Boomerang 7

I've had several requests as to what I thought about the Boom 7......

I wished I could say that I'd flown 25 hours on it at the pwc in Brazil, but as most of you know, there were only a few days of free flying, one half assed task with nobody in goal, and one excellent race day.

So, with only about 8 hours on the glider, and in only “mildly sporting” conditions at best, all I can say about the Boom 7 is that with what I know so far it's just a beautiful piece of work and Gin has really out done himself on this one. I immediately felt right at home on the glider at my normal weight of a couple of kgs over on the ML. It's easy to launch despite the closed cells, and landings so far seem comparable to the Boom 6, if not easier...

The risers will seem familiar to the 6 with the same mind f*** going on, with just a few lines moved around to facilitate more stable accelerated flight. Obviously the leading edge is complete redesigned, but I was impressed when doing a no wind forward at home how easily the glider came overhead. Some of the cells between the closed cells have mesh screen openings and a wind sock kind of thing going on internally within the leading edge behind those screens..... The weed whacker line in every third cell no longer travels to the trailing edge, but instead ends a few feet short.... There are numerous additional small weed whacker pieces also now in the leading edge.

The high AR of 8.0 seems quite comfortable and secure, and the glider climbs and glides I believe better than any 3 line glider out there. For the first time I was out gliding Brad on his IcePeak3, and was able to catch him up and pass him for the first time ever I think for me.

I've never felt so comfortable accelerated. In addition to increasing overall performance, this was one of the primary goals of the Boom 7 – to make it more stable on full speed - but the glider is even heavier than the 6, and the leg strength required for full bar is substantial. If there were any downside at all with this glider, that would have to be it.... It just takes a lot of work to fly in the 2nd half of the accelerated range, and this glider really begs you to do it.... I broke my second bar in Brazil (not the line).

For me I've never felt so competitive on glide before, and no R10.2 or any glider was able to out climb me. It's just a pure joy to fly, seems rock solid when fully loaded, and so far is just an all around great racing machine....

It's pretty clear that it doesn't have all of the glide of the 2 line gliders that are out there now – how could it? I think, however, that if the decision making is a little stronger, some better lines are taken, and you spend some time on the leg press machine, you've probably got the best shot at taking down a strong 2 liner pilot if /when you find yourself up against one – or several as you no doubt will in Chelan if you enter the pwc....