Well we all managed to get out and have a fly yesterday.  After the usual buggering about involved in getting 5 people coordinated and in taxis we rocked up at about 2.30pm to a windy and strong looking El Penon launch still arguing about whose fault it was that we were so late.  As usual [...]

I noticed a comment to my earlier post about the forthcoming dope testing and particularly the alcohol limit imposed by the FAI’s banned list. The comment was left by Peter Saundby who is the President of the FAI Medical Commission (CIMP). In the comment he ‘assures me the CIMP has done their best to preserve [...]

Sorry for the lack of a blog yesterday. I was in the oblivion of sleep deprivation, jet lag and general misery that modern intercontinental airline travel still attempts to market as in some way glamorous and racy. Well, if being forced to undergo intrusive and rude security checks at pretty much every stage of the [...]

I’m still trying frantically to get things ready for my being away from the family for more than 2 weeks – today that involved getting the dinghy sorted and out of the way (have been doing repairs, and it has been sitting in a very inconvenient place for the duration) and having the brakes on [...]

Mario Eder has been a test pilot for Nova for around 10 years, and has been a rock in difficult times, working with Hannes Papesh and helping to build the Austrian company’s current product range. Mario has accepted the role as Technical Manager for the German test centre, ‘Academy’, and although it is with sadness [...]

In these days of weight-saving, people often get away with the smallest reserve that they can, as they hope that they will never use it anyway, and they have to carry it around in their kit. If they do use it, however, the descent rate they get can be scarily fast, and schools often advise [...]

ITV’s Pil-Pit has been highly successful in the speed riding world. The company have now released an 8 m2 version of it for competition speed riders. They have also added a reversible harness / sac to their speed riding range, and Michaël Regnier will be heading up an ITV team to do the speed riding [...]

ITV have no less than three new wings in the offing: The Lapoon is an EN C certified sports wing with a semi reflex profile, for both free flying and paramotoring . ITV describe the Lapoon as a fast wing with good performance and handling and a high level of safety. The EN B Dolpo [...]

Well we’d better get started on this subject hadn’t we? Like, set up a list of bookie’s favourites so that everyone can laugh afterwards at my complete ignorance… I’ll be listing some of the obvious, and some of the less obvious, here below. If you’re not mentioned it is probably my bad judgement – I [...]

Do you fancy a paragliding event where a whole host of manufacturers come together in one place for a long weekend, in the (allegedly) most flyable place in the Northern Alps, for the primary purpose of allowing you to test fly their equipment and ask any questions you may have?

Hi there, my name is Mads Syndergaard. I’ve been doing paragliding comps for almost as long as Patrick Berod, and I have volunteered to blog for XC Mag with my perspective on the upcoming Worlds event in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. My view on things differs from, say, Mark Hayman’s in that, aside from representing [...]

A public auction will take place on Wednesday 21 January 2009 of Welsh Air Sport’s paragliding training equipment and stock. The auction is to be held in Pontypridd (South Wales), with viewing taking place the day before. The sale is of the bulk of the bankrupt company’s equipment and includes 35 wings of varying ages [...]

Well everything is set and I’m off today. Which means the ‘P-Word’ rears its ugly head. Packing…

I’ve found a few minutes to unfurl my new glider and have a look at it. Disappointingly I have to report that, apart from the fact that it seems to have lines made out of something considerably thinner than a pair of Paris Hilton’s g-strings, it looks exactly like the old one. Miffed at this [...]

The first speed flying event in France in 2009 was held in La Toussuire, near Chambery, france, over the weekend of 10 – 11 January. It counts towards the French championships. The ITV Pil-Pit dominated the results tables, winning 1st in the male slalom and free ride events (Patrick Lachat) and the female events (Sabine [...]

The first Vol et Ski event took place over the weekend of 10 – 11 January at Les Saisies, France. Organised by the local club, “Les Volatiles”, Mathieu Jeandroz took first place ahead of Arnaud Farret and Thierry Moreau. Anne Bosvieux was first woman (12th place overall) and Laurent Monneron piloted the first placed tandem, [...]

For those of you that don’t know, my ‘day job’ outside of paragliding is running my own business in Tignes supplying budget skiing holidays to more or less grateful skiers and snowboarders primarily from the UK.  We have over 150 beds spread around 4 hotels and chalets plus a pretty lively bar (www.chaletchardons.com), all run  [...]

Every year, Austrian paragliding manufacturer Nova chooses one or more “Nova Pilot(s) of the Year“ from their pilots worldwide. For 2008 the titles went to Wolfgang Bernhard (AT), Mik Broschart (DE) and Steve Nash (GB).

Six out of six tasks, ranging in distance from 68 to 84 km, were flown from Valle de Bravo, Mexico, in the Monarca Open, which finished on 9 January. Bulgarian, Yassen Savov (Mac Magus 6) took the lead in the first two tasks and was to finish first overall, ahead of Stefan Wyss (CH, Niviuk [...]

Six tasks were flown at the Forbes Flatlands Challenge 2009 in New South Wales, Australia