Although the sun was not shinning and the breeze blew defiantly from behind the mountains, we were very happy to arrive at the most famous Alpine village in France, Saint Hilaire du Touvet, after not being able to attend the previous Coupe Icare –an event not to miss every year!
It was nearly 4 in the afternoon on Thursday 16th of September, opening day of the 31st Coupe Icare, and in the giant tents of the Fair the great majority of the 105 exhibitors of this year had their stands ready to receive the hordes of visitors that would come during the following 3 days. Among them, paraglider and paramotor manufacturers, flight schools, dealers of flying equipment, clothing brands, free-flight magazines, festivals and souvenir shops. In about 5.000 square meters, the “Salon” of Icaro is the major commercial encounter in the paragliding and ultralight-flight world, which is not surprise in an event known worldwide as the most important and oldest Festival related to air and flying (31 years!) that every year attracts pilots from every corner of the world: 10 thousands this year! And more than 70,000 spectators during the weekend!

Also READ "Icaro's News": our report about the new products brought by the manufacturers to St Hilaire

Versión en español
Text and Photos © Ojovolador 2004
Posted: September 30th, 2004

On our arrival, the pilots more anxious to fly were instead playing with their gliders on the small pendant next to the Fair –facing the mountains- filling with colors the surroundings of the Icaro’s pavilion, while others tested their parachutes deployment on the simulator mounted there.

For us, this would be our first time in St. Hilaire as Ojovolador (“TheFlyingEye”) press team and we’d also introduce our new communication project to PG professionals: “Oeilvolant.com”, the French version of our site Ojovolador.com!

“Never ending Termal”, a film that already succeeded at El Yelmo Festival (Spain) earlier this year, captivated the jury for its ability to offer “the true essence of the spirit of the free flying world through the daring, jubilant and informative adventures of Jorge Atramiz and Herminio Cordido, two hip Venezuelan paraglider pilots who guide us through their choice of the flying world’s hot spots, end up with the ultimate flight from the Angel Falls.”

Sean White (CA), director of the film, received the 'Grand Prix’ of the Jury in his hands backed by the stars of the film, Herminio and Jorge, who gave life to this “Endless Summer” of paragliding: An adventurous trip around the world, chasing the best flights and experiences.

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Sean White, his camera and his trophy. The DVD of "Never Ending Thermal"
is available at neverendingthermal.com and PG shops.
*We’ll soon publish an interesting interview with Sean.

500 children and 17 schools came from the entire region to enjoy the Coupe Icare where, as usual, they received a special attention. Apart from the “children’s city” where they enjoyed all kind of games and activities, the kids also became aircraft designers making more than 2.000 colored-paper planes to make them compete in distance and airtime. The records were more than 30 meters and 88 seconds in the air...

Night, Music and Party

The afternoons with restricted flights partly caused that most of the pilots in St Hilaire ended up spending their energies in the parties and concerts that took place in the cafeteria and at the deco-sud. Thursday launched with a session of electro jazz and VJ in the tent installed on the south takeoff, while percussion and ska took over the cafeteria at the fair. On Friday evening the deco-sud looked as if a rave-party was going on, with several hundreds of people sharing the space outdoors while in the tent the rock sounded loudly, then leaving the stage for a session of electronic music. Saturday night was even more crowded and sometimes you even had to jump over the fallen ones that had started the party too early… Many hundreds of people filled the tent and the field around it, some with their dogs, and you could also see the paper balloons beginning their trip to the sky, or watch some jugglers play with fire to the rhythm of a frantic electrorock and didgeridoo session, followed by electronic music and VJ. A celebration that went on until near dawn -saying goodbye to the annual celebration of flight, St Hilaire!

The small town of St. Hilaire de Touvet is not only the place to where thousands of pilots from the entire world peregrinate once a year. Thanks to its privileged location in the heart of the Alps, to its two perfect and ample grass-takeoffs (distant no more than 5 minutes from virtually any point of the village), and to its position on the edge of a cliff about 800m high (with a cable car next to the LZ to take you back to St-Hil!) paragliding is one of the activities most appreciated by the locals. France has a "culture" of paragliding; in some schools, kids can even choose it as a sport, so it is not surprising that there's a constant flow of good pilots coming from St. Hilaire to become world-top Acro or XC pilots or to be known by their professional successes related to flight.

Among the famed "children" of the village is one of the founders of Paragliding aerobatics, Richard Gallon (world champion 1993), who this year returns energetically to the Acro scene with U-Turn paragliders, and offered an impressive exhibition of chained tumblings (7) during the festival with the new G-Force, a special Acro glider. Near him, other "Saint Hilairans" called the attention, like Antoine Boisselier, Ozone’s test pilot and current French hanglider champion; Guillaume Broust, acro pilot, film director and VJ, with an interesting filmography about paragliding and award-winner at St. Hilaire last year with "Flying Babouches"; or the 16 years-old Cyril Planton who is already competing among top pilots in the most important international Acro events, like ‘Vertigo’ where he ended in 11th place this year, from 58 participants. Also in Vertigo, the ‘St. Hilaire Team’ integrated by 8 paragliders and 2 hangliders made an aerial exhibition that was worth the prize of the public.
Fantastic land of good pilots!

Thousands of persons invaded the North takeoff to watch the disguised paragliders and hangliders launch, on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The winner (solo) was a 2-meters high aluminum cage carrying a protest against the kidnapping of more than 3000 persons in Colombia, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt disappeared since February 2002. The second prize was for professor Foldingue and his infernal machine, and third for the dead tree. Also awarded were the blue-eyed cows, Sam-sam and Sam Pope, the flying fish, and Pierrot the Moon in hanglider. Last year’s winner, the giant dragonfly, impressed again this time with a 10 meters-longer tail because the new disguise made by its creators broke in a test a few days before the Festival.

The numbers of the Ikarus Cup 2004

• Nearly 10,000 pilots of the entire world
• 70,000 spectators in three days
• 2,000 paper airplanes thrown by children
• 3,660 bread ‘baguettes’
• 3,600 liters of water
• 1,350 croissants (bread)
• 800 kg of polenta
• 1070 kg of sausages of all type
• 1900 kg of chips - against 1600 kg last year
• 800 kg of lasagna

  Not counting the restaurants in the rest of the zone!
  

Also READ "Icaro's News": our report about the new products brought by the manufacturers to St Hilaire. Click to go!