Wolfgang Siess, besides from having a super cool name, just jumping out of a hot air balloon with a Duotone wing in his hands! Don’t miss this mad story.

It's likely, you've already seen the video of Wolfgang Siess jumping out of a hot air balloon with his wing a few weeks back. Yes, you heard that right, out of a hot air balloon! Well, we were lucky enough to get this exclusive story from Duotone just days before we went to publish… Enjoy!

Sometimes you must think outside the box to create something new, something that no one has ever done before, or just to realise that not every wing is made for jumping from high altitudes.

It is perfectly natural that as soon as new sports equipment comes on the market, someone gets the idea "what else could be done with it"? We have seen many people using their wings in the mountains with snowboards and skis or on asphalt with skateboards or inline skates. So, it's not surprising that a passionate hang glide pilot and base jumper, seeing a wing that can fly a good wingfoiler up to 7-8 meters, thinks to himself: That's certainly fun to jump down somewhere. So did Wolfgang.

Duotone: Hi Wolfgang, you just jumped from a hot air balloon with our Unit D/LAB. How do you come up with such an idea? Please tell us a little bit about you, who you are, your background, and what brought you to such a crazy idea.

Wolfgang: Hello everyone! Yes, I still can’t believe it actually happened! It’s crazy! My name is Wolfgang but most call me Wolfi, I´m a professional hang glider pilot from a small town in Austria /Tirol, but now I´m living in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. The idea came up back in the early 2000’s when I got a kite wing from a friend. It took no time before we started joking and saying someone should jump it off a cliff with a base-jumping rig.

Years passed by and the idea was always in the back of my head. Till the beginning of this year when I was in Baja /La Ventana. There I saw all these wingfoilers on the water and after seeing how far the wings have come, I decided that it was time to try and make it a reality!

You could have chosen any other wing manufacturer for this project - why did it become Duotone? 

Duotone has great content on their Instagram accounts and initially got my attention there. But the main reason I actually sent Duotone a message on Instagram, was because on my last day it was super windy – so I took my buddies 7m Duotone DICE out for a kite session and had one of my best sessions ever. I just loved the kite from the get-go. After that I was sitting at the airport, waiting at the gate for my flight. I went straight on the Duotone Instagram to check with the guys what could be possible and here we are.

What did your preparation for the jump look like and what kind of safety precautions did you take beforehand to minimize the risk?

Since you don’t really know what is going to happen until you do it, most of the preparation was in my head. Some of my previous “firsts” have taught me to always “hope for the best but prepare for the worst” so I apply that every time. But there was of course lots of running around with the wing. And of course, lots of fun jumps!

What made you choose Colima as the place to do this endeavour?

We needed a big open space with a great view. So, A buddy of mine told me about Colima and Sean's place. And after talking to Sean on the phone, it was clear we needed to do it there! Sean is a great guy, also a skydiver and ex-kite surf world champion, who lived in a house with Ken Winner, the designer of the Duotone Wings on Maui/Hawaii. Plus: did you see the volcano in the backdrop – just awesome! 

As you could see in the video, enormous forces are acting on the wing, and the pilot jumping from such a height. How did you like the Unit D/LAB and did the jump go as you imagined?

Yes and no. The forces are enormous and those wings are not designed to jump from 1000 meters out of a balloon. But I´m really impressed. The Unit D/LAB did great, especially by holding up to those forces! 

I did not expect to fly away and just glide! This wing is made to get pushed by the wind. To fly a Wing needs an aerodynamic profile to create lift, so the Wing flies but can´t create lift to keep me up. And there is also the fact that I jump out of the balloon into 0 wind.

How was your feeling during the jump?

The exit felt great, like flying away. And for the first few seconds, I was thinking man this works really well till I started picking up more and more speed. Day 1 was super fun! I planned to just hold on as long as I can. And when it threw me off, I was just laughing.

On day 2 I was much more relaxed and just enjoyed the ride - till I did not. I didn´t expect such a scary exit.

The jump in numbers

Duotone: Did you track the flight by GPS?

Wolfgang: I did but the GPS got thrown out on day2 together with my goggles.

Duotone: From what height did you jump? 

Wolfgang: 1000 meters above the ground.

Duotone: How long did the flight last on the wing? 

Wolfgang: On day 1: 22 Seconds. A little less on day 2.

Duotone: How fast were you going?

Wolfgang: Around 200kmh. 

This was the highest recorded jump with a Wing, the longest airtime, and probably the most extreme thing that has been done with a Wing to date. First: congratulations Wolfgang! You are used to jumping from high altitudes and sailing through the air. Now also as the first person with a Wing. But how do you deal mentally with such an extreme situation? Nobody could predict how the Wing will behave in the air with such forces.

Thank you! It’s a great feeling to have this tick off my list!

It’s been a few weeks now since the jumps and I do think about it quite a bit. It was for sure a very close call and honestly, I did not think things would go so bad so quick. I learned a lot from this situation and project and that’s the positive side about it.

Do you already have new ideas for further projects in mind?

Yes of course. I got so many ideas and dreams, but mostly with the hang glider. And of course, I want to learn wing foiling and take the Unit D/LAB to where it belongs – on the water.

Thank you for this exciting project! We look forward to seeing the first videos with you on the water.

Thanks, Duotone, for this great opportunity this is for sure one I will never forget!

Videos

The Longest Wing Flight // Duotone X Wolfgang Siess
By Tonic Mag

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