Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2023 i Cross Country

It is exactly sixty years since the late John Dickenson first discovered the magic of flight for himself, being towed up on a homemade glider behind a boat on a lake in New South Wales, Australia. “It was overwhelming,” he remembered, even decades later. His is just one of the stories we tell in this issue. Another is Jake Holland’s story, who together with a team of world-class and highly experienced pilots, skiers and climbers is just back from nearly two months flying and exploring in the Karakoram. “Otherworldly” is how he describes his experience of flying in the footsteps of the late John Silvester, as together with Veso Ovcharov he soared to the summit of a 7,000m mountain and then went over the back, to fly 45km along an…

World Cup Brazil The Hill of the Hawk, Pico do Gaviao, welcomes the Paragliding World Cup for a week-long competition. Delayed due to the pandemic the launch is perhaps one of the world’s most perfect, with manicured lawn for 360-degrees. It has a history of serving up 7/7 tasks. 23-30 Sept, pwca.org 1st China PG Open The first China PG Open takes places in Jingdezhen, 500km SW of Shanghai, and has a €12,000 prize pot. Pilots from 23 nations have signed up, a smattering of Europeans included. 16-22 Oct, civlcomps.org Beizenfliegen 2023 A new one-day H&F race with a twist – you have to visit as many mountain restaurants as possible. Each restaurant gives you 10 points; the pilot with the most points, wins. Fun and Sport categories make it…

I stopped doing World Cups in 2018, but I’m really enjoying getting back into competing in the sports class this year. The Sports-class Racing Series events are way less aggressive, way less stressful, way more fun. It’s still quite high level but everyone’s far more relaxed in the evenings about their performance. For competing, I use XC Tracer Maxx, my XC Tracer Mini as a backup, and XC Track on my 10-inch Galaxy A8 tablet. XC Track has all the information I can imagine I’ll ever need. Before a comp, I’ll download all the extra terrain and road maps so I can see exactly where the turnpoints are. When I’m flying XC at home in Switzerland I turn on my feeds from the Swiss website winds.mobi, so I can see…

Head in the Clouds is an amazing anthology, full of inspirational stories from inside our sport. Where did the idea come from? About ten years ago I sat down with huge piles of magazines with the idea to compile a ‘Bedtime Stories’ collection of tales. I scanned quite a few stories from early hang gliding gazettes like Ground Skimmer, but then laziness won. Then in 2021 I’d just finished writing my psychology book and got the project bug back. One June day my friend Andrew Craig and I were chatting about the anthology idea before flying. He’s a very experienced editor and a much steadier hand than me. It was one of those rare 7,000ft base days we get in the UK, and approaching the wispies late in the afternoon, I…

As I write we are in the middle of this year’s Acro World Tour season and so far so good for me as I have won two out of three events. I should be pretty happy about it but, somehow, I am not. Winning a World Tour event is supposed to give maximum joy to an acro pilot and is supposed to be the biggest achievement of their pilot’s life. But for the past two years I have not experienced that overwhelming feeling of joy when I have won. I do experience an overwhelming feeling of dread when I lose though, so this has pushed me to try to understand a bit more about what I am feeling and why. As a competition pilot it is important to understand what…

The Scandola Nature Reserve on the Capu Rossu headland, western Corsica is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and, incredibly, paragliding is allowed here. The area is known for the Torra di Turghju, a ruined Genoese tower built in 1608. The tower sits at 330m AMSL and was part of a series of 100 towers built to defend the coast against attacks by Barbary pirates. Each tower had line of sight to another, and in the event of an invasion guards lit fires: thus 1,000km of coastline was warned in a short time – just a few hours according to legend. A 90-minute hiking trail to the tower starts about 6km past the village of Piana and heads west, returning by the same path. In the photo you can see the…

I actually had the reversible version of the original TransAlp harness from Woody Valley that was released in the early 2000s. It was a favourite, which was comfortable and practical. Unlike other reversibles from the time it actually had a bag that was big enough for your wing, helmet and other kit such as climbing gear. When I heard that Woody Valley were reusing the name I was intrigued to see what it would be like. Not reversible Well the new TransAlp 2 is not a reversible harness, it’s now a modular lightweight harness. Neither is it a super-light string harness – if you want one of those and are looking to shave every gram Woody Valley have the Denali. Instead, the TransAlp 2 is billed as a “harness for…

Jake Holland is a British pilot living and flying in the Chamonix Valley, France. A writer, photographer and filmmaker he has worked on everything from documentaries to cinema productions. He’s just back from seven weeks in Pakistan – that’s his wingtip on the cover this issue. Read all about it, p48 Violeta Jimenez sits behind a desk 9-5 and helps tech clients innovate with data and AI. But, much like Batman, she changes into spandex when the right signs appear in the sky. She lives in Seattle, Washington, which is a spectacular place to fly. Read her amazing love letter to free flight, p58 Tarquin Cooper is an adventure journalist whose work regularly appears in the UK’s Financial Times and Daily Telegraph. The race reporter for the Red Bull X-Alps his personal adventure…

Alex Ploner won the FAI Hang Gliding World Championships for the fourth time in August, adding to his substantial rack of gold medal wins in recent years. As well as the four world championship titles (2009, 2011, 2019 and 2023) he has won the European Championships three times (2012, 2018 and 2022) and the Class 5 (rigids) world championships twice (2001 and 2008). Alex was flying an Icaro 2000 Laminar. His win was a decisive one too, with Italian teammate Marco Laurenzi (Aeros Combat GT) more than 200 points behind in second place. Third was Alvaro Sandoli (aka the Brazilian pilot Nene Rotor, Wills Wing T3) who was just five points behind Laurenzi in third. Behind the top three the top 10 read like a Who’s-Who of hang gliding greats: former…

Stan Radzikowski (GB, Ozone Enzo 3) won the Paragliding World Cup in Aksaray, Turkey in the first week of August, in a competition that saw seven 1,000-point tasks. Alexia Fischer (US, Enzo 3) won the women’s. Both pilots led the rankings throughout the competition, although the scores were very close: Ferdi Vogel (DE) finished just 10 points behind Stan for a hard-fought second place. The PWC’s Ruth Jessop said: “This has been an amazing week with seven taskable days. In recent World Cup history we haven’t had a seven-day competition where the same two pilots remained on the top spot, overall and in the women’s ranking, from day one.” Tasks were 73.9km, 84.9km, 90.6km, 84.1km, 81.3km, 93.6km and 78.4km. The site of Aksaray in central Turkey is dominated by a…

Whenever there is a free-flight incident the first people on the scene are generally us, the fellow pilots of those who’ve had an accident. The places we fly are often wild or remote and as a result it can take a while for help to arrive. So having a good knowledge of what to do, or at least how to make things as safe as possible, is important. If you have done first aid courses you will have come across the idea of the chain of survival. That is, the idea that if somebody has a heart attack, you do CPR, you get a defibrillator, you call for an ambulance and the ambulance gets the patient to hospital. By keeping that chain complete, you can help somebody go from death…

From ground-school days onward, soaring pilots learn to respect thunderstorms. They are to be respected because the updraughts and downdraughts stretching through the depth of the troposphere can be intense, to say the least. Strong updraughts have whisked pilots to above 10,000m like leaves in a vacuum cleaner. If this happens it is usually because several warning signs were not respected or a storm, or a line of storms, moved in extremely quickly. Sometimes storms can move in at over 30 knots (55km/h) and the sky can change very quickly. The other danger from thunderstorms is the extreme downdraughts that spill outward as a gust front. This is best thought of as the broken dam or avalanche of the sky. Caught by the outflow A growing thunderstorm with its strong…

OZONE BUZZ Z7 Ozone say the seventh iteration of their “true B” Buzz series is “the most efficient wing we have ever produced in the class”. It is designed for pilots who fly 30-50 hours a year, and who want a fun and capable XC wing with the best passive safety available. Ozone say the Buzz Z7 has a more linear brake response, more agile, precise handling, and more roll stability than its predecessor. It also has a higher top speed, and better glide throughout the accelerator range. Like the Z6, it is made from Dominico 30D and N20D cloths, and available in six sizes from XS to XL. flyozone.com AD RONIN Named after a Samurai who wandered freely without a master, the Ronin is AirDesign’s new single-surface wing. It’s…

The Queen 3 and this lighter version, the Q-Light 3, are targeted firmly at EN-C category pilots who want many of the benefits of a two-liner while sticking with a three-riser layout. The glider sits below the King 2 (EN D) and the Gambit (CCC) in the range. Compared with the Queen 2 there has been a slight reduction in the wing’s aspect ratio, from 6.3 to 6.2, but it is still a performance-oriented profile that made me immediately think “high C” rather than “mid”. The wing has been certified without collapse lines and designed to have “classic C” recovery characteristics in terms of handling and passive safety. My main wing is an Advance Sigma 11 (EN C) and compared to that the Q-Light 3 looked more intimidating, at least…

Would I like to test the S/Lab Skyway, Salomon’s new hike-and-fly shoes? Absolutely! I felt like the belle of the launch arriving on take-off with these beauties on my feet. They’re über-cool looking, smart in black, with one red, one blue flash on the heels, and sleek with their lace covers. With the little touches like the glider-line laces they do look awesome, but when it comes to performance footwear, it really isn’t all about the looks. These are the shoes that Paragliding World Champion and Red Bull X-Alps star Maxime Pinot helped develop right from their conception, and then tested over an extended period of time that included racing in last year’s X-Pyr. He wore them in this year’s X-Alps and they were released to the market around that…

How and when did you start flying? Fall 2005. My husband gave us a two-day paragliding course for my birthday with Aerial Paragliding in Eastern Washington state. After that we couldn’t stop talking about our course, so got our P2s. What does flying mean to you now? Escape – mostly from work-brain. It’s a departure from that place in your head focused on things you are supposed to be doing. It’s in the moment. It’s life or death. What keeps you flying? Addiction. I should stop but can’t. What has flying given you so far? A special community to connect with anywhere I go in the world. Who has most influenced you along the way? My teachers Doug and Denise, and mentors at competitions like Rat Race like Brian Webb.…

Lukasz Prokop set a new European EN-C record in July, flying 437.57km XContest distance, or 426.67km straight-line. The flight broke the Polish record which had been set by Mateusz Siatka the month before at 405km, and also beat Bogdan Baziuk’s 2015 437km EN-C flight in Ukraine by 500m. Lukasz was flying an Advance Sigma 11 and in the air for 9hr20m. He launched by tow from a small airfield near the town of Pila, in the west of the country and flew east to the border with Belarus. His average speed was 47km/h. Lukasz, congratulations. How did it feel to cross the 400km mark? I was very excited and didn’t believe that it was true! I’ve been trying to make 400km since 2015 when I beat the Polish record for…

I like flying, mountains, and hummus. My daily routine consists of a wing and a mountain, and my idea of a good time involves strapping myself to what is essentially a giant fabric burrito, with dreams of soaring like a majestic condor. I grew up in Israel and moved to Switzerland when I was 20 years old. A few years ago, I was diagnosed with restless-butt-who-can’t-stand-crappy-weather syndrome. Since then, I gave up on having a permanent home. Instead, I chase the season and try to put myself where the sun is shining and where I can practise my passions under favourable weather conditions. But Chamonix is where I feel most at home. I started flying in 2013. One day, while rock climbing a face at 3,000m with my buddy in…

25 YEARS AGO XC59 (Sept 1998): “In West Texas the dirt is red and heavy. I now regard myself as an expert as I spent most of my first week on the dirt, not in the sky.” In May 1998 Will Gadd was chasing paragliding world records in Hobbs, Texas and having a hard time of it. But then on 30 May, “feeling wasted” from tough days, he released at 1,000ft AGL into a climb and drifted with it across the oil fields. By 2pm the day had turned on and he was above 15,000ft, being blown far north. Dodging airspace around he got low as the sky “fell apart” but: “Then God smiled. The dusty wasn’t much, but it was all I had. At 100ft off the deck I…

Paramotoring allows us to go almost wherever we desire instead of solely relying on the power of nature. The ability to briefly land, for fuel and supplies, opens us up to a whole new range of adventures. In reality, travelling cross country requires nothing more than a paramotor, a wing and good weather. You can sleep in your wing and source food en route but to make it safer and more comfortable, I opt for a few extra items. When weighing up the benefits of these extra items it’s easy to think it’s just one more thing, but when does that stop? Here’s what I see as essential, with my kit included at the end in italics. 1> Wing The wing is the first step. More advanced wings offer better…

Little Cloud kite risers Little Cloud have designed a set of kite risers which can be retrofitted to any of their current wings to transform them into parakiting wings. The risers will be available this autumn. Littlecloud.fr Woody Valley clothing Woody Valley have a new clothing range, with logo T-shirts in grey, blue and black, and matching caps in the same colours. Their dark grey zip-through hoodie is perfect for autumn!  woodyvalley.com Diamond Evo Paratrike Airfer’s Diamond Evo paratrike has had a redesign, with a bigger, 160cm, propeller for more thrust and power, and redesigned upper bars. The trike is stainless steel, and can be flown solo or tandem. Torsion bars in the rear axle mean it is well damped on the ground. airfer.com…

BogdanFly are originally from Ukraine but moved their workshop to Portugal at the start of the war. After what must have been a very traumatic year or so the team are now fully up and running, motivated and working on new products including a series of wings. The Cocoon V2, though, is more of an evolution building on the success of their first lightweight pod harness. A harness born out of Bogdan’s frustration when looking for a lightweight pod harness to travel with, which led to him creating the company and working with the team he assembled to build his own. Design and materials The BogdanFly Cocoon V2 is available in six sizes, covering pilots from 160cm to 195cm tall. Give the company your measurements and weight and they will…

The S/Lab Skyway are a really great pair of shoes, but at €200 a pop they are not cheap. What if you don’t have that kind of cash to splash? We bought this pair of Evadict TR2 trail shoes in the sale at Decathlon for €48 (full price is €60) to do a comparison. They are designed for "trail running of distances up to 40km", so marathon distance, and specs-wise, they are quite similar. At 267g the Evadicts are 18g lighter than the Skyways according to our scales. They have a similar drop of 8mm, and 4mm lugs. I wore them hiking with my paraglider on steep rocky and forested trails, and also did some short-distance trail runs on dry, rocky ground. I have to say I was impressed. I…