On Sunday, July 1, 2012 7:28:03 PM UTC-4, Duster wrote:
Any thoughts on flight characteristics of the Open Cirrus? There used
to be a website covering this glider, but it doesn't appear to be
active since last year.

Thanks,
Mike

My club had one and I flew it quite a bit off the winch and aero-tow. Both are non-events although it is impressive to see these floppy wings flex during the winch launch.
I don't agree with the notion that the drogue chute is unreliable! I used it on just about every landing just for fun. The key is to keep it dry, aired out and packed correctly. It WILL deploy. I saw one Cirrus that had its chute not deployed since it thermaled last with Pterodactyls. It was all stuck together, wadded up and came out in one chunk. It is an operator's/owner's error if they fail to deploy!
Uli