Posted: January 3rd, 2006

From the DHV:

There have been two incidents of broken lines (main lines) on Bi-Golden. In both cases the gliders were used a lot and aerobatics maneuvers were often flown. Fortunately both incidents led to no injury of the pilots or passengers.
Bi-Golden is not intended for aerobatics.
GRADIENT decided anyhow in accordance with the DHV to change to stronger main lines.
All Bi-Golden should be equipped with these stronger main lines at the next two-years-check. Contact your local Gradient dealer for more information.

+Info: www.dhv.de y www.gradient.cx

posted: December 16th, 2005

Three new models have been recently introduced in the Woody Valley catalogue.

X-RATED 3: The third version of this competition harness specially designed to avoid drag and improve the performance of competition gliders. The new X-Rated comes with a faired and partly inflatable Cordura shell; a 12 cm thick back protection; integrated three steps speed system; adjustable length of front with 12cm range; removable flight deck with protective cover for instruments; reserve container under the seat and optional carbon seat plate, among other features. It has a total weight of 9.5 Kg and it is available in sizes M, L & XL.

PASSENGER: It's a specific tandem passenger harness; with a very wide adjustment capability (one size fits all). The Passenger comes with an airbag back protection and a wide back pocket where the pilot can fix the instruments. It’s made of lightweight cordura and nylon and weights only 3,8 kg.

TRANSALP: This is a specific para-mountaineering harness, light weighted but with a strong structure. The harness has light alloy buckles to sustain any dynamic load and four pulleys for the speed system. The Transalp is available in two models: Harness (0,8 kg with carabiners) or integrated harness-rucksack (1,95 kg with carabiners). For this harness, Woody Valley offers 2 lightweight (optional) complements: a lightweight side-mounted reserve container (0,2 kg) and a lightweight airbag (-14G, weight: 0,3 kg). Rucksack and harness are available also separately..

+Info: www.woodyvalley.com

Posted: December 15th, 2005

“Adam Wechsler is our employee and also one of the best paragliding pilots in Israel.
On Wednesday November 23rd, Adam and his mate Ittai Tackersman went to the most Northerly flying site in Israel in the Upper Galilee situated on a mountain near Kibbutz Manara. It was a typical high pressure stable day, usually bringing strong easterly winds (the site faces East). The wind was strong, but the guys decided to wait as the typical pattern is for the Eastern wind to die down during the day

Enrico and Ermanno are two Italian pilots who decided to break a strange record: climb and fly off three +4000m peaks using a new descent prototype glider made by Ozone. Just like in the first days of our sport!
Enrico Frigerio and Ermanno Pedroncelli (Italian distance record owner), started their attempt by climbing the Gran Paradiso (4061m). They started at 00.05 and climbed in the dark (there was no moonlight) for 7 hours to finally fly down in less than 30 minutes. As soon as they landed, the two alpinists moved to Chamonix (Aiguille du Midi) to climb the Mont Blanc, the highest peak of Europe (4800m). They started at 10.15 in the morning and at 3.15pm reached the summit, where there was a slight south wind. There were no more people on the summit, so they had to choose the right moment in which the back wind was lighter. The wind wasn't strong, but it was enough to push the glider down the slope.
Enrico could take off on the first attempt. The take off speed was extremely fast, he had to run very fast down the slope with the glider not in pressure, then he threw himself in the air and the glider started to fly. Ermanno was not so lucky. On the first attempt his glider did not fully inflate and he did a long slide head down… he stopped using his fingers and his crampons, and then had to climb again to the summit. On the second try he just jumped off the steep slope, the glider did a strong dive reaching at least 70 km/h speed and then it started to fly.
For both pilots the glide to Chamonix was very long, at least 40 minutes. The glider's airspeed was very fast. Ermanno, who is used to fly with competition gliders, said it was significantly faster than any other comp glider.
After these two mountains (3600 meters of high altitude climb in 15 hours), on the day after they climbed the Mt. Rosè, still 1300 meters of climb up to the Regina Margherita refuge, the highest of Europe: 4559m. This took them only 2h10'. They reached the summit exactly 36 hours after their start for the Gran Paradiso, but found that the conditions were not flyable to complete the record. Nevertheless, their goal of testing this new descent proto was fulfilled. The basic idea behind this glider is a return to the roots of paragliding: Simple, safe, light and fast gliders designed in the light of the 21st century experience, to be used as it was in the beginning of paragliding, just as a descent tool from the mountains. The proto is still under development, but the two athletes are already thinking of climbing something 'higher' in the next year where to use it.

On December 3rd to 8th the last leg of the Spanish Paragliding League and international Open (FAI) will take place in the zone of Taucho (Adeje), in Tenerife, Canarias. The results there will define this year’s champion, so a high number of competitors is expected to fight fiercely in the air to scratch the last points.
The warm weather of the island at this time of the year makes Tenerife one of the most popular destinations for paraglider pilots from all over Europe, who find good thermal conditions there. The zone of Adeje is located at the south of the island.
At the moment, the pilots leading the League are Ramon Morillas, Iván Iñiguez and Ivan Colas, but everything could change during this event in Taucho.

+Info: www.parapentetaucho.com

This new maillon was designed by UP together with the French manufacturer Peguet to be used in the new UP gliders, like the Summit 3 (DHV2). The line/riser connector has been designed to eliminate rotating in the riser loops, and with a breaking strength of 750kgs “coupled with the finest machining and workmanship” according to the manufacturer.

“Our goal was to optimize the distribution of forces from our 12mm Kevlar-reinforced riser material to the lines. We forwarded our ideas and specifications to Peguet, and they built us a number of prototypes which we were able to test during our work with the brand-new UP Summit 3 wing. The Summit 3 will be following in big brother Trango 2’s footsteps and sport the sleek 12mm risers, giving the wing a clear advantage in gliding at high speed, as well as a higher top speed”, say at UP.

The new line connectors are exclusive for UP.

+Info: www.up-europe.com

Posted: November 8th, 2005

+Info: Himachaltourism.nic.in/indianopen

Posted: November 8th, 2005

"It’s been a fun competition, much more fun than a World Cup!" said the present Europe and PWC champion, Chrigel Maurer (CH, Advance proto) after receiving a big check as the prize for his 1st place in the Challenge island of La Palma (Canaries, Spain). Fun was an integral part of this event, with races that resembled those of the Formula 1 and with good conditions in general. On the second place was Charles Cazaux (5000€) and 3rd, Kari Eisenhut (3000€).

A relatively small group of pilots –in which we found world, continental and national champions, together with test pilots and usual faces of the competition scene– met in the ‘pretty island’ of the Canaries to dispute the final phase of the Challenge island of La Palma. Motivation was very high among the pilots, as we rarely see such substantial prizes in paragliding comps. Nevertheless, the atmosphere in La Palma during the week was relaxed and friendly, and the pilots enjoyed the flights and the special format of the tasks. The idea was to test the abilities and speed of the pilots, and at the same time to have the gliders seen by the public from almost any place on the west coast of the island, specially from Puerto Naos, site of the event. Thus, every day a circuit of between 5 and 10 turnpoints had to be completed as many times as possible during a certain lapse of time (2-3 hours). Distance was counted until the point where each pilot was at the time of closing the race. To make it still showier, an extra bonus was given to the pilots who did the turnpoint of the landing –on the beach of Puerto Naos- between the 20th and the 25th minute after the end of the task. This way, most of the competitors met over the beach at the same time and would perform their best acro tricks to come down before doing a precision landing. Five tasks in one week and average speeds of certain pilots of nearly 35k/h during some of the tasks, give an idea of how exciting this final was. There was only one accident, when world champion Steve Cox (CH) did an emergency landing on a cliff to avoid a telephone line, ending with an injured foot that put him off the competition on the 3rd day. His good chances of getting one of the prizes vanished for Steve, but his mates of the Advance Team, Chrigel and Kari Eisenhut (CH), took good care to demonstrate that their competition protos really are the fastest race machines of the moment. They even gave some trouble to one of the favorites, Charles Cazaux (FR) and his Boomerang 4, but he finally took the 2nd place thanks, partly, to the distance he had accumulated from the first phase of the Challenge. Spain’s Ramon Morillas began in the first positions but he could not keep the pace with the rest of the Advance Team, and a mistake on the last task left him on the 5th place. Erwin Auer (AUT) was 4th, and Ojovolador pilot Daniel Crespo (Ozone Mantra) was 6th. Great media coverage and all the pilots’ wishes for a new edition of this Challenge, put the finishing touch to an event with an excellent organization and a perfect formula to show paragliding to the big public and media, in a friendly and hedonist atmosphere and at a unique location, worth a visit any time of the year.

+Info and results in www.desafioisladelapalma.com

**Check out a full report of the event in our READ! section. Click here to go!