Marlin
Training wing
Description
You are learning to fly. You are a part of an organised group, but it still takes up a lot of your time because there is much waiting for proper weather conditions. With too much wind you can't control your paraglider, pulling you up and around. The instructor has to call a break since it's no good neither for you nor the canopy.
If only the winds were lighter... but there is nothing you can do about that. Or is it? What if you could find a much smaller wing, behaving much as a standard one, yet safe to launch in these conditions? And not causing such a stress when draggled through pools and mud nearby?
We have such a wing for you and your instructor. It's called MARLIN - a dedicated training wing.
Marlin is a small training wing dedicated exclusively for ground handling exercises. You can't fly this wing, much less doing any aerobatics.
Due to its small area Marlin stays remarkably calm in thermal gusts, so you don't need any special assistance while training launches in strong conditions. You can safely go exercising even at a 12 m/s wind, so the effectivity of training the launches is increased up to 30%, depending on local weather conditions.
The Marlin behaves much as a standard free-flying paraglider. The aerofoil used gives the wing a slight reflex behaviour, so it has no tendency to overshoot while launching in strong winds. The risers and rigging is identical to "real" paragliders in order to grow correct habits.
Still the Marlin requires from the students proper concentration and right inputs, so the trainees will almost instantly be able to cope with bigger paragliders.
Technical Data
| Size | Marlin 12 |
| Certification | not certified |
| Number of cells |
27 |
| Surface area (flat) [m2] | 12,01 |
| Surface area (projected) [m2] | 10,62 |
| Span (flat) [m] | 7,48 |
| Span (projected) [m] | 6,17 |
| Aspect ratio |
4,66 |
| Aspect ratio |
3,58 |
| Fabric | SkyTex Evolution 44 g/m2 (E85A) SkyTex Classic 39 g/m2 soft finish (E38A) SkyTex Classic 39 g/m2 hard finish (E29A) Mylar Polyester Scrim 180 g/m2 |
Colours / Gallery
In case of Marlin we can choose the upper surface colour - yellow, red, orange or blue. The colour schemes are similar to these of Nemo, but without grayish-black design in the middle.
Opinion
If you would like to share you opinion on the paraglider, please send a couple of words to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Your thoughts will be published on our website.
(an opinion by Kamil Antkowiak, owner of one of the biggest Polish paragliding schools)
The Marlins training wings are used in our school for over two years. Due to its low surface area Marlin has an exceptional stability in strong thermal gusts, so ground handling can be done single-handed even in squally weather. You can teach it safely up to 12 m/s winds, practically increasing the effectiveness of training launch techniques by at least 50% (I can't remember that I ever had to call off Marlin classes because of the wind).
The Marlin's behaviour does not differ much from standard paragliders, with similar steering range. All in all - a great solution for an active intructor.
Kamil Antkowiak
www.paralotnie.org
"The wind today was 16+ kmh, a bit strong for the ReAction. Got the Marlin out the bag and it fly's great a absolute must for all training schools and for pilots frustrated by those windy non flying days. Being so small it attracted a lot of interest from the other club members. So after a full day of flying and demonstrating the Marlin I have three club members that want to do their full training to PPG pilot.
Marlin gets my thumbs up and I think all schools should be using them, even from the safety aspect of the new student."
Clive Bunce