Pinzgau (Ikuma2)

Together with my friend Andy I travelled to 'Neunkirchen am Wildkogel' (Pinzgau, AT). As Saturday was mostly rainy, we didn't expect much for today (Sunday). Luckily in the end the day turned out much better than we both had anticipated. The reason for coming to the Pinzgau: testing again the Ikuma 2-30. Today I could make 3 flights: twice from Wildkogel and then from Hollersbach-Berghof in the late afternoon.

Ikuma 2-30

The day started of with lots of humidity and low clouds, so we had to wait on launch for the clouds to be burnt away by the sun.

The Fcst called for (light) winds out of the north. This makes Wildkogel a less than ideal launch; especially on the second take-off we had to wait quite a while in order to have a phase with some head wind. On this flight Andy was able to make a small xcflight to the east, landing at Uttendorf.
Hollersbach is an ideal site for flying in the late afternoon: it is facing North into the 'Bavarian wind', which comes over the Pass Thurn opposite launch. This makes long/ high flights possible, as the Bavarian wind pushes the warm air in the Pinzgau up the Southern slopes. And even without thermals soaring is still possible.

LZ at Neunkirchen: South of railway/ tennis field

Hollersbach-Berghof (launch)

Andy (Advance Iota)

Hollersbach (center); Berghof (right)

So what about the Ikuma? Contrary to my first flight at Rotenflue 10 days again (where the wing didn' impress me at all), today I was much more at ease. I had 3 good launches (no aborts); the handling was much more to my liking and especilally turning felt much less strenous. I was even thermalling using only the BC-steering. I still don't like this color, which does not give enough contrast on pictures.
To sum it up: the Ikuma is back 'in the race' for the replacement of my Rook2. It has the edge on the Vision, as the max the weight is 130kg (vs 125kg) (I'm somewhere in between 125 and 130). I'm well aware that flying a '125kg-wing' a few kilos over the limit is not a real problem - especially in summer/ strong thermals. But in winter/ weak thermals this may make a difference. Another small point: in order to get down at Hollersbach, I had to pull Big Ears for quite a long time. As the lines on the Ikuma are extremely thin, this makes holding the Big Ears rather 'hard', as the lines cut into the hand (even with gloves). Here the advantage goes to the Vision, as its lines are more 'sturdy'.

...possible color scheme...

Tomorrow in the morning I'll return the Ikuma2 and then we'll continue heading East towards Ossiachersee, where I expect to do a dual tandem SIV on Tuesday. But of course - conditions permitting- we'll try to make a flight along the way: Bischling, Fulseck, Stubnerkogel are among the options.