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Review: Supair Step X

Bastienne Wentzel

1 september 2023, Cross Country magazine [»]

The ‘X’ in Step X stands for ‘cross’ which means at the crossroads between performance and light weight. With a weight of 4kg for the S, it is similar to other semi-lightweight wings such as the Advance Iota DLS. It replaces Supair’s Step 2 and Step Light. Supair’s designer Pierre-Yves Alloix says: “You do not need to choose between light and classic, this new Step is ‘all in one’: almost as light as the Step Light with similar durability of the Step.”

Paragliding

Unboxing
The first thing I see when I unwrap the fairly compact package is the risers. They are TINY! They’re made of the thinnest black webbing I’ve ever seen on an intermediate wing. Supair have used the same custom-made 7mm nylon webbing on the previous Step 2 and Step Light and on the EN-C Savage. The colour-coded hook-in loops are equally narrow.
After the first surprise, I was relieved to find that the risers and lines are actually quite easy to sort for this class of glider. There is no unusually high tendency to turn or twist and the risers and line loops are colour-coded. The red fully unsheathed Edelrid 8000 series lines are used on many high-B gliders nowadays and sort just fine.

The full review was published in Cross Country magazine 243, September 2023 and online.