DS SURPRISE "I’ll never forget the first time I saw Paul Naton’s glider absolutely ripping up the sky at Kiona Butte, in Radio Carbon Art’s video Endless Lift #3. It was June 2000, Deiter Mahlein was timing the model with a radar gun, and the wind at Kiona was blowing 20 knots. Paul was flying a purpose-built DS glider called the CR/Naton Speed Runner, and Dieter was down the hill with the radar gun. He kept shouting out the speeds until it seemed his voice was nearly hoarse. Then he shouted out, with wild excitement, “173 mph!” That flight set a record for dynamic soaring (DS) that would stand for more than three years. Moreover, it awakened the soaring community to what could be accomplished DSing, as the record flight got good press and much attention from slope soaring and DS enthusiasts." -Wil Byers
