Tendon Injury - Picking a Glider with LIGHT Brakes

I injured the tendon on my right elbow doing stalls and SAT's on my U-turn emotion3. Went to a doctor to have it checked out and went 2 months without flying to recover, then another month of paramotoring before I did acro again. Apparently it didn't heal fully and the pain came back when I started doing acro again. I am now doing physical therapy to heal and build strength, and have decided I will wait until the next season in 2022 to start doing acro again to be sure it has healed.

I am looking for a new glider with lighter and shorter brakes than my emotion 3 to help prevent injury again. I mostly practice acro with a motor, so my AUW is about 120KG. I am very proficient with wingovers, loops, and spirals. I have done a few SAT's at my SIV and they went well, haven't done any back home because of the long and hard brakes on my glider. I probably have about 150 stalls, and the last 100 or so have been very clean and I can quickly find tailslide. I have also practice spins existed into tailslide and also letting them shoot.

With all that, what glider do you think would be good for me and has light and short brakes? I have done a bit of research already and have some candidates in mind. I DO NOT want to get a big acro glider. I am also more interested in learning negative moves so would prefer a glider that does those nicely rater than nice SAT's and tumbles.

- Ozone Octane 2 - My SIV instructor thinks a 22m would suit me well. I have heard that it has longish brakes, but that may have been in comparison to an acro glider? I heard it is pretty gentle (which is what I want) but can still build some energy. I am also not too concerned about glide or sink rate as I have a motor.
- BGD EPIC - I have heard nice things about this wing as a beginner acro wing. I would probably be looking at a 21m or 23m, but I would be almost double the recommended weight range, which might be a bit concerning if I am doing acro. A lot of people describe it as very mellow in negative maneuvers, and there is some videos on youtube of people doing nice SAT's, Misty's, and Heli's.
- U-turn Redout- I would be right at the top of the EN-D weight range on the 21m. I heard that this glider can get away from you a bit easily and negative moves are more difficult. I think It might be a bit much for me right now.
- Xenus/E-gravity/Xstyle - I have heard they can all have about the same limitations as a normal B-wing but are easier to get in trouble with when you mess up. I don't care too much about positive maneuvers so I don't think these are the right wings for me.
- Gin Gangster 2 - I couldn't find much info online about it. It looks nice in the Gin promo video though

Thanks in advance

Latest Comments

qiv's picture

Flying the Sky Kooky for similar reasons, feels more difficult than harder acro gliders in negative manouvers to me, but is tons of fun in dynamic manouvers. The Aerodyne Free might also be fun, but hard to find I fear.

laurentgedm's picture

A few years ago i switched to a Gradient Agility for that very same reason. But that's an acro one.
Regarding freestyle wings, i'd say FS3 as well... But tendon issues are tough to get rid of anyway, regardless of the glider

slyski's picture

Have you had a chance to try UP Misty? If so how was it?

dalechamberlain's picture

I did around 20 hours on the fs3 and paramotor. It was nice. The brakes were not hard

dylan's picture

Freestyle 3 and UP Misti have soft brakes compared to the usual acro wings