8 minute read
NZ Hang Gliding History
in 1974 i was keelboat loft manager at Lidgard Rudling Sails located at Ellerslie Auckland. Some friends of friends were flying hang gliders at the time, so i went out to watch them.
I was hooked, and I purchased a home built 17ft Flexi Flyer from Donald Curry, one of the New Zealand’s early pilots. The Flexi Flyer design from the US was a true Rogallo with a totally flat sail set on an aluminium frame that allowed the sail to billow in half conical shapes each side of the keel. Over the next few months I went out at every opportunity to learn how to fly, often with the Auckland Hang Gliding Club. Soon came soaring and there was no turning back. Sail shaping pros and cons
The more experienced pilots were flying the Seagull design from the US, either home built or purchased from Pacific Kites, New Zealand’s first hang glider dealer, run by Rick Poynter and Alister Russell. The Seagull was a lot bigger and more efficient than the Flexi Flyer and I was often the low boy on the ridge. The sail on the Flexi being flat was pretty unexciting and as a sailmaker I thought to add shape to the leading edge and keel sections of the sail to see if I could improve its performance. First test flights in light air showed a much improved sink and roll rate, it felt like a sports car in comparison. My next flight was in 20 knots at Baileys Beach, a west coast ridge soaring site. I pulled in the bar to penetrate away from take-off and found myself diving towards the beach with negative bar pressure.
Luckily the pressure eased as I got closer to the sand and I landed safely. That was a wake up and after going over what had happened with my friend Rob Beresford we concluded that the sail shaping had inadvertently caused the centre of lift to move behind the centre off gravity (hang point) when flying at speed, causing the negative bar pressure. Therefore by extrapolation going forward keeping the centre of
Of Lancers and Sharks
GRaeMe BIRd tells tHe stORY OF HaNG GlIdeR desIGN IN NeW ZealaNd IN tHe 1970s aNd 1980s
Above; The first generation Skua
lift forward off the centre of gravity through the whole speed range was key for good pitch stability. Skua... the beginning of sail improvements 1975
I abandoned the Flexi and as the Seagull was too big for me, Rob Beresford and I built a smaller version we called the Skua. I built a sail with leading edge shape, and three flexible plastic ribs each side with a scalloped trailing edge. The Skua performed very well, it was a lot better glider than the Flexi. When
Above; Lancer 1 at Kossen Above; Lancer 3 170, Piha
I switched from seated to prone I also added a raised airfoil shaped keel pocket in which the rear two thirds was reflexed to ensure good pitch stability. This further improved the gliders performance. The Sk invasion - the future of single surface hang glider design January ’76
That Christmas Terry Delore and other pilots from Christchurch turned up with a radical new glider from Australia called the SK1 (I think the name is correct) by Steve Cohen. Our first flight together was at Karekare a 600 ft coastal vertical bowl of black rock.
The SK2 was a small glider with a fully shaped and ribbed sail, just like two Aussie skiff sails joined together. They were super fast, and very manoeuvrable with a great sink rate. They looked like flies buzzing around the sky while we were positively parked by comparison. Sir lancer a lot - March ’76
Seeing that one could create a successful hang glider using skiff sailmaking techniques I came up with a design of my own. At the time Rick Poynter of Pacific Kites realised nothing in his inventory was going to be competitive for the upcoming New Zealand championships, so I made 2 sails and Rick made 2 frames.
Starting with the SK1 concept the new design which was to become the Lancer 1 had more sail area, a fully battened skiff type sail design and a full airfoil shaped keel pocket that I thought was a better option to the what Cohen had done on the SK2.
The Lancer 1 was a winner with a much better sink rate than the smaller SK1 in which myself and Rick finished first and second in the light conditions at Coronet Peak. The Lancer I was a fun glider to fly compared with Seagulls etc and like the SK1 excelled in ridge lift. We had a hit on our hands and they flew out the door. I left Lidgard Rudling Sails to set up Flight Sails to build Lancer I sails for Pacific Kites and sails for New Zealand pilots building their own designs.
The Lancer I was very pitch stable in normal flight, however like many other gliders of this time if the sail luffed or went inverted there was nothing to kick the glider back to a positive angle of attack, and sadly we lost a pilot who was throwing his glider around on a windy day at Paekakariki and ended diving into the ridge. kössen, the first World championships. (Terry’s and cohen’s revenge) August ’76
It was Steve Cohen and Terry Delore’s turn to ambush at the world championships with the SK2, a giant floating glider that was perfect for the light conditions at Kössen. With Terry on board the rest of us fought for the crumbs. I finished 7th in the Lancer I. The championship however was real eye opener as a result of the many different designs from around the world. Baileys Beach January ’77 a hang glider hatchery
Back in New Zealand there was now a race for the next best hang glider inspired by what had been seen at Kössen and US hang gliding magazines. That Xmas there was a fly in at Baileys Beach, with at least 4 new hang glider designs turning up. Rick Poynter brought the wildest glider called Snoopy. It had a wide nose angle, very small chord length and deep wing section with a curved leading edge like a Seagull. It turned out to be very slow with poor handling, and average in sink rate.
Murray Sargesson turned up with a very nice truncated tip glider he had built, a bit like the ASG 23 from the US. His glider flew very well, it was fast, nimble, with a good glide ratio, it did however suffer a little on sink rate. My friend Rob Beresford built a glider that was like a larger Lancer 1, It had a great sink rate with good over all performance. I turned up with the Mini Beast, Arnie Duckworth flew one as well. Early one morning Arnie and I took off in very light conditions and flew 5 miles north only just above the ridge. When we returned, it was too light for anyone else to get up and we just flew around rubbing it in. Later when the breeze did fill in the Mini Beasts really shined.
After the meet Rick Pointer dropped Snoopy and built frames for the Mini Beast that we renamed the Lancer II. The Lancer II had a wider nose angle with greater wing span than the Lancer I. I added a raised shaped keel pocket to give the wing more anhedral for handling as well to expand on what Bill Moyes had been doing to provide inverted angle of attack pitch recovery. To achieve this we added a line from the top of the king post to the rear of the inboard most ribs each side of the keel. If on take-off one held the noise of the Lancer II down into the breeze, it would pop up again, showing the effectiveness of this arrangement. US trip, Summer ’77
I decided to go to the US and fly some competitions during the New Zealand winter. Rick Pointer hooked me up with some nice folks from Seagull Aircraft to get started. I met Seagull pilot Sterling Stoll, bought a Chevy Luv pickup with a camper shell and we headed out to Telluride Colorado for a meet. The Lancer 11 performed very well in the light conditions, leading the competition into the last day. We then drove up to British Columbia for two events. The Chevy Luv was not showing much luv and it broke down on our way to BC. We rented a compact, disconnected the speedometer, bought some roof racks and then headed up to Canada. We were turned away at the border because neither of us had any cash on hand.
We returned after getting $100 from Sterling’s credit card at the ATM machine and drove through to Mt Fernie BC for the first event. Sterling won this event in windy and rough mountain flying conditions and received $500 for his trouble. A week later I won the second meet held at Mt Swansea BC in light thermal conditions, pocketing an another $500. A good week for a couple of pilots enjoying themselves.
My brother Warren who had by then joined Flight Sails kept the business going while I was away. Warren was an avid windsurfer and was also building windsurfer sails and harnesses. lancer iii. Reality check - december ’77
Annual glider development was now expected so on returning to New Zealand it was time to figure
