Hi Guys - saw where alot of clicks were coming from on that vid so I thought I would drop in.
Most have got it right here - the rolls that close the ground are very very dangerous. It's only really possible to do that kind of flying on very special days of dense stable air with no thermic activity and nil wind - the last thing you want to be doing is flying through a band of lift close the ground and then hit a patchy of sink.
The rolls themselves will produce different associated height loss depending on
1 - canopy initiation energy
If you have alot of energy after coming out of a sweeping turn and have timed it with the sloping ground it is possible to do the roll with the leading edge of the canopy still on a slightly down angle of attack - then as you roll through the canopy can actually end up 'coming' up a little bit - thus not producing might associated height loss
2 - turn inititiation
with a paragliding harness setup it's possible to use a lot more weight shift into the roll / turn. Using a sharp inititiation with the brake it allmost feels like you've grabbed the air with your wing tip and your go spinning around ;) ...
3 - wieght shift change
As the wing rolls around under you it ends up racing past your body - thus throwing your weight shift back the other way - to increase the turn rate and make a tighter roll it seem slike to you really need to make sure your weight shift remains either in the turn you are doing or at least neutral.
If you mess up the timing or feel thqat you don't have enough energy to make a really fast roll then let the wing fly straight for a second - the ozone bullet has tendency to convert coming out of high energy turns and this can be used to help you around as well - these rolls have nuch more height loss assoicated with them.
I only really started doing these this year - before that Iwas playing with high energy spiral and 270 degree turns -
One really really big thing to understand is the spin point on your wing - where you end up putting too much toggle into the turn and either stall the side you are turning on OR make it fly negative - in paragliding terms - just prior to this point you end up going into what is known as a SAT.
We do habe other footage of rolls from behind and rolls from just after launch from a 3rd perspective - at present my HDV software is crapped up so I can't edit - I'll be playng with that soon.
However the is another edit of the footage from a mate of mine that shows one of the rolls from just after launch - the height loss there is significant and was practiced initially with about 80 -100m airspace before doing it from just after launch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW8BDMWkcL4
this also shows some POV footage with the ski's on - the laucnhis about 1/3 rd of the way through.
We'll be having a ground launch boogie in december some time and maybe a ski launching clinic this september.
If anybody is interested or is going to be in NZ near wanaka - feel free to email me (see below)
Flying close here has bitten 2 people in the last 18 months
Loic - he ended up with comrpessed L1 and L2 vertabrea
Dave Edwards (NZ) ended up with very very bad brusing after clipping a rock - very very lucky boy.
I've only done a few sky dives - but am a paraglider pilot - about 7 years and have been playing with these wings for 2 1/2 years now - and if the conditions permit I always try to fly like this at this site.
If I'm not familiar with a site or don't like the flying conditions I increase my margins and airspace off the ground.
safe skies
Mal Haskins
Wanaka - NZ
malrock@verticalresources.org
