"Hello everyone! I’ve just been checking out the video of Aaron Hadlow doing his handle pass. I noticed something I thought was worth mentioning.

Aaron seems to be using a kind of tether, the kind you might use when learning trampoline or diving. It consists of a tether/leash type thing fixed to a belt harness with a mechanism to allow the tether to slide right around your body. As far as I can tell this means not having to unhook from your harness and there’s no chance of losing your wing during the move. On the other hand, some competitors, such as Martin Vari, are using a simpler, leash-to-chicken-loop system which means that if you miss the move your wing won’t disappear and you won’t be swimming back in.

Advantage: You don’t lose your wing
Disadvantage: You find yourself with your wing fastened to the chicken loop by a leash running to your back. This is not a 100% safe position as if you let go of the wing it will either find its way to the zenith…or bang in the wind window. You’ve got to grab the leash and then the control bar. What this implies is that you would need to sail slightly under-powered compared to nor doing a handle pass, otherwise there’s too much power in the wing.

Then again, I could be completely wrong!"