The X-Alps style paragliding and walking adventure race across France’s Drome department got under way this morning. Conditions today were said to be windy so competitors were making their way by foot to high ground hoping that it would be possible to fly as conditions eased in the early evening. Tomorrow’s forecast brings a possibility [...]

The weekend of 4 – 7 June, the fields on the shores of the Lake District’s Buttermere lake will be thronging with pilots and their families, there to enjoy what organisers describe as ‘THE UK’s free flying event of the Summer – the Lakes Charity Classic 2009′.

Skywalk’s Cayenne3 has been certified LTF 2 in XS and XL sizes, completing the range.

Hubert Pawlowski is a photographer living in the Annecy region of France. He has taken some completely spherical photos, mostly of his home area. Visit his website to take ‘virtual tours’ of his images. www.annecypanoramique.com

The Tegelberg, Schwangau in Germany has just hosted two important hang gliding competitions, back to back, but unfortunately were very unlucky with the weather. The International German flexwing Championship, King Ludwig Open, ran from 5 – 10 May. Two good tasks were successfully held, sandwiched between bad weather days. Alex Ploner (IT, laminar Z9) won [...]

The year has started very well for Niviuk, with plenty of reasons to celebrate: Italian Nicole Fedele flew an impressive 98 km triangle on her Peak 23, from Gemona, Italy, via Kobarid and Tolmin, Slovenia and back to Gemona, on 25 February. Her track log can be seen here. Their Skate has proved a winner [...]

Johannes Nieuwoudt shares his love of Esperance with fellow pilots at the Waggas beach and dune flying festival, Western Australia. The advent of the internet and more readily available information has meant great things for our sport. Apart from being able to Google ‘paragliding’ to find an instructor, Google Earth has helped with finding new [...]

Advance have updated their clothing range, which is now extensive. They have everything from caps, sun hats, a balaclava and daily wear T-shirts, a polo shirt and hoodies, to their more technical items: The Thermore jacket is a technical pilot’s jacket, which takes the place of a flying suit for pod harness users. It has [...]

Advance’s new flying suit was developed in close collaboration with their team pilots and flying schools. The specifications for the new model required that it be robust, warm and practical. Advance say the result is a product that meets these needs completely, and incorporates a number of well-designed details. Made in the main from wind- [...]

Sol’s new Ellus 3 has been certified LTF 1-2 and EN B in M and L sizes, with S and XL to follow very shortly. It is aimed at a wide range of pilots, from beginners to the more experienced. Sol has increased the aspect ratio of the wing over the previous incarnation, and added [...]

The U-Turn Obsession II is a high-end intermediate paraglider rated LTF 1-2

FlyWithCE have released a compact and easy to use flight recorder which they say is the smallest on the market. (It weighs under 50g and has dimensions 70 X 37 X 24 mm, so will easily slip into a pocket). The unit has a built in internal antenna, and enough memory to record 100 hours [...]

The Rogue Valley Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association invite pilots to join them at Woodrat Mountain for the 33rd Annual Starthistle Fly in this Memorial Day weekend (May 23 – 25). Events will be focused on the wineries of the Applegate valley. Every pilot landing at Longsword gets a free glass of wine. Spot landing [...]

The five teams have been selected to take part in the Nissan Outdoor games later this month. The teams, representing five extreme sports, will have a week in which to make a five minute film that “captures the spectacle of adventure sport in its natural environment”, to be screened to judges and the public on [...]

Airwave say they have made packing your paraglider as easy as 1-2-3 with their new Quick-Pack rucksack. They claim that in under two minutes you can have glider and harness all wrapped up in a sack that is no larger or less comfortable to carry than a normal paragliding bag: “All this means you reach [...]

The International Bassano Open took place over an extended Easter weekend (9 – 13 April), celebrating the start of a new season.  As well as a good turnout for the exhibition, 140 pilots from more than eight countries battled against each another in the Monte Grappa Trophy. Four of the five possible days were flyable, [...]

Peter Vaskovych is seriously ill with lukaemia and needs to undergo urgent bone marrow transplant followed by a series of chemotherapy treatments to save his life. Apco’s Anatoly Cohn sent us this letter, urgently appealing for help to try to save Peter’s life: Peter is the designer for Aeros’ paragliding range and is responsible for [...]

The PWC Korea (Mungyeong) took place over the week from 25 April to 2 May. There were four successful tasks, which took place in a very convivial atmosphere, with wonderful touches such as tea being served on take off, and evening entertainments, Korean style! Gin Gliders, and France as a nation, would have been very [...]

Airwave’s Cobra, replacement for the Mustang 2, has now been certified EN C and LTF 2 in the S size, along with the M and L. Airwave summarise the Cobra as a “top performing sports wing with attitude”. They say it has exceptionally high performance for its class and is as close to being a [...]

Inov-8 are a UK company based in the Pennines, who make specialist off-road running footwear. Their general philosophy is that their footwear should be lightweight, highly breathable, and comfortable to wear. They have brought two new super-light boots to the market. With trainer-like comfort but having ankle support, they offer some protection for paraglider pilots [...]