In hang gliding, and especially in landing, there is much old lore
that gets perpetuated by people with little or no understanding of what they're
saying. The old "hands up for a better flare" is often one of those things.
I'll elaborate: While moving the hands higher on the uprights can work for some,
often it creates more problems than it cures. First, the descriptor "hands high"
or "move your hands up" is deliciously bland. How High? How far up? The higher
the better? No.
Regardless of harness, hang height or dangle angle, once your hands are about
even with your ears (or higher) roll control is severely sacrificed. I find
about shoulder height to be the best compromise.
Another strike against the "hands high" methodology is that it does not consider
flare direction. You might have heard the old adage "push up" when you flare,
and this is equally inaccurate. A flare is a weight shift input, and regardless
of whether you envision we move our weight relative to the control frame and
glider, or we manipulate the glider, moving it around us, the center of all
movement is somewhere around the carabineer or cross bar apex. This means
everything moves in a circular motion, never getting closer or further from that
central point. So the flare does actually start as a push out, forward, before
the necessary curve around the center of rotation. It starts as forward, and
curves until you end in a hands-over-your-head position. With hands at ear level
or higher, the required initial outward push of the flare is actually quite
difficult.
Yet another reason "hands up" is often ineffective is the elbows. If you examine
how the human body moves through a flare, much of it comes from the
straightening of the elbow. Hanging in an upright position, the hand placement
that gives you the most bend in your elbow should also yield the largest control
input. This again tends to be about shoulder height. Any higher (or lower) and
the elbow begins to straighten, and your potential to flare diminishes.
Where this all gets trickier is in back-plate-slider race harnesses. All of the
principles I just describe do not change, however you'll notice all of the hand
heights described were relative to the pilot's body, and not the glider. In a
slider harness, the slider mechanism by necessity results in a lower hang height
in the control frame. Now "shoulder height" is 2, 3, possibly even 4 or more
inches lower on the downtubes. That certainly reduces the effective flare
authority, but raising your hands does not remedy the issue, it compounds it.
Also, the more prone "upright" position of these harnesses further lowers where
"shoulder height" falls on the down tubes. Some (few) are able to maintain an
informed connection with the glider while pulling themselves further upright,
and thus raising "shoulder height" within the control frame. Most are better
served maintaining a loose and relaxed grip to feel for flare timing.
Another note is that, as "shoulder height" becomes lower and lower within the
control frame, the control frame widens, resulting in further straightening of
the elbow. Again, moving the hands higher doesn't remedy this, it compounds it.
Steve Pearson best demonstrates that, even when "shoulder height" means having
your hands very low on the uprights, a well timed and executed flare is still
highly effective at stopping forward momentum. Since few of us, including
myself, can time and execute every flare as well as Steve, we can really benefit
from the increased authority to make up for any error in timing or technique.
For these reasons (and more), back-plate slider harnesses have been, still are,
and will continue to be a challenge to land.
Digressing from "hands high" for a moment, I am shocked at the ever-growing
popularity of the back-plate-slider harness market. With the exception of those
that are truly gliding at the world-class level, is the sacrifice in landability
really worth the improvement in glide? That improvement, by the way, is most
noticeable at speeds above best glide, especially on non-topless gliders. The
sacrifices of a back-plate-slider harness remain the same regardless of pilot or
wing choice, yet the benefit changes drastically. For guys like Zac Majors,
Dustin Martin, or the Jeff's, these race harnesses will make a measurable
performance impact. For the vast majority of the sport, are the sacrifices
really worth the minimal gains?
Back to "hands high," I'd like to encourage people to ask questions when given
instruction like "move your hands up". How far? Or, the best question in the
world, "Why?"
Just because hang glider pilots have perpetuated this misnomer for thirty years
does not in itself mean the instruction is effective. After all, we continue to
struggle to land these things even after thirty years.
