My equipment upgrade for 2016: brand new Sharmane FR harness. This model is a few years old and has been discontinued so I got it a nicely discounted price. ($500 less than the original retail!) It came with Ronstan rachet pulleys which are worth $150 alone.
It's a full race harness with both 15cm mousse bag and airbag protection. It's built to last, unlike many of the popular new lightweight harnesses that seem to be designed to barely last a season before being torn to shreds. Where we fly in SoCal, take off is often off rocky launch areas so it is hard on harnesses.
This model is little heavier than I wanted as I need an XL size because of my height and broad shoulders. It's still 2kg lighter than my now very dated Advance Impress 2+, which seemed to have given me the heaviest glider bag on the hill in recent years. I was trying to find a Connect Race or X-Alps GTO but didn't like the $1500 new price and second hand models are often in poor condition due to the lightweight materials on the underside.
As usual for a pod, installing the reserve, testing reserve extraction, tuning the multitude of straps and tweaking the speed system took quite a few hours. I also cut apart the supplied speed system and resewed it to remove an unnecessary adjustment buckle.
Looking forward to the first flight!
This model is little heavier than I wanted as I need an XL size because of my height and broad shoulders. It's still 2kg lighter than my now very dated Advance Impress 2+, which seemed to have given me the heaviest glider bag on the hill in recent years. I was trying to find a Connect Race or X-Alps GTO but didn't like the $1500 new price and second hand models are often in poor condition due to the lightweight materials on the underside.
Looking forward to the first flight!