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Hi John,

I trim my Atos more by feel than by what my airspeed indicator is telling me. Here's what I mean. At the 15 degree flap setting, I have the glider currently trimmed so that from hands off, I have to push out about 8-10 inches (an estimate) in order for the glider to be flying at its slowest. With the hang loop in this position, at 5 degrees of flap the glider will fly reasonably fast by not super fast.

Last time I flew, I noticed that my glider was trimmed a bit too slow so I was having to pull in just a bit too much while thermalling in the ratty air at Elk. So yesterday, when I put a new hang loop on the glider and flew at Funston (I finally found the right height for my new harness and now have a regular hang loop again) I moved it about 1/4 of an inch further forward than before. This seems about perfect but only a flight in the mountains will tell for sure.

It kind of depends on what you are used to trim wise on past gliders. Some people like to have their gliders trimmed a bit fast so they have to push out when they are thermalling. Others like to have their gliders trimmed more slowly so they don't have to push out and can have a lighter touch when thermalling.

I would suggest you contact Jim Lamb and ask him what the recommended factory specs are for trim speed on your glider. Then just start moving your hang point around in 1/4 inch increments until you find a sweet spot that matches all those years of thermalling body movements that are hot wired into your body.

I have found that the glider still isn't prone to spins any more than usual even with the glider trimmed too slow than was desirable for me. And, at least in the past on my flex wings, I liked having a glider that was trimmed quite slow. I tend to trim my gliders for thermalling speeds. But I suppose the ideal would be to have the glider trimmed hands off at your best glide speed.

- Andy