Griffin manual: 35
Speed System
The speed system accelerates the wing by progressively shortening the risers towards
the front.
Make sure that the speed system lines are routed properly through your harness and
attached to the risers using the Brummel hooks. Perform any adjustments symmetrically
while on the ground. Adjust the speed system so that the maximum speed is attained
(“pulley-to-pulley” on the riser) when your legs are fully extended. Ask a friend to hold the
risers in the flying position while you are seated in your harness on the ground.
Line system, brakes and line plan
Line system
The Griffin has A, B and C line levels, which fork two or three times from the bottom (riser)
to the top (canopy) and which are divided into "Main", "Lower-Middle", "Higher-Middle" und
"Top" lines. The individual line levels are connected with one another using the
“handshake knot” (special hoop technology).
With the brake lines, the individual levels are bundled at the end with the main brake
line. This runs through the brake ring attached to the riser and is knotted at the brake loop
of the control handle. There is a mark on the main brake line which allows the control
handle to be correctly positioned.
The main lines are all attached to Maillon quick links. They are fed through special
elastic rings and attached to prevent the lines from slipping and to ensure that they sit in
the correct position.
Brake line adjustment
Factory setting
The brake lines of the Griffin are set to the length that was used for the EN certification
test flights. These line lengths have been finely tuned by the GIN test pilots, and it should
not be necessary to adjust them.
The brake line length is tuned so that there is slack in the brake lines when the glider is
in fully accelerated flight. Therefore, the brakes are quite slack at trim speed, and to take
up that slack in soaring flight, it is common to fly with half a wrap on the brakes and hold
the handles on the knot. However, care should be taken to release the wraps in any
extreme situation.
If you do need to make adjustments to suit your harness, body and flying style, we
strongly recommend that you test fly the glider after every 2 cm of adjustment. There
should be a minimum of 10 cm of free brake travel when the glider is flown hands-off.
This prevents the brakes being applied unintentionally when the speed system is fully
engaged. We recommend a double sheepshank or a bowline knot for the brake handle
attachment as shown in the diagram.
