The biggest task: to direct!

Despite the not so good weather and the hard work, the members of the organization team at the Europeans were satisfied with the championships. Ali Gali, experienced and respected international/local pilot, was the meet director and thus had the responsibility of one the most delicate parts of the competition; a hard job that can make you a hero one day and the opposite the next… As the highest authority in the air, he had to stop at least 4 tasks for security reasons when the pilots were already flying.

“Globally we're happy, especially about the team work. I appreciated the support from the team leaders regarding security… It's the first time in a European Championship that I've seen the briefings were ok, without big argues; things were clear” says Ali, whose work started every day at first time in the morning checking weather reports and making decisions about where to make 140 pilots fly in the middle of the Alps. With the help of two more people at the headquarters, Ali studied the sky and decided. “You have to adapt your ideas to what you make from the information provided by weather reports, personal reports from paragliding schools in other valleys, and the conditions at launch. Like the day at Col de Fornet when we had back wind… I was not worried because I knew the wind would start to come from the right side, but I didn't know when it would change”, he explains.

The only subject that did not satisfy Ali was the jury decision to reduce the penalty for the pilots who were found guilty of flying in clouds during the 2nd task. Although the rules clearly forbid this, the pilots went away with only 50% of the task's points removed –and not the 100% as Ali defended, regulations in hand. “We've dealt with cloud flying for years, if we want it to stop we need to be very clear before the pilots, and they all should know it is not allowed and not acceptable!”, he says.

Ali, who started flying hangliders in 1978 and switched to paragliding in 1986, was also meet director of the PWC in Morzine in 1999 and 2002, and those successful experiences led the local pilots to think about organizing a FAI championship in the area. The work started in 2004 and Ali says it would not have been possible without Jean François Charriere as the general director. The support from the local authorities and the tourist boards of Morzine-Avoriaz and Les Gets was just as important, with a budget of more than 180.000 euros to put up the comp, organize alternative activities almost every day in the villages (videos, talks, and even a fashion show!) and offer all the facilities to pilots, teams and journalists. But also, as Ali mentioned, team work and the help and support of the local club "Ailes Morzinoises" were crucial.

Swiss team-leader Martin Scheel explains
The clue to Team success:
Good ambiance… And results!

Martin Scheel has successfully led the Swiss team to victory again at an international FAI Championship. When asked about his strategy as team leader, he gives the credit to the friendly atmosphere and freedom that the Swiss pilots enjoy in the team.
“My pilots fly well, but they have fun too. You must not be afraid of making mistakes; you must have freedom in the mind for flying!” he says.

Although he admits that the selection process to be in the national team is very demanding, Martin says that every team has to do that. Once the pilot is in the team he/she finds all the necessary support to focus on getting good results, like a sportive ambiance “competitive but friendly”. Pressure? "No", says Martin, “if they do wrong I give them support”.

An experienced pilot and meet director for various comps, Martin knows what is needed to be on top. He asks for results, and if they are not there neither is the pilot in the next team. “We have different pilots here than in the Worlds in Brazil , and we win again!”

The reason why world champion Steve Cox was not in the Swiss Team for the Europeans was pure personal decision, he just didn't want to go. A very different case was the absence of Alex Hofer (world champion 2003) in Brazil : “He was not flying well enough”, explains Martin.

About these Europeans, the Swiss team leader was not totally happy with the organization and has some critics to the security procedures and retrieves. About the polemic decision to punish the pilots from flying in clouds, which affected two of the Swiss pilots, Martin thinks that many more pilots were flying in the cloud but just were not caught. If the others are doing it, is the pilot below them going to stay clear from the cloud and lose that climbing advantage? Martin understands that although is not good, the six punished pilots just did what many more were doing that day.

*More about the Europeans 2006 in our daily reports' page: www.ojovolador.com/press

Published: September 20th, 2006