Photo: Andy Busslinger. A gallery of Andy's images can be seen in Cross Country magazine issue 127

The XC Team would all like to wish all of its readers and supporters a very Merry Christmas, and lots of happiness, health and airtime in 2010.

The XC office will be closed from Friday 18 Dec till Monday 4 Jan 2010. The shop will still be operating online, and emergency emails will be answered, but the phones will be unmanned.

Best Wishes,

The XC Team

The dates for the 5th Ozone Chabre Open friendly paragliding competition have been set, and are 5 – 11 June 2010 with registration open from 17 January 2010.

This friendly, stress-free paragliding cross country competition will be run along similar lines as before: with the emphasis on safe, achievable tasks aimed at competent and experienced pilots not yet established on the competition circuit. Sponsored by Ozone, the event will include briefings, de-briefings, parties and prizes as well as great flying in a fantastic area.

No increase is planned on the 2008 entry fee, which will stay at 220 euros. For those pilots flying Ozone wings, the event’s principal sponsor has kindly offered to subsidise their entry fees by 10%, bringing their costs down to 200 euros.

Entry criteria are still under discussion, and will include an element to encourage teams of mixed ability, female pilots, diversity of nationality, pilots who have missed out previously and pilots who have contributed to past events. Keep checking the website for further information.  The organisers aim to confirm pilot entries before the end of January, and let pilots know as soon as possible whether they have a place.

www.flylaragne.com

• Got news? Send it to us at news@xcmag.com. Fair use applies to this article: if you reproduce it online, please credit correctly and link to www.xcmag.com or the original article. No reproduction in print. Copyright remains with Cross Country magazine. Thanks!

Subscribe to the world’s favourite hang gliding and paragliding magazine

Home

Paragliding Manufacturers’ Association members have voted to ask the world governing body of hang gliding and paragliding, the FAI, to redefine the Class 3 paraglider and create a new class of paraglider, Class 6.

If the PMA’s request is implemented it means that the Ozone BBHPP paraglider that brought the Anglo-French manufacturer a 1-2 victory at the Paragliding World Cup Superfinal in September would be excluded as it uses carbon rod reinforcing technology and only two sets of lines.

Ozone are reportedly upset by the decision as the now well-established plastic wire reinforcements seen on many gliders will be included in the PMA proposed Class 3, while their carbon rods of almost equal diameter will see the BBHPP pushed into the proposed new Class 6.

In response Swiss manufacturer Advance said it would restrict its comp gliders to its own test pilots and factory team because of the “uncertain” way competition is developing.

Advance said it was restricting its comp gliders to members of its own competition team, and its own test pilots, because, “not enough is known about the risks and extreme flight behaviour of paragliders with rigid primary structures”.

Read the full story with comment from the major players in the industry in the forthcoming issue of Cross Country magazine.

• Got news? Send it to us at news@xcmag.com. Fair use applies to this article: if you reproduce it online, please credit correctly and link to www.xcmag.com or the original article. No reproduction in print. Copyright remains with Cross Country magazine. Thanks!

Subscribe to the world’s favourite hang gliding and paragliding magazine

Home

Aeros Style2 intermediate paraglider

Aeros announces a new intermediate, EN B-certified, post school and recreational paraglider for 2010, the Style 2.

The Style2 is available in 6 sizes, from XS (23 m2) to XXL (36 m2).

Aeros say the Style2 is “suberb for thermal soaring and has excellent stability at full speed, which is 16 km/h above trim speed.

www.aeros.com.ua

Other intermediate or LTF 1-2 / EN B paragliders out in the last year include: Airwave Wave2, Ozone Buzz Z3, Gradient Golden 3, Skywalk Chili2, Aircross U-Fly, Escape S’Pace, Sky Atis3, Nova Ion, Mac Para Eden4, Axis Pluto II,  Paratech P45, Skyline Falcon, Swing Arcus 6, Swing Arcus 6 Compact, Nova Oryx, Ozone Swift, Sol Ellus3, U-Turn Obsession II, Gin Sprint, Team 5 Blue MT, Independence Garuda, Ozone Mojo3, Ozone UL09,  Sky Anakis, UP Kantega XC, Pro Design Accura2, Advance Epsilon 6

Got news? Send it to Cross Country mag at news@xcmag.com.

Subscribe to the world’s favourite hang gliding and paragliding magazine

Home

Nervures Fusion modular paragliding harness. Clockwise from L: basic harness, bivouac container, reversible rucksack attachment as 'sack, ditto as harness, supine attachment.

French paraglider manufacturer, Nervures, have created a modular harness, the Fusion, for pilots who practise different forms of paragliding.

The idea is that a basic lightweight harness can have different accessories attached depending on whether the pilot is practising mountain flying, cross crountry, vol bivouac or taking a tandem passenger that day.

The base – a bare harness (1 kg) – is designed to be used in sitting position with independent leg movements, but by adding any of the following accessories, it can be adapted to suit whatever you’re doing. Accessories include:

A seat board

supine harness

Reversible rucksack with integral air-bag

Extra storage container for bivouac flights

Under-seat reversible airbag for a tandem passenger

www.nervures.com

• Got news? Send it to us at news@xcmag.com. Fair use applies to this article: if you reproduce it online, please credit correctly and link to www.xcmag.com or the original article. No reproduction in print. Copyright remains with Cross Country magazine. Thanks!

Subscribe to the world’s favourite hang gliding and paragliding magazine

Home

Airwave Wave2 intermediate paraglider

The Wave 2 is Airwave’s latest intermediate paraglider, certified EN B and LTF 1-2. Airwave describe it as “a sophisticated design, sitting between the entry level Gecko and the immaculate Sport 4″.

They say, “It is designed for pilots who’ve mastered the skills necessary to fly safely and are ready to be released into the freedom of the skies with comfort and  security”, although they add the excellent combination of safety and stability also make it a safe tool for beginners.

Airwave say the Wave 2 uses highly sophisticated technology that “we’d never dreamt of putting into a glider of this level before.” The overall line length has been optimized to just 328 metres for the medium size, which “gives the Wave 2 its excellent glide and also reduces the overall weight of the wing”.

It also uses Airwave’s “auto stable profile”, which they say means that the wing will stay where it should be relative to you, directly overhead, with only minimal input, reducing your workload in the air and helping you get the most from the wing.

The Wave 2 is also innovative in that it is the first Airwave wing to successfully use ‘photogrammetry’ in the design. This technique uses digital photography to analyse the shape of the glider in the air. Digital photos are translated into a 3D model of the glider, which allows the designer to check that the glider is the exact shape it was designed to be, in the air and not just in the design program.
Airwave say, “When we first did this on the Wave 2 we found some significant differences between the flying wing and the theoretical model produced with Merlin, our design software. Correcting these differences has significantly helped to improve the general flying characteristics of the Wave 2″. The photogrammetry technique will now be used throughout the entire Airwave range.

www.airwave.aero

Other intermediate or LTF 1-2 / EN B paragliders out in the last year include: Ozone Buzz Z3, Gradient Golden 3, Skywalk Chili2, Aircross U-Fly, Escape S’Pace, Sky Atis3, Nova Ion, Mac Para Eden4, Axis Pluto II,  Paratech P45, Skyline Falcon, Swing Arcus 6, Swing Arcus 6 Compact, Nova Oryx, Ozone Swift, Sol Ellus3, U-Turn Obsession II, Gin Sprint, Team 5 Blue MT, Independence Garuda, Ozone Mojo3, Ozone UL09,  Sky Anakis, UP Kantega XC, Pro Design Accura2, Advance Epsilon 6

Got news? Send it to Cross Country mag at news@xcmag.com.

Subscribe to the world’s favourite hang gliding and paragliding magazine

Home

Airwave FR5 Open class competition paraglider

Airwave describe their new FR5 paraglider as an “open class race ship” and feel its significant performance improvement combined with its ease and stability make it a real jump forward from the FR4.

It has a larger span and 6 more cells (now 81) than the FR4, and a significantly different line layout, including only 2 instead of 3 C lines (to reduce drag). The third A and B line are joined together saving another lower line, all of which means huge benefits in performance but you can no longer perform B line stalls or big ears manoeuvres, so be prepared to spiral dive if you need to descend rapidly!

The new, very circular arc results in a wing with “lovely handling and turn co-ordination”, say Airwave, and there is “very little wobble or oscillation considering the high aspect ratio and the flat arc”.

The glider has a lot more internal reinforcing and the snake-like plastic wire in the nose gives improved high speed stability.

The trimmer system offers a speed range of 13km/h and top speed is just under 70 km/h.

www.airwave.aero

Got news? Send it to Cross Country mag at news@xcmag.com.

Subscribe to the world’s favourite hang gliding and paragliding magazine

Home

Airwave's 2010 paraglider rucksack

Airwave have a new paraglider rucksack, set for release in 2010 but actually being delivered with new gliders from now.

It is made of stronger, slightly heavier cloth (the whole ’sack is still less than 1 kg) and reduced in size slightly (the L is 160 litres), to correspond to the reduction in size of the average pilot’s kit and make it a less sloppy load, so more comfortable to carry. If you need a larger one, you can request the 190 litre XL size. It is shaped with the largest volume at the bottom, and designed for you to pack your harness airbag down.

Other features include an internal packing strap, removeable waist belt, extra external pockets and a strong, rubber carry handle. It also sports the new burgundy/red/grey/black colour scheme.

www.airwave.aero

Got news? Send it to Cross Country mag at news@xcmag.com.

Subscribe to the world’s favourite hang gliding and paragliding magazine

Home

Wills Wing pilots (L-R) Jeff Shapiro, Dustin Martin, and Jeff O'Brien finish 2nd, 1st, and 3rd respectively at the 2009 Canoa Open, Ecuador.

Every October the fishing village of Canoa, Ecuador hosts what Wills Wing describe as the purest test of hang glider glide performance at the Canoa Open.

The thirty mile course is run in under forty minutes at average speeds of nearly 50 mph! It’s a drag race in the compression, that contains all the best aspects of a five hour XC task packed into forty minutes.

Wills Wing congratulate their pilots Dustin Martin, Jeff Shapiro and Jeff O’Brien who finished 1st,2nd and 3rd respectively.

This video from YouTube user, Oliverlara90, gives a good feel of the event:

• Got news? Send it to us at news@xcmag.com. Fair use applies to this article: if you reproduce it online, please credit correctly and link to www.xcmag.com or the original article. No reproduction in print. Copyright remains with Cross Country magazine. Thanks!

Subscribe to the world’s favourite hang gliding and paragliding magazine

Home

Organisers of LLAMFF, Llanberis Mountain Film Festival, are looking for entries for their mountain/adventure film competition.

Any hang glider and paraglider pilots out there who are also budding film makers could be interested to know that there are several categories in the competition including shorts, and LLAMFF are very keen to promote new talent. So why not give it a shot and get your movie submitted now? Closing date is 31 Jan 2010.

Details at www.llamff.co.uk, or email info@llamff.co.uk

• Got news? Send it to us at news@xcmag.com. Fair use applies to this article: if you reproduce it online, please credit correctly and link to www.xcmag.com or the original article. No reproduction in print. Copyright remains with Cross Country magazine. Thanks!

Subscribe to the world’s favourite hang gliding and paragliding magazine

Home