Jonny Durand has released film from his flight along Australia’s famous Morning Glory.

The 10-minute film features spectacular footage of surfing an enormous line of wave cloud.

Jonny is well known for producing hang gliding movies, which he punctuates with a wry, often self-deprecating humour.

The Morning Glory film is surely one of the best. It has been picked up and broadcast in his home country, and has received world-wide attention through MSN.com.

Jonny has been camped out in Northern Queensland waiting for the right conditions to fly the wave cloud. He got his wish on Monday 21 September, when he flew the cloud for 68 km and one hour and 40 minutes.

On page 18 of XC 125, we reported that the 2009 British vice champion Neil Roberts was caught submitting tampered tracklogs to the UK’s cross country league a few years back.

We apologise for any distress this may have caused Neil, who wrote to us to explain what happened. Neil writes: “For safety reasons, I landed a few hundred metres in [airspace], to avoid rotor. The farmers were friendly and the guys on the [military] base were fine.

“My innocent mistake was not wanting to bother my hosts with bureaucracy and form filling, as this might embarrass these guys, who told me I’d have to write to the Ministry of Defence in London and that [they] would have to complete a report.

“[To avoid that] I innocently reduced my flight to save all [parties] the hassle. Your report implies I cheated to gain multiple advantages. This is not the case.”

Czech paraglider manufacturer Gradient have a new 18 litre daypack to add to their accessories collection. Ideal for mountain walking and day hikes,  its laptop pocket ensures it is equally useful in day to day  life, and the straps can be hidden, making it safely stowable in aircraft lockers.

www.gradient.cx

UP have made a paraglider for cross country hounds and serial class competition pilots: The Trango XC is an EN D / LTF 2-3, three line glider which UP say “launches better than most school wings, handles like a hot knife in butter, has a top speed of 57km/h and remains very stable all the way there” and is “the perfect tool for going far, fast”.

Innovations include a three line system of unsheathed Aramide lines, reducing drag significantly; second-generation UP Pitch trimmers which change the entire airfoil when applied and enable the wing to be slowed down in climbs without affecting stall characteristics or brake travel; A new wingtip design; and ASS2 – second generation Airfoil Stabilising System which replaces Mylar in the leading edge – giving the performance and stability of Mylar without the hassle of accordion folding.

UP expect to begin delivery of the M size in December 2009, with the other sizes to follow shortly after.

www.up-paragliders.com

Porcher Sport are working on a revolutionary lightweight paragliding cloth, to be prototyped in the first paragliders this winter. The Skytex 27 g/m2 double coated material will be as durable as the heavier 40 and 45 g/m2 versions.

A 40g/m2 version of the Evolution range is also now available commercially. Its coating is particularly resistant to becoming porous.

www.porcher-ind.com

The 2009 Canoa Open hang gliding competition in Ecuador takes place from 24 October to 3 November. Registration is open now, at http://goflyxc.com/node/21558/signup.

The organisers ask, “What more can you ask for…a warm place to fly in October/November, some XC flying, some ridge racing, cheap beer, cheap food, inexpensive accommodation? Just show up and everything is taken care of!”

Cross Country and Paramotor magazines have teamed up to bring you the Fly Forever 2010 calendar. Packed with paragliding and hang gliding images on one side, and paramotoring on the other, the calendar will brighten up your room for a year whilst ensuring you don’t forget your appointments.

Until 30 November you can buy the calendar for £6.95 ( €7.95 / $10.95), and a 25% discount applies to orders of five or more. From  December the price will be £8.95

Available now at www.xcshop.com

András Kollman’s brilliant portrayal of the rise to fame of Gábor Kézi and Pál Takáts, two young acro pilots from Budapest, Hungary, won the highest accolade achievable by a paragliding film, when it picked up the top award at the 2009 Coupe Icare film festival in St Hilaire, France at the weekend.

András and Gábor were there on the night to receive the award for the film, which was almost three years in the making. Signed copies were available outside the packed awards ceremony hall.

“It was amazing!” András told XCmag.com about winning the prize. “Winning the Grand Prize at Coupe Icare is one of my dreams!

“My girlfriend and I have financed this film. We are storytellers – that’s our profession – and it’s great to know that people like how we interpret acro. We had an incredible journey, exploring the acro community and subculture.

“It’s a big effort for a central European couple. We are just incredibly happy that at the end of our journey our film Adrenaline and Turbulence wins such a festival.

Adrenaline and Turbulence is available at XCshop.com

Read more: An interview with Pal and Gabor

The Cross Country free prize draw from the Coupe Icare festival in St Hilaire, France has just taken place.

One lucky person has just won an XCertina bag! Acrotwinz star Anthony Green pulled the lucky winning email from the hat. Just waiting for the winner to reply…

Ozone's BBHPP, an innovative new competition paraglider

Ozone’s new ‘Baby HPP’ has landed on the competition scene, with immediate results. The world’s first successful 2-line design, the BBHPP features a complex internal structure that is the brainchild of Luc Armant, a recent addition to the Ozone Test and Design Team.

Ozone say that although they have always been passionate about and totally devoted to the creation of standard wings for pilots of all abilities, their Mantra Research program which began in 2006 has now yielded just the results that they have been dreaming of for the past 3 years. Ozone says that “the performance breakthroughs evident in the BBHPP and Mantra Research projects have already trickled down to their serial wings, and that there are even more exciting developments that are bound to affect future Ozone pilots who will hopefully catch a dose of Ozone’s contagious and intense passion for flight”.

www.flyozone.com