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November 30, 2020, 7:51:45 EST

Wills Wing Sport 3 Adjustments

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Steven "Steve" Pearson|Wills Wing Sport 3

Steve Pearson writes:

The tuning of the S3 is more user adjustable than a S2 or U2. In general, a Dacron S3 is noticeably lighter handling and more responsive than a Mylar sail but loosening the sail tension on the leading edge can make a huge difference. You have a much greater ability to configure an S3 to your preferences.

Pete Montgomery writes:

I especially like the leading edge length adjustment on the S3 (that wasn't on the S2). For those who don't know, it is a series of holes in the join of the aft leading edge tubes that lets you adjust leading edge tension really quickly and in very small increments. Correct if I am wrong here Steve but my understanding is that reducing the leading edge tension actually flattens the wing (increases trailing edge tension). I know a lot of folks think that to make a sail flatter you need to crank up the leading edge tension but this in fact has the opposite effect.

The Race is not a tuning spec. The Race is simply a pricing option that gives you the following at a discount over the sum of all each option separately:
Raked tips
Mylar upper sail
Mylar lower sail
Mylar leading edge
The Mylar sail is unlikely to have a performance benefit over Dacron at this level of glider. Believe it or not but the performance gain from Mylar is not so much from its slippery surface as many believe. There is a boundary layer that negates this effect. What gives the extra performance on a competing wing with a Mylar sail is the resistance of Mylar to stretch. So more span-wise tension in the sail gives you less twist and higher performance.

But in an intermediate wing the tension is less critical. So I doubt you will get much performance increase if any by going to Mylar and as others have said, the extra stiffness of the Mylar does detract very slightly from the handling. Having said that, the handling is so easy that a Mylar S3 is still a super sweet handling glider.

The Dacron is cheaper, will last longer and can be had in some really vibrant colors. The Mylar looks crazy modern and high tech and in theory is fractionally lighter (I mean, fractionally!).

So to conclude, it is more an issue of image and personal taste. A bog standard Dacron S3 will go just as well as a Mylar one and be cheaper. Personally I tend to recommend to my customers (I'm a dealer in the UK) to upgrade to a Mylar leading edge as our hills are always super muddy and Mylar is easier to keep clean and fresh looking than Dacron. The lower 'window' Mylar is my next recommendation as it looks super cool but without the handling and lifespan issue of going Mylar upper.

Raked tips - you will find some say they make all the difference and others say they don't have any effect whatsoever. So again, this is more personal taste than anything else.


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