Hi All (all two??)

I have been offline for a bit, busy getting my arse over here and getting installed. Flight went well in spite of two gliders and umpteen t-shirts for the team, and in the end I just got in a cab at the airport (happened to be a Suburban, full-size SUV) and curled up on the back seat while the friendly driver drove me down to Valle – not the safety-conscious thing to do but he seemed like a trustworthy feller and so he was in the end. (more…)

I’m still trying frantically to get things ready for my being away from the family for more than 2 weeks – today that involved getting the dinghy sorted and out of the way (have been doing repairs, and it has been sitting in a very inconvenient place for the duration) and having the brakes on my car serviced since my Mum is coming around to help look after Nora while I’m in Mexico, and she’ll need wheels.

I have also happened to come across ”proof” that there will be a rest day during the comp. If Valle de Bravo lives up to its reputation as the most weather-consistent site on the planet this could be a first in my almost 20 years of comps, and I must say I disagree with the idea! (more…)

Well we’d better get started on this subject hadn’t we? Like, set up a list of bookie’s favourites so that everyone can laugh afterwards at my complete ignorance…

I’ll be listing some of the obvious, and some of the less obvious, here below. If you’re not mentioned it is probably my bad judgement – I hope you win all the same! After all, if I got this list right it’d be boring. Also please note that this is a totally subjective work of fiction based on assumptions and pure guessing, so if you get annoyed at me for something I’m writing here you should rather be amused that I’m bothering with your name at all! (more…)

Hi there, my name is Mads Syndergaard. I’ve been doing paragliding comps for almost as long as Patrick Berod, and I have volunteered to blog for XC Mag with my perspective on the upcoming Worlds event in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. My view on things differs from, say, Mark Hayman’s in that, aside from representing the well-known paragliding nation, Denmark, I’m also the comp activities coordinator for UP International, and an event like the Worlds is taken rather seriously by UP, to say the least. My goal with this blog is to give you lot out there an insider’s view of the ups and downs of one of the manufacturing teams present in Valle – I hope you’ll enjoy it! (more…)