The
big Party of Free-flight!
The
30th anniversary of the Coupe Icare was one of the best that
anybody can remember of all the editions of the famous free-flight
festival, held at the small village of St. Hilaire du Touvet
in the French Alps. The wonderful weather conditions (warm and
sunny every day) made it for a sky filled with light and colourful
aircrafts –even crowded at times- and for a happy mood
both in the fair (inside the tent) and at the open air scenarios
where the disguises contest and the Acro shows took place. An
estimated public of 10.000 pilots and 75.000 spectators enjoyed
the event and all the activities that seemed to be going on
at the same time everywhere between St. Hilaire and Lumbin (the
village next to the landing field, about 1000m below St. Hil).
One
of the highlights in this year’s show was the flight of
the Ariadna’s thread, a 7 km long ribbon carried by 7
paragliders that were attached to it. Also amazing were the
disguises shown in the contest, a collection of the most eccentric
models that can be worn while flying a paraglider or a hanglider.
The winner (PG) was a giant libellula of 12 metres of span and
50 m long!
The
film festival had a good number of productions of notably high
quality. The winner of the Great Prize of the Jury, with a Special
Mention for scenario, was “The Race”, by Uli Weismeier,
chosen for its beautiful images, effective production and good
touches of humour. The Special Prize of the Jury went to “Acro-Base
2003” by Denis Verchere (France), which also won the Public’s
Prize; while the Prize for the best report was for “FARENGI
AMORA”, by Guillaume Bellet (France). Guillaume Broust,
who has made some videos for St. Hilaire and for Vertigo before,
this time won the Prize for Humour with a production done with
Antoine Boisselier and Bruno Bourdat, “Flying Babouches”.
And the amazing flying adventures of a paraglider pilot and
his mates who taught some hawks to fly with them in Nepal, shown
in “Parahawking”, won the Prize for First Production.
(See the complete list of winners on the left side of this page).
The
Aerial Festival of Publicity Films took place for the first
time during this Coupe Icare, with 30 short films selected for
the competition. The public chose a commercial of the company
Belgacom (Belgium, 2002) for its humour, and an advertisement
of Pepsi featuring freefly (USA, 1998).
The
only negative side of the event was a fatal accident suffered
by a French PG pilot while he was flying along the cliff of
St. Hilaire. The organizers say that although it is each pilot’s
responsibility to minimize the risks in the practise of our
sports, they will continue improving their efforts to keep the
Coupe Icare as incident-free as possible, which includes the
work of dozens of volunteers at the take-offs and near the flying
sites, and emergency or rescue equipments ready to act if an
accident occurs. The main critic heard in St. Hilaire this year
was that there were too many inexperienced pilots trying to
emulate their Acro heroes in the middle of big gaggles of paragliders,
with noticeable lack of control and all the risk involved for
the rest of the pilots, and themselves.
Photos
above & below (c) Juan Sikic / parapente.cl
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Some numbers of the Coupe Icare 2003 |
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About 60 films featuring any form of flight entered the
festival, 25 of which were selected.
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More than 10.000 pilots from all over the world
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75.000 spectators
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6.000 entries in the Salon of Aerial Sports on Saturday
and Sunday
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3600 bottles of water
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3800 ‘baguettes’ (French bread)
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1,6 tons of french-fries (against 1,2 tons, the year before)
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800 kg of Lasagne
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150 kg of meat from Provence.
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Below, some comments and pictures
from some of the brands and pilots who
were this year in St. Hilaire:
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| ADVANCE
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“The
Coupe Icare 2003, the 30th, will remain for a long time
in our memories and those of the thousands of pilots and
visitors: perfect weather, non-stop shows, an attractive
professional showroom... The ADVANCE stand left an excellent
image thanks to a clear presentation and a cordial reception.
Most of the members of our staff were present, ready to
listen to pilots and retailers: Development team, production,
management, storekeeper, and the sales team. The gliders
tests were a success: nearly 50 pilots tried them in the
air and there were no incidents to report. Hundreds of
pilots took a sit on our harnesses. Thousands of brochures,
more than 400 posters, and dozens of litres of coffee
and drinks were distributed. A big success”. Valéry
Chapuis.
*The
team took the chance to show the latest prototype of the
new BI BETA 3, the tandem that will replace the BiBeta
2, with innovations like trimmers to increase the speed,
and a new big ears kit. Expected release date: November.
Info:
http://www.advance.ch
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Photos
(c) Advance Paragliders |
| OZONE
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“The
event was a great success. We were very busy all the time
on the Ozone stand, which featured our new inflatable
tent, and were glad the whole Ozone crew was there. The
Ozone party (Saturday night) went well with a mad rush
for the free Tequila and beer, and the music went on until
gone 6 in the morning, I know coz I was there... In the
Prize Draw the main prize of an Ozone wing was won by
Cyril Lemerger, who decided to have a Vulcan. It was great
to be able to give him the wing as he had had his previous
wing, an Ozone Vibe, stolen only 2 months earlier. There
were also a lot of other happy winners who went home with
various Ozone kites and goodies. During the days there
was some great Acro flying, and from Ozone's point of
view it was great to see so many Vulcans and even a McDaddy
involved”. Marcus King.
And
a last minute note from the team:
“Our McDaddy44 Demo was stolen
from Antoine's car during the St Hilaire festival, it's
the first 44 in France so should be easier to spot. The
glider is Purple and the serial number is E 31-010, along
with the glider we also had a tandem harness and parachute
stolen. If you see this glider or are offered it for sale
please let us know at team@flyozone.com”.
Info:
www.flyozone.com
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| SOL
PARAGLIDERS |
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“For SOL it was
the best fair of all times – we had a new stand,
received the visit from our distributors from Spain, Portugal,
Germany, Latvia, Swizerland, Canada, Belgium, UK-Scotland,
and France, of course, and many schools and clients from
Europe. Many stands were smaller than the year before,
but there seemed to be more stands present – the
public also seemed to be more than years before –
the weather helps too! Negative points were the accidents
and too many people doing acrobatics near other pilots,
this must be better organized. I think the sport doesn't
have enough experience to stimulate the Acro flying. We
have 3 pilots in our Acro team, but we are not selling
an Acro glider at this time as we believe that this flying
still must be better developed before we start to sell
the Acro gliders. In all cases, the best fair ever was
this 30th edition of Saint Hilaire festival”. Ary
Carlos Pradi.
Info:
www.solsports.com.br
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Photos (c)
Sol Paragliders
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| WINGS
OF CHANGE |
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“It
was our first time in St. Hilaire to promote our gliders,
so we were flying with the NEMETON and the people seemed
to like a lot the new complicated design (of the sail)
in the air. The meeting was very nice for our business
and image; so many people were there! We think it’s
one of the best meeting in Europe”. Markus Gründhammer.
Info:
http://www.wings-of-change.at
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Photos
(c) Markus Grundhamer, Wings of Change
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| GIN
GLIDERS |
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”The best St Hilaire since a
long time. A lot of creative things, good and light mood,
nice weather...” Eric, Gin Team.
*At
the Coupe Icare the brand introduced their new mountain
glider YETI (3.7kg for the XS) and their new tandem BEETLE.
Info: www.gingliders.com
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Photos
(c) Gin Gliders
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| Airwave |
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“The St Hilaire
festival this year was a huge success. The weather was
as perfect as you can get, hot, sunny light winds and
thermals everyday, what more could you ask for! Stefan
Hodek is an enthusiastic Acro pilot and he was test flying
the new Magic3 XS during the festival, a model both for
lightweight pilots who are looking for a serial class
wing or aerobatic pilots of heavier weights”. Airwave
Team.
Info: http://www.airwave-gliders.com
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Stefan
in the Magic3 XS
Picture
(c) Airwave Gliders
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| UP |
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“Some 10,000 pilots
of all sorts of aircraft were gathering at Coupe Icare
2003 for four days festivities that attract ever increasing
public attendance. It satisfies the curiosity of some,
giving pleasure to others, and attracts an ever-increasing
number of visitors! We from UP were also there with our
own stand. Many people took the opportunity to look at
our products and to test some gliders. Thanks to UP France
for the good organisation!”. UP TEAM.
Info:
www.up-europe.com
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The
Up Stand in St. Hilaire
Photo
(c) Up Europe
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| SWING |
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The
German brand was introducing at St. Hilaire the new beginner
glider Axis 3, which medium size has already passed DHV
1. “The Axis 3 has been classified with DHV category
1 and is meeting the particulary high safety requirements
in the new DHV safety regulations”, according to
the Swing Team. The glider will be available from November
2003.
Info:
www.swing.de
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Photos
(c) Swing Paragliders
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| Aerodyne |
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2
movies supported by Aerodyne were awarded at the Festival,
“Acro Base 2003” by Dennis Verchere, and “Farengi
Amora” by Guillaume Bellet. Images of both movies
can be seen in the promo video of Aerodyne; check out
a short trailer of it in this link: http://www.aerodyne.fr/siteus/imgs/galerie/video/video.htm
Info:
www.aerodyne.fr
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| Juan
Sikic (Public) |
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PG
pilot and instructor from Chile (school Pro Pilot, www.parapente.cl),
told us he was amazed to see so many people at a free-flight
event. He thought it was a great opportunity to make
business contacts, buy interesting goodies to bring
home and have a wonderful party time. “You can
hardly sleep during the Festival, there’s so much
going on! Great fun!” His photo album has more
than 800 pictures, and we borrowed some of the best
for this page (thanks again!).
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