Four tasks were flown at the Corryong Cup, Australia, which finished on 10 January. The competition aims to ease HG pilots into competition, and the separate Floater category is to encourage this. The first task was also the longest at 71.8 km (Open category; 12.4 km for the floaters) with three 40 km Open tasks [...]

My brand spanking new, extra large Ozone Mantra R09 proto has finally arrived, just in time to be taken to Mexico. I spoke with Dav Dagault (the Ozone designer) to discuss the new glider and he talked long and hard about sail cloth tension, wing warping speed bar systems, mini-ribs, low percentage chord ratios and [...]

Returning to the subject of the forthcoming ‘dope testing’ I thought I would try applying some objective logic to the rules. Of course writing this column and poking fun at the FAI and the Mexican Federation means that I’m almost certainly going to be spending a lot of time peeing into bottles and having breathalysers [...]

All the bits are slowly falling into place for my imminent departure for Mexico. My FAI licence has arrived. In fact the first one arrived a month ago after I’d signed the paperwork releasing my details to the FAI’s new database. Unfortunately the licence was quickly followed by a letter telling me I needed to [...]

I’ve just got word from the British Team Captain, Calvo Burns, who is already in Mexico that he has received confirmation that there will be ‘strict dope testing’ at the World’s.

My name’s Mark Hayman and I will be competing in Mexico as part of the British Team; I’m leaving on the 20th January and will be there until the 8th February when the competition finishes. Bob has asked me to keep a blog, so keep an eye on this space for a competitor’s eye view [...]

No task, No goals, No windows, No stress. Thus is the philosophy of Xcontest Xcamp 2009. It is an FAI cat. 2 event (HG and PG), but organisers say “It´s all about free flying XC without stress, in the way you like!” Pilots will gather in Levico Terme, Panarotta (near Trento, Italy) from 4 – [...]

Two further FAI Category 1 Hang Gliding Championships for 2010 have been awarded: to Germany for the 2010 FAI Women’s Worlds Class 1 and World Classes 2 & 5 Hang Gliding Championships, and to Spain for the 2010 FAI European Hang Gliding Championships. Both awards will be subject to ratification at the 2009 Plenary in [...]

The Irish Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association (IHPA) is delighted to announce the resurrection of the Celtic Cup Competition, for both hang glider and paraglider pilots who come from one of the six Celtic nations: Brittany, Cornwall, Isle of Man, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The Celtic Cup will be held at Mount Leinster over the [...]

Sol have developed an acro-specific harness, designed to meet the needs of acro and freestyle pilots. The Just Acro has been designed to be compact, lightweight and comfortable. It has built-in housings for two reserves, the upper of which can take a steerable Rogallo, plus a system to activate your smoke canister. It is available [...]

Sol pilots, Hernan Pittoco and Horacio Llorens, took the acro comp world by storm in 2008, dominating the podiums in the Acro World Cup, Acro Attack, Paranoia Acrobatixx, Acroaria and Vertigo, flying Super Sonics. Freestyle and acro pilots will be pleased to know that a production version of this wing is now available to pilots [...]

The dates for the 2009 British Championships have been confirmed, and are as follows: Scottish Borders, UK: Wed 13 – Sat 16 May (This will probably follow a BP Cup round) Piedrahita, Spain: Sun 28 June – Sat 4 July (Followed by the Spanish Nationals) St Jean de Montclar, France: Sun 16 Aug – Sat [...]

To a flurry of mainstream press interest and National TV coverage, Parajet’s Skycar, the world’s first bio-fuelled flying car, leaves London for its maiden flight across the Sahara to Timbuktu, Mali on Wednesday 14 January 2009.

Seawind have a new flying base in their homeland, China, which is close to a beautiful beach and with green, hilly countryside to boot. The area offers pleasant fights, delicious food, cheap accommodation and relaxation, and Seawind are planning a flying festival in 2009 to celebrate. Watch this space for details. www.seawindfly.cn

Ozone’s new Webshop is now live. With a wide range of accessories and super fast DHL Express shipping, Ozone say that the Webshop is the perfect way to get outfitted with Oz gear fast! The new Jumbo Saucisse pack, Ozone speed sleeves, T-shirts, jackets and more are all available. www.flyozone.com

There are some new features for the 2009 season on XContest.org that should make it more user-friendly and easier to browse flights. These are: Flights QuickView – a fast view of any flight you select SkyWays map layer – track logs from previous flights (map of thermals to follow) WorldWide flights searching – check for [...]

On 16 December, 2008, Jean Souviron flew a 350 km out and return flight on his Litespeed 4 RS, on the record encampment set up with his brother, Gil, in Namibia, between the Namib and Kalahari deserts. This is the longest out and return flight by a flexwing, but with no official observers it will [...]

Fly & more GmbH / Icaro Paragliders now conform to the new ISO 9001:2008 standard, having been approved on December 16th 2008, by TÃœV Sued in Germany. CEO Wolfgang Kaiser says, “We have just passed the ISO Certification with best results. We have been upgraded to the latest version ISO 9001:2008 which is valid since [...]

Ed Ewing tours the Caribbean island of Cuba, hoping to hook a ride in the infamous ‘Cuban Convergence

The beautiful Alpine town of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc is hosting the winter Nissan Outdoor Games for the second consecutive year, on the weekend of 20 – 21 February. A film competition with an adrenaline-fuelled, extreme sports focus, the teams have the seven days preceeding the event to create a short film of less than five minutes’ duration, [...]