In the continued absence of any catastrophes, bad management, poor organisation or inclement weather to give me something to rant on about (today’s task was, again, close to perfect) I thought I’d write a quick few lines about the comp pilot’s nemesis.

I’m annoyed. I’ve got nothing to moan about. The first task of the World’s was run yesterday in glorious weather.  The organisation was perfect, the take off was in fantastic condition and the launch ordering system used to get everyone off quickly worked well and minimised queues.  The task was an intelligently set race with [...]

Registration was amusing on Saturday as all the World’s best pilots queued up to present paperwork, FAI Licences and GPS’s to the organisation.  Arriving in my normal shambolic manner half an hour before registration was due to close there seemed to be some sort of drinking competition going on outside the registration building.  A water [...]

Well we all managed to get out and have a fly yesterday.  After the usual buggering about involved in getting 5 people coordinated and in taxis we rocked up at about 2.30pm to a windy and strong looking El Penon launch still arguing about whose fault it was that we were so late.  As usual [...]

I noticed a comment to my earlier post about the forthcoming dope testing and particularly the alcohol limit imposed by the FAI’s banned list. The comment was left by Peter Saundby who is the President of the FAI Medical Commission (CIMP). In the comment he ‘assures me the CIMP has done their best to preserve [...]

Sorry for the lack of a blog yesterday. I was in the oblivion of sleep deprivation, jet lag and general misery that modern intercontinental airline travel still attempts to market as in some way glamorous and racy. Well, if being forced to undergo intrusive and rude security checks at pretty much every stage of the [...]

Well everything is set and I’m off today. Which means the ‘P-Word’ rears its ugly head. Packing…

I’ve found a few minutes to unfurl my new glider and have a look at it. Disappointingly I have to report that, apart from the fact that it seems to have lines made out of something considerably thinner than a pair of Paris Hilton’s g-strings, it looks exactly like the old one. Miffed at this [...]

For those of you that don’t know, my ‘day job’ outside of paragliding is running my own business in Tignes supplying budget skiing holidays to more or less grateful skiers and snowboarders primarily from the UK.  We have over 150 beds spread around 4 hotels and chalets plus a pretty lively bar (www.chaletchardons.com), all run  [...]

My brand spanking new, extra large Ozone Mantra R09 proto has finally arrived, just in time to be taken to Mexico. I spoke with Dav Dagault (the Ozone designer) to discuss the new glider and he talked long and hard about sail cloth tension, wing warping speed bar systems, mini-ribs, low percentage chord ratios and [...]

Returning to the subject of the forthcoming ‘dope testing’ I thought I would try applying some objective logic to the rules. Of course writing this column and poking fun at the FAI and the Mexican Federation means that I’m almost certainly going to be spending a lot of time peeing into bottles and having breathalysers [...]

All the bits are slowly falling into place for my imminent departure for Mexico. My FAI licence has arrived. In fact the first one arrived a month ago after I’d signed the paperwork releasing my details to the FAI’s new database. Unfortunately the licence was quickly followed by a letter telling me I needed to [...]

I’ve just got word from the British Team Captain, Calvo Burns, who is already in Mexico that he has received confirmation that there will be ‘strict dope testing’ at the World’s.

My name’s Mark Hayman and I will be competing in Mexico as part of the British Team; I’m leaving on the 20th January and will be there until the 8th February when the competition finishes. Bob has asked me to keep a blog, so keep an eye on this space for a competitor’s eye view [...]