Innholdsfortegnelse for August/September 2025 i Cross Country

“In this landing field there are three windsocks. They can all blow a different way at the same time. The trick is to pick a windsock and land right by it.” Windsocks are an under-appreciated asset in our community, I always think. When learning, they are always there on launch and in the landing field, placed there by an instructor, but then as you progress they seem to become less common. Sure, you find them at official landings and take-offs, but often there will just be a ragged old streamer tied to a bush fluttering in the breeze halfway down launch. It’s to show when cycles come through and those in the know understand that when it just starts to flicker – well that’s the time to pull up. Down…

El Yelmo 2025 The El Yelmo International Air Festival in Spain celebrated its 25th edition. A three-day free-flight festival and film festival which attracts hundreds of visitors, more than 50 pilots also competed in the Andalusian Cup – won this year by Daniel Martinez and María Monserrat. www.fiaelyelmo.com Ozone Chabre Open The Chabre Open saw a good week of flying with three tasks scored (87km, 55km, 36km). Germany’s Rafal Noga (Ozone Photon) won the overall, with Henk Alberts (NED, Ozone Delta 4) winning Sports class. Anna Hadders (SWE, Ozone Lyght) won the Women’s. flylaragne.com SRS Skywalk Edition Pál Takáts (HUN, Ozone Photon, pictured with Stanislav Klikar) won the SRS Skywalk Edition in Gemona in July. Magdalena Janaway (GBR, Gin GTO 3) won the Women’s. The comp had some great flying…

Every great idea starts with a spark – and sometimes, that spark leads to a 300km flight. Flying isn’t just about covering distance. It’s about stories, moments, memories – and the people you share them with. So come along for a ride through the skies, as we blend a bit of the past with what’s now possible in modern XC paragliding. Yes – I flew over 300km with a paraglider. To be precise: 321.75km at an average of 34.59km/h on a sleek EN-C two-liner, the Nova Codex. You might be expecting a classic flight report – instead, here’s a throwback and a glimpse into how far our sport has come. Back in the day Back in the 1990s, hitting 300km in a glider – especially in something like a single-seater…

Along, blue, paper logbook – about the size of a chequebook – was put in my hand when I qualified as a CP (Club Pilot), tow-launching in the UK. I was told to record my fights and hours because it would be useful. But what details would be useful in a year’s time? Two years? There were columns for flight number, date, location, conditions, duration, etc and I dutifully copied the numbers by hand from my shiny new vario for the first 73 flights before it became too tedious. A typical entry looked like this: Jack’s Logbook, 15/11/18, CP +0 hrs: Training hill with instructor. First hill flights out of tow-launch school. Hills need smoothness and timing. I need to move with the wing and not force it into the air.…

Setting up to land can be an intimidating position for quite some time after finishing your training. It might be the first time flying without a radio, it could be a new flying site or it might just be that you’ve had a couple of bad landings and you’re nervous for a repeated incident. Well don’t worry because you’re not the only one! Here are my top five tips for landing to help you get those consistent flares and gentle touch-downs. Prepare early Leaving the landing gear (legs) up until the last second will give you another thing to consider before pulling the flare. Same thing goes for your trimmers, killing your engine and making sure you’re perfectly aligned into wind. To prevent any last-minute adjustments, make sure to run…

On a chilly morning in late March 2025, thirty pilots from ten countries gather atop a remote mountain in the Departamento de Francisco Morazan in central Honduras. The atmosphere is charged with anticipation as the mist begins to lift around 10am, giving way to massive cumulus cloud streets that suck moisture from the sun-swept cane fields in the valley below. “Pacific southerlies pushing up through the valley,” murmurs one pilot, studying the clouds. “No, it’s the Caribbean trades moving southwest,” counters another. With merely three weather stations throughout the entire country, there’s no surefire way to predict conditions here. It’s precisely this meteorological unpredictability that brings a small international group of adventure pilots back year after year. A vision takes flight When Jeffrey Miller first arrived in Honduras in the…

DUDEK HALO Dudek have released a new school wing, the EN-A Halo. They say it is designed to be as easy as possible for students and instructors, and its stability and intuitive handling are what make it special. Features include its extra-long big-ears risers, which Dudek say are easier to identify and use. There are also dual attachments on the brake handles, with both magnets and snaps. The Dominico 30DMF cloth was selected for its durability, an important consideration for a wing that will likely see a lot of groundhandling action. The Halo is available in four sizes, from 20m2 to 28m2. dudek.eu GIN ELISE Gin Gliders say the new EN-A Elise offers the highest levels of passive safety, along with agile and fun handling. A wing for school and…

Henry George is an adventure photographer based in south Wales. He headed to deepest Andalusia in southern Spain this issue, dodging twisting mountain roads, searing heat and wild boars to track down the pilots who make up the small but energetic hike-and-fly scene in Spain. See p72 Jake Holland is based in Chamonix but hasn’t been home much recently. This year he’s been in Nepal filming an 8,000m wingsuit adventure, chasing pilots for the Red Bull X-Alps and enjoying himself hiking, climbing, kayaking and of course paragliding in northern Patagonia. See p62 Riley Ferré had a former life as a junior rodeo rider at home in Oregon before finding paragliding and hike-and-fly was more her thing. After seasons in Colombia she headed to Europe this year to take part in her first big…

Mark Watts set a new paragliding open distance XC UK record on Thursday 3 July with a jaw-dropping 329.3km flight west-to-east across England. Flying an Ozone Enzo 3 he launched from Llangorse in Wales and was with a group of top British pilots including our own Hugh Miller (325km), Ben Dry (317km), Guy Anderson (315km), Kirsty Cameron (311km) and Markek Mogielnicki (302km) who spent the next eight hours flying 300km east. On what was an “extraordinary” day for the UK pilots, conditions saw base at 2,300m and 5m/s climbs. A line of lift running across the country like a belt allowed one sailplane pilot to criss-cross the country four times. “It was like flying in spring air in July with a lid on it,” Kirsty Cameron, who set the new…

François Montuori and Pauline Müller won the Wanderbird Kitzbühel Trophy in Austria, which was held over a long weekend in June just ahead of the X-Alps. With the emphasis as much on the amount of fun being had as kilometres flown, the weather played ball and pilots were grinning all the way. Although rain was forecast for the first day a half-day task was set, starting with a hike up the famous Hahnenkamm – the X-Alps launch. At the top the forecast rain stayed away but low cloud also prevented some of the competitors from launching so there was a good amount of hiking involved. The weather was perfect for the second task day however, with the Austrian Alps delivering a perfect day for hike-and-fly. The Hero Class was set…

As a four-time competitor and two-time live commentator of the Red Bull X-Alps I have an intimate understanding of what is known as the toughest adventure race on Earth, a claim that’s hard to dispute. The 2025 edition had meaty headlines: First time a non-Swiss has won. Chrigel finally unseated (barely!) after eight decisive wins. 2024 triple crown winner (Superfinal, Europeans and Worlds) Maxime Pinot withdraws due to a fear of injury on day two. Aaron Durogati finally breaks his Red Bull X-Alps curse with a bold and stylish final flight. A rookie (Lars Meerstetter, a Chrigel protégé) squeaks into second by less than 20 seconds ahead of Simon Oberauner. Longest and most difficult course yet, with three viaferratas. For the most part incredible weather which allowed for jaw-dropping, technical,…

High cirrus obscures the sun and turns down the power a few more notches. Blue hazy mountains crouch in the distance, dark against the far horizon. The slanted winter sun is pale behind the curtain. Cold seeps in between my mittens and the down jacket. Dry eyes weep gently at the corners. Winter flying in all its frosted glory. A week before the solstice, high pressure moved across Queensland and produced the first flying days for a while. I rummaged through the garage, digging out the accoutrements of cold weather aviation: thicker neck cover, jacket and thermal layers. Soon I’ll be heading to Europe where these things will be essential. Better test it here before packing. We cram into the Daihatsu Charade. One back seat is pushed forward, and Jordan…

Celine’s Great Escape When Celine Lorenz was forced to land she became cut off by a huge riverbed. It took six hours to climb out and Celine said she thought about stopping. After the emotional and physical hardship she ultimately pushed on, reaching the furthest TP at Les Deux Alpes. Jared’s Gamble Jared Scheid began Day 10 believing flyable conditions would start early, so decided to wait. A group of pilots pushed on ahead, opening up a lead toward Lermoos. Jared continued to wait. Then, he flew past all of them to arrive in Lermoos in 12th place from 21st. Brazilian Brilliance Gabriel Jansen Rabello became the rookie to watch early on. His four-year flying career didn’t seem long enough to gain the experience to compete, but in the early days…

HOW TO WATCH Cross Country Masterclasses are designed to improve your flying with defined learning objectives, whatever level you’re at. Find them at xcmag.com/fly-better/masterclasses All direct subscribers automatically have an account: simply log in and start learning. If you don’t know your password go to xcmag.com/my-account and hit ‘lost password’ – we’ll send you a new one straight away.…

Portugal-based BogdanFly have been maturing their business recently, with a much-improved website and a seemingly endless stream of products and updates. This year saw the release of version three of their Cocoon XC and vol-biv harness. In terms of graphics the Cocoon V3 GT is like its predecessor. It comes in a single colour with three colour stripes on the tail. The one I was sent was a subdued black with green stripes, which BogdanFly told me was the most popular combination. Design and build This is a midweight harness rather than a superlight pod and weighs 2.7kg in the XXL size that I flew. It is available in six sizes, covering pilots from 160-195cm in height, and is EN/LTF certified up to 120kg. The GT version I tested uses…

Where do you live? I split my time between Uruguay and the Alps, Colombia, and now, the Himalayas too. How did you get into flying? In 2016, while backpacking through Queensland, I was officially on a mission to find my passion: and I did. Before that, I was a biochemist in Montevideo. What’s your earliest flying memory? I was raised by a hard-working mum in the city, with no contact with air sports. So it all began in my imagination. As a child, I would fly in my mind. What got you hooked? My first flight. After a soft landing on the grass, I just lay there and said to myself: I’ve found it. What does flying mean to you now? Exploration, both outside and within. It’s a deep expression…

The Paragliding World Cup had a packed June and July, with two legs flown – in Linzhou, China and then Feltre, Italy. In China, Slovenia’s Tilen Ceglar won the Linzhou comp, which ran from 7-14 June. He beat favourite Honorin Hamard (FRA) into second place over a week of at times difficult racing. Ultimately, however, it featured five “memorable” tasks. Galen Kirkpatrick (USA) won the women’s competition. “The World Cup delivered a dynamic mix of technical flying, challenging weather, and breathtaking scenery,” organisers reported afterwards. “Despite a few cancellations due to wind, the competition still featured five memorable tasks in the stunning setting of steep rock faces, deep canyons, and wide valleys.” After a strong and consistent performance throughout the week, Tilen emerged as the overall winner. He said: “It…

The Engadine Valley has always been like a second home for me. My mother’s family is from here, and we used to visit on vacation. I’m 44 now, so I’ve known it for a long time. It was the first place I saw hang gliders and paragliders, when I was eight or nine. I always told myself, “When I grow up, that’s what I’m gonna do!” It took quite some time because I didn’t start flying until I was 30. Before that I went to university late, studied communication sciences, and I was an audio engineer. When I reached 30 I told myself, “I will not grow up any more – it’s now or never.” I learned to paraglide first, it’s definitely more accessible. My first wing was a Swing…

25 YEARS AGO XC70 (August 2000): Among reports on the first 500km hang glider flight (Dave Sharp, Zapata) and an 8,000m balloon drop (Mike Küng) Christy Kemp’s article on “Getting your confidence back” stands out. A move to a performance wing started a run of nervous flights, collapses, cascades and (very) near misses. Stepping down didn’t help: the borrowed wing started to literally rip apart in mid-air. “I fully embraced my fear,” she writes, “and showing up at comps I felt like an absolute fraud.” At a loss she contacted a sports coach, an ex-Olympic ice-skater. “She told me we’d have it sorted out within a month. Naturally I told her she had rocks in her head!” Exercises followed, including “never letting myself land ahead of my intent.” It worked.…

From a distance, a downburst can look like a torrent of heavy rain. But at ground level, its behaviour can be far more destructive. When a downburst’s winds hit the ground, they fan out horizontally in all directions, sometimes with enough force to shatter windows and overturn vehicles. These winds behave in complicated ways, particularly in cities, as our latest research shows. Downburst winds can deflect off tall buildings, increasing the pressure on neighbouring buildings’ windows and walls. The result can blow out glass and chip off facade. Even buildings designed to survive hurricanes can suffer major damage in a downburst. As engineers, we study downbursts with the goal of designing buildings, components such as solar panels and windows, and infrastructure such as power lines that can stand up to…

Welcome to the other-worldly dreamscape that is Castelo, in the state of Espirito Santo, Brazil. About 550km, or seven hours’ drive north, from the famous beaches of Rio de Janeiro, this is a place you would never come unless for the flying. It’s the site of this year’s FAI Paragliding World Championships, which start at the end of August and run for two weeks into September – the best time to fly here is in the drier part of the year, from September through to March. Organised by legendary Brazilian pilot Frank Brown some 130 pilots from 58 countries will take part. A world class competition venue Castelo has hosted numerous national, international, World Cup and Pan-American championships over the years. The small town of Castelo sits at just 100m…

Sadly, the live tracking this year trumped all previous editions – and not in a good way. Designed for a large screen with a good connection, the experience on mobile (ie most people) was not good and ultimately became frustrating and unusable. Spectators, pilots and even X-Alps crew members moved to one of the other platforms – PureTrack, Burnair, XContest and ReliefMap – that picked up the data and made their own X-Alps page. Race co-founder Ulrich Grill acknowledged this year’s live tracking was over-engineered. “Sometimes less is more,” he said. “We acknowledge the fact that sometimes trying too hard is too much and does not serve the purpose of all. “Our purpose was to serve a wider audience with an immersive desktop experience in focus. You could say that…

Advance women’s T-shirt Advance have a new women’s T-shirt in a new cut with a fresh design and soft 95% cotton fabric. Available in plum in sizes XS, S, M, L and XL. advance.swiss BGD spreaders BGD’s new rigid tandem spreaders are robust and practical, made for pro’s. They have two passenger hangpoints, an anti-twist strap and are certified to 220kg. The rescue attachment is independent of the main attachment.  flybgd.com UP Nublo gloves UP’s new Nublo spring/summer softshell gloves are windproof, water-repellant and lightly insulated with 3M Thinsulate. Available in five sizes from UP’s online shop. €59 shop.up-paragliders.com Ozone Angel SQ 180 Ozone have added an Angel SQ 180 to their range of reserve parachutes. It’s square, 49m2, weighs 2.05kg and is EN/LTF rated for loads up to 180kg,…

Action cams have come a long way since the days when pilots were forced to carry a camera operator in a tandem. GoPros changed the game, then came the competitors. Today, it’s the Insta360 that is proving ubiquitous in our sport. Are they really that amazing? Earlier this year the company, which was founded a decade ago in Shenzhen, China, released the X5 – claiming it to be “the smartest, toughest 360º camera ever made”. For years I’ve been a loyal GoPro fan and never felt the need for a 360. One reason – I never loved that super-wide-angle fisheye view that trended a while back. (When the camera is too close to the subject everything can also look really distorted.) I was also put off by the fear that…