Cloud 9 Morph harness
The future looks bright
The Cloud 9 Morph is a hang glider harness which easily changes between prone and seated positions in flight. This affords todays pilots longer, safer and more comfortable flights in all conditions for those with back/neck/injury/pain issues — and anyone who likes to change positions, for whatever reasons!
But getting into seated flying hasn't always been so easy.
A speculative history
Hang gliding started with pilots flying in an upright seated position, but prone position soon became popular due to its superior control authority… back then no production harnesses existed that allowed both positions. The Cloud 9 Morph harness has now changed all that.
The beginnings
Cloud 9 owner Bill Pain first starting working on a combined prone/supine hang gliding harness back in the 90s, when he was commissioned by the late Colin Lark to design and build the Discovery Skyfloater production glider.
Bill flies a Clubman 140, back in the day
At the time Wills Wing had just launched the Falcon, and with it the concept of a simple single surface recreational glider. This concept was embraced by the Skyfloater crew as a kind of reb-boot for hang gliding, which they saw going down 'a path leading to its demise' — because while the designs provided pilots with increased performance, only highly competent and current pilots could safely enjoy them.
The Wills Wing's advertisement of the time depicted a pilot flying the Falcon using a paragliding harness with a spreader bar. But Bill liked having maximum control, and saw that a 'flip' harness might be possible. This could allow pilots to enjoy the advantages of both modes. Bill had been thinking about developing a true seated hang gliding harness, but one that goes fully prone and supine.
Bill flying his Discovery design with an early Bruce Hudson Supron harness.
Bruce Hudson was making harnesses at the time, so Bill gave him the brief. As a result, Bruce Hudson's original Supron harness came into being. He developed a harness that worked quite nicely but lacked the refinement and a number of critical features. Bruce is a brilliant designer and much of his work has been incorporated in the development of the modern chapter of seated flying.
Since those early days Bill has continued to fly, modify and develop the concept with many hours of flight testing in both modes — head first and feet first. Pilots report that the current Morph harness is really comfortable in all modes and offers a seamless transition to seated flight.
Bill continues to develop products for seated flying, and is currently working on a fairing boot attachment for the Cloud 9 Morph which allows a fully contained flying experience in both positions.
You are witnessing history in the making, and it's very exciting!
