A first hand testimony of the World Air Games of Torino by Raul Rodriguez, who took the gold medal of the syncro comp with his brother Felix. In these two videos you will see the last tasks of acro in solo and syncro from Raul’s particular point of view.

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Videos: Acro paragliding at the WAG by Raul Rodriguez

The second European leg of the Paragliding World Cup took place in Annecy, France, where 114 pilots flew 3 tasks and the Swiss pilot took the first place. The weather was not too good during the week and forced to set two elapsed races and a race to goal, around 50 km long each.

Winner of the third task, Stefan Wyss (Niviuk Icepeak) took the victory only 2 points ahead of task 2 winner Aljaz Valic (SLO, Gin Boomerang), who was 2nd overall. Peter Frauenschuh (AT, Gin Boomerang 6 ) was 3rd. In women, French champion Elisa Houdry (Niviuk Icepeak 3 ) is unbeatable this year with yet another win, with Keiko Hiraki (JPN, Axis Mercury) second and a newcomer to the PWC in 3rd place:  Seiko Fukuoka (FR, Niviuk Icepeak 3), who has changed the radical maneuvers of the acro competitions for top-level cross country races with outstanding results.
The previous PWC event in Turkey, at the beginning of June, was won by British pilot Russell Ogden (Ozone Mantra R) after 4 tasks, with Elisa Houdry as the best woman.
The next PWC competition will be the 3rd and final valid round for the European title and will take place in Buzet, Croatia, on July 11 to 18. After that, the Super-Final of the PWC 2009 will be disputed by the best pilots from all continents in Italy.

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Stefan Wyss wins PWC of Annecy

After 8 years performing some of the most original acro tricks with their paragliders in the form of canopy relative work –like down-plannings, 4-way stacks or the cloverleaf formation–The Renegades decided to land. The members of the Austrian team are taking separate ways, and released a final video with some of the best images of their shows.

“It is time to make a change... We are thankful for the great time. We met so many nice people, saw incredible landscapes and invented a part of paragliding new... Yeeha... what a beautiful life!”, said the members of the Renegades: Wolf, Tom, Dani and Paul.

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The Renegades paragliding team say goodbye

The 10th International Air Festival of El Yelmo, in Spain, will open its doors this Thursday 2 of July in Cortijos Nuevos (Jaén). Promising to be the best edition of El Yelmo, the event will display aerial shows, paramotor raids, 27 films competing in the Films Festival, concerts, prizes, flying and more. Registration is free.

As we have already advanced in Ojovolador, El Yelmo celebrates 10 years of life in a big way and close to the pilots. On Thursday evening is the official opening at the FIA premises in Cortijos Nuevos, after a ceremony in the charming village of Segura de la Sierra (18 hrs). Workshops and activities for children, the day cinema and the Fair of the Air with the main brands displaying their new products for flying, will be found in Cortijos Nuevos every day until Sunday noon - surely, there will be stuff to see and try. That, besides the acrobatic shows with the SAT team, the Green brothers “AcroTwins”, the Just Acro team or the paramotor world champions Ramon Morillas and Mathieu Rouanet taking their abilities in power flight to the limit, among others.

If flying is what moves you, do not miss some of the films in competition this year; there are 27 in total, coming from 12 countries, and in them you will see the most exotic landscapes from the sky: deserts and rivers of Namibia, Zambia, Burkina-Faso or South Africa, the Angel’s Fall in Venezuela, the Arctic Circle, the Amazonia or the Himalayas of Nepal or India. The stories include epic journeys in ultralight airships, the most radical acrobatic performances, visual exercises of flight and movement, dream-like fantasies, falconry and nature, or amazing feats through the air.

Also in competition are the online videos presented to the first contest FIA - Ojovolador, that you can see and vote in Youtube, see http://www.ojovolador.com/esp/concursofia/

We do not know if there will be an online-video contest again next year, but just in case do not forget to take your video camera to El Yelmo 2009!

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El Yelmo Festival, this weekend

On Monday 22 of June, Franck Arnaud flew an amazing distance of 328 km with his Axispara Mercury paraglider after taking off from Jeufosse, a small site to the north of Paris, for a new National record. The pilot beat the record set by Julien Dauphin in May 2005 from the same site (305 km).

At 11:45 Franck took off and started a nine hour flight to the south-west that took him to Fontenay le Comte, about 40km NE of La Rochelle -on the West coast of France- where he landed at 9 pm with a new record in his hands. He took advantage of perfect conditions for a long distance flight; it was the first day of summer but with spring-like conditions, with cumulus well aligned, base at 1600m, about 20km/h of tailwind, and fresh air allowing the sun to create big contrasts of temperature for good thermals. The flight was not so easy though, with low cycles during the first part and some restricted airspace to avoid on the way. The outcome was well worth the effort!

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328 km, new distance record of France by Franck Arnaud!

Swing just released a light version of their LTF 1/1-2 model Arcus 6, with a weight save of around 700 gr, resulting in a much smaller pack size.

Swing decided not to use unsheathed lines, thinner risers or extremely lightweight fabric in the Arcus 6 Compact, so as not to compromise its suitability for everyday use by the Arcus 6 target group. A lightweight fabric of 4-6g/m² on average was used for the Compact version, which offers flight behavior “nearly identical” to the standard version, according to Swing. For the new Compact, Swing added a sixth size of glider to include the 120 - 150kg weight group and with the same certification LTF1/1-2. The Arcus 6.32 Compact can be converted into a small tandem glider by simply changing the risers, ideally suited for lighter and social pilots.

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New Paraglider: Swing Arcus 6 Compact

The latest model from Ozone is a lightweight glider based on the Rush 2 that offers glide ratio of 9:1 with EN B safety, and  “the most precise and agile handling” ever achieved by the manufacturer.

The Swift is based on the Rush 2 and is constructed from light materials (36gm2 Geo cloth top surface, 27gm2 Ultralite cloth bottom surface), for a total weight of around 4 kg. Large savings in drag due to the line diameter reduction of the unsheathed uppers have led to a 'free' performance increase, and the light cloth has greatly improved the already agile handling of the Rush 2, say at Ozone. Among its qualities, they say it is an “extremely agile and precise wing”, but still comfortable and user friendly with good passive safety, and well within the EN B class requirements. The Swift will be available from July 1 in 4 sizes, certified EN B / LTF 1-2.

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New Paraglider: Ozone Swift

Improved launch characteristics, “extremely” easy and appealing handling and good flaring ability for landing are the main virtues of the new tandem glider from Airwave with an easy to remember name as well: Tandem.

The Tandem is certified with a weight range of 120 to 220 kg, and offers good flying qualities throughout the entire range, “one size fits all”, according to the manufacturer. Among the main features mentioned by Airwave are easy launch characteristics, excellent flaring characteristics, extremely robust, high performance and easy descent. Aimed at professional tandem pilots with a focus on passive and active stability and security as well as recreational pilots.

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New Paraglider: Airwave Tandem