If you fancy paragliding or parahawking in Nepal this season, parahawking’s creators invite you to its home, Maya Devi Village, situated at the landing field in Pokhara. On the shores of Lake Fewa, its owners tell us that Maya Devi village has a lively restaurant and guest house with luxury accommodation in traditional thatched huts, [...]

The dates for the Valadares paragliding Open 2010 have been confirmed as 14 – 20 March. Governador Valadares is widely heralded as one pf the world’s premier free flying sites, benefiting from a great climate (optimum during February and March), easy access to launch and with landings and easy retrieves in all directions. Organiser Paulo [...]

David Llewellyn is making the final preparations for his Latin America hang gliding tour, which is due to start 15 November. Having collected gliders from his home in Ecuador and returned all the way to Canada to continue his preparations, David should now be on the road, en route for Mexico. As well as some [...]

The pocket PC gliding / soaring computer, LK8000, now has an updated (beta test version) software release available, version 1.14. If you are using XCsoar or are interested in become a beta tester, visit the official forum. The software can be downloaded from their website, www.bware.it/xcsoar

Hang glider pilot and budding young filmmaker Lucas Ridley’s 60 second film, ‘Life is my Adventure’, won the Grand Prize of $42,500 in the Hewlett Packard ‘You on You’ YouTube competition. Short-film makers were invited to create an original film, expressing themselves without showing their faces. Lucas said at the time of winning: “This contest [...]

American hang glider pilots Jeff O’Brien and Ricker Goldsborough will be heading off to Ecuador for the Canoa Open hang gliding competition in a few days time (24 Oct – 2 November) but with additional goals outside those of the race: they have set up a non-proft organisation to raise funds to provide the millions [...]

With the Himalayan monsoon season over, Scott Mason and his team in Pokhara are welcoming the new parahawking season in. They are taking bookings now for the following activities, and Scott warns that places are very limited and advises early booking if you are interested: Parahawking tandem flight, parahawking sky safari – 3 flights in [...]

Dear Mum, We both know it’s high time you had a letter from me, and I’ve just had this really bizarre experience you might like to hear about. Earlier this summer I realised there wouldn’t be many chances for me to fly during the holidays, so when I heard that my local flying club were [...]

Airwave have had a sweep of late summer successes with pilots on their FR5, Speedmachine and Magic5 paragliders and would like to congratulate these pilots. Italian Nicole Fedele broke the female out and return world record twice this year on her Magic 5, making 129.4 km on 19 July and then furthering it to 164 [...]

U-Turn are so excited about their new acro paralider, they feel they have almost reinvented acro. They say the wing takes agility and manoeuvrability to new levels. The glider replaces the G-Force, and feedback from its pilots, who include the likes of Pal Takats and Gabor Kezi (of award-winning film Adrenaline and Turbulence fame), have [...]

Apple’s iPhone supports a Clinometer (slope measuring) tool, which Gordon Rigg suggested could be a simple way of measuring sprog settings on topless hang gliders (read on the Oz Report). Apple say the clinometer is accurate to ±0.1 degrees, which means it could be a much quicker and simpler method than the protractor, piece of [...]

This video shows paragliding guru Mike Kung’s tips on how to control a paraglider on the ground using the C and D riser method. For more Mike Kung tips and techniques from the comfort of your armchair, his DVD, Playground, is available now at XCshop.com

Andrew Hall has created a Java application which maps all UK Notams, making planning cross country hang glider and paraglider flights in Britain much easier. Notam Map uses Preflight Information Bulletins (PIBs) published by the UK Aeronautical Information Service of the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) and presents them in a user-friendly way. The software is available free [...]

The first ever all-female paragliding competition is to be held from 21 – 28 August 2010. The venue will be confirmed shortly. The organising committee is a list of well-known international female pilots, including Anja kroll, Klaudia Bulgakow and Karolina Kociecka and they have created a FAI/CIVL cat. 2 competition that they hope will appeal [...]

Austrian manufacturer Airwave have created a mini glider, the Rodeo, for  high wind soaring and fun ground handling sessions. They say, “It’s fast, fun and a perfect companion on a windy  dune” … “If it was a normal sized wing it would be a cool LTF 1-2 glider, but as it is so much smaller  [...]

There have been some cases of Dyneema C and D lines on certain UP gliders (full list available here) shrinking whilst As and Bs maintain their length, altering the launch characteristics of these wings. Gliders with lower payloads and which have been subjected to higher temperatures are more likely to have been affected, but as [...]

Pil-Pits and skis, snow and mountains – the speed riding season is about to return to the Alps, and ITV have sent us this video to whet everyone’s appetites with. ‘Les Diablerets’ was created by Mathieu Chassot.

The BPCup finished in Snowdonia this year on 13 September, Tim Bridle winning overall after only four valid competition tasks were wrung out of five rounds. Richard Chaffe took second place and best newcomer, with Martin Sandwith in third. Tanya Ephgrave was top female. Prizes were also awarded for the top sports class pilot (Dave [...]

Mal Grace reports: The fifth and final round of the 2009 BPCup was held over the weekend of 11–13 September, based at the Snowdon Inn (Y Fricsan) on the outskirts of Llanberis. We were blessed with the unusual promise (given what we have had this year) of a good weather forecast for all three days, [...]

The fourth round of the BPCup 2009 was run in tandem with the Blorenge party on August Bank Holiday weekend (29 – 31 August 2009). Mal Grace reports on an event that saw the weather get in the way of flying, but not partying. With points being very close at the top of the leader [...]