I use anyway. Thanks for video
I found it was a bit harder to bring in straight without it falling to one side on a solo wing. Also felt like 2 feet was too much on a solo wing so I took less and less. Have you experienced it being hard to bring up straight? Nothing to correct it on the rise.
I end up bringing it up sideways all the time. Just because I’m in a hurry when laying it out and I don’t care if it does. Just transition to a cobra style launch. However, if I’m meticulous on laying it out, it never comes up sideways.
@@stevevanfleet756 so let out the ears quickly and switch to cobra. Ok I'll play a bit more. A lot less dragging on the pull up with this. I never knew the tips made that much difference!
Awesome Steve’s “VFGrip”...
Glad you dig it!
This is so cool! thanks!
But...¿What about your helmet?
Great video
You are the Man Steve!! Excellent video!! Thanks for the tips!!
Very helpful Steve
I use this a lot with single-places when I launch at wind speeds above 50 km/h
Nachname Vorname you launch full size wing at 50 kph...???? Who does this.... I mean no one ... do you really mean “above 50 kph” and if so I’m amazed cause your pretty much in your own... I guess u might know this
What wing do you fly? A speed wing i hope at 50kph...
Your finger loop grip... Is that a risky technique for your hands without gloves?
I should have shot this with no gloves. I hardly ever wear them. I’ve only been burned once, and I was wearing gloves. Went right through them. After doing hundreds in rippin wind, I started to develop a way too relaxed grip. If you keep just a little squeeze, it won’t slip
Steve, thank you so much for sharing your technique. I tried it and it is very effective! I really appreciate that you took the time to help other pilots. I have one question tough: wouldn’t it be preferable to find a way to hold the single As (the one of the ears) with the same hand holding the main A risers, and to find a way to release them “one-handed”? In other words, to release the ears while still holding the center As. That way the other hand may be used to steer the glider if it comes up skew... did you come up with some variations during the last two years after shooting this video or are you still using the same exact technique that you originally described in this video? Did you find some improvements? Thank you so much! Freddy
I always inflate with “split” A’s. On this or any other technique. The glider doesn’t come up skew if you have the ability to make an asymmetrical input on your inflation. The only exception would be if you inflated out of a complete mess that required massive simultaneous brake on one wing. Anyway, if it does come up skew from poor layout or turbulence, release the ears and continue with a “cobra”.
Cool
This is great! I had to look it up after you took my son on a tandem. When I was doing tandems in Costa Rica this would have helped me a lot.
It’s a highly refined technique ... thx for sharing
Yes it is very helpful lock grip ...brilliant .
Thanks for the vid, Steve. Looks very interesting. I'll try it soon.
Please show it used in strong conditions, this was pretty tame stuff. It all makes sense though. Cobra is my go to method , yet it is still not enough sometimes on a 33m wing....yeah I'm a teletubby, get over it !
I'm on a 43m tandem by myself. Any stronger wind and, and I would have to finish the video 10 miles inland after being blown backwards through the parking lot. If I get a chance I can grab a solo in 20mph and reshoot.... works fine.
Just happened onto your video Steve and it looks neat. So this technique is glider dependant? One of the down sides of big-ear launches are not being able to steer if it comes up a bit skew... Your comment on this will be appreciated. :)
Works on every glider. Although if a glider has weak tip pressure, you may need to kite for a few seconds to get the ears out. Also take a smaller bight on the ears. If it comes up skew... my tendency is to always try to save an inflated glider, rather than put it back down (avoids getting holes in it from surrounding bushes/rocks, and that unnerving slam to the ground in big wind) so, if it comes up skew, I release the ears and finish off a semi-big-ear/cobra launch....which has been working well. If you do put it back down, you have to switch to an A/Rear riser, since the wing is no longer in rosette or re-rosette the glider. What's interesting about this technique is that even if you do get picked off the ground, you don't get the disorienting violent rotation. I think this is because the lack of tension to the wing tips pulling the risers apart. Even on tandem, if I get snatched, my passenger is rotated to face the glider (reverse kiting with me) and we slowly rotate forward together...very mellow!
Just kite with your C's as you would in any normal kiting scenario
Wish I had known about this last weekend. It was the first time I was doing any sort of kiting in wind above 5 knots. I got my ass handed to me. Looking forward to next weekend!
I actually kinda like getting dragged around in big wind. But my passengers don't think it's funny...
Very nice, I am going to practice these ideas next time I am out. Thanks for sharing.
Sorry, but the wind is too loud, I can't understand one word. So the trick/technique is to lay out the glider with the ears folded in so they only unfold when the glider is already in the air?
The glider is in rosette so the ears won't inflate. You must also hold the outer A lines so they do not become pressurized through the inside of the glider. The ears will pop out after you let go of the outer A's, but you are still on the ground. Some gliders stay stuck in big ears, because they don't have much pressure in the tips (like Gin Carrera). These won't be as nice for this technique. No one wants to launch with big ears, or have to pump them out with the brakes while still standing on a windy cliff.
Use the Close Caption in youtube to read the instructions.
Excellent techinic!
Thanks for the video, Been Instructing since 2004 but PPG will try it out ASAP! I like it!
nice one steve, this works great. thanks
Right on, Kyle
Looks interesting. Has anyone tried this for solo launches?
Excellent for solo!
عههههههههههههههههههخ
Best solutions are the simpliest one. Finding those "grips" will take time - its working, but it is definitely far from simple. I launched in 12+ m/s winds and never needed such a complex moves. Simple A+D techniques is enought. Or just run towards the wing... ruclips.net/video/D5Q1PVW-cKw/видео.html
Wow...12+ m/s (that's 26 mph folks). Hilarious
"definitely far from simple" - come on man... it's simple. But I can understand that "just run towards the wing" is simpler ;) but its not really a technique though ;)
Thanks Steve. I have already started practising.
Thanks for the tips. Can't wait to start flying myself!
Yup, I fly now.