Freestyle wing Octane 2 - which size to buy 22m or 25m

Hi guys
I have about 200hrs of flying on my Gin Atlas size M wing.

I am interested in doing some acro stuff. I recently done my SIV course where I learned SAT and practised to nail my wingovers. So as you can see I am a beginner in acro.

I really enjoy and therefore would like to buy a more designated wing for acro manouveres. I've heard that it is better to go first for a freestyle wing then later for acro wing. So my choice is a freestyle wing Ozone Octane 2.

Now my questions is which size I should go for? 22m (weight range: 55-90kg) or 25m (weight range: 65-105kg)

My all up weight would be:
wing Octane 2 : 5,5kg
harness Supair Acro 3: 6,5
2 reserves (round & rogallo) : 4,5kg
helmet + boots: 1kg
myself: 78-80kg

TOTAL WEIGHT: 98kg

Are there any people that fly this wing and can advise me on this? what size is your wing? whats your total weight?. Are you happy with it?

Some people suggest that I should go for 22m (55-90kg) even though I am 10kg over the weight limit as this would be better loaded for more dynamic manoeuvres (but do I want to be very dynamic being acro beginner?)

Some say that I should stay in the weight range 65-105kg which would be the 25m wing and I am 98kg which sounds perfect. I am just 7kg below the maximum weight range of 105kg.

Therefore it logically suggests that 25m wing would be more suitable for me as I am in range here. Do you agree?
What do you guys think?

Latest Comments

leo yeung's picture

hi Yarich :
Can you tell me which is the school that you learn Acro? thX!

Martini's picture

Very inspirational Yaroslav! I admire your determination to learn Infinity!

Rob, depending on what you want to focus on and what conditions you will mostly fly and on the hight of the spot, you choose the right size. As Yarich said, for dynamic maneuvers go with the smaller size. But for Stalled maneuvers go with the bigger size. Also keep in mind the bigger size will be easier to thermal and your final altitude will be a little bit higher when soaring.

I´m all about helicos and mistys so I would go with the bigger size.

Have fun

Yarich's picture

Emilie wild is slightly easier for beginners. It's 2013 version of emilie. Peace is a newer version(2014?) of Emilie with better performance and agility (but it's not that important in beginning). I suspect peace will be a little bit more demanding to pilot. Anyway...I wouldn't go for emilie now because of low quality of the wing - it will not last for long. As for you..Octane 22 will be good for you if you learn helis, mctwist, mistys(in my opinion 25 is way to big)...but don't expect lots of dynamic on such maneouvers like tumbling...I found that all dynamic tricks are much more easier and safer to perform on 20 emilie, than on 22...and opposite for heli, mistys, etc... But it just my experience, make decision yourself based on your judgement. I've seen as well bad examples of pilots who jumped straight away from SIV to acro wing and couldn't handle it properly...

rob1609's picture

Yarich thank you very much for sharing your experience. I like your approach :) you went straight for an acro wing :) Do you know why AirG has two different names for Emilie wing? one is WILD and the other PEACE both acro wings. is it same wing older and newer model? Surely they make good wings but their webiste is suprisingly sooo poor that I cant find any info about these wings :( like specification etc... Its tragic!!!

Yarich's picture

Hi...I will share my small experience...I'm 95 naked.
Right after my first SIV I took Emilie Wild 22 to start acro. My dream was to learn Infinity... So I took brand new emilie wild 22 and start to learn all dyanmic tricks only...wingovers, sat, assy spiral, loop, assysat, tubmbling, rythmic and then finally I did infinity on this wing. it took me around 120 flights to go from "i never did sat before, what is wingover?" level to my very first infinity without any rescue deployment. I found this wing very easy and friendly. In this 120 flights I never tried deep stall, helico, mctwist or misty flip - I didn't want to waste time for that as infinity was my goal. Meanwhile I observed people who switched from freestyle wings to acro wings like emilie or others. They had to "re-learn" manouvers and get used to new dynamic and behaviour of the wing.. After that. this year, I took cheap used emilie wild 20 as I tried it once and liked it's dynamic more. I learn mctwist, helico, mistyflip and other tricks...Of course, it's long way to master all these tricks and there are so many things to learn..but what I want to say...When I look back I don't see place for freestyle wing in my acro experience and preferences...Generally...freestyle wing would make my progression definitely slower...It might not work well for somebody else, but it was ok in my case.

rob1609's picture

Thanks Jarek for your advice :) In the end I decided to go for 22m as most people suggest that. Thank you all :)
Dzieki Jarek ;)

JaroXS's picture

Hi Rob,

I have Octane 2 and my all up weight is 95 kg. Go for the 22m. 20 is to small 25 is too big. You will thermal normally and the glider is very very safe. For last 7 years I had only small acro gliders like 18-19m Nikitas but know I feel there is no reason to have a rocket in my garage when I fly mostly freestyle XC/simple Acro. For some point of view it might be a step back, but I really like how it is now. Just having fun in the air with really safe glider. You will be able to TUMBLE with 22 Octane 2 nooo worries :-)

Regards,

Jarek

carbonvader's picture

Hey Rob,

My advice is not to consider about the weight range provided by manufacturers. What you really have you consider is loading ratio. As you can see from the attached picture, it has vital importance in acro paragliding.

I have started with 20 sqm(F-Gravity 2) @ 87 kgs, so the wingloading was nearly 4.5 kg per sqm which is the most suitable ratio for beginning in my humble opinion. Below than this ratio, although you may feel a bit more comfortable in negative manoveurs, you may feel lack of energy during the dynamic manoveurs, such as asym sat, in your further progress.

Therefore, since Octane 2 is super awesome glider for beginning -except its glide ratio-, you can go for 22 sqm without any doubt.

rob1609's picture

Thank you Kalman for your reply. Yes I will keep my other wing for XC flights for sure. You're right starting with bigger wing to learn basics is better but I guess once I progress more with my acro then I will go for 22m :)

rob1609's picture

Hi Alex. Thank you for your reply. I am in UK so not huge thermals up here. I would usually go to Oludeniz to get high but would love to use it in the UK too. I was actually thinking of gettin Emilie myself too :) apparently its a great wing too :)

Kalman's picture

P.S.: You will want to shorten your Brakes by round about 15cm ;)

Kalman's picture

Hi Rob,
I fly the Octane 2 25 with 110kg all up for 10 months now. Before i had a Sigma8 27 and pretty much the same hours as you.
I like the Wing alot. It has enough Energy for really high Wingovers and pretty high asymetric Sats (see Picture). Also Stalls / deep Stalls are pretty easy. But dont expect a Thermal / Glide Wonder. You will really notice a Difference to your Atlas in that regard. So i recommend to keep your Atlas for Thermal / XC as second wing.

Now for the size:
Both will work. I think it was good for me for the past months to have the bigger Size, but now i would prefer the 22 for more Energy (although i am 10kg heavier then you).
If your focus will be Helis go for the bigger Size.
If your focus will be dynamic Maneuvers go for the smaller Size.
I would recommend you to go for Size 22, and keep your Atlas for non-acro Flights.

Cheers

alexglider's picture

Will you have to deal with weak termals to get high? If you have free high, I think you should go on 22m. I'm in Emilie 22m with 93kg all up, just practicing helico now (sats and wingovers are ok), and it feels very confortable (no big problems/shoots/cravats/out-off-control at all - my previous wing was atis/sky - enB). But its hard to get high with my home lovely weak termals :/ So, now I'm thinking in sizes with this in mind...