Nelson Defreyman

The Kolibri Pro harness

Tried and tested by Nelson Defreyman Red Bull team XAlps, France Team fr3

Nelson Defreyman, XAlps competitor for France’s Team 3, talks to us about the harness made for him by Kortel, which he will be using for this year’s race.

« Firstly, Antoine and me would like to thank Kortel Design for their confidence and support.

Antoine Girard

About the harness:

By incorporating the basic geometry used for the Kolibri, the Kortel team have simply reduced the weight of the initial prototype by instead using a 27g fabric.

What it feels like

Nelson Defreyman

Despite a very impressive feather-weight, this harness is more comfortable than the previous design. Turning requires less effort and there is more feedback for a harness of this category. It communicates the movements of the wing during transitions, allowing you to really feel the air mass and position your body accordingly. I had the opportunity in South Africa of experiencing a impressive accelerated closure, and to my amazement there was no twist tendance and the body was able to remain very centred.

Nelson Defreyman

When thermalling, the wing-harness combination feels stable. It is easy to turn using simple thigh pressure and remain in the ascending air-mass without any problem. Despite a 6 hour flight, comfort is exceptionnal with no pressure points felt on the back when using speedbar pressure.

It also has a multitude of adaptable settings to adopt the pilots body shape, ensuring a comfortable position for launches in high winds or setting up for technical landings. There is also several storage spaces for a camera, food supplies and other items.

For me personally, there are a multitude of positive aspects to this harness and this is the reason why I chose it for the Red Bull X-Alps.

This test is obviously on a prototype model that is constantly evolving and being improved. We hope to achieve an even better harness for the XAlps than the one we have now, which will hopefully be available for commercialisation in the future.