Harness Appreciation Day on Saturday July 14

[Ken Andrews]

After flying on Saturday afternoon, July 14, we'll be celebrating all things harness-related. This will be a collaborative event to share what you know, and to to learn new things, about harnesses.

It will be an opportunity to look over your harness with another pilot and check for safety issues. This is also a great time to replace worn lines, oil the zippers, adjust it for comfort, or just hook into a hang loop somewhere and hang out for a bit.

If you're shopping for a new (or new-to-you) harness, bring your questions. If you have an old harness collecting dust in the back of a closet, bring it to the LZ and maybe you'll find a buyer.

I believe that Windsports will be available to sell replacement parts and fix minor issues on the spot. Perhaps Kraig Coomber will be there to help with Moyes harnesses. I'll be there to help where I can and to ask tough questions (Without looking, where's your hook knife? You're coming in to land and your main zipper jams; now what?).

We tend to treat our gliders with care and take our harnesses for granted. But our lives depend on both, and harness issues may cause as many accidents as glider issues. On Saturday afternoon, we'll give our harnesses the attention they deserve.

[Chip]

Great idea.

This is what being part of a club helps promote. Whomever came up with the idea, nice job!

I'll be there.

[JD]

Great idea.

This is what being part of a club helps promote. Whomever came up with the idea, nice job!

I'll be there.

I fully agree Chip & Thank you, Ken for promoting this as well as your past promotion of the Falcon League, etc, etc.

Hey Chip - How about you and me offer the club a camera mounting clinic? You have shown up with some great methods for mounting that are very practical entirely different than the techniques I use. Maybe if enough club members are interested everyone can get some fresh perspectives?

Cheers, DQ

[Don]

Thanks to Ken (and Company) for organizing this. Thanks also to Fast Eddy for adjusting my harness - Sunday's flight was much better.

[Ken Andrews]

Particular thanks go to Andy Beem, Fast Eddy, and Joe Greblo for supporting this event. I think that just about everyone who participated got something out of it. Some found worn lines due for replacement; others found ways to make their harnesses more comfortable or work a little better; and a few discovered pockets or little features they didn't know about. Silicone spray on zippers and slider bars helped just about everyone. Certainly I learned bits of lore about a variety of harnesses.

If you're interested but weren't out flying on Saturday, the following checklist proved helpful. A large-font printable version is at http://www.shga.com/pdf/HarnessChecklist.pdf.

Harness inspection checklist

All harnesses
☐ Carabiner: steel, no obvious damage, smoothly operating gate
☐ Risers: wear at carabiner, damage, sun exposure
☐ Parachute bridle: wear at carabiner, damage, sun exposure, cover and hold-downs, chance of snagging
☐ Parachute pocket: pocket velcro, pins, bungees, handle. When was last repack?
☐ Leg loops: continuous webbing, smoothly operating buckles (if applicable)
☐ Accessory lines: wear or fraying, attach points
☐ Hook knife?

Pod harnesses
☐ Slider mechanism (if applicable): straight rod, mounting hardware, backup webbing
☐ Spreader bars and hardware (if applicable)
☐ Carbon backplate (if applicable): cracks, hinge hardware
☐ Heads-up line (if applicable)
☐ Zip/unzip cords
☐ Main zipper, break-out velcro
☐ Pockets and their zippers
☐ Drogue chute and its attach point?