http://ozreport.com/12.032#0

http://ozreport.com/12.057#1

I finally got the opportunity to fly with my new Moyes Matrix Race harness. I'd adjusted it during long sessions of hanging in it trying to get the shoulder straps just right, so that, my shoulders didn't hurt from too much pressure. I loosened the straps so that they didn't touch my shoulders and that was about right, but the straps were now too long and there was less support for my chest. I was continuing to work on the right setting.

I had replaced the "normal DHV length" mains with ones that were ten inches longer. This allowed me to place my head pulley up at the bottom of the under surface (with a really short hang strap thanks to Steve Pearson at Wills Wing) where hopefully the air speed would be slower and the drag due to the pulley less.  Well, a bit of a fantasy there.

 In the previous article you'll see that Tess took in the harness by four centimeters, even though using the standard Moyes fitting specifications it fit great before she made that change, in order to deal with my whining about the air scoop behind my neck. Kraig's explanation of the hang-your-head effect on creating the air scoop had not reached me or the folks around me that day at Moyes before the harness surgery was performed.

Unfortunately, the harness is now a bit too tight and a bit hard to get on. I can have that fixed later as Tess could easily provide more room with adjustments to the zipper (at least I assume so, as she did that on my previous Moyes Matrix Race harness, a hand-me-down). Still I can put it on and fly with it without much difficulty.

On the first day on the Santa Cruz Flats Race, I suffered from the problem of pain in the shoulder. I spoke with Kraig Coomber (www.mouesusa.com) and after seeing how far forward I was and how I had adjusted the shoulder straps he took the Styrofoam boot and cut it back, as it turned out, not once, by twice, giving my feet an even more acute angle, which worked fine, as well as much more room. I could then move back into the harness, and tighten up the shoulder straps without hurting my shoulders.

Also, we worked on the air scoop issue. It is still unclear to me, despite all of Kraig's efforts to explain it to me, just what the problem was (back there are the Moyes factory). It seemed like we left it with the "fact" that I'm not arching my back and pulling neck neck up, like one is supposed to be doing when flying. This was what it looked like when Kraig photographed me late when evening after a day of competition:

I'm trying to put my arms where they would be on a base tube (not the base tube of this tandem glider), and I have my shoulders arched back. You can see that in this case there isn't a problem with an air scoop. Check out Kraig illustrating it here.

With the adjustments from Kraig the harness felt great. My feet (especially without shoes) had plenty of room and I wasn't always pushing my toes against the foam. I could wiggly my feet around and keep the circulation going around my legs. My shoulders felt fine after six and a half hours.

Kraig also adjusted the for and aft line that allows for the pilot to rock up or down, so that it was just hard enough to rock the harness without being too easy, so that it would do it on its own.

Yes, I like the harness now. I don't know why I put myself through all the misery.

BTW, a clue to keep the dust out of your zipper, that came from a pilot at the Santa Cruz Flats Race, was to put candle wax on the zipper. I'm trying it out. Sounds reasonable as there is a wax solution used for lubrication for bicycle chains, that doesn't collect dirt like oil based lubricants do, and the wax falls off with the dirt.