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The new DHV 1-2 sport wing from Airwave.

Report by Neil Cruickshank

I'll be blunt, I don't like the Sport 2! It is difficult on the ground and has a kind of remote, wooden feel to it in the air. I preferred the Sport 1 to be honest and I felt sorry for Airwave - they got slated for the twitchiness of the Sport 1, then went the other way with the Sport 2!

So, was it going to be 3rd time lucky I thought as I unrolled the wing on the edge of Semerwater last weekend?

Certainly we'd been selling a few so all those pilots can't be wrong...

Ground handling it in the light breeze presented no problems, she responded well to little tweaks of the risers and sat obediently overhead. My first flight was a technical, tricky affair in the first of the mornings punchy thermals in the light background breeze - again no problems, plenty of feedback and precise handling. I popped back onto launch to help brother Rob get off with the tandem.

By now the breeze had picked up, the tandem was going up, so I clipped in again and took off. Within 5 minutes we'd both found the same core and were circling wingtip to wingtip. The Sport 3 came into its own now and with a big grin I settled into the climb, eventually topping out 900m above TO.

What a delightful glider, it's hard to fault it, so I won't. Lovely, lovely handling; intuitive, precise and easy. Good performance and a reassuring feel on hands-off during glides. The bar is light and linear, and effective. It looks great, seems well-built and the bag etc are good quality.

Negatives? I can't think of any, except oh yes - the brake handles dont have a stiff bar in them so after a while it makes my fingers tingle as they get squashed together!

If I had to buy a glider in this class, the Sport 3 could well be it.

If you want to test fly a medium Sport 3, you'll have to wrestle it off me first!

STOP PRESS -- Email sent to us from a recent Sport 3 customer:

"Hope the weathers ok for you weve been having a brilliant last few weeks and since I got the glider its never been alone. Ive managed to fly everyday, and its got me back into the flying seat again with confidence. As you probably know the conditions here in the Austrian alps go pretty bollistic around the mid day point, but hey on my new sport its almost enjoyable.

Ive had some wicked flights, clocked up 6 hours already. including some great magic lift evening flights down the valley and back. So thanks for your help and for supplying me and trading in my old bandit. I probably would of stopped flying as I was literally shitting mesel everytime I went out before. "