Cross Country reports from Stubai 2008, the paragliding world’s kickstart to the season
The annual kick-start for the paragliding industry took place under blue skies on Jan 18-20 this year. On frosty ground in the small village of Neder, 25 exhibitors pitched their tents and peddled their wares to hundreds of paraglider pilots.
To a background soundtrack of euro-pop, paragliders, acro-wings and speed-gliders fell out of the sky like proverbial confetti, including Antoine Montant, Mike Kung, the Renegades and Felix Rodriguez, to show us how it should be done.
All the stands were packed with new and exciting equipment for 2008 and speed wings are clearly ‘a la mode’. Nearly every manufacturer is now producing a speed or mountain wing alongside their normal range.
Many stalls were also showing a big array of harnesses as well, ranging again from items specifically designed for speed riding or mountain use, through the normal selection of general use harnesses to fully faired, pod racing affairs.
Likewise many exhibitors were showing a burgeoning range of helmets, bags, accessories and clothing, it’s even easier now to show where your allegiance lies, even when you’re just going down to the pub!
As ever the Stubai Cup was a fantastic opportunity to see first hand what we will be taking to the skies under this coming season. However, this 2008 event was even more than that: it was a showcase example of just how broad our sport has become.
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