The 19 m version of Nova’s Factor has now been certified LTF 2 and EN C, allowing a minimum take off weight of 65 kg. Designer Hannes Papesh has kept the glider well within the safety limits of its category, as he feels it is important that a pilot should “fully trust and feel comfortable [...]

For the francophones amongst us, a French version of Gin’s website is now up and running at www.gingliders.fr. You can also email them in French, at france@gingliders.fr

In a similar vein to the “green” Coupe Icare that takes place at St Hilaire du Touvet, France, at the end of summer every year, for the second year running there is now also a “white” one: This winter version is a speed riding competition incorporating a fancy dress leg, and a winter free flying [...]

Australian pilot, Lloyd Pennicuick, having survived the 2007 X-Alps with his sense of humour intact, is taking on the challenge again this summer. In order to raise the necessary funds to make this possible he is raffling his 2007 X-Alps gear, including glider, on his new website, www.lloydy.com.au.

Organised by the paragliding club at the infamous St Hilaire, France, the Transalpine Odyssey is a journey by paraglider from St Hilaire (near Grenoble) to the coast. It is a team event, with the emphasis on fun and safety, and is run more in the vein of a standard paragliding comp than a vol-biv event, [...]

The highly successful Transdromoise, vol-bivouac race across the Drome department of France, is back for 2009. Planned for the week of 25 – 30 May, entry is open now on their website (address below). The exact departure point in the Vercors will be announced a few days before the event starts, and a two-day goal [...]

Well it’s all over and this will be my last post. Thanks to all those who have left positive comments about my blog.  I’ve never done any sort of writing before and I have to say that, weary, dirty and tired though I was at the end of each day I have thoroughly enjoyed tapping [...]

Today turned out to be exceedingly stable and totally blue, and the 87 km task all around the local area was possibly a bit optimistic. As it turned out there was an accident after a few hours, and the task was stopped/cancelled. This means that yesterdays result is now the official end of the event, [...]

Sorry to be so tardy in my reporting, we had a long day yesterday and I was simply tired… It is now almost 8 o’clock AM here, the sun is peeping over the hills over yonder and we’re almost ready to go up to launch for the last task of this 2009 Worlds event.

For my last blog I thought I’d talk about the ‘S’ word.  That thing that paragliding competitors never really want to address.  Safety.

Well we’ve come to the end of the 11th Paragliding World Champs. I’ve just got back from the closing ceremony and need some kip so I’ll just report briefly here that Andy Aebi from Switzerland won the event to become World Champion and Elisa Houdry from France becomes the Female World Champion.

Andy Aebi (CH, Advance) has won the World Paragliding Championships held at Valle de Bravo, Mexico, from 23 January to 7 February. The last task was cancelled, meaning there was a total of 10 valid tasks, the longest of which was 117 km. Stefan Wyss (CH, Niviuk) joined his fellow countryman on the podium along [...]

Sergio Crespo has flown 301 km flight from Pehuajo to take the Argentinean paragliding record

Well I had my first really bad day of the competition today when I ran out of time to complete the task.  In short, I bombed out. After walking for an hour to find a road during which I got fairly lost I grumpily presented myself for the GPS download, was rude to the Meet [...]

The big names in the speed flying world convened at Les Arcs, France, on the weekend of 26 – 30 Jan to battle it out for the title of ‘speed flyer of the year’ at the Columbia Speed Flying Pro. Competitors had to score well in both the big mountain (freestyle) event and the speed [...]

The Flytec race and rally is a competition with a difference: Starting fromthe Florida Ridge, USA, the aim is to get to Lookout Mountain Flight Park, Tennessee, more than 1,100 km (700 miles) away. 7 days are allotted for the competition, which will be FAI cat. 2. Various small airports along the route will be [...]

In addition to the Ager Open in July, the south of Spain will see two more hang gliding comps on its turf this spring / summer. First off is the International HG comp at Sierra de Cadiz from 5 – 11 April, and then the Spanish National Championship takes place in Zujar, Granada, from 5 [...]

As reported a few days ago, Philippe Nodet was sadly killed doing what he loved, paragliding, at St Hilaire on 30 January. He left behind a wife and four year old daughter and a website has been set up for people to leave tributes to Philippe, and a relief fund to help his family, at [...]

Another long task today, using some of the same turnpoints as previous days but in a different order. The day was very different to the previous ones in that the wind was stronger and from the North, and the cloud base was also higher, up to around 3800m.

The end of the competition is in sight with only two task days left to go.  This is a good job as exhaustion is rapidly setting in amongst quite a few of the competitors. For those reading this blog who think it must be a fantastic jolly to come away to nice country like Mexico [...]