TRUE !
It is always better to profile the back than the front of an object!
The influence of aerodynamics is obvious with the video of cyclists…
With the performance and speed achieved today by the magnificent paragliders (64 km/h with the BGD CURE 2, an EN-C), the influence of the driver’s drag becomes major,
Anecdote 1988
At the European championships in Saint Hilaire du Touvet, the FALHWAK drivers of the Japanese team (who had been invited) were already equipped with a tip that profiled the back of their harness.
Anecdote 1992
I did some tests with a neon yellow mylar fabric device equipped with 4 battens that I had wisely named SIDA (Système Influençant la Dépression Arrière = System Influencing Back Depression). It was still much too early for it to be really useful…
And the name was not very popular, because in French the acronym SIDA stands for AIDS!
Today, 30 years later, inflatable profiling is an element to really take into account: there are even light models (1.4 kg!). Why deprive ourselves of it?
I think that in 2 years (or a few months…), all the harnesses will have inflatable profiling!
Eric Laforge
(Published in January 2020)
