Paraglider Challenge Island of La Palma, Oct. 2005 / Ojovolador.com = TheFlyingEye.com

The podium, from left to right: Charles Cazaux (2nd), Chrigel Maurer (1st) and Kari Eisenhut (3rd)

A couple of years ago, professional tandem pilot Javier Lopez had a vision: some of the best pilots of the world were speeding along the coast of his dear island of La Palma, together with Canarian pilots, to land on the beach of Puerto Naos in front of astonished tourists...
Some weeks ago, that vision came true during the Final of the Challenge Island of La Palma, a unique paragliding competition that succeeded in a task that very few competitions do out of the Acro scene: to bring Paraglider to the eyes of the big public.

Javier López,
mastermind and organizer of the Desafio Isla de la Palma, Challenge Island of La Palma.

An efficient and well chosen team of professionals in the organization did an excellent job in all respects: The briefings were done in three languages and there were translators at the take-off to make sure that everybody understood everything; the tasks were filmed from the ground and from the air so they could later manage to have them broadcasted in different TV stations, both in Spain and abroad; the results were available quickly, and the guys of CompeGPS put up a live tracking system of the tasks in internet via their new software “CompeGPS Broadcast”; and even guided tours and alternative activities were organized on the non flyable days. Add to that the good touristy infrastructure available in Puerto Naos (good hotels and restaurants at convenient prices, and a beautiful beach), the summer weather in October and the short distances to access any of the launches of the island, and you will understand why all the pilots were happy with this Challenge and promised that if there’s a second Challenge, they will accept it!

The Challenge of La Palma introduced a number of new features for the thirty+ pilots who fiercely fought in the air for some of the fantastic three first prizes: a total of nearly 20,000 euros. It really was a different competition in which the pilots -many "Top" ones among them- displayed their best abilities and also had a great time, with a superb organization and in extraordinary surroundings.

Comparisons with the Formula One and even plans to export the recipe to other corners of the continent were repeatedly heard during the closing ceremony of the Challenge. In it, a triumphal Chrigel Maurer crowned an excellent season (champion World Cup 2005) with the well deserved prize of 12,000 euros for the 1st place.
French Charles Cazaux (6th in the PWC, and the pilot who –in mid summer, the worst time to fly in Canarias according to the locals- did the longest flight ever in La Palma, from one tip to the opposite) obtained the 2nd place after fighting fiercely against the Advance squad, in which there was also World Champion Steve Cox, who had to leave the comp and his good chances of a place on the podium after a bad landing on the 3rd task; ex- European and PWC champion Kari Eisenhut (who troubled Charles during the whole week and almost fetched the 2nd place for himself); and the leader of the Spanish League, also paramotor world champion and recordman, Ramon Morillas, who was not lucky on the last task.
For Kari, retired from the competition scene since 2000 and currently working as team coach of the test pilots in Advance, La Palma was the proof that he did not lose any of his skills. Without any kilometers accumulated from the First (classification) Phase, he took a 3rd place only a few hundred meters behind the 2nd. For him it was also an opportunity to enjoy a good time with friends doing what all the finalists of the Challenge like the best: flying.
In this event there was an extraordinary good atmosphere and companionship among the pilots. In spite of being there to fight for an amount of money never seen in a paragliding event, the pilots were in good spirits and willing to have fun and enjoy every flight, as well as the landings on the beach, a swim in the sea, and the shared beers while they folded the gliders and told each other their stories of the day.

A competition of a different kind
Part of the success of this Final was the special format of the tasks. The objective was that people from many places of the island could see the gliders racing in the sky, and thus assure the spectacle. And also to bring our sport somehow closer to the inhabitants of that part of the island. This was achieved by setting closed circuits of between 3 and 9 turnpoints, with no goal line but against time: each pilot had to complete the circuit as many times as possible in a given time (between 2 and 3 hours) and an extra bonus was given to the pilots who did the turnpoint of the LZ in Puerto Naos in a window of time of 5 minutes, exactly 20 minutes after the task was closed.

Javier Lopez, mastermind and organizer of the Challenge, considers the good weather -that allowed for 5 tasks in a week- and the fun-to-fly tasks as the main facts for the success. The pilots felt as if they were "arriving at goal" and were very happy to come to land at the same time, which was one of the objectives in Javier’s mind: that the pilots were happy with the competition. "The goal-bonus idea came from Paco Renedo, one of the paramotor pilots who did aerial shooting of the tasks, and we decided to try it. It was a success because it made the retrieves a lot easier and also gave the competitors some additional excitement, while we had massive landings at Puerto Naos. This made the tasks showy for the public and the media, from a promotion point of view", explains Javier, who made a positive balance of this special event.

"On one hand, we wanted to have top pilots flying along with Canaries pilots here, but the Challenge was also designed to promote paragliding and prove that this is a serious sport, and that we can do things well. We must convince the politicians so that they support us in the protection of our flying sites, to keep our takeoffs and landings. And to promote the island as a destination for elite pilots as well. I am very happy with the results and with the fact that the pilots enjoyed it, and thankful to those who supported us, although I am well aware that there are things to improve. For example, I would make the First Phase differently, shorter, and distribute the prizes in more categories, perhaps a category for less experienced people... The Challenge has been a big monetary effort for this small island, and perhaps it will be difficult to repeat it soon. Now we need to assess that with the sponsors and study if we can do a second Challenge soon. I am willing to do it, in spite of the hard work and being as tired as I am right now. The level is very high now and my only fear would be that next time we might not be up to it... ”.

Task 1 [Sat. Oct 22, 05]
Soaked by rain
When the registration process was completed and all the pilots had understood the rules of this particular competition, we were taken to the takeoff of Puerto Naos, the nearest (10 min by car), most popular and also lowest at 235m asl. The forecast is not very promising, with low cloudbase and high possibilities of rain during the course, so Javier sets a short circuit for this first task. The takeoff window opens at 1:30pm. The Start Point, over a rock on the sea in Pto. Naos, opens half an hour later and to get there we need to follow the slope to the north for about 4 km. Conditions, although light, allowed that all the pilots took altitude and as soon as the Start Point was opened a frantic race began, led from the beginning by world champion Steve Cox with his Omega Proto, and teammates. The circuit of three turnpoints and 25 km took us to the south to “La Caldereta”, the first turnpoint, where a dark grey sky suddenly started pouring on us. The worsening conditions forced most of the pilots to land before completing the circuit, with the gliders soaking wet. In spite of the rain, a small group of about 6 pilots was able to complete one circuit and a half before the organization decided to stop the race. - Steve Cox did the longest distance: 31.73 km. - See a Compe-GPS graphic of the track of this task below.

Left: Guillermo de Armas, from Tenerife, talks to Yves Jouanisson, local pilot and winner of the First Phase with an average of 31,56 km of his 3 best flights. Right: Charles Cazaux (FR) and Lee García, Spanish Champion.

The first day we arrived at takeoff early and after the briefing most pilots took some time to launch. Some studied the best strategy to apply, while others set their instruments for this new circuit-type of competition.

1st Steve Cox 31,73 km
2nd Kari Eisenhut 31,37 km
3rd Charles Cazaux 31,18 Km
4th Miguel Barreto Cabrera 30,59
5th Ramon Morillas 29,48 Km
6th Jean Marc Malhonda

Interview - PWC Champion 2005

Chrigel Maurer - 1st
"It’s the biggest prize
I ever had!"
Final score: 363 Km
Qualification km (1st Phase): 19,44
Prize: 12.000€

The European and PWC Champion was determined to make a good role in La Palma and so give a brilliant end to his successful season 2005. And he did it! The secret for success is a big motivation, one of the best gliders at the moment, and intensive training in any type of paragliding flight: XC, competitions, testing, acro… A test pilot in Advance, Chrigel says his is “a dream job”. We believe him.

[This is part of a longer interview published in our READ section, click here to go]

How did you like this “Challenge”?
For me it was very different from other competitions I fly, like PWC or world championships, where there are many pilots of high level. Here it was interesting to fly in an island, over the sea, with soft thermals, sometimes low conditions. Interesting, a new challenge.

And the island?
Well, it’s different and I like what’s different. I fly the whole year in the Alps so it’s very good to fly one week in this island. But I like mountain flying better. You can better say where the thermal is, how the wind is. It’s different here but interesting.

What can you tell me about the glider you fly, your proto?
In the last 2 years we made a new concept, more aspect ratio, more round (arched), you can see the difference between my glider and other gliders. This year I got a new one that works very well, I think it’s one of the best we’ve developed and I’m very happy about it.

This year you had very good results, what kind of training do you follow or how do you do it?
Ah, that’s top secret…! (laughs) I fly a lot so that’s a lot of training and also the whole Advance team, with Kari as team coach and also my girlfriend Karin Appenzeller (3rd in PWC 2005) in it, we have a big motivation and we have a lot of fun together. This is very, very important to fly well. Also this year I think I had one of the best gliders, a very good team, so I made good results.

What makes you so fast? It seems that nobody could catch you, not even Charles on his Boomerang 4…
Well, Charles is a girl! Ha, ha...! No, we tried to make the glider very stable in turbulent air so we can fly faster. But when you fly a lot with your glider you know exactly what its reactions are, then you can fly faster I think. We took it a little bit to the limit here on the ridge, also faster. I think Charles said “I fly safer here” and we pushed a lot in the team...

You seem happy with your work in Advance…
(…) I’m happy because I can fly when there’s good weather and when there’s bad weather I can change something in the house, in the atelier (workshop). When it’s good I can test again and when there’s a competition I fly competition… It’s a dream job!

What do you do when you’re not flying?
I’m sleeping… or eating…!! (laughs) I do some other sports too, in winter snowboarding, things like that. The girlfriend also needs a lot of time!

Are you happy with the prize in La Palma?
Yeah, it’s unbelievable! It’s the biggest prize I ever had in my whole competition career. Sometimes it’s difficult to do a sport like paragliding: you have to pay a lot and there’s nothing in return. In the PWC you get 700 euros if you win but only the plane ticket is the double. And in the World and European Championship there’s no prize money.

So, if they do the Challenge again, will you come?
Yes, I think so!

No hurries at take-off on this 1st task.

To be able to make pictures for Ojovolador we had to launch early. In the pic, Daniel on his Ozone Mantra XL (DHV2-3)

Alfonso Díaz, "El Tronco", with his Sigma 6, didn't wait much to be airborne.

Chrigel Maurer

Puerto Naos take off

Lee García, Spanish champion, and female champion Bea on the back

Charles Cazaux and his orange Boomerang 4.

Steve Cox (right) and the Advance protos excelled from the very start of the race. Their strategy was to use full-speed and turn the minimum.

The low, threatening clouds ruled this first task

Jean Marc "Pata Negra" did a good comp aboard his AVAX RSF

After flying in the rain many pilots had rough landings on the volcanic stones ('malpaís') with the gliders soaked. Then we left them to dry on the sea-promenade of Puerto Naos. Luckily, it was hot...

Frank Arnaud on his Avax RSE

Ramón Morillas, drying his Omega proto

Task 2 [Sun. 23 Oct 05]
A full speed race
Javi showed his deep knowledge of the flight conditions in La Palma by setting suitable tasks for each day’s conditions, that were usually the best possible. The tasks were explained every morning at the briefing in the Sol Hotel of Puerto Naos. For this second day the forecast was good and the organizers decided to use the higher takeoff of Campanarios. We took off at 1.45 and the SP was an electric tower 3.2 km from there, half an hour later. We had 2 hours to do the circuit as many times as possible. The circuit for this day was 29 km long, with 3 turnpoints: La Caldereta, the mountain of Jedey, and the rock of Pto Naos. There weren’t any technically difficult parts, only a section where we had to fly over the sea with no landing possibilities below, on the way to La Caldereta. Those of us who took it easy and safe, assuring height to fly over this pass, perhaps realized our tactical error too late, when the first pilots: Kari, Steve, Christian and Charles, doubled our distances or were nearly doing it!
Anyway, it was a wonderful day: base at 1.100m, good lift with max. averages of +7 m/s, and almost no turbulence. This was the first day we had the LZ-Bonus that made us go to Puerto Naos exactly between 20 and 25 minutes after the closing time of the task. Those who entered the turnpoint cylinder in the 5 minutes of window added 3km to his/her personal distance of the day. Almost all the pilots did it, and the simultaneous landing on the beach of Puerto Naos was spectacular: Music, applauses and a good bunch of happy pilots "at goal" enjoying the cold beers at the Kiosko Playa Morena, before packing the gliders.
Kari was the fastest today, he did 69,65km at an average speed of 33.3 Km/h
*Notably as well was Canarian pilot Miguel Barreto who flew his Boom2 at the hot pace that the Swiss marked and was the first Spanish, on the 5th position.

1st Kari Eisenhut 69,65 Km
2nd Steve Cox 69,55 Km
3rd Christian Maurer 69,38 Km
4th Charles Cazaux 69,27 Km
5th Miguel Barreto Cabrera 59,33
6th Ramon Morillas 59,14 Km

Everybody up! - Time to go to Campanarios!

While we waited for the 4x4 to take us up, we discussed the best options for the flight.

We had to hurry because the clouds could cover the launch at any moment.

Susan (left) was great as a translator and staff member, always smiling. In the pic, collecting the pilots' signatures.

As we were a small group of pilots the wait for the start point was stress-free. Besides, except for the first task, conditions were quite good every day.

An image often seen during this comp: Charles Cazaux on his orange Boomerang 4 trying to catch the Advance Protos

Interview - 6th in Overall PWC 2005

Charles Cazaux - 2nd
“It was not so easy!”
Final score: 345,69 Km
Qualification km (1st Phase): 26,04
Prize: 5000€

Sixth at the PWC 2005, Charles started leading the Final of the Challenge but had to fight really hard to keep his good position until the last day. He said it was a lot of fun, like a Formula 1 race! For him, the comp also provided a good environment for the material research he is doing with the “R Team Palsecam”, using gliders made of experimental cloth and lines. A project in which he is fully involved now and that needs him flying as much as he can. Talking about "dream jobs"…

How did you like this competition?
It was really nice, we had the possibility to go to the beach, to fly competition, and it is a perfect place for winter time, for training, for competing. There were not many pilots but there was very good feeling with the pilots, and the tasks were very good with the circuits, like Indianapolis… I came in August that normally is the worst time to fly, and it was a little stable but fine. But now in October to February is good, there’s high cloudbase, good thermals, not so much rain and we had 5 tasks in one week, it’s a good average.

How was the competition with the other pilots?
It was good because some pilots didn’t fly for the qualification. I flew for the qualification in August (he did the longest flight of the island, almost from one tip to the opposite) so I had an advantage at the beginning of the comp. I fight with the Advance pilots, Chrigel, Steve and Kari… at the beginning there was also Ramon, Armin and Ives fighting hard. It was an interesting comp and very hard fought on the last task until the last second with Kari, who was only 500 meters behind me after so many kilometers!

Tell me about the gear you use, you’re flying a Boomerang 4?
Yes, I’m flying an orange glider of the “R Team”, it is a Gin Boomerang 4 made with special materials, lighter than a normal glider; and special vectra lines from Cousin, new lines. I’m making some tests for Cousin, to help improve the materials for all the pilots. I’m also flying a special helmet from Bios, a new concept of helmets.

Your glider seems to have parts of the sail of different materials, is that so?
Yes, there are new cells because every 100 hours we change 3 cells of the glider on the inner sail and the outer sail to do some research on how the material changes and gets old. We work with Porcher Sport to make an R&D laboratory with the “R” Team, to improve everything. We need to make several tests on different gliders with the same materials and then when we have a lot of information we’ll be able to give the results.

How long have you been using this glider?
200 hours now, since the beginning of April. I’m very happy with the glider, I flew all the World Cup season with it and I was very happy to end in the 6th place.

Does it have any differences with other Boomerang 4?
I think because of the light materials the reactions of the glider are not so strong. With the lines, I’d need to compare with other gliders to know if the performance is the same or if it’s a little bit more.

What are your plans with the R Team for the future?
We’ll continue the tests with the different partners. And we’ll try to find new partners for money: for the pilots, to go to the competitions, to develop some media project with TV, events… and maybe some trip if we have enough.

How long have you been flying and doing comps?
I’m flying for 12 years now. The first year when I begin performance flying I was in the School of Sports in France, then I went to the University of Grenoble and then I entered the French Paragliding Team. This was a very good progression for me, to fly with all the good pilots. And now I need to fly international competitions to know different places and to fight other pilots. This was a very good week for me, flying with Kari, Chrigel and all the pilots.

You’re doing well in the World Cup too…
Well, the World Cup is a different thing because there are a lot of pilots so you have a lot of information in the air and you can fight all the time. Here it was a bit different because the two Advance were most of the time in front and I was behind trying to catch them, it was not so easy!

What glider will you have next season?
A Gin glider, I think we’ll have perhaps prototypes and different wings for the top pilots of the Gin Team to improve the gliders, the Boom proto, and see what we can change. I think Robert and Gin are working on this glider at the moment. And Max Jeanpierre from France will also work with Gin now as a test pilot. So I’ll be a little bit more with the Gin Team to manage the pilots or help in development, I don’t know.

The Swiss of the Advance Team (Steve, Kari & Chrigel) took advantage of team flying, pushing eachother and pushing the speedbar...

Task 3 [Mon. 24 oct 05]
A tough one
After the good results of the 2nd task, the organizers decide to introduce some difficulties to the route today. The takeoff is from Campanarios at 1:30pm. Half an hour later the Start Point of the electric tower opens a circuit similar to that of the previous day but with the added complication of flying over the flatlands of Los Llanos de Aridane, and then head to the turnpoint of El Time, to the north of Puerto Naos.
This time the circuit was 54 km long, and making it to El Time was really hard...
The notable event of the day was an emergency landing done by Steve Cox when he was trying to climb close to the cliff near El Time. There were some power lines that he did not see until they were too close, so he landed roughly on the 'barranco' to avoid them, and injured his feet.
Only 4 pilots could do this turnpoint and complete more than 40 km.
The rest of us ended in different points between the coast and the flatlands above.
Ramon Morillas impressed us all by gliding very low all the way to the turnpoint and back. At least once we saw him flying just 20m over the water!

First today: Christian Maurer, 56,5 Km.

Before the briefing, the pilots checked the results of the previous day. Left: the Spanish champions Lee (right) and Bea (center); and Jean Marc behind. Then, to the launch of Campanarios where there was a second briefing.

A bad day for Steve, who had to quit the comp because of his injured feet after a rough landing.

1st Christian Maurer 56,05 Km
2nd Kari Eisenhut 55,27 Km
3rd Charles Cazaux 46,27 Km
4th Ramon Morillas 40,35 Km
5th Anja Kroll 38,09 Km
6th Lee Garcia Davies 37,97 Km

Interview - European Champion 2000

Kari Eisenut - 3rd
“Money is not the important thing”
Final score: 345,23 Km
Qualification km (1st Phase): 0
Prize: 3000€

The European Champion 2000 came to La Palma to have fun and fly with friends, and ended with some extra bucks in his pocket (3000 euros) thanks to an extremely good shape and a really fast glider. This was his first competition in a long time, but Kari’s work as a coach of the Advance Team pilots keeps him very close to the competition scene “to see what’s going on”. The rest of his time is devoted to his flight center "Chill Out" in Interlaken, Switzerland.

How did you like the “Challenge of La Palma”?
For me it was a wonderful competition because of the nice people and the nice atmosphere here. Also the location, near the seaside I think is absolutely beautiful, to fly over the sea all day and to fly with the friends, it’s very nice.

Do you think the island is a good place for flying?
I think it is a very interesting place to make competition and I liked it because everything’s so close, we can see all… It’s very “familiar” here.

Tell me about the glider you’re flying, is it a prototype?
Yes, my glider is something between a competition glider and a serial glider. It’s a glider we’re trying out to make a new one, an Omega 7. In the last year and a half we improved very much in stability at high speed, so that’s the biggest advantage as we can fly quite fast, very stable and safe. This makes really fun to fly fast and use the performance… About 3 or 4 years ago this wouldn’t be possible, it’s a big step.

How do you achieve this in a glider?
Of course we’re working a lot with the lines, but the main thing is coming from the profile. The profile is the most important part.

What’s your work in Advance?
My responsibility is all around the testing, I’m the leader of the test team so I’m responsible of the young guys, the young crazy guys like Chrigel Maurer and others we have.

You’re the boss then…
In theory yes! (laughs) But it’s good fun to work with them, to fly with them. They’re very motivated and we’re pushing each other, still me, I get pushed and I’m happy with that.

Do you do some special training with the pilots?
Our goal is to find good pilots, young pilots, whom we can help develop. Chrigel is a good example. Ewa (Wisnierska, PWC female champion 2005) was completely unknown when she came to Advance. Michael Witschi was 4th in PWC last year, also a completely unknown guy. We’re always doing some meetings, some plans… We’re preparing the next season and everybody has to tell his/her goals, his advantages, low points and good points. We write all that down, we analyze. And we fly together. The success says we’re on the good way. For me it’s interesting because once I was flying competitions too and I can give my advantages to others from another point of view.

How do you feel about the prize you won here in La Palma?
Honestly, I have to say that I was not thinking about the money because I was just happy to fly with my friends, to see what’s going on, to enjoy the atmosphere. The money for me, ok is good to have, but in general for me money is not the important thing.

Photo: Zebensui

Photo: Zebensui

Photo: Zebensui

1st Christian Maurer 112,80 Km
2nd Kari Eisenhut 111 Km
3rd Charles Cazaux 96,16 Km
4th Erwin Auer 95,53 Km
5th Ramon Morillas 88,43 Km
6th Daniel Crespo 86,35 Km

Task 4 [Tue 25 oct 05]
112 Km in 3h!!
Today the forecast promised similar conditions to yesterday’s so a simpler task is decided: a 34 km circuit with a more accessible turnpoint on the flatlands instead of El Time. The time is set to 3 hours today. This way, the pilots had to fly fast but not risking much because a bomb-out could make you lose important positions in the ranking.
It was a windy day and we specially noticed it on the way to Barrio de Las Indias (to the south), because it produced some turbulence near the cliff that made us hold the gliders tight... As usual, the leading boys didn’t seem to suffer and stepped on the bar all the time.
Today, cloudbase was at 1200m in some points of the island and the average climbs were +5 m/s.
Chrigel was again the most consistent competitor with a total distance of 112 km, and an average speed of 36.6 Km/h! Nothing bad, considering that the flatlands section forced most of us to slow down. When the task ended the pilots were all in the air but scattered around, which made the flight back to Puerto Naos and the gathering there (for the LZ bonus) a beautiful moment.

The most difficult part of the task was the turnpoint of the crater in Los Llanos de Aridane, where we had to secure altitude to make it back to Puerto Naos.
Anja Kroll (CH, Gin Boomerang 3, above left) glided smoothly and managed to pass without much hassle.

Belgian Thierry Moreau with his red Advance. Definitively, this championship was reign of the Swiss maker.

The turnpoint of the lighthouse of "Las Hoyas" required securing height, and even though it was said to be a difficult one no one failed to come back from there.

Rest and tourism days in La Palma [Wed. 26/Thu. 27 Oct, 05]
Laurisilva Forests, Cycle-tourism, Santa Cruz of La Palma, Beers and Arepas.
Remains of hurricane Wilma hit the Canarias Islands with strong winds that even forced to close the airport of La Palma, so we had two free days to enjoy some of the wonders of this (so called) 'pretty island’ of 706 Km2 and only 40 km long.
A group of pilots organized a bicycle route along the volcanoes, while some of the rest (others chose to stay in) took a guided tour with Joaquin, one of the staff members who lived in La Palma for some years, to the eastern side of it. La Palma is an eco-paradise full of contrasts, from the massive, 1500m deep volcanic crater of “La Caldera de Taburiente” and its 28km of diameter that hide unique species of vegetation and landscapes inside (National Park), to the many steep precipices that transport you to the rainy tropical forest, not to mention the sunny beaches and the desert landscapes on the south of the island.
Our first stop was one of the viewpoints of La Caldera, from where we could appreciate the vastness of this geographic accident, and even went for a walk along one of the paths that wind down to the heart of the crater. The best way to see this awesome Park is to do a 2-days trek inside, spending the night at the base camp, but we were short on time and could only enjoy the beauty of the landscape for some minutes before heading to the opposite side of the island.
Some kilometers to the north of Santa Cruz of La Palma, the capital city, lays the Barranco (precipice) of Los Tilos, where the temperature drops a few degrees compared to the coast. The Barrancos caused by the volcanic explosions in La Palma become natural water courses when it rains, but when there’s no water you can walk in them between huge stone walls covered with ferns and trees from which long lianas hang down (no macaques though). The only difficulty of this expedition is to jump a few rocks, so people of any age can enjoy it. Inside the Barranco there’s only the rumor of the water that comes out in springs here and there and the sound made by the birds that live in the trees.
Before the night comes over us we leave the barranco to visit Santa Cruz, a small city whose old buildings resemble the typical colonial architecture you see in some cities in Latin America, with big wood facades and stone-paved streets. The easygoing rhythm of Santa Cruz was only broken by the roar of warm wind gusts coming down from the mountains, which reminded our Swiss friends of their alpine “Föhen”.

An historical relation between the islands and Venezuela (the "eighth island" for the Canarian) is the origin of the number of restaurants and bars that offer delicious Venezuelan specialities. The Arepas are round crispy maize loaves stuffed with a choice of fillings, and the cachapas are made of ground maize and served with white cheese on top. The supper and the cervezas (beers) shared with Anja (CH), Kari (CH), his girlfriend Natalia (ARG) and Joaquin (SP) made special moments beyond competition and flight.

Task 5 and last [Fri 28 oct 05]
Progressive difficulty
Conditions were forecasted to gradually improve during the day so Javi decides to set a circuit with 9 turnpoints of increasing difficulty, from the low ones near the coast to some higher ones we already knew and some new ones that we could only reach if the cloudbase rose.
Today, the pilots unanimously requested a longer task, as it was the last one and everybody wanted to be in the air as long as possible. Democratically, Javi decided that the pilots voted it and finally the flight time was extended to 2 hours and a half.
The day was not easy and there were some turnpoints over the sea, like the lighthouse of Las Hoyas, but the real difficulty was the 7th turnpoint, Santa Cecilia, which was high and back in the mountain.
The whole circuit made 75Km. Only 4 pilots could complete it, and 8 could do the turnpoint of Santa Cecilia. Ramon Morillas was 4th up to this day when he decided to play all his cards to try and be on the podium, but a mistake put him on the ground before the end of the task and instead he lost one place to end 5th. Maybe next Challenge...
Anyway, the atmosphere was very nice and once the flight time concluded all the pilots had a great time taking pictures to eachother and performing their best acro tricks, until it was time for the bonus-turnpoint and the landing show.

1st Christian Maurer 80,71 Km
2nd Charles Cazaux 77,94 Km
3rd Kari Eisenhut 76,77 Km
4th Erwin Auer 76,69Km
5th Lee Garcia Davies 73,29 Km
6th Frank Arnaud 70,48

Kari and Javi discussing the convenience of one of the turnpoints

'Spanish Team' introducing the new waypoints

Erwin Auer (4th overall) analizing the task with the champion Chrigel. Photo: Zebensui

Daniel from Ojovolador ready to fly. Photo: Zebensui

Towards Puerto Naos

Photo: Zebensui

15 first classified:

	Name	Glider	Kms TOTAL
1	Christian Maurer	Advance Proto	363,50
2	Charles Cazaux	Gin Boomerang 4	345,69
3	Kari Eisenhut	Advance Proto	345,23
4	Erwin Auer	Swing Stratus	293,95
5	Ramón Morillas Salmerón	Advance Proto	274,82
6	Daniel Crespo Valdéz	Ozone Mantra (DHV2-3)	265,40
7	Lee Garcia Davies	Sol Khan	259,18
8	Anja Kroll	Gin Boomerang 3	254,25
9	Jean Mark Malhonda	Gradient Avax RSF	250,90
10	Christophe Lombard	Airwave Magic (DHV2-3)	223,71
11	Frank Arnaud	Gradient Avax RSF	201,01
12	Beatriz Garcia	Sol Khan	177,29
13	Roger Frey	Swing Arcus	175,52
14	Thierry Moreau	Advance Sigma 6	153,86
15	Klaus Eitl	Swing Astral	130,93

Download final results

Some numbers of the Challenge:

107 pilots entered the "Challenge" during its 1st Phase, and some more did it only for the Final as "wildcards".

11 countries were represented by those pilots.

5 tasks were flown during the week of the Final, with a total distance of 334 km flown by the winner; an average of 66.8 km each day.

109.8 km was the longest distance flown in one task (Maurer) in 3 hours, meaning that he flew at a speed average of 36.6 km/h!

+7m/s was the max. climb, on the 2nd task.

1200m asl was the highest base, on the 2nd task.

1160 visitors gave the Challenge to La Palma during the 1st Phase, including pilots and companions, 512 of whom were pilots.

Of them, a 20% travel single, 80% do it in organized trips/groups.

14 days is the average stay of the visitors.

44,917 pages visited from 81 countries had the event’s website www.desafioisladelapalma.com until the beginning of October 2005.

The goodbye: A simultaneous takeoff from Montana Negra of all the paragliders that competed in the Final of the Challenge, together with local and invited pilots, was the final point of an excellent week of flying in the island of La Palma. Surely the image of all these colored wings gliding above the volcanoes and cliffs of the island on the way to Puerto Naos, stopping to share a small thermal on the way, will stay in the memories of all the participants of this event. We look forward for a 2nd Challenge and, very probably, there will be many more pilots eager to accept and fly the Challenge island of La Palma. See you there!

*Many thanks to the organizers of the Challenge for their support to make this article, and also to all the pilots who posed for these great pictures and shared good flights and good moments with us.

+Info: www.desafioisladelapalma.com

*The Challenge on TV:
Download the video of the Challenge done bt the Catalonian TV for the show "Temps D'Aventura" here.
And the French one "Touslesdirects" here.