Every reverse launch begins with getting the wing up overhead. If the wing is lifted to a good position and stabilized, the pilot can quickly turn forward and progress towards a successful launch. This article is about how to:
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Understand the benefits of reverse launches.
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Understand and manage the tempo during the lifting process.
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Guide the wing to the best position overhead.
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Know where the best lift target is.
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After the wing is in the good position, know how to keep it stable.
Beginning position for A riser lift.
Understand the benefits of reverse launches
In forward launches, you cannot see or guide the wing. In reverse launches, you can see the wing, and guide it during the ascent. You can also abort a launch if the wing is not ascending well or if there is any other issue visible (friction knots, twigs in the lines or any other problem).
The advantage of the reverse launch is that the wing’s ascent to overhead can both be observed and adjustments can be made to tempo and direction. There are several variations of the reverse launch. This article deals with the preset hands method. The term “preset” is used because the brakes are arranged so that when the pilot turns forward, the brakes are in the correct hands. The A/C method is described in detail in the article A/C launches for Paraglider Pilots. There are times where either launch is better. For now, learn both and you will gain wisdom in the process that can show you which to use.
Hand position in the middle of a wing lift.
Understand and manage the tempo during the lifting process
As a general rule, the hips provide the power to the lift, not the hands. By having more power coming from the body and legs, the hands can have a very light touch on the A risers. Power comes to the hips by staying low with the hips, which leverages your legs to create the power. The hands should be used for precision and guiding, and will not require much power. You can slow or increase the pace of the wings ascent by adding or subtracting lifting force to the A risers via the hands.
Wind speed will affect the force of the hips and hands needed to get the tempo right. In addition, sloped or flatter launches also change the tempo that wings ascend during reverse launches. The following are generalizations about factors which affect the ascent speed of wings:
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Steeper slopes tend to cause the wing to make a faster ascent to overhead. As a result, lighter hip power and less lift from the hands will slow the ascent.
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Flat or gently sloping launches require more power to get the wing up overhead. Add power to the hips and adjust the hands lifting force to help the tempo be correct.
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Zero or very light winds can make it difficult to get the wing all the way overhead.
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Winds in the 3 – 5 mph range tend to have a slingshot effect on lifts. The wing often starts slowly, but, when, about half way up, the wing shoots quickly and requires a stronger stabilization (this is often called check – done by pulling the brakes with this technique).
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In stronger winds, it helps to walk toward the wing, as the wing can come up faster than desired. After getting the wing’s ascent to begin, you can begin walking toward the wing at a pace that will help reduce the wing’s ascent.
When the wing has a faster pace as it approaches the overhead position, a check / stabilization is necessary. Pull the brakes to just enough to stop the paraglider, before it can surge far enough to collapse. This is commonly called “checking the wing”. Over-checking is better than not checking enough. When the wing ascends quickly and enough check is not completed, bad things happen. If the wing is over-checked and it falls back to the ground, this is not a bad thing and only requires a re-launch. With time and experience, checking the wing will become natural and fluid every time you lift the wing.
Guide the wing to the best position overhead.
Target slightly toward your turn side
A hidden dynamic is that for a pilot that turns to the left, it is much better to have the wing slightly to the left than the right when transitioning to forward. The pilot that transitions to the left will have the advantage, while rotating, to move more under the wing. The risers are easier to move around with the wing just left of center. The risers will block the left-turning pilot when the wing is on the right. Ducking under the risers can lead to pilots having balance issues as they try to duck under the risers that are leaning the other way. With time, you can actually guide the wing straight up to slightly on the side you turn toward. If you turn the other way, the same holds true. Just reverse the side you lift the wing to.
In addition to the risers being easier to turn under with the wing on the turn side. As you turn, you will be moving toward the wing. For example, a left turning pilot would lift the wing to just left of center. The pilot would then pivot on their left foot to turn forward, essentially moving to the left as they pivot. This movement is the correct direction to move the wing toward center and often it moves back toward center at this point. Even if the wing does not move at all, it is close enough to center to not interrupt the ensuing torpedo launch portion of the launch.
So, for a left turning pilot, I target 11:00 when I am lifting. The clock reference is like this: You are standing at 6 o’clock with straight above you being 12:00. 1 to 2 feet to the left is 11:00, and 2-4 feet is 10 o’clock. For a right turning pilot, the target would be 1 o’clock. A great practice is to practice lifting the wing to targets between 10 and 2. Start at 10, then 11, then 12, 1 and finally 2. If you miss one, repeat until you can be close with each lift.
If your lifts are good, it will make each kiting session begin seamlessly. Light wind launches become super simple when the wing comes up where you want it and stabilization comes much faster this way.
How to achieve the good ascent directionally
Note: I teach lifts with a left turn to forward. As a result, the examples are all for the left turn. If you turn to the right, just convert 11 o’clock to 1 o’clock etc.
Begin a foot or so to the the side you want the to rotate to. As you back up, using your legs for power, as the wing leaves the ground, lift a little early on the side opposite of the intended lift target. For the 11 o’clock target, you would lift the right hand just before going to both hand. This will tilt or aim the wing towards the 11 o’clock target. For the rest of the lift if it is aimed correctly, you can lift your hand evenly and adjust for the correct pace. If the wing is aiming too far to the left, lift just the left hand for a second and stop lifting the right. With this understanding, you will quickly be able to help the wing aim at the target. There is some give in the lifts. By using 11 o’clock, anything between 10 and 12 should be fine. I recommend aborting in light winds if the wing comes up right of 1 o’clock. It just has too much potential to mess up the turn when you have to duck under the risers. If the wing comes up to 10 o’clock, you will learn that often it is back at 11 by the end of turning forward. You can also pull a tiny bit of left brake in this scenario to during the turn to move the wing toward 12 as you turn.
A hidden dynamic here is that for a pilot that turns to the left, it is much better to have the wing slightly to the left than the right when transitioning to forward. The pilot that transitions to the left will have the advantage while rotating to be moving under the wing more. But even more importantly, the risers are easier to move around with a slight left tilt to them. The left-turning pilot will be blocked by the risers when the wing is on the right. Ducking under them often leads to the pilot having balance issues or not being able to transition at all. With time, you can actually guide the wing straight up to slightly on the side you turn toward. If you turn the other way, the same holds true. Just reverse the side you lift the wing to.
Any time the wing comes up and is not centered correctly or is surging overhead stronger than the check can handle, it is much better to abort the launch. Aborting is done by either pulling the brakes all the way down (light to medium winds), or grabbing the C or D risers and pulling down hard (recommended in stronger winds). The ability to abort before turning forward is one of the key benefits of reverse launching.
After the wing is in the good position, know how to keep it stable
The following points will help keep the wing stable following the check:
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In lighter winds, do not stop moving after checking the paraglider
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Keep a bit of brake on to keep the wing stable
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During the turn to forward, keep the same amount of brake on, then slowly raise them as you accelerate in the torpedo.
Cross-winds Adjustments
Ideally, the wing should be set up perpendicular to the wind, but in some launches and situations, the wind blows in a direction that is crossed, and the wing must face down the hill, and not directly into the wind. It is possible to lift a wing so that the center ends up in the correct position overhead (directly or slightly toward the side you turn to) in these situations. For example, if the wind is from your left side as you face the wing and you turn to the left, you will need to lift extra on the right side of the wing. To better facilitate this, offset your body very slightly (a foot or two) to the upwind (left) side. This will help the riser in your right hand achieve tension earlier and will help the wing to yaw correctly during the ascent. If you allow the upwind wing to come up first, it will be difficult to center and balance the wing during its ascent. When you do not lift the downwind wing enough, the wing will come up to that side and will quickly fall off to that side. This will usually force an abort or a very unbalanced turn transition.
In very light winds (less than 4 MPH), the slight cross-winds (less than 45° – For USHPA, the recommendation for P2 pilots is within 25° of straight, remember this!) will be mostly negated by the airspeed and vectors created during the run. The wing will crab a little to the side that the wind is coming from, but this should not be a concern. If the wing is centered and balanced overhead, this will take care of itself.
If the wind is stronger than very light (5 MPH +), the wind will need to be less cross to make launching possible. The technique will be very similar, but the wing will crab more because of the vector of the cross-component.
As with all launch techniques, practice and gain familiarity with these until you learn the feel prior to using them in the real world.
