NIVIUK Skin makes cross-country history with an 80km triangle

Kurt Eder made the first ever long distance flight with a single-surface wing

Having recently received his NIVIUK Skin, Kurt Eder wanted to see how the wing would perform over distance.

In the Italian Alps on the 7th May, conditions were ideal for cross-country. Kurt decided to leave his NIVIUK Artik 4 at home and fly with his new light wing, the NIVIUK Skin 18m2 (2.5kg), used with the ADVANCE Impress harness. Taking off from a local flying site, he achieved and incredible 80,35km FAI triangle which can be considered as the first distance record made with a single surface glider. He was in the air for an incredible 7 hours.

Extract from his story

“The conditions were ideal for a cross-country with my Artik 4 but I decided to try the new NIVIUK Skin having received it only a few days previously…The launch is easy even in nil wind, using 2-3 steps forward I was already airborn…
In the beginning, I had some difficulty centring the cores because I was used to my NIVIUK Artik 4 that felt different, but soon after I was more at ease and managed to gain some altitude…
In turbulent air the wing is lively and moves to place itself directly above the pilot, but you can let it do that and feel total security, even with your hands off. I didn’t have any closures and the wing stays vertical above the pilot without pitching …”