Test Ikuma 2-30

Finally a Niviuk Ikuma 2-30 has made its way to Switzerland; albeit due to many construction sites along the route (and therefore long traffic jams) much later than anticipated (and hoped for): instead of 1200 I could get my hands on the glider only at 1345 :-((
I have been to today's flying site - Rotenfluh - only 3 times before: 1992, 1994, 1997; in the mean time a new gondola has been built, which departs just a few minutes from the LZ.
Launch is less than 10' from the gondola station.

I don't like this color very much - not enough contrast on pictures...

 

Here my impressions after a not very long flight: easy launching (though today I needed several attempts to get airborne). Great performance. (With my left hand) I can easily reach the A-riser in order to pull Big Ears. The speed system does not need much power to be fully pushed; together with Big Ears this gives a good ROD; no 'flapping' of the ears. Turns: to me it felt, that it was rather hard work making the glider turn. BUT, as I have to admit, I did all the turning/ thermalling only by using the brakes - the 'old-fashioned' way - and not by using the B2C-system. After landing I have been reminded of this fact, which I simply had forgotten.

Pano looking west

As this cloud was developing quickly I landed after about 50'.

Ikuma 2: certainly not 'love at first flight', but still on my list of possibe candidates. I'll need another flight in order to try making turns by using the B2C-system only (and not the brakes). I hope I'll be able to do this when I travel to Austria in the near future, as there is no size 30 glider here in CH.
Thanks to Peter from Paragliding Touch and Go for having organized everything!