Forgot to mention - I met Jacques Bott, a Swift Lite pilot at Serres aeroclub. He was very interested to hear that a number of Carbon Dragons are under construction, and very keen to fly with/in them! Jacques flew a record breaking 366.4km out and return in his Swift while I was there. He launched much earlier in the morning than any of the sailplanes and still found good lift. His track-log was amazing to study. Jacques bases himself at Serres aeroclub for a couple of months every year and is desperate for some Swift/CD pilot company.

Phil.

FAI has ratified the following Class O (Hang Gliding and Paragliding) World record :
================================================
Claim number : 16556
Sub-class -2 (HG with a rigid primary structure / movable control
surface(s))
Category: General
Type of record : Out-and-return distance Course/location : Serres - La Batie-Montsaléon (France) Performance : 366.4 km Pilot : Jacques Bott (France) Hang Glider : Swift Light / Aeriane operated by Date :30.05.2012 Previous record : 337.4 km (11.01.2010 - Jacques Bott, France) ================================================

--- In This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., "Phil" wrote:
>
> Hi Rick,
>
> The new photos look great - a real inspiration - our build is really taking shape!
>
> I'm just back from two weeks of sailplane training in Sisteron and Serres airfields in the south of France. Logged over 20+ hours at the controlls and am heading back at the end of August for another two weeks to capitalise on that training. The first week in Sisteron was all winch based (dead easy!) launches to 500m and the second week in Serres (Quo Vadis aeroclub) was all tow based. I need to perfect my tow launch skills and rough-air approaches and landings, but other than that, I'm really happy up there!
>
> The training really gave me a burst of enthusiasm to finish my build and start flying it - I'm working on the rib moulds for the flaperon, tail/rudder, H-stab/elevator and main wing nose ribs. Pictures shortly...
>
> Sniffing around all the hangers at Sisteron gave me some good ideas to consider for splitting/joining the wings and other things. Lots of ideas and sketches to develop over the next few weeks... and I still need to finish calculating the numbers for a 3-part wing. I'm also interested in looking at ways of making the tail.rudder assembly removable from the tail boom. Ideas... ideas... ideas..!
>
> Keep up the great work, and keep those photos coming!
>
> Phil.