The Swiss manufacturer have just released their new image for Advance Paragliders, now separated from the kites production.
"For more than 15 years ADVANCE has been one of the leading paraglider manufacturers based in Switzerland. Wether in competition or recreational flying, the paragliders with the striking winglets are always part of the scene. From the middle of June, Advance is adopting a new look. The new logo expresses the lightness and dynamism even more clearly. New colours and images to reflect Advance’s high aspirations also form part of the new corporate look. The first product to appear in the new look will be the EPSILON 5 in late summer 2005", say at the company.
Their new homepage is: www.advance.ch.

posted: July 11th, 2005

Four valid tasks in 6 days were flown at the European Open, in the area of Morzine-Avoriaz and Les Gets (French Alps), where the European Championship will be held next year. Jean Marc Caron (FR, UP Targa 2) was first on the podium, with Philippe Broers (BE, Aircross Ultima 3) in second place and Santiago Baeza (MX, Gin Boomerang 4) –who hiked up to the take off every day, training for the X-Alps– in the third position. Marina Olexina (Gin Boomerang 4) from Russia was the first woman.
The 48 pilots competing enjoyed good sunny conditions with cloudbase between 2900 and 3600m, although with some strong turbulences during the 3rd task –the longest, with 77 km. Jean Marc Caron won the first 2 tasks, but Charles Cazaux (FR, Gin Boomerang 4) won the third task and Philippe Broers was first on the 4th, making the differences very narrow. The weather got bad on the last two days which forced the meet director to cancel the tasks, although there was free flying on the last day (with very low clouds).
The organizers made good efforts to put up a safe and fun championship, introducing a special protocol to report the conditions through the security frequency: level 1 is safe, level 2 is risky at some places, and level 3 is ‘dangerous’. They, together with the local town-halls, also organized a BBQ, welcome drinks at goal, a few dinner parties for all the pilots after the tasks, and some technical talks about various subjects. This made it for a friendly atmosphere at the event.

A full photo-report in READ, click here!

+Info: www.europaragliding.com


edited: July 11th, 2005

The company that develops the well-known software for flights visualization from GPS data, CompeGPS, is at the Spanish PG Championship in Berga (Catalonia) to test a new tracking system for competitions, called CompeGPS Broadcast. The system transmits the position of each pilot to Compegps web server thanks to a GPS/GPRS device (data transmission by cellular telephony), in real time and 3D.
For this test, a transmitter device has been given to the first 20 pilots of the Spanish ranking, so that when a task begins we can see them move over the map, see who is going faster or how they turn in thermals, and also know if a pilot has landed and where. The visualization is possible from any PC connected to Internet and using CompeGPS Broadcast version.
According to the Compegps team, the system has been developed to make the online transmission of events that are difficult to follow (like paragliding championships) possible, and at the same time improve the security for the competitors. If everything goes as expected, we will soon be able to use the system in all the paragliding competitions.
See the Spanish Championship online and live with Broadcast until Saturday 25th (keep in mind that the tasks start between 2 and 3pm approx., local time) – download the upgrade to Broadcast from http://hal.compegps.com/broadcast/

+Info: www.compegps.com

posted: June 20th, 2005

Acrofolies 2005

The first stop of the Acro PG World Cup 2005 saw 44 participants displaying their best Acro tricks for 4 days, above the lake of Annecy. Many new faces in this competition show the growing attraction of this freestyle discipline year after year.
The winners in synchro were the Swiss Mathias Roten and Dominique Steffen, with their tiny 12m2 Gin gliders. The podium of the French Acro Cup (also held at the Acrofolies) was for Antoine Montant (1st; Gradient), François Bon (2nd; Aerodyne), and Antoine Boisselier (3rd, Ozone).

+Info: www.acrofolies.org & www.acrofolies.com

Wagas Festival

Hordes of freestylers invaded the Dune du Pyla, on the Atlantic coast of France, for the 3rd edition of the Wagas Festival. The weak conditions are to be blamed for some midairs that cost a few pilots the competition. No serious accidents though, as the Festival is about low altitude tricks over the sand –most pilots flew barefoot and even without emergency chute! More than 30 competitors did 3 rounds of tricks, and the victory was once again for the local master Charlie Piccolo –who runs a school at the Dune. A big success for the event, which is one of the most fun of the Acro scene.

+Info: www.wagas-festival.com

The next date for Acro addicts is the Extreme Sports Week in Voss, Norway (www.ekstremsportveko.com) and then the three traditional events of August, valid for the Acro World Cup: Acroaria, Vertigo and Acrolac.
Check out our Calendar!

posted: June 17th, 2005

To find the answers to these questions we traveled to La Palma to find out how tricky (or not) it is to come back with a wallet full of euros... And what we discovered was much more than just a paragliding competition: a wonderful place where nature shows the most unusual forms, short distances to fly but conditions that can make it quite technical and interesting, a very comfortable place for access to launches and retrieves, and a fun place to spend some days with non-flying companions. As for the competition, we can say that the Challenge has been designed for “normal” pilots who enjoy cross country flying but are also open to new sensations, to discover fantastic landscapes that can only be found in this small island, to fly over volcanoes or enjoy the exuberant and unique nature of La Palma at their own pace.
Pilots traveling with the family or non flying partners will be in the best possible site, whereas those whose main goal is to beat the distance record of Europe surely will be better somewhere else... Hedonist pilots and gourmets, La Palma awaits you!


The comp: Until now there are almost 100 pilots registered, although many of them have not submitted any flight yet. This increases the possibilities for those who, from now on, accept the Challenge -that basically means going to La Palma, flying, and making at least three distance flights in the island, the longest possible. The 30 best averaged pilots will enter the final round that will take place on the last week of October. The final phase will have similarities to a traditional comp, with tasks set by the organizers –only the pilots will have to complete a given circuit as many times as possible, in a given time. The pilots will have to keep in mind the particular meteorology of the island, with its special breeze regimes, alternating thermal cycles, a few complicated passes, and everything in no longer than 40 km in straight line. The ‘luck’ factor then has relevance here.
During the week we spent in La Palma we did two flights of +16 km on the same day, although on previous days we could hardly do some ridge soaring in front of the beach of Puerto Naos. But these two flights and a 7km top-to-bottom were enough to qualify us for the final round –if other pilots don’t throw us out before October!

Flying in the island may not offer big distances, but instead it is possible to fly up to three times in the same day, fly across almost all the island and its various landscapes, land on the beach next to a bar and cool down with a beer or a swim in the sea, while enjoying the sunset… It is not difficult to fly 15-20 km following the ridges of the island and perhaps the bigger difficulty is to find a really good day to cross the island from one tip to the opposite, thus putting yourself on the first position of the classification for the final round. And then beat your oponents! This will require some more effort, but the prize is well worth it: It’s 12,000 euros!!

How to win in La Palma?
One option is to go there, fly as far as you can, repeat at least 3 times and be in good shape for the final: There are 12.000 euros for the first place; € 5.000 for the second, and € 3.000 for the third in the final results. Another option is to fly to La Palma right away and try to do the best flight of the month of June there, to win a prize of 500 euros (enough to cover plane ticket, hotel and maybe bring something home…). The advantage of this option is that there won’t be many opponents flying in La Palma in June (top pilots are busy flying comps in Europe). If you make a good number of flights longer than 15 km before October 28, 2005, you may win a prize of 1000 euros. And lastly, there’s the chance of doing some decent flying in the island and some more than decent pictures so that you have the option to win the digital photo contest, and its 1000 euros prize.

+Info, rules, flying sites and details about the island at: www.desafioisladelapalma.com

posted: June 14th, 2005

Thirteen countries, 2 women and 19 teams will compete in this year’s X-Alps, the world’s toughest paragliding challenge that will give away 17.000 euros as prize money.
The race will take the pilots from the Dachstein glacier in Germany all the way to Monaco via 3 turnpoints in the Alps: the Summit of Zugspitze (DE), the Summit of Mont Blanc (FR) and Mont Gros (FR). A total of 850 km that can be done flying or walking only, and in no more than 3 weeks time.

New in this second edition of the X-Alps is the participation of women. USA’s hangliding world champion and national paragliding champion Kari Castle (44) has accepted this challenge as a way “to come back stronger than I was” after going through knee surgery some time ago. “I can only hope to be strong enough to compete and be safe during this tough adventure race!!!” she says. Kari’s other sports include bike, climb, ski, hike, run and kitesurf.
Ireland’s Niki Hamilton (34) is not new to sport challenges either. She has crossed the Alps by mountain bike, been part of hangliding world record expeditions (as a HG & trike pilot), and has even set a national paragliding distance record in her home country. “'Tough' is relative. REALLY tough would be being forced to sit inside all week with the sun shining outside and watching TV” she says. She also practices freeskiing, yoga, hiking, running, windsurfing and swimming.
These tough girls will compete against 17 males, among whom there’s the PG World champion Alex Hofer (CH), X-Alps previous winner Kaspar Henny (CH) or 3rd place Stephan Bocks (DE), and many usual faces of PWC competitions.

The pilots will launch on August 1st “and fly into a world of pain”, as the organizers describe the X-Alps: “Fly as far as possible in the turbulent air high over the Alps, land safely, walk most of the night with a 20-kilo pack containing the paraglider, sleep as little as possible, hike 1500m up a peak (always with the glider!) for breakfast, launch, repeat until reaching the ocean in Monaco 800 km later...”

Online live coverage will be available at the official website www.redbullxalps.com

posted: June 14th, 2005

Kari Castle

Niki Hamilton