Am I ready for an EN-D glider?
I had in my 5 year personal aragliding goal that I would upgrade to a EN-D paraglider in June for the Rat Race 2014.
I've now been flying Ozone Delta EN-C for 18months, and am completely comfortable on it. I flew it in over 15 hours of full on flying summer thermic flying in the Rat Race Sprint in in 2013 and 2014. There was a huge range of conditions, from strong bouncy thermals, low saves, cruisy air, and across choppy convergence lines on full speed bar. While there were many times when I didn't want to let my hands off the controls, I also was never in a situation where I felt glider control was a challenge on my Delta.
In the Dust of the Universe review of the Ozone M4 it describes flying the M4 " I felt that it was the first time I am flying a glider who felt ridiculously easy to fly for an EN-D, but has a comfortable advantage in performance".
The M4 is a couple of years old, but like purchasing my Delta in 2012, finding a lightly used M4 would give me the opportunity to pick up a second hand one for a great price. With the M5 being released in 2014, there will probably be pilots upgrading that might want to sell.
On the other hand, upgrading to an M4 would conflict with my goal of flying in the SoCal XC League in 2014 in the Sport class.
Interestingly, the custom color scheme for my Delta is the same color scheme as one of the M4 colors, the picture in this picture is flying with the same harness as me, and even with a red flying jacket. Could be me!
