Timo's Paragliding Blog

PWC Superfinal - Task 4

2012-01-28T19:00:00.000-08:00


Approach the Lake LZ in Valle de Bravo Photo by Josh Cohn

Today a 7-leg 120 Km. task was flown in strong, rough conditions. The pilots in the lead gaggle report that they were on full bar all day. The predictable did occur - there were many fully accelerated blow-ups but only 1 reserve toss. The lead gaggle, of over twenty gliders, crossed the ESS in 3:35-3:36 - averaging almost 30k/hr.


Task 4 - Click for larger photo

Josh Cohn placed 4th for the day, with Jack Brown and Nick Greece in a tie for 8th place. Eric Reed placed 18th primarily due to lesser leading points. Brett Z. landed 7 Km. short of goal, placing 67th for the day.

Overall rankings after 4 tasks (with one discard) has Jack Brown in 7th with Josh 1 point behind, in 8th. Eric is 15th and Nick is in 26th. The U.S. guys are making a great showing and there is still a lot of racing to come.

Overall Ranking after 4 tasks with 1 discard. Click for larger view.

PWC Superfinal Task 3

2012-01-28T08:42:00.000-08:00

Valle de Bravo has been producing the consistent strong conditions that it is known for. This will require the pilots to maintain a high level of airmanship while fighting the insidious effects of fatigue. It appears that the major shift from uncertified gliders to EN-D gliders (the latest and greatest of which are effectively comp wings with less speed authority) has had little effect on the number of reserve tosses. Whether safety has actually been improved will be debated extensively following this comp.

Task 3 - Click on photo for larger view

The task was a 103 Km. task with 7 legs and finished at the lake. The ESS was close, and in the lee of Cerro Gordo - a dubious decision that put all finishing pilots only a 7Km. downwind glide to goal. Many pilots hit the ESS point at low altitutde, on speed and this was Nick Greece's undoing. He had led the pack for 2 1/2 hours only to blow-up big at Cerro Gordo and come down under reserve.

Jack Brown had some problems also in task 3. It appears, from interpreting the score sheet, that Jack jumped the start. He flew a great race, but was only rewarded with 35 points since he only got credit for the first segment to the start cylinder. Both Nick and Jack have flown well, and will drop 1 task in 4, so the day won't end their hopes to score well in the comp.

Josh Cohn and Eric Reed flew very well, placing 7th and 12th respectively. Brett Z placed 72nd. Overall Josh is 9th, Eric is 18th, Jack and Nick are 47th and 48th - But a much more accurate standing (due to the discard rule) will be seen after the 4th task.

Great flying by all!

Here is a great compilation of informational sources compiled by Otto Schultz:

Official sites
3D Tracking
Official PWC site
Organiser's website
Paragliding World Cup TV
Pilot list
Live tracking
Taskboards
Live Leaderboard
Retrieve map
Results: Task 1 | Task 2 | Task 3 | Overall
Task Tracklogs: Task 1 | Task 2 | Task 3
Task Animations: Task 1 | Task 2 | Task 3

Blogs:
in English: Nicole McLearn | Brett Hazlett | Nicky Moss | Andre Rainsford | Gin Team Blog
in French: Gin Team France | Team ABAC | Elisa Houdry & Ludovic Sivignon | Maxime Bellemin | Charles Cazeau
in German: Swiss Team | German Team | Pepe Malecki
in Russian: Russian Team
in Portuguese: Claudio Virgilio
in Slovenian: SFFA news
in Czech: PGweb.cz/Renata Kuhnova
in Italian: Italian Team

Tim

PWC Superfinal Task 2

2012-01-26T23:23:00.000-08:00

The second task of the Superfinal was a 6-leg 92 Km. task that had4 of the U.S. pilots in the top-10 and arriving at the ESS within one minute of each other. This kind of grouping, in the top-10 of a competition of this caliber, shows the depth of talent possessed by our U.S. crew.

Eric, Jack, Josh, and Nick scored within 5 points of each other - essentially a tie. This puts Jack Brown in 4th place overall behind Juan carlos Becerra gonzalez, Hans Bollinger, and Andre Rainsford-Alberts. Josh Cohn is in 16th, Nick Greece is in 19th, and Eric Reed is 29th overall.

PWC Superfinal Task ONE

2012-01-25T20:34:00.000-08:00

The first task of the 2012 PWC Superfinal was flown today in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. The task was a 4 leg task of 62 Km. with goal at the lake. I, like many pilots, hoped the Live Tracking would provide a clear picture of the race in real-time. Unfortunately this was not to be. Many of the favorites (and eventual top 20 finishers) had no tracks plotted after the first 10 minutes in the air.

Task one

The results are visible HERE and the scattering of EnZos, Boom Xs, and IP6s among the top ten seems to be fairly even so far.

Congrats to Jack Brown who scored 6th today.

Here are some more links for the future reference during this comp -
Official PWC site
Organiser's website
Paragliding World Cup TV
Pilot list
Live tracking
Taskboard and Live Leaderboard
Retrieve map
Results

PWC Superfinal - Valle de Bravo

2012-01-24T10:35:00.000-08:00

Today marks the first task of the 2011 PWC Superfinal in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. The U.S. has 5 pilots in the competition - Jack Brown, Eric Reed, Josh Cohn, Nick Greece, and Brett Zaenglein. Eric and Brett are (according to the PWC website) flying Niviuk IP6s, and the rest are flying Ozone EnZos. These pilots are, arguably the best pilots in the U.S. and they are all flying the latest and greatest Certified, EN-D wings.

Ozone Enzo

Conditions in VdB are forecast to be clear and good for XC tasks, so it should be a good test of the best pilots in the world. Good luck to all the pilots!

Niviuk IcePeak 6

I will keep this site as current as possible during the event. But here are some of the pertinent web sites -

http://worldcupvalle.com/en/
www.paraglidingworldcup.org
XC Mag

A Fun Day of Flying at Cayucos 12_10_11

2011-12-11T10:10:00.000-08:00

Another great day at Cayucos. This time I had a lot of company.

Get some air -

Tim

A Fun Day of Flying at Cayucos 12_4_11

2011-12-05T22:10:00.000-08:00

Had another fun day on the hill. Conditions looked just barely soarable, but I still got in 90 minutes or so before taking it to the beach.

Here's a short video of my flight - all alone but having fun!

Tim

Back in the saddle / Video

2011-11-21T22:32:00.000-08:00

I've been sitting out the debates regarding comp classes and the latest crop of EN-D wings that are in the pipeline for release next season. I'm keeping up with the discussions that have been rampant on the web lately and I'm happy to be a spectator to it all. I'm going to sit back and see how the dust settles. In the meanwhile, I'm doing some fun flying at my local sites. Cayucos and MDO have been producing spectacular days and a nice day at Cuesta finally developed this week. I stayed local because I wasn't really prepared for an XC and retrieve, but it was a fun day on the hill.

Here's a short video of my day - It's HD, so it may take a bit to load.

Dune de Pyla

2011-08-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

Another great video -

I've gotta fly more ;-)

La Duna de Pyla, Parapente & Timelapse from Marco Campazas on Vimeo.

Elemental Freedom

2011-08-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

Here is a brief video that I found recently.
Nice.

Elemental Freedom from Terry Stubbs Jnr on Vimeo.
"Paragliding will never lose its soul or spirit. The contentment it instils in the heard is too profound."
Pilots - Terry Stubbs Jnr & Zebur Mercan
Location - Bishops Hill, Scotland
Camera - Lumix G10 lens 14-42mm lens
www.terry-stubbs.com

Is there life after X-Alps?

2011-07-31T15:58:00.000-07:00

I've been worthless for the last few days, due to my addiction to the X-Alps - and I wasn't alone. The most active thread on the Paragliding Forum was the X-Alps thread, with many posters supplying play-by-play and local weather info. XC Mag seemed to take point in getting information to the masses. The XC Mag videos and interviews gave us access to the athletes in their glory and pain.

It was, up to now, the best use of technology and imagery; allowing this amazing race to be viewed by thousands. Chrigel Maurer absolutely dominated the field. Even after taking a 24 hour penalty he was almost 48 hours ahead of 2nd place (and only other competitor to make it to the raft) Romanian, Toma Coconea. The last hour race between Coconea and 3rd place Austrian Paul Guschlbauer was riveting, as Toma went into ultramarathon mode and literally ran the last 80km. while Guschlbauer flew most of the distance. The tortoise won this race though, as Guschlbauer was left 9 km short of goal when the 48 hours expired. American Honza Rejmanek was able to take 10th spot in the last 5 minutes. Big respect for all the athletes for their commitment in the last year of training, and their fortitude in attacking the 864km. course from Salzburg to Monaco.

The 2011 Red Bull X-Alps video looks like it will be amazing. I've already ordered a copy and the early teasers indicate that the production values will be fantastic this year. They used helicopters and personal HD cameras to provide POV of the athletes, their helpers, and inflight views of the spectacular scenery.

I would appreciate it if you ordered it by clicking through to the XC Shop by clicking one of the ads at the bottom of this site, or THIS LINK so I get credit for the sale.

Fly Safe -
Tim

Spectator Sports

2011-07-25T23:39:00.000-07:00

This week has been very rich in stimulus for those of us relegated to spectator status. Watching the XAlps pilot/athletes endure extreme hardship in the form of extreme cold, high altitude trekking, and flying in extreme conditions, while we sit comfortably at home, is both exciting and a bit frustrating. Meanwhile. the PWC has started in Turkey and the first leg of the U.S. Nationals in Utah started Sunday.

The sheer domination by Chrigel Maurer in the XAlps has been amazing to watch. Even with a 24 hour "time-out" penalty, on day 6, for a minor airspace infringement he is crushing the field. It looks likely that he will land on the raft in Monaco on Tuesday and that Toma Coconea may be the only other competitor to make it to Monaco before the 48 hour clock expires. Here is a 2 minute recap of the last 10 days -

XAlps Days 1-10 from Tim O'Neill on Vimeo
Check out the finish via Live Tracking at http://www.redbullxalps.com/live-tracking.html

Meanwhile the US Nats are being held in Utah. Day 1 had the pilots flying a 121K task to goal with 16 pilots in goal. Nick Greece won the day by over 8 minutes. Results are at http://www.flyxc.org/redrock.html. Day 2 was not tasked due to inclement weather.

The PWC in Turkey results can be found at http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/node/2016

Meanwhile, I'm going flying.

Fly Safe,
Tim

A Viewers Guide to the 2011 Red Bull X-Alps

2011-07-14T00:34:00.000-07:00

"It's a funny thing. From the outside the X-Alps looks like a hiking and flying race. When you look closer, you realise that really it's a flying race. And when you look closer still, you realise that really, at the heart of it all, it's a mental game. The very concept of risk for someone who is capable of being a serious contender in the X-Alps is very different from anything any recreational, XC or competition pilot would normally understand from the word. This is only something I learned from competing in the race myself. Maurer, Hofer and Muller had the appropriate mentality before they started the race for the first time, I certainly didn't."

Tom Payne 2009 X-Alps Athlete

click for larger image

The 2011 X-Alps Adventure Race begins at 1PM on July 17th. This race allows paragliding and hiking along 8 turnpoints between Salzburg, Austria and Monaco. Total distance is 864 Kilometers but the 30 athletes will cover considerably more than that as they navigate among the peaks and valleys of the Alps. This is the 5th X-Alps and only two 2011 athletes have competed in all 4 of the preceding races - Andy Frötscher(ITA) and Toma Coconea (ROM)

The 2009 Top Three Athletes were Christian Maurer, Alex Hofer, and Honza Rejmanek from the U.S. Alex Hofer placed 2nd in 2009 and first in 2005 and 2007. Unfortunately he had a crash last month and is out of the race this year. Christian Maurer won the race in his first attempt and has been training hard to defend his title in this year's race. USA's Honza Rejmanek, and his assistant Dave Hanning, will be in their third X-Alps, placing 9th in 2007 and 3rd in 2009. He had extreme food poisoning in 2007 and still persevered to cover a lot of ground as he recovered. In 2009 he had some knee issues that slowed him a bit and required him to descend mountain roads walking backwards. Honza is one to watch this year.

The rules include some new features. A new mandatory rest period will be imposed every night between 23:00 and 0400. This has potential to keep the racers a bit closer together. Last race there were many short nights as the leaders tried to get away from their closest rivals.

Beginning on July 20th at 0700 hours the last team in the Red Bull X-Alps ranking will be eliminated. Thereafter every 48 hours the last team will be cut from the race unless the Athlete has passed the turning point Mt. Blanc.

This race is an amazing combination of flying skill, physical stamina, and mental toughness. In addition, a good assistant and a good strategy is important to success.

Live Tracking will be available at http://www.redbullxalps.com/live-tracking.html
Keep an eye on the latest news at http://www.xcmag.com/tag/red-bull-x-alps/
Keep an eye on things - the race begins July 17th at 10PM PDT.

Tom Payne put this great table of the 2011 Athletes together:

Country	Flag	Athlete	Age	Supporter	Glider	Blog/website	2003	2005	2007	2009

ARG		Martin Romero	36	Diego E. Romero	MacPara Magus XC
~~AUS~~		~~Lloyd Pennicuik~~	45	~~Paul Underwood~~	~~Axis Venus~~	~~link~~			17	X
AUT1		Helmut Eichholzer	36	Wolfgang Ehgarter	Ozone Delta	link		4		X
AUT2		Christian Amon	41	Mario Schmaranzer	Swing Stratus			X		X
AUT3		Mike Küng	42	Thomas Arzberger	Paratech P8 Proto
BEL		Thomas de Dorlodot	26	Gatien de Dorlodot	Gradient Avax XC3	link			X	10
BRA		Richard Pethigal	42	tba.	Swing Stratus
CAN		Max Fanderl	46	Penny Powers	tba.	link			X	13
CZE		Jan Skrabálek	41	Karel Vrbensky	tba.	link			11	15
~~ESP~~		~~Ramón Morillas~~	44	~~Juan Morillas~~	~~Advance Proto~~	~~link~~			7	9
FIN		Jouni Makkonen	40	Toni Leskelä	Gradient Avax XC					7
FRA1		Vincent Sprüngli	46	Jerome Maupoint	Gin Boomerang				X	X
FRA2		Philippe Barnier	36	Hervé Garcia	Niviuk Icepeak
FRA3		Clément Latour	28	Gil Thomas	Skywalk Poison 3
GBR1		Jon Chambers	36	Richard Chambers	Ozone M4	link
GBR2		Steve Nash	48	Richard Bungay	Nova
GER		Michael Gebert	31	Florian Schellheimer	Gradient Avax XC3	link		5	X	6
ITA		Andy Frötscher	42	Martin Klotz	Skywalk Poison 3	link	X	X	14	12
JPN1		Kaoru Ogisawa	51	Masaru Saso	Gin Boomerang				5	13
JPN2		Masayuki Matsubara	40	Tetsuo Kogai	tba.					X
NED		Ferdinand van Schelven	27	Anton Brous	tba.
NOR		Ivar Sandstå	44	Inge Haustveit	Niviuk Peak 2
POL		Pavel Faron	37	Piotr Goc	Swing Stratus
POR		Nuno Virgilio	31	Samuel Lopes	Axis Mercury
ROM		Toma Coconea	36	Daniel Pisica	UP	link	X	X	2	X
RSA		Pierre Carter	44	James Braid	Gradient XC3					X
RUS		Evgeny Gryaznov	39	tba.	tba.					5
SUI1		Christian Maurer	28	Thomas Theurillat	Advance Omega	link				1
~~SUI2~~		~~Alex Hofer~~	34	~~Roland Moltinger~~	~~tba.~~	~~link~~		1	1	2
SUI3		Martin Müller	45	Yannick Flugi	Gin Boomerang 7 light	link			3	X
USA		Honza Rejmanek	36	Dave Hanning	Axis Mercury	link			9	3

source: X-Alps website, Wikipedia, own research || Age at Race launch 17th. Jul 2011 || blogs tbc. || X means participated, but injured or disqualified/eliminated

Fly Safe everyone!

Tim

Why the 2011 U.S. National Competitions should be Cancelled

2011-07-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

The Red Rocks National Paraglider competition is scheduled to begin on July 24th. This is the first competition in the U.S. since the FAI / CIVL bombshell on Friday outlawed Competition Class paragliders in CAT 1 competitions and went on to, "Strongly recommend that this ban be followed in future Cat 2 events."

I'd like to explain the logic behind my title statement. I know many won't agree, and I'd like to hear the reasons my logic is flawed. This may turn into a long post, but it's not a simple issue.

The Problem:
The latest batch of Competition Class paraglider designs have demonstrated unstable/unrecoverable characteristics following a frontal collapse - this is particularly the case when accelerated. This may be because of the stiffening structure which can lock the cravate, it may be the higher aspect ratios, or it may be the high speeds of the new designs. It may be a combination thereof. At this point the problem is undeniable that these wings feel stable and safe but they have negative tendencies after a normally recoverable collapse. The attitude that "good pilots don't have a problem flying them" just doesn't work anymore - Many very high quality pilots are tossing their reserves and an undeniable number have died while competing on the world stage.

The Solution:
The manufacturers and their design teams have the talent to address the problem, and will do so when regulations are put into place that require healthy characteristics (as is the case with certified Serial Class gliders). The market needs to require this also - The FAI has now ruled, with the changes to the Sporting Code, in an effort to motivate market and the manufacturers to fix the problem. By requiring Certified wings in Cat 1 events and recommending them in Cat 2s (which are the qualifiers for Cat 1s) they are essentially leveling the playing field at a "safer" elevation of level.

Whether you agree with the decision or not, depends on your level of denial. Make a mental journey outside paragliding for a moment and imagine the Red Bull Air Races allowed any type of aircraft design and a newer, faster, design emerged that was faster and more maneuverable - until it went unstable. 15 pilots bought the new design - they had to, to remain competitive. The first event produced new records for speed and was even more thrilling. But as the pilots got comfortable and began pushing the aircraft, things started happening and resulted in the loss of two pilots in one event. Would the organizers and sponsors just shrug it off as, "Well this is extreme flying and these pilots knew what the risks were." NO There would be an inquiry and all flying would stop until a solution was formulated. The loss of money would be many times the losses seen in our little sport.

Why the U.S. National Events should be Cancelled
Here's my logic path to the my conclusion.

The FAI has outlawed Competition Class wings in Cat 1 comps
Because Cat 2 comps (like the US Nats) are stages where WPRS and NTSS points are earned in order to qualify for Cat 1 comps, the FAI has "strongly recommended" that all Cat 2s also limit the field to Serial Class wings.
A pilot who qualifies for the World Championship team (Cat 1) using a competition class wing in the US Nats will have to fly a different (Serial Class) wing when competing in the Cat 1 event. This isn't a good measure of the pilot or his 'system' to compete at the worlds.
If the U.S. Nats go counter to the recommendations of the FAI, the liability to the US Nats organizers, USHPA, and any Sponsors who can be shown to benefit from the flying of the event is quite high.
If the organizers decided to make it a "Serial Class Competition" in accordance with the FAI recommendation, many of our top pilots would be competing on unfamiliar wings and/or not competing at all, which would allow points to go to lesser pilots and skew the NTSS for the next worlds in 2013.
This is a decision that puts the meet's fate between a rock and a hard place. I've found that, when in this position, the conservative decision is usually the best one. The negative ramifications of another death or multiple incidents are not good for the sport and could be viewed in hind sight as foolhardy.
Therefore the U.S. Nationals, which are scheduled for July 24th, should be cancelled.

This is not a good outcome. Pilots have made plans, bought tickets, and contracts have been signed by the organizers. But it pales in severity and financial consequence to the impact the FAI decision had on the 120 World's Championship competitors, who had traveled from all over the world. The decision makers need to sit back and consider how hard those decisions were to make - knowing that the world was watching and that there would be a serious backlash of emotions and disagreement. Yet, it was made for the right reasons.

The XC Open Series has now chosen to comply with the FAI recommendation and is only allowing Serial Class competitors.

Admittedly, there may be some unintended consequences following the FAIs ruling. But it's a step in the right direction and I, for one, am glad that they stepped-up and made the tough call. The right thing for the U.S. to do is a "stand-down" for the season and allow the system to reset so that when the team selection is made, 2 years from now, no unfairness can be asserted.

Agree? Disagree? I've never been higher than the top-20 in the NTSS and wasn't planning to go to the nat's this month. And I'm not the smartest guy in the room. I'm open to other viewpoints and will gladly publish those with merit to this site.

Tim

World Championships Cancelled and Comp Gliders Outlawed

2011-07-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

In a dispatch from one of the US Team Pilots:

"The FAI, ... has instituted an immediate ban on competition class paragliders in Cat 1 events, and has strongly recommended that this ban be followed in future Cat 2 events.

Due to this FAI rule making, the organizers have ended the competition. The competition is valid under the rules, and prize giving will be tomorrow afternoon."

And here is the official announcement from the Competition Organization:

As a result of the tragic events in the second task of this FAI event, and after due consideration of all the information available, the CIVL Bureau has decided, under its executive powers, and with the full support of the FAI Executive Board, to suspend the certification of Competition Class Paragliders, with immediate effect. As a result, the organisers have decided that it is not possible to continue with further tasks that meet the aims of World and Continental championships, as set out in the FAI Sporting Code. The two tasks flown to date are both valid under the rules and are therefore sufficient to meet the minimum requirements set out in Section 7B. The 12th FAI World Paragliding Championship is therefore considered to have been validated. The closing ceremony and prize-giving will be held tomorrow, Saturday, 8th July at 1pm in the main square. The CIVL President has thanked the safety working group formed by the pilots and team leaders, for all their work on developing ideas to improve safety. He believes there are some very useful ideas there that we hope the relevant CIVL subcommittees will follow up. The Jury President, Vitor Pinto, and other CIVL Officials present have stated that, the organising team has made every effort to comply with the FAI Sporting Code which covers all aspects of competition rules and safety considerations for FAI 1st Category events. These include the new and complex rules introduced this year for Competition Class paragliders. “We greatly appreciate the excellent work of the organisers and we are all deeply disappointed that, through no fault of the organising team, that this competition has resulted in such a sad outcome, ”Mr Pinto commented. Competition Director, Steve Ham, also announced that the organising team is preparing a bid to run the first FAI World Paragliding XC Championship in Serial Class , here in Piedrahita at this time next year, “The CIVL President has told us that he welcomes the proposed bid and that the CIVL Bureau will be favourably disposed towards it,” he said.

Jose Luis Diaz Iraeta – Event Director Steve Ham – Competition Director

Wow - Seminal moment indeed. I hope this disappointing decision (at the moment) has an overall positive effect on our sport.

Congratulations to the US team for representing the US with skill and professionalism.

Fly Safe -
Tim

Shut Up and FLY

2011-07-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

Those are words that Xavier used, on occasion. Sometimes he was less polite. But he always had an infectuous smile and a good humor. From the look of the social networking sites and the mainstream PG info outlets, Xavier's loss in Peru has stirred a lot of emotions. I only know him from the Chelan PWC, but I had looked forward to attending another competition that he was running. . . This, unfortunately, will not be possible. Xavier's wing has been spotted at around 4800 meters in the Peruvian Andes and his remains will no doubt be recovered soon.

It's been a sad week for our community. In Spain, the loss of life has resulted in two days of down time and the Competition Organizers are working to modify the tasks to minimize pilot exposure to high risk conditions. They are also considering modifying the emphasis on speed and elapsed time in scoring. The hope is that less pilots will use full speed if elapsed time isn't an important factor in scoring.

My reactions to this is (deep sigh) a bit frustrated. But I imagine it is not as much as the frustration of those who worked hard to make the teams and flew across oceans to compete on the world stage - only to have the rules changed and the advantages of the modern wings neutered by the new format and restrictions.

I'm going flying with the NorCal league this weekend. I'm not going to comment on the current state of open class paragliding any more, for now, because I've already gone on record with my opinions. I just hope my friends at the Worlds come home safe.

Tim

2011 FAI PG World Championships - Piedrahita, Spain - No Fly Day

2011-07-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

The mood in Piedrahita is a somber one. At 10AM an open pilot meeting was held with pilots and Team Leaders to discuss their feelings about whether or not this competition should continue after the 2 fatalities and numerous reserve rides yesterday. Conditions during the second task of the competition have been described as "level 1" (no hazards due to wind or turbulence) - in fact, the organizers, in a follow-up message called them "mild." They went on to describe the incidents in a bit more detail -

In the first incident, the pilot was flying low along the ridge. The glider was seen to suffer a frontal collapse, horseshoe and fall in a stable parachutal stall. Close to the ground, the wing spun and the pilot impacted the ground. No reserve parachute was deployed.
In the second incident, the pilot was flying towards goal at altitude. The glider was seen to suffer a frontal collapse, immediately followed by a large cravat and high velocity spin. The reserve parachute was not deployed before the pilot impacted the ground.

The consensus expressed by the teams, even the Chilean and Argentine teams, was to continue to fly the comp. The Competition organizers and FAI officials, although refraining from making their decision until later this evening, must be very concerned that any additional events would be very detrimental to the sport and to the sportsmen and women participants. If a day with benign flying conditions can result in more than 6 situations requiring the use of the reserve parachute, how can the organizers contemplate tasking a day with more challenging weather? It's not an easy situation to evaluate due to the emotions of the moment and the liabilities of a less than conservative decision. Final decision should be made by Thursday noon PST.

In what I view as an interim band aid, there are considerations being made to "throttle back" the speed systems of the 2-liners to minimize the potential of collapse while on speed. Since yesterday's events occurred on more than one brand of wing, the problems appear, at first blush, to be systemic to the 2-liner design - A design that feels rock-solid until the wing goes away, but is unstable and unpredictable during attempts to recover to normal flight. It's been my observation that the pilots, with skills and experience on comp ships of the past, have the 'old-school' mindset that collapses can be flown away from, even at mid to low altitude - the way it was on prior wings. The evidence indicates that present-day 2-liner wings necessitate a willingness - a necessity even - to throw the reserve before the ineffective wrestling match.

Mads Sydergaard's comments are heartfelt and his explanation for leaving the comp but still fly the 2-liners shows the raw dichotomy of the situation. Things WILL change after this - it is a seminal moment. Maybe some good will come from this tragedy.

It's been a very sad week for Paragliding as a sport. Xavier Murillo is still missing in Peru and the loss of life in Spain necessitates consideration of the cancelling the World Championships.

I love this sport. It has allowed my eyes to view panoramas and experience joys that no other activity could. But this is a sad time.

Fly Safe,

2011 FAI PG World Championships - Task 2

2011-07-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

Click for larger graphic

Task Two at the PG World Championships was a 77Km task to Avila. Conditions were forecast to be a bit lower top-of-lift than yesterday. This will come as a relief to those pilots who were buoyed over the 10000' ceiling during yesterday's task and received a "0" score for their efforts.

Here are two graphics showing the airspace issues that the task setters and pilots are working around.

The LIVE LEADER BOARD shows the provisional ranking as scoring is tabulated. Scores for Task 2 will be posted at http://www.piedrahita2011.com/piedrahita2011/taskReports. . .

At this moment (1400 PDT) the Competition website has been taken down. A request to the PG Forum was made to lock the world championship thread. This was done (and has since been relaxed) due to the extremely unfortunate occurrence of two separate accidents (separated by 70K and 2 hours) that resulted in the death of pilots from Argentina and Chile. In a release put out by the Piedrahita Staff they wrote:

2011, Piedrahita

It is with great regret that the organisers have to announce that there were
two serious accidents during the competition task today. The first accident
occurred at approximately 14.00. Argentinian pilot, Francisco Vargas
crashed into the hillside a few kilometres from launch. Emergency services
were called to the site, but the pilot died at the scene.

The second accident occurred at approximately 16.00 in the Avila area.
Chilean pilot Eitel von Muhlenbrock lost control of his paraglider and crashed.
Emergency Services arrived swiftly, but the pilot died from his injuries.

Next of kin of both pilots have been informed.

We do not yet know the cause of either of the accidents, but an investigation
to determine the sequence of events is already underway by the event
organisers, together with Safety representatives of the FAI and the local
police. As soon as we have further information, we will issue another
statement.

There were three further minor incidents today, involving the deployment of
reserve parachutes. All three pilots landed safely and were uninjured.

The organisers wish to extend their deepest sympathies to the families and
friends of both Francisco Vargas and Eitel von Muhlenbrock.

Jose Luiz – Event Director
Steve Ham – Competition Director

My heart goes out to those who are left behind by these great pilots. Tomorrow will surely be a day of mourning on the hill in Piedrahita.

Rumor has it that there may have been many more than the "three" reserves thrown in what the Piedrahita note called "minor incidents" today. This will undoubtedly rekindle the simmering debate about 2-liner wings that are rock-solid until they stop flying, but become unrecoverable. This necessitates the use of the reserve which is a "last-chance" option. If the rumored number of reserves were actually used during today's task, it would indicate that we had about a 5-7% usage of this last chance option, on this day alone. No details about the accidents/incidents today are available, and it would be irresponsible to speculate on the causes at this time.

Provisional results indicate Josh Cohn was the top US pilot at 13th, and Jack Brown was next at 41st. Brad was 58th. Melanie landed at 34K for 12th in the women's class.

Fly Safe -

Tim

2011 FAI PG World Championships - Task 1

2011-07-05T22:53:00.000-07:00

It sounds like the first task was a doozy - 153Km! The conditions provided for some fast XC with final glides over 110KPH and average speeds over 45 KPH. Airspace bit more than 30 pilots who either clipped some of the airspace protecting arrival and departure paths to airports, or exceeded the 3048M ceiling.

Josh Cohn tied for third place (and racked up the highest leading points for the day) while Brad Gunnuscio scored 902 points for 28th place. Jack and Melanie had disappointing flights, landing before goal.

Read the play-by-play at http://usaparagliding.blogspot.com/

Scores are at:
Day 1 Task Provisional Results

I'm looking forward to some great flying by the US team - they are in 3rd place.

Tim

Xavier Murillo still missing in the Andes

2011-07-05T16:08:00.000-07:00


Click on image to go to Donation site.

For those who know Xavier, there is no hesitation to get involved in his SAR effort. His personality and character have an infectious knack of making PWC events more fun than they would otherwise be. His antics at pilot meetings, punctuated with bawdy T-shirts, attract the attention of distracted pilots and there is no doubt who is running the show. A PWC event just isn't the same if Xavier isn't there.

On July 1st he flew at Caraz in Peru and was last seen near cloudbase. No one has heard from him since and aerial searches are ongoing. Cash rules in South America and the French embassy has been forthcoming in the initial efforts, but a fund is now being used to collect monies to apply to Xavier's Search and Rescue costs.

Please consider that it's been 5 days now, with no sign. We need to find Xavier soon. You can contribute on this page: http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/node/1974

Best of luck to him.

Tim

Practice Day in Piedrahita

2011-07-04T15:51:00.000-07:00

Brad Gunniuscio has passed along this bit of video. You can see the terrain and conditions are looking excellent for the first week of the comp.

2011 FAI PG World Championships - Piedrahita, Spain

2011-07-01T17:27:00.000-07:00

The 12th Paragliding World Championships begin on Tuesday the 5th of July in Piedrahita Spain. The weather forecasts look good and you can expect some long tasks. 147 pilots from all over the world are registered. For those who are keeping track, the newest 2-liner offerings will be well represented. In an obvious display that Ozone is producing the most well rounded competition wing, there are 71 Ozone Mantras (9 R10s and 62 R11s) registered. In addition there are 24 Gin Boomerang 8s - 10 Niviuk Icepeak 5s - 7 SOL Tracer TR2s - 5 Axis Mercurys - 3 UP Edge XRs and a hand full of Serial Class wings like my Gradient Avax XC3 (3).

The U.S. Worlds Team consists of Team Leaders Jeff Huey and Rob Sporrer

Our Team Pilots are Brad Gunnuscio, Josh Cohn, Jack Brown, and Melanie Pfister

Good luck guys! Fly hard & fly safe -

The U.S. Team Blog can be viewed at http://usaparagliding.blogspot.com/

You can still donate to the team at http://www.usparaglidingteam.org/donate.html

You can keep an eye on the proceedings using the links below. Thanks to Tom Payne for making these links readily available.

Official sites
Home page
Live tracking
Pilot list

Blogs
in English: Steve Ham (Organisation) : Team Australia : Jack Brown (USA) : Andre Rainsford (RSA) : Mads Syndergaard (DEN) / Bob Drury (XC Mag) Brett Hazlett (CAN)
in French: Elisa Houdry (FRA) : Charles Cazaux (FRA) : Jean-Marc Caron (FRA)
in German: German Team : Swiss Team
in Spanish: Raul Penso (VEN)

Rat Race Awards

2011-07-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

Mike and Gail Haley with Roger Brock

The last Rat Race task was a great day of flying and I think all who flew this week were treated to some great weather and great tasks.
Here are some podium shots, generously passed along to me by Andrew Zoechbauer http://foxyvoxel.com/ratrace .

Congratulations to all who hit the podium, especially to Nick Greece who got dunked.

If you haven't donated to the US Paragliding World Team please consider doing so now! The World Championships begin next week and our team needs your support! To donate to the US World Team Fund please visit http://usparaglidingteam.org/

Tim

Jeff Huey- World Team Leader

All Winners

Women's RR Winners

RR Open Class Winners

RR Serial Class Winners

RR Sport Class Winners

Sportsmanship Award to Luke Boscovitch

Sprint Women Winners

Sprint Open Class Winners

Sprint Sport Class Winners

2011 Rat Race - Day 7 - Final Task

2011-06-26T23:39:00.000-07:00

Today was a day similar to yesterday. The Rat treated us well and the valley winds didn't kick in until shortly before most made it to goal. The Rat Race had just less than 30 pilots into goal at Longsword Winery. The Rat Race task was from Burnt Ridge to Prospect Ridge to Burnt to John's Peak the back into the valley to Longsword Winery - about 73km.

Race Task

I launched as soon as the window opened and had an easy climb over Woodrat Peak and made the early transition to Burnt to scope out the lift in the area of the start cylinder. Soon the air got crowded over Burnt as we mapped out the convergence for the start. About 10 minutes before the start I blundered away from the rather fragmented gaggles just long enough to find a massive sinkhole and put myself in a low position during an obvious down cycle. Many good pilots were struggling to stay in the air. I found myself a bubble at about 200' below mid launch and worked it patiently until it bloomed into a 450'/min. elevator back into the start gaggle. I was very fortunate to make a reasonably decent start into Rabies for the leg to Prospect Peak. The thermals were good sized and strong as we proceeded North. I had vowed to get to goal today so my progress was deliberate and I remained high for the most part. For those who were high the lifty lines were easy to see while watching the pilots ahead and below.

Sprint Task

The high cirrus clouds that had been approaching from the North West shaded the Prospect Peak area as I approached so it was very important to take a good climb before heading out to tag the cylinder and allow for the return to the ridge. At this point I joined Jug and Szilard and we worked together. Soon small areas of sun appeared on the terrain and we found booming climbs that made the return leg to Rabies fairly quick.

The leg from Burnt to John's Pk. was a slow tip-toe until we found a nice climb with a helpful hawk that calmly showed us the best core. I headed into the turnpoint at John's and returned the 3km. to find the same climb. When I got to the area of the climb the same hawk was still orbiting to show us the climb.

After that climb I rolled out with a 6:1 glide to goal and saw Jug and Szilard below and slightly ahead so I pushed full bar and chose a very lifty line to get to goal. Every core I flew through gave me a lift, even while holding full bar, and I was getting around 10:1 glide. I had such a lifty line that I was at least 2000' too high at the end of speed section. I placed 15th (tied with Szilard because he beat me by 8 seconds, but I had more leading points) and this was my best showing of the week.

The day was won by Nate Scales, followed closely by Josh Cohn, Matt Beechinor, Matt Senior and Nick Greece.
The Rat Race had 26 in goal and the Sprint race had 42 in goal today - Many happy pilots at the Longsword Winery!

Rat Race Scores can be found at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRace.html

Sprint Scores can be found at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRaceSprint.html

I just got in, after a 10 hour drive so that's it for now. Here's a great video of the Rat Race this year.

Below is a photo of the festivities at RRHQ just prior to the awards ceremony.

2011 Rat Race - Day 6 - Task 6

2011-06-25T08:15:00.000-07:00

The weather in Ruch is treating us well this week. Today was fun. The task was well built for the conditions and the pacing of the day. I didn't get a useable photo of the task board but the task was:

Exit start from Burnt
Bald Mtn.
Burnt
John's Pk
Jacksonville
Donato - Total distance 65km

I had a very good start and the first leg to Bald was lots of fun with some ballistic climbs and nice lines along the convergence. Those who mapped out the best lines had significantly better transitions than those who allowed themselves to get low in the cascading backside of the convergent shear.

I was running well, watching Jimmy and Hayden duke it out for the Serial Class title. My climbs were good and made fast time until I got to Burnt. At this point I lost Hayden and Jimmy and had to change gears for the transition to John's. The Jacksonville area and Medford Valley were producing thermals, but they were more fragmented and much weaker than those we'd flown in for the first two legs of the flight. I felt that I had set an appropriate pace for the conditions, but left one very unproductive bit of lift to search for better - only to watch in vain as the glider in the bit-o-lift started to climb well, behind me. I tried to return to the climb but the bubble wasn't found and I was soon setting up to land 8km from goal.

Some of the R-11/R10/Boom8/UP Edge armada rolled into John's with sufficient altitude to make a balsy glide to goal and squeak over/around the hill just prior to Donato's field.

Today's Top- 5

Josh Cohn
Nick Greece
Nate Scales
Farmer
Eric Reed

The photo is at Donato's LZ. 33 pilots made goal today. It's Saturday morning now, and the day looks similar to Friday, so I'm looking forward to a great final task.

Results are at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRace.html

Tim

2011 Rat Race - Day 5 - Task 5

2011-06-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

The skies were overcast, the hills were obscured, and the temperatures were chilly when we awoke this morning. All the forecasts were indicating an improvement could be expected so the collective headed up the hill. As forecast the day was a good Woodrat day with convergences to be exploited and winds to contend with.

The task committee called an task that had the race group start at Mt. Isabella and then to just past Squires to Burnt - repeat. . . 4 times. The sprint group also did some similar laps. The task made for some amazing views to the spectators at Longsword Winery which served as goal for both races. I had a good start, getting high above Rabies Pk. and making the first turnpoint at Buncom in good time. The rest of the flight was enjoyable, but uninteresting because I took myself out of the race to fly without the distraction and hazards of flying with the extremely packed gaggles in the valley. The pilots that flew the course had good flights and some very exciting racing.

One of the great features of the Rat Race is the generous mentoring going on during the days and evenings. Nick Greece held daily impromptu Q&A sessions on the hill and the group grew from 6-8 a few days ago to 20-30 today. Shown is Eric Reed offering some hints.


Volunteer appreciation

Another amazing feature of the Rat Race is the number of helpful volunteers at the race. Without these folks the race just wouldn't work.

I found a glass of wine and a good seat at Longsword for the race finish and watched as Dean Stratton won the day followed by Josh Cohn, Matt (farmer) Beechinor, Nick Greece, and Nate Scales.

A live news feed on Channel 10 in Medford for the 6PM news was broadcast from the launch and is available at http://www.ktvl.com/

Results are at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRace.html

Tim

2011 Rat Race - Day 4 - Task 4

2011-06-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

Today looked like another good day at Woodrat Mountain. The forecast for the day indicated that lift would be to 6000’ and winds wouldn’t be too much of a factor until late in the afternoon. The task committee went with a suggestion that a “do-over” was a good idea. The task was yesterday’s task modified to include Grant’s Peak, then to Williams Overlook, to Donato (South in the Medford Valley).

I launched shortly after the launch window opened and climbed up above Woodrat Peak to the inversion, which was fairly low. It was also obvious that there was considerably more wind than on previous days and than forecast. The progression across the valley to the start cylinder at Rabies Ridge was not a simple one climb transition for many, since the headwinds were strong and the climbs were low. I managed to cross with a few friends and we soon found a nice thermal - nice, only because it was better than the alternative. The truth is that the climbs today were weird, one-sided, meandering, shards of lift punctuated with areas that can only be described as ‘holes’ where the wing wasn’t really flying but rather, quivering and hovering in the white-water like conditions.

Once the start-time arrived, it was on to Billys to work our way to Grant’s Peak as we did yesterday. The into the wind performance of the 2011 2-liners is amazing. I’ve not seen a time when the performance of the latest comp ships was so noticeable when compared to last year’s model or the latest hot Serial Class wings. What this meant today was that a few of the 2-liners were able to make a transition past Humbug canyon that the rest of us found to be quite a slug-fest.

In this part of Oregon the afternoon winds arrive like a swift moving tide - sliding down the valleys rapidly and relentlessly. At the Humbug area we hit the wall of wind that turned the thermals into nasty rides that you hesitated to turn in. But turn we did. Over and over we tried to climb through the inversion. At the top-of-climb I’d try to penetrate forward, towards goal, only to take a necessary climb and frisbee back to the same position and altitude. I was at 8.4 miles from Grant’s Pk. at least 4 times with very little progress. It was pretty obvious that the winds were getting stronger than one should sensibly fly in, so I headed to the main valley and the road. I wasn’t alone - many pilots also chose to land before the option of landing carried more risk than acceptable. There were 8 of us in the same big field and after roughly 1:30 in the air we had only flown about 15 Km. Shortly after I landed the Task was “stopped” which allows the scored to be based on progress to the point

The task winners got 98 points - those of us who flew and fought the fight to Humbug only to decide to land in the valley next to the Applegate Store got 55 points. The Sprint race was cancelled before the start.
Results are at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRace.html

It's cloudy this morning (thursday) but forecasts indicate that it may be a day.

Tim

2011 Rat Race - Day 3 - Task 3

2011-06-22T09:22:00.000-07:00

Today's task was a great use of the day - Conditions improved as we headed North to Grants Peak allowing climbs to 6500-7000'. The lead gaggle was playing it cagey - conservatively working towards Grants Pk. at a pace that allowed me to make up for my 8 minute late start. I joined a couple perfect thermals that put me into Grants in touch with the lead gaggle.

After Grants Pk the leg to Wellington Overlook was the crux for most of us. The lead gaggle headed across to Prospect Peak with dismal results. They were just far enough ahead that I and a few friends bent South and slid into the Williams valley with few options. We all eventually landed in the valley, at 30-35 Km. Those who stuck to the high ground on the East side of the valley, or even headed directly to the Wel-ol turnpoint had better success.

The top 10 included at least 6 Serial class wings because the line the lead gaggle took was much slower. Congrats to Peter Warren for winning the task on his Ozone Mantra M4!

The China Gulch field that I landed in yesterday had three wings in it today. It was confirmed to be a tight fit, but all pulled it off. We had one injury that involved a tree landing somewhere on the Rabies Ridge.

Running short on time this morning so that's it for now. It looks like a nice day again so we are heading up the hill.

Results are at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRace.html
Tim

2011 Rat Race - Day 2 - Task 2

2011-06-21T07:32:00.000-07:00

Today’s Rat Race task was a 62Km task with 2 crossings of the Ruch valley and then a beat upwind to John’s Peak (North of Jacksonville) then a downwind leg to Immigrant Lake via Donato. A restriction of 6000’ in the area of the Medford final approach corridor.

Many of us got into the cue early and got up at Woodrat Peak and were bouncing off a rather snotty inversion at 5200’. Rather than bounce around at the top-of-lift and wait for another 50 wings to form under us, a group headed across the valley to the start cylinder at Rabies Peak. We had 45 minutes or so to kill so pre-positioning seemed like a smart move. The conditions, upon arrival at Rabies Ridge were dismal. I found myself low on the ridge and fought for 15 minutes as I slowly worked my way down to a height that required an approach to landing.

Here’s the short list of absolutely stupid things I did and how I feel my decisions should have been changed.

I tried to make an early transition while flying with R11s. They will always have more time and options upon arrival at the ridge.

Try to make tricky transitions with wings that have similar performance, so you have friends at your altitude.

I put myself in a committed position that slowly (insidiously) put me on the leeward side of the ridge, with limited landing options and dismal flying conditions.

I had never been low in this area (China Gulch) before, and really didn’t want to be there - but I put myself there. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb.

Once it became obvious that I was loosing ground (altitude) and facing a glide into a shallow ‘gulch’ with a couple of useable LZs, I allowed myself to fight until only one, marginal LZ remained available to me. As I got closer to landing, it was obvious that the LZ was short, downhill, had wires at the end. None of these things were unknown to me, but the combination was much tighter than I expected. The approach was over trees and very critical - overshooting wasn’t and option.

In retrospect, this LZ was unusable. The consequences of a low hit, a pop of lift, or any rotor, while maneuvering as close to the obstacles and stall point were not pretty.

Once the ‘gravity’ of the situation was fully realized (what had I been thinking?) I managed to fly around one oak tree, through a narrow gap (not a wingspan wide) and then used the ‘butterfly’ method to make the wing draggy enough to get down in the remaining *downhill* field. Fortunately I know this wing (Avax XC3) well, it’s an honest wing that allows tickling the edge of stall.

If this plan hadn’t got well - The options were a tree, wires, or parachutage from 15 feet. Fortunately everything went well and I walked away with an intact body and kit.

Shortly after moving my gear to the shade of a tree the landowner, Judy, came by and offered a ride. I hopped in her car and she told me I was always welcome to land in her field. I responded, “Judy, there is no way I’ll EVER land in that field again, but thanks much.”

Meanwhile, those that made the start, were working their way to John’s Peak and found that the entire complexion of the air had changed in the Medford Valley. All dirted on the way to Immigrant Lake. No one made goal today.

There were some fun stories told around the HQ this evening. A couple of the top pilots had incorrect radii on the Rabies Pk. Another forgot to tag Woodra before heading to John’s Peak. And another had to go back to tag the missed Donato point.

I got minimum distance (I believe this is a first for me) and decided that I would reflect on my mistakes rather than rush up the hill to relaunch among the sprint crowd. I had made enough mistakes for the day -

Winner for the day was Nick Greece, who made it 50Km. 2nd was Farmer, 3rd was Nate Scales, 4th Hayden Glatte on a Serial GTO, 5th was Josh Cohn. No one made goal in the Rat Race task.

Results are at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRace.html

The Sprint race was a 27 Km task that stayed close to Woodrat and ended at the same goal field as yesterday.

It's a new day and I'm looking forward to flying again -

Tim

2011 Rar Race - Day 1 - Task 1

2011-06-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

The weather improved today and it was a fun day of flying. Classic Woodrat convergence and occasional snotty air, but the afternoon valley winds that everyone was waiting for, never materialized.

This year the Rat Race has two races running concurrently - The SPRINT race and the RAT RACE. The SPRINT task was 19K and the Rat Race was 59K. I am flying the longer tasks. The start cylinder was across the valley and an early start was important. The launch cue was very slow for quite a while and I got a late launch and paid for it with a start at least 10-15 minutes behind the lead gaggle. No worries - Lots of company. The first 30km of the flight went well and I was able to make up a bit of time without getting myself into a hole or too alone. The lift was dependable and strong with the occasional slapping around in the convergence.

After crossing back from Woodrat Mtn. to Rabies for the last push into Sugarloaf Mtn. I was hoping that I was early enough to avoid the strong North or West that had a chance of developing. No strong winds were encountered, but there were some seriously sinking areas the went of for an eternity. Sink of 2000 to 2400'/min. were not uncommon and put me in the position of not wanting to push bar because the wing was fluttering in the trash, but needing to push it just to escape the sink.

I came across the valley on a direct line to goal 12 miles away, and I had some company. We all had plans that varied enough that we got a good sampling of the air, but unfortunately none of us were finding lift. On the West side of the valley I found some minor lift while surfing closer to the trees that I like and ended in the flats at the mouth of the final valley to goal. I joined Hayden and we worked slowly towards goal - he with about 400' more to work with. I eventually needed to cross one finger while I had the altitude to make it and Hayden was able to contact a nice climb, behind me, just after I left him. He made it to goal. I made it to goal, but it was the SPRINT race goal - 5 miles short of my intended destination. At least there was beer at my LZ ;-)

I placed 22nd overall and 9th in Serial class. Not a great start but I'm having fun. Monday looks good, so we can expect another good one. Results are online at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRace.html - here's the top 5:

Farmer
Kansas
Eric Reed
Nick Greece
Josh Cohn

More later -
Tim

Exhibit A

2011-06-04T16:55:00.000-07:00

For many who view paragliders, they seem like big, slow jellyfish - unable to do precise and exciting things. But for those who have the skills and cajones to do acro, these little buggers can do a lot.

Exhibit A -

Showtime from francois ragoski on Vimeo.

Fly Safe -

Tim

Good flying going on in Dunlap -

2011-05-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

A number of NorCal folks headed to Dunlap this weekend and conditions were reasonably good compared to Woodrat, OR and here on the coast, where the winds were howling. I was unable to get to Dunlap due to work commitments.

On Saturday Josh Cohn, on his new Ozone R11, flew South well beyond the distance anyone prior had flown - almost to Bakersfield.

Monday, a day with only 4000-5000' top of lift in the valley, was the day everyone was heading back to the Bay Area after flying.

Josh decided to fly. He launched around 11AM and flew for almost 7 hours and covered around 85 miles.

Two great flights - setting site records. Nice flying Josh! His Track on Leonardo can be viewed here: http://paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/458312

The California distance record is held by Dean Stratton - 147 miles from Walt's Point in the Owens, North into Nevada.

Tim

PWC Korea

2011-05-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

Big Congratulations go out to Jack Brown, who won the PWC last week in Korea. His consistency allowed him to top the results in the two-task event.

Jack has really put a lot of effort and time into his flying in the last two years and the results speak for themselves. Jack(USA #3) joins USA #1 Brad Gunnuscio, #2 Josh Cohn, and U.S. Female pilot Melanie Pfister to make up the US World Team. Unfortunately #4 Nick Greece, won't make it since only 3 + 1 spots were available this year.

The above was edited after the straight scoop was provided by Nick Greece

Here's a great video about the Korean PWC event -

To donate to the US World Team Fund please visit http://usparaglidingteam.org/

Here's another great video showing the views and experience of high-performance paragliding -

Vol test Cam Annecy avril from Jean-Mi ARA on Vimeo.

Fly Safe -
Tim

Serial v. Open Class Revisited

2011-05-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

The annual discussion flurry about "Serial V. Open Class Competitions" has flared up this month. . . The ignition point was a letter of resignation from Mark Hayman to Brit team leader Kitt Rudd. In it Mark criticized CIVL for making banal rule changes that essentially did little to improve safety.

Mark writes: “I know, living in the real world, that every time I attach an uncertified two-line glider to my body I am increasing my risk substantially of having an accident over flying a certified wing.”

Mark was participating in Valle de Bravo in 2009 when he watched Stefan Schmoker wrestle with a low collapse and make a fatal impact. Mark also had a brush with mortality when he had a major event on his R10.2 that included lines wrapping around his neck as he descended under his reserve.

His message has been loud and clear. . . and, as many times happens when one raises the flag of caution, his message seems at times, to be somewhat overstated - Perhaps so his voice is heard by the resistant masses of enthusiastic pilots who enjoy the sport as it is.

R10.2 line plan

Marks' main point seems to be that the new crop of 2-liner wings are being accepted by CIVL, and being flown by every wanna-be comp pilot, with only a superficial examination of the flying characteristics of these wings. The prevailing views seem to be that the current crop of 2-liners (essentially a row of A-lines at approximately 25-30% chord - and B-lines at 60% chord) are very collapse resistant when flown well. The problems become apparent after the wing goes away - the recovery characteristics are just plain bad. Where as an EN-D (certified) glider is required to recover with proper pilot input, the 'open-class' uncertified wings aren't required to demonstrate recovery. It's not uncommon to hear of 2000'+ cascades before the wing recovers or the excitement is terminated in a reserve toss. Mark is simply asking, as am I, IS THIS REALLY THE KIND OF AIRCRAFT BEHAVIOR THAT WE WANT TO PROMOTE?

I've been flying a long time. I've flown all kinds of aircraft. But I've always known that if the aircraft departed from "normal flight attitudes" that I could recover without the need to bail-out. Even the homebuilts - the early fiberglass competition sailplanes that had marginal stability - the 2nd generation swept-wing jets that required 'skills' - they all displayed a required, predictable level of safety and handling. Mark's primary message is that this is not the case when flying the open-class wings of the last 2 years.

The argument to Mark's point, is that the "good" pilots have no problem on the new wings. I agree that with the right set of skill, judgment, and luck a good pilot can successfully fly the new wings without incident. But is that a healthy attitude when considering the sport as a whole? Let's look at US pylon racing in the 1930s - Speed and performance ruled - The good pilots lived the longest, but even they couldn't fly aircraft that had negative stability and couldn't survive minor equipment failures without fatal consequences. To compete with the fastest "good" pilots, many other pilots flew similar *dangerous* aircraft and died trying. Was that the fault of the pilots, or the system that allowed dangerous machines in the air and required others to compete on that "level" playing field?

Pylon races, in spite of their popularity, didn't survive the carnage of 1933 - 1940 and the interuption of a couple of world wars. Now the few races that are staged in the US are very highly regulated and safety is highly regarded.

So the question becomes one of scale and philosophy. How many accidents/incidents are to occur before Mark's cautionary message becomes valid? In my case, he's preaching to the choir.

In a parallel logic path, the DHV in Germany is making some important moves that may get the parade moving in the right direction. Jorge Ewald translates -

From a post on the German Forum by Ulrich Prinz:

* DHV recognizes the harmonic community of Serial and Open Class pilots in Germany as a good model that may be applicable for FAI-1 events as well: Introduce a Serial class in parallel, crown a Serial Class World Champion. This would prevent pilots from lower qualification countries from giving in to the temptation to fly in the Open class, just to remain competitive. Hence the DHV will now work on the international level to introduce the Serial Class in parallel, rather than to get rid of the Open class. [which is a complete paradigm change, as far as I can see. Great, Mark Hayman - given he stays away from bikes and stairwells long enough to heal - may have a glorious come-back. Mads and other PWC old-timers may feel like after an involuntary ride in a De Lorean, though...]

* DHV (especially Charlie Jöst, their president) will task the DHV technical department with finding new test criteria for competition wings (in collaboration with the other testing houses). This because it is now understood that today's testing criteria are not applicable to competition wings, which were built for actively piloting pilots

It's great to see a European entity, with an official acronym, working in a reasonable fashion to actually make some positive changes in the way Serial class is viewed. Stay Tuned!

Tim

News Item Oddities

2011-04-27T17:40:00.000-07:00

I must admit, I'm a bit biased against Powered Paraglider pilots. . . Most of the ones I've met have been, well, a bit, um . . . odd. They are the recumbent bike riders of paragliding. A few of them have insisted on the title, "Captain" or "Super-(insert-name)" and generally, they have not impressed me with their flying judgement nor people skills. But that bias aside, I'm betting you'll wonder what this guy was thinking - especially his choice of flying attire.

From the Buenos Aires Herald:

A man was arrested in Puerto Madero this morning, after having managed to paraglide around the city centre for a number of minutes, attracting the attention those pacing the streets, Naval Command officials reported (PNA).
A spokesman for the PNA said that “around 9AM this morning a man landed after paragliding and was swiftly arrested by PNA agents.”
“The paraglider managed to fly for a fair few minutes around the centre of Buenos Aires, including over 9 de Julio avenue, Teatro Colón, San Telmo and finally landing in Puerto Madero,” the source added.
Hernán Pitocco, the sportsman in question, said in an interview that he took off from Venezuela and Belgrano streets where there is a little park. He mentioned that the “glider isn’t regulated,” and furthered that, “at no point was I endangering the lives of others.”

I've spent quite a bit of time walking the Avenues of BA and wonder what this guy was thinking. There is very little open space in that city and LOTS of wires, but he managed to find a way to get in the air and back down. Maybe he's a dapper lawyer whose car wouldn't start that morning, so he decided to take the ole' Powered PG to work.

One of the few open areas in the city.

Apparently Hernan is a skilled acro pilot who was participating in some kind of Red Bull 'event' over the city. Here is some video of his short flight - I think I can see why the authorities were concerned. No matter how you present it, this isn't good for our sport. The problem with PPG is that they can exhibit their stupidities over large metro areas, over crowded beaches, or over events, souring the taste of the sport to many, in one flight.

Here's a video of his takeoff: According to Ad Age, Red Bull was filming an ad where a businessman was stuck in traffic and decided to fly above the traffic - after all, "Red Bull Gives You Wings."
Bad use of judgement by the Red Bull Producers in my opinion. How do you feel about this abuse of the "publicity machine"?
Y'all fly safe out there.
Tim

NorCal XC League - Dunlap - April 2011

2011-04-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

In his new book on XC competition flying, “Flying Rags to Glory,” Mads Syndergaard writes extensively about the subconscious and its ability to process more information and react many times faster than the conscious mind. This weekend, at the first gathering of the NorCal XC League in Dunlap, CA, I tried my best to use the principles mentioned in the article, with some success. I also proved that there is a bone-headed, impetuous, 25-yr-old lurking inside this brain that I need to get the reins on.

Waiting for a cycle at launch - Photo by Bad Patrick

Saturday we assembled on launch and Jug lead an informative pilot briefing. Over 30 pilots from All over California, Colorado, and more than a handful of foreign pilots were in attendance. Notably missing was Eric Reed who had made an epic vol bivuac journey through the entire length of Nepal and was finally released from a month of house arrest in Sikkim, India, this weekend, after all charges regarding “permits” were dismissed.

Cloudbase was 1000‘ above launch, so Jug built a short task that kept the pilots within the Dunlap valley and had 3 valley crossings. I launched early and explored the area while feeling out any conditions that might be hazardous. It was a buoyant day with slow climbs but dependable lift. The start went well and I made it to Hill 49917 and Last Chance in the lead gaggle. I got a bit low at last chance before finding lift and I watched Josh and his armada of GTOs heading back to the ridge to tank-up before the crossing to Granny’s Knob.

Note the hard right turn to "Damn Kitty"

As I climbed to near cloudbase, I caught a glimpse of a bird circling in lift West of my position (on a direct line to Granny’s) and decided to head directly to Granny’s. I had company as Natalia, Max and I headed out on a low-percentage glide on course. Our move paid off as we contacted some nice lift near Granny’s and we tagged the fix and glided across the valley to the ridge at launch, before the other gaggle had headed out for Granny’s. When we climbed up at the ridge I was feeling pretty good and was contemplating the best route at the next crux in the route - the glide to Airstrip. . . but I had completely forgotten about the need to tag Big Cat on the way to Airstrip. I rolled out and pushed some bar, drank my water and futzed around to get a granola bar out of my pocket, when I noticed my 5020 pointing 90 degrees to the right of my heading - “OH Fudge!” - I had spaced on Big Cat. This blunder cost me dearly and was the beginning of the end for me. I tagged the (now renamed) Damn Kitty turnpoint and, instead of taking a deep breath and reminding myself to reassess my situation, turned to cross the valley to Airstrip. This move was my undoing as I arrived with very little altitude at Granny’s with which to find a thermal. I was low, alone, and whether I was leading or not, I was in terrible shape. The flight was extended with short, trashy, drifty climbs, but soon ended in the valley with two turnpoints to go.

I should not have let this blunder cost me as much as it eventually did. I should have taken a cleansing breath, marveled at the beauty of nature, and taken the time necessary to climb on the ridge and make a sensible crossing. I also had completely missed the cues that the day had matured and the winds had picked-up from the West.

Note to self - When you screw-up, reassess and recover intelligently.

Three pilots made it to goal and deserve congrats for using the day well. Results for day one are HERE.

A view of launch on Saturday morning.

On Sunday the early cloudbase was lower and we considered doing the same task as Saturday’s. A ‘do-over’ was popular last year since it allowed those of us who had mental lapses to refly the same task. As the sun warmed the valley, cloudbase rose substantially and we decided a task similar to the first 3 waypoints on Sat with a run down to Sand Creek and back to the pizza place in Squaw Valley was doable. I launched early and found the lift to be very weak and sporadic. I eventually found some lift on the correct edge of the start cylinder about 5 min. before the start. The climb took me away from the cylinder and when the start time came I was forced to penetrate back to the start against the traffic of, what seemed like 25 wings, all passing me on their way to the first turnpoint.

I made the start cylinder and caught a good climb which allowed me to get back into the hunt. By the time I had hit the first two turnpoints I was running just behind Josh and was feeling good. The crossing from Granny’s to Big Cat (Damn Kitty) went very badly for me and I spent the last 35 minutes of my flight trying to put together a decent climb on the ridge behind Damn Kitty. I eventually landed at the St. Nicolas ranch in defeat.

Meanwhile Jug and Alex were the only two pilots to get beyond the ranger station and they eventually landed in the Sand Creek area. Josh landed at the Ranger Station, no doubt in disgust that I had blown it so bad in the crossing ;-)

Congrats to Jug and Alex for the best flights of the day! Sunday's results are HERE.

It was a great weekend with many pilots in the air and many first-timers. There was very little drama and no incidents.

My personal struggle to fly well but not take stupid, low-percentage risks will be foremost on my mind next month. I need to take Mads’ advice and listen to my subconscious (The Force, if you will) but temper the crazy 25-yr.-old that wants to dash around the course without the intelligence to fly with my buddies and not venture out on my own early in the task. I need to mature as a XC pilot. When I was a kid I wanted to be a pilot when I grew up. Since then I've heard it said that, “You can either be a pilot OR grow up . . . but not both.”

Well, I’m going to try.

Fly Safe -

Tim

Himalayan Odyssey 2011 - Update - Free!

2011-04-17T21:49:00.000-07:00

Good news from Eric's Facebook post -

Himalayan Odyssey - Update

2011-04-15T06:46:00.000-07:00

A recent dispatch from Antoine Laurens indicates things are going well for the guys. He writes:

The other day , i had a call with Brad….
First of all, they are fine, and they are expecting out of Sikkim very soon…Maybe , he will be able to make it at the Ghana Festival.
Brad and Eric were participating at a flying festival, organised by local Sikkim pilots, and I supposed, they were a bit the “stars”. They really enjoyed, as many pilots came, especially from Nepal for the venue.
So, everything is going well, and it s again only a timing question…
their case are in the hands of Politics…Mainly, their relation with Sikkim police is very good and they are treated like special guests.
wish you good luck guys and hopefully, you ll make it out soon.

Good Luck Brad and Eric!
Tim

Cuesta Flight 4/8/11

2011-04-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

Driving past Cayucos at 11 am

The XC Skies forecast models all said Friday might be sporty so I headed up to Cuesta for some rodeo action. On the way to the mountain I snapped a couple of shots along the coast.

The development was already fairly active by 10:30 so I knew it wasn't a question IF it would overdevelop, but WHEN.

Ready for aviation on launch at Cuesta

The conditions at the hill were looking good, with nice strong cycles blowing up launch, but cloudbase was only about 1500' over launch. The clouds in the gap across the grade were even lower. I talked myself into thinking the base would go up when the temps increased and proceeded to set up my gear. Today I used all the goodies - hand warmers, good gloves, balaclava, and I was still cold.

The flight wasn't spectacular but it was quite interesting as I negotiated my way along course (up wind since that route was clearer) around and often through graupel.

Some might say that today would have been a good day to stay on the hill - If my timing hadn't been what it was, I might agree, but today was all about timing. I was there early enough to get in the air before life got complicated with dark cells over the launch. I also was in the air before it got gusty on the ridge. Visibility was good and the big clouds weren't an issue until later in the flight, when I flew into a large bit of precipitation that covered me and my gear with graupel. Other than that bit-o-fun the flight was enjoyable and interesting.

Today was my first experiment with my Helmet Hero HD camera and the imovie software that came with my new Apple MacBook Pro. I hope you enjoy the bit of perspective that a half mile of altitude and very little protection from the elements can provide. The 90 minute flight has been trimmed to a little less than 11 minutes.

Cuesta flight from Tim O'Neill on Vimeo.
A chilly flight with some overdevelopment and precip. It was more fun than it looks!

EDIT - Here's my flight track - http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/430033

Tim

2011 U.S. Paragliding Team Fund-Raising

2011-04-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Paragliding Team Inc. is a non-profit corp. set up to help subsidize the expenses of our U.S. PG team. They have made it easy to make tax-deductible donations to the team and the fund raising has begun.

The team consists of Brad Gunnuscio, Josh Cohn, Jack Brown, Nick Greece, and Meredyth Molocsay. Team Leader is Rob Sporrer assisted by Jeff Huey. Our standing in the international stage has been improving over the last few years and these pilots are the standouts in US Paragliding and responsible for much of the improvements in our US ranking.

If each of us threw $20 in the pot it would take a large bite out of the costs and overhead incurred by the team as it attends competitions in Spain this Summer. To make a tax-deductible donation go to www.usparaglidingteam.org and click the 'donate' link.

Fly Safe -
Tim

Himalayan Odyssey 2011 - Update - Not so bad . . .

2011-03-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

Killing time in Sikkim. Photo from Eric's Facebook post.

The latest news out of Sikkim is good, relatively. The guys are comfortably under house arrest. They have been ensnared in a kind of "catch 22" bit of red tape, but they are optimistic about the final outcome.

For a complete update see this XC article with the latest info. It clears up the timeline and shows the complete lack of intent by these two pilots to flaunt the laws of the area. http://www.xcmag.com/2011/03/himalayan-odyssey-pair-bailed/.

And here is the latest from the HO team blog - http://himalayanodyssey.org/blog/?p=569

Tim

Himalayan Odyssey 2011 - Update - Arrested ?!

2011-03-17T21:21:00.000-07:00

The news out of India is a bit disturbing. According to the Telegraph, out of Calcutta, Eric and Brad have been arrested in the small, land-locked, Indian state of Sikkim. According to the article in the Telegraph, the guys, "were arrested yesterday in Sikkim for travelling to the strategic border state without the inner-line permits mandatory for foreigners. The two had valid passports and visas for entering India. Preliminary reports suggest they flew in without the permits because of a misunderstanding."

With officiousness, that is endemic in India, "The foreigners were found roaming in a bazaar in Uttarey, a town in West district in Sikkim. They were picked up by the police after they failed to produce the permits.

Deputy inspector-general of police N. Sridhar Rao said the two Americans had used paragliders to sail into Sikkim and had landed on the flat terrain of Dhaap, near Uttarey and close to the India-Nepal border, on March 14." . . .

"The DIG said foreigners must take the permits from check-posts at Rangpo and Melli, the two main points of entry into Sikkim. “Neither Reed nor Sander had the permits and they were charged with entering Sikkim illegally.”

They have been charged under the Foreigners Act for not carrying documents necessary to enter restricted areas in the country. Police officers said that if convicted, they could be jailed between two and eight years and/or fined Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000."

So - The guys have set the bar exceptionally high, by flying from Himachal Pradesh, across the length of Nepal to land in the land-locked Indian state of Sikkim. In doing this epic feat the pilots, who have valid Indian Visas, failed to check in for permits at check-posts at Rangpo or Melli. These border check-posts are on roads - not an option for those who chose to vol biv through the Himalaya. . . What's an adventurer to do?

Let's hope this, like most official SNAFUs in India, can be remedied with a simple monetary transaction. And please don't let this minor bureaucratic hurdle eclipse what they have accomplished. It's impressive - It's inspiring - and I'll be the first to pony up $100 to bail them out of the Indian hoosegow.
Tim.

Himalayan Odyssey 2011

2011-03-07T17:09:00.000-08:00

At this very moment, a couple of paraglider pilots are doing something special. They are truly exploring areas of Western Nepal that have not been seen from their perspective - or with the degree of difficulty.

I knew Bay Area pilot, Eric Reed was headed to India for the trip last month, but I had not stayed on top of events because frankly, these guys aren't the 'PR' kinda guys. I tuned in today to find that Brad Sander and Eric are the only pilots continuing East on their quest to "Vol Bivouac" from Himachal Pradesh, in Northern India, across Nepal to Pelling, Sikkim, India. I can (and do) only imagin the amazing scenery and epic struggles as they fly-hike-camp-repeat their way across the most imposingly beautiful terrain on the planet.

View Himalayan Odyssey Paragliding Expedition Route in a larger map

This is serious adventure and I wish I was there. To stay tuned, go to http://www.himalayanodyssey.org/ and explore their site -

Eric Reed's Track - Click image for larger view

The live-tracks are using SPOT units to broadcast position information. I am very glad to see that these units are working reliably in obviously extreme conditions. I recommend SPOT units for anybody flying XC.

Here is Eric's Live-Tracking Page, which can be viewed at http://www.himalayanodyssey.org/spot_eric.html

Good luck Brad and Eric! I'll buy the beer to lubricate the best stories this summer.

Tim

Cayucos 3/5/11

2011-03-05T20:41:00.000-08:00

Fun Day at Cayucos - We had a fairly strong East until 1PM then it came in from the ocean with some convergence. I launched early and paid for it with a short extended sled-ride. Jack launched a bit later and got teased with some lift along the highway. I drove Jack up to his car and decided to fly again. The winds were much brisker and Northy. I launched and got hammered until contacting some good convergence over highway 1.

Coming if for landing.
Photo by Buzz Morasca

Coming if for landing.
Photo by Buzz Morasca
Click for larger photo

After 40 minutes or so of flying along the shear zone, I landed on the beach. As I came in for landing, Buzz caught me with his camera. Thanks for the cool shots Buzz!

Tim

Winds of Change

2011-02-24T11:07:00.000-08:00

It's the off-season in the Northern Hemisphere and there is a noticeable shift in the winds. This competition season will be interesting at worst and exciting at best - There are many changes coming this year.

CIVL Plenary 2011
Our Sport is evolving. As always, change brings with it some insecurity and controversy. What are the unintended consequences of good-intentioned rules and regulation? The PMA, DHV, and BHPA all are proposing changes to the rules at CAT 1 competitions that would restrict the use of prototypes and/or uncertified wings. The logic is that there are meaningful minimum safety certifications required for harnesses, helmets, and reserve parachutes - How can we possibly exempt the wings from all but the minimum inspections while saying that we are trying to increase safety? And I must say, I agree with this logic. . . although I do worry about unintended consequences . . .

It's important to ask questions to define and weigh a couple of the goals of our competitions -

Are we striving to provide a venue that allows for a competition that is pure competition between pilots, with an acceptable intrinsic margin of safety guaranteed by specified, restricted, equipment ( as in a Serial Class Only, One Design, etc.) or,
Are we striving to provide a venue that is a proving ground for new technology that may help the sport by providing better performance and safety through better design?

Until now, our relatively immature sport has been trying (fairly successfully) to include both of the above goals in our competitions. These goals are now being found (by some) to be mutually exclusive, however.

I want to see our equipment evolve further. It's very exciting to see the performance and handling of the modern wings improve year-over-year. But does the inclusion of these wings in ALL competitions satisfy the first goal? These are only a couple of the issues -

For more discussion, with top-ranked pilots from all over the world, view this post on the PG Forum.

I think we will, eventually, see some restrictions in equipment in all competitions except the PWC (the PG equivalent of Formula One). I know this option has idealistic roots and may not be feasible in a market as small as this sport; but I truly believe this route is best for the sport.

Other News -

RAT RACE 2011

The Rat Race June19th-25th will actually be two competitions in one. There will be a "SPRINT" version for newer pilots, those on lower performance wings, and those who just don't like flying for more than 3 hours. The tasks will be structured so as to have the two fields occupying the same air, along their separate courses, while the sprint task will be shorter and less into wind. I think the enjoyment level for many of the newer pilots will go up since getting to goal provides a smile. I like the idea of this format and hope it is successful in reality.

As always, the Rat Race will have a mentoring program that is geared to help those who are new to the sport.

LONE STAR NATIONALS

Held in Hearn Texas, the Lone Star Nats Aug. 14th-20th is breaking new ground for paragliding in the US. It will be a tow competition - Every pilot will be towed up to altitude, prior to the start, by one of the many tow-rigs. This is being met with some resistance because everyone who's towed has a memory of one fiasco or another - often involving panic, long delays, or just frustration. The thought of having 8 to 12 winches towing up 60-100 pilots, in the hot sun, has many of us thinking that the hardest hurdle in the comp will simply be getting into the air.

But I'm an optimist. I'm hoping to be able to make it to this comp because, if it's successful it will open the doors for a whole new type of competition and thousands of miles of unexplored XC territory. I'm actually pulling for Dave Prentice and his crew. They know they're under the gun and they appear to be working hard to provide a safe and efficient operation.

It's going to be interesting - But why shouldn't it be? It's Paragliding!

Fly Safe - Tim

MDO 2/20/11

2011-02-20T19:34:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day at MDO. I got back from my 8-day trip and was very happy to get back into the air. It was a beautiful day with 10 pilots on the ridge. Fortunately it was a large enough lift band that it allowed all to fly without stress.

Direct link for full screen view - http://tinyurl.com/mdo22011

Nova Dasalla - First US Pilot to Infinite

2011-02-07T16:55:00.000-08:00

Nova Dasalla is a Bay Area pilot that has been on a quest for years. He's had his struggles and his successes, but he has shown that a goal and a positive attitude is what it takes to make your dreams a reality.

Here is a short video of Nova's journey. It also shows why I don't do acro.

Tim

Nova Dasalla - acro paragliding - "Infinite Stumbling" from avonorca on Vimeo.

Whaleback Improvements/Fundraising

2011-02-04T11:19:00.000-08:00

All photos courtesy of Scott Harding www.scottharding.com

I'd like to pass along some info regarding the ongoing improvements to Whaleback (near Mt. Shasta, California) and the need for additional funding to make the project successful. I've been in contact with Scott H. of the Rogue Valley HG/PG club and he indicates that many generous donations from clubs and individuals have helped the club approach their goals for the launch site and LZ improvement projects. They have applied for a matching funds grant from the Foundation for Free Flight and will make their presentation to the FFF in the next week or two.

Click photo for larger version
Photo by Scott Harding

I've never flown this site, but hope to this season. The conditions are very conducive to long XCs that cover beautiful pristine scenery. The project will improve the launch area by enlarging the set-up area considerably and providing a larger launch area and a launch towards the SW. Your donations go to one of the most active clubs, when it comes to site improvement/relations in the US. For complete information, and a link to make donations, visit: http://rvhpa.org/news/whaleback-launch-improvements/

The Future configuration of Whaleback launch

Please consider donating funds to this project, if only to guarantee the site's future and your ability to fly the site in the future. Donations from the community are the only way such a project can succeed.

Donations made in the next week or two will count towards the hoped for FFF matching grant.
Please do your part to improve this amazing site.

Tim

Cuesta Today

2011-02-03T10:16:00.000-08:00

Today turned into a nice day for flying, and Dan, Dave M., Jeremy, Adam & I all got a good taste of the best of Winter Cuesta. . .

We got to the top around noon and were greeted by light Easterly puffs. Birds were working weak lift in front, so we were encouraged. Within 30 minutes the light East had filled in and all the birds, all the flies, everything disappeared for an hour. We ate & told stories until things got still and the birds reappeared. Around 2pm it finally looked better, so Adam & I got suited up. He grabbed his hang glider since he could do a no-wind launch easier than the rest of us. He launched well and sank out immediately to 200' below launch. Soon he contacted a good, if rough, thermal and climbed to 4000'.

Meanwhile, I was standing in the chute ready to go and waited at least 15 minutes for a puff. Finally I got a very light puff, allowing me to get in the air and immediately climbed to 4500 and that was it. The conditions on launch improved and all got off well. It was quite cold at altitude but the lift was abundant and smooth above about 2500'. It was possible to move around quite a bit and I followed a weak lift line Northwest at a bit of an angle to the ridge for a couple miles before falling off the bubble and heading back to home turf again. When I headed out to the LZ it was quite lifty so I flew all the way to Hwy 1 and still had enough altitude to head back to the LZ. I thought about landing at Dave's (I had 1600' over the Hwy) but he's out of town and it just wouldn't have been the same without a ginger beer to celebrate. . .

Top of climb for Adam & me was around 5300' and it was good to see the models proven correct. . . It wasn't looking too good there for a while & I was worried that I'd cried wolf too early in the season ;-) Congrats to Dave M on popping his Cuesta cherry and the guys on sticking with me for 2 hours for the payout.

My Flight track is HERE. I've got some cool video of the fun, but haven't figured out an adequate way to edit it without losing most of the quality. Today I'll take stills and have some pics.

Tim

Click-and-Control Interactive Heli Video

2011-01-31T01:30:00.000-08:00

For the best experience, click the "Full Screen" Icon.
Tim

Paragliding World Cup 2011 Roldanillo, Colombia - Task 6

2011-01-21T23:32:00.000-08:00

Today must have been some serious racing. Speeds today were over 30KPH and there were 87 in goal. Marcus Malmqvist was first on the UP Edge XR, followed by Yassen Savov (Boom 8) and Andreas Malecki (Mantra R10.2) and Josh Cohn (Niviuk Proto) and Charles Cazaux (Mantra R10.2).

Overall leader Michael Sigel placed 21st today, scoring 891 points and holding on to his cumulative lead.

No tasks will be dropped during this PWC so what you see is what you get.

Today's results are HERE
Cumulative results are HERE.

Paragliding World Cup 2011 Roldanillo, Colombia - Task 5

2011-01-20T21:10:00.000-08:00

Today's task was 123Km and conditions were finally suitable for some racing. The top pilots had average speeds of 28KPH. Today's Top-10 were:

1 0051 Russell OGDEN GBR
2 0147 Xevi BONET DALMAU ESP
4 0017 Andre RAINSFORD ZAF
5 0039 Primoz SUSA SVN
6 0053 Russell ACHTERBERG ZAF
6 0020 Michael SIGEL CHE
8 0101 Lucas BERNARDIN FRA
9 1717 Primoz PODOBNIK SVN
10 0009 Raul PENSO VEN
10 0319 Yassen SAVOV BGR

Nick Greece is the top US pilot at 9th, and Josh Cohn is at 13th in the cumulative ranking.
With two tasks remaining, this is proving to be a great opening competition for the 2011 season. The top-10 pilots are on Gin Boom 8's and Ozone R10.2s. Niviuk is represented by Josh in 13th and Stefan Wyss in 14th. This year is looking like a very competitive year for the manufacturers who are striving to push the performance limits.

Today's Results are HERE.

Cumulative Results are HERE

Paragliding World Cup 2011 Roldanillo, Colombia - Task 4

2011-01-19T19:52:00.000-08:00

Another tough day in Colombia. 113Km. task with no one in goal.. Michael Sigel was the only pilot to make 100K, which will cinch first position for him. Since today's results aren't out yet, this is speculation, but some quick computation yields this unofficial ranking overall:

1. Michael SIGEL
2. Russell OGDEN
3. Peter NEUENSCHWANDER
4. ?????

I'm not sure of the ranking below third place, since so many were around the 86Km point. It looks like Nick Greece and Josh Cohn are hanging in there, and both may be in the top-10 when Cumulative Scores are up.

Today's task scores will be HERE when available.

Cumulative scores will be HERE, also when available.

Tim

Paragliding World Cup 2011 Roldanillo, Colombia - Task 3

2011-01-18T19:32:00.000-08:00

The third task was considerably shorter than previous tasks at 60 Km. This allowed all but 13 pilots to make goal. The top-15 all had average speeds of around 20KPH so it looks like it was a slow day.

Yasson Savov and Russ Ogden are emerging as the most consistent leaders. They were third and fourth in the cumulative rankings and placed first and third today, so it looks like they will be at the top of the leaderboard.

Jack Brown was second today, and the only US pilot in the top 20. Nick Greece was in 25th.

For results you can go to http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/htmlrequest/results/t/1/3/1 . Cumulative scores seem to be a secret. There may be cumulative scores in the comments on THIS PAGE.

Tim

Flying Bookshelf - Flying Rags to Glory

2011-01-18T01:28:00.000-08:00

Mads Syndergaard is an experienced, and quite accomplished XC competition pilot. He also doesn't mind passing his voluminous store of information to those with XC dreams.

I received my copy of Flying Rags for Glory. . . last month and found it to be well written and comprehensively informative. The book is written primarily for paraglider pilots contemplating entry into the comp scene. You'll find that this book contains much of the same kind of information, directed at new pilots, as my article "Flying in Paraglider Competitions" but this book also has considerable information that is of value to advanced pilots with goals of flying the best equipment and flying to their max potential.

One of Mads' strengths as a pilot, and as an author, is his interest in the psychology of winning. He emphasizes and reinforces, with examples, that those who assume they will win, have an edge that is tangible. He also references studies of the sub-conscious and its role in high level activities. I found this section of the book to be very interesting and informative.

Mads has been flying for most of the years that our young sport has been evolving. He does an excellent job of relating his experiences competing on wings of dubious flying characteristics and modest performance. Many photos are used to illustrate the wings and characters of the early years.

I found this book to be a good read and a valuable addition to my bookshelf. If you'd like to read some excerpts, here are a few:

Excerpt#1 from Flying Rags For Glory - Your First Task Briefing

Excerpt#2 from Flying Rags For Glory - Flattening the Sinus Wave

Excerpt#3 from Flying Rags For Glory - Non Conscious Learning

Flying Rags for Glory is available exclusively in the XCSHOP. If you decide to purchase this book, please click the graphic at left or this text to visit the website. I will get credit for the referral. This is the only revenue generation I use on this site.

Paragliding World Cup 2011 Roldanillo, Colombia - Task 2

2011-01-17T19:00:00.000-08:00

Another tough day, from the sound of it. 123K task and it looks like everyone has landed short of goal. Looking at the 'Live Leader Board' Eric Reed placed second a few km. short of goal. Nick Greece, Josh Cohn, and Jack Brown landed around the 116k point.

No official cumulative results are out as of 2100 pst. But here are some links for your useage:

The retrieve map and general task map are at www.fastretrieve.com/mapping

The Live Leader Board can be found at Live Leader Board

Results are in the window below and available at http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/htmlrequest/results/1/2/1.

Paragliding World Cup 2011 Roldanillo, Colombia

2011-01-17T09:28:00.000-08:00

The first task of the Colombia PWC was a 94 kilometer zig-zag that had as many pilots landing near the 1/2 way point as it had in goal. With the pilot caliber that these events attract, it must have been a tough day.

The Top-10 for the day were:

Rank ID Name Nation Glider Score
1 0020 Michael SIGEL CHE Gin Boomerang 7 997
2 0051 Russell OGDEN GBR Ozone Ozone prototype 987
3 0077 Jean Baptiste BERLIOUX FRA Boomerang 7 976
4 0305 Peter NEUENSCHWANDER CHE Swing prototype 973
4 0319 Yassen SAVOV BGR Gin Boomerang 7 973
6 0059 Nicholas GREECE USA R10.2? 968
7 0002 Jurij VIDIC SVN Ozone Mantra R10.2 965
8 0015 Jacques FOURNIER FRA Ozone R10.2 964
8 0147 Xevi BONET DALMAU ESP Gin Boomerang 7 964
10 0107 Adrian HACHEN CHE ? ? 962

Jack Brown and Josh Cohn are in 15th and 16th respectively, and Brad Gunnuscio, Eric Reed, and Brett Zaenglein, all scored around 350 points, landing mid-task.

Results can be viewed HERE.

Volando en Roldanillo - USA is 1, 2 !

2011-01-13T21:54:00.000-08:00

Well it's over in Columbia and Eric Reed was consistent enough to win the Gold. Brad Gunnuscio finished strong to move up to 2nd, and Nick Greece finished at 15th after a great effort in the last two tasks. Jack Brown was 28th and Max Marion did a respectable 50th in one of his first international events.

This is certainly a great showing in this comp, and bodes well for the US guys during the Columbian PWC event next week.

The links in my previous posts appear to be broken due to bandwidth exceedence, but final results are visible HERE and below, at this time.
Tim

Volando en Roldanillo - One more day

2011-01-12T18:58:00.000-08:00

Eric Reed is still at the top of the leader board after 5 tough tasks. He is showing his tenacity and skills among a very talented field. In addition, Brad Gunnuscio has climbed into 3rd place and Nick Greece is in 18th. I'm sure Jack Brown is a bit frustrated in 30th, but it is tough to come back from 2 bad days at the start of a competition. Good luck to the guys!

Tomorrow's task will be the 'decider' so check back for the final results.
The overall results can be viewed on their own page here or viewed below.

Tim

Volando en Roldanillo

2011-01-11T09:29:00.000-08:00

The competition is on in Columbia at the Volando en Roldanillo. After three tasks Eric Reed is leading the pack with his signature consistent 'badger' style flying. He won the first day's task, placed 6th in task two, and second in the third. Brad Gunnuscio is 4th overall and Nick Greece is 24th. Jack Brown tied for first in task 3 after a couple tough days early in the comp.

For the latest scores go to http://www.volandoenroldanillo.com

The overall results can be viewed on their own page here or viewed below.

Flytec's 6030 soon to have features of the Flymaster B1Nav!

2011-01-06T10:03:00.000-08:00

Hey sportsfans - The folks at Flytec just announced there will be a significant firmware update for the 6030 very soon. It is being tested at the January HG comps in OZ and PWC comp in Columbia. If there are no significant bugs reported that cannot be quickly fixed they expect to release it at the end of this month.

Click for link to my magazine review

The "significant features" added include:

Optimized route.
Goal line finish
Speed to start cylinder
Nascent/near thermal tone
NMEA output over Bluetooth

Yep, the $1449 SRP Flytec 6030 will soon (maybe) have the same features as the $630 Flymaster B1Nav.

It's great that Flytec is adding these features. I don't sell either instrument and I don't really care which is 'best' - I just don't like the big-guys using their influence to control the market and the price points of a niche business. I especially don't like our limited publications allowing this control to be exercised in their pages. When I mentioned these "significant features" in my review of the B1Nav, it was considered an unbalanced view ;-)

Tim

For additional background, see my review of the B1Nav - http://biggovtsucks.blogspot.com/2010/08/flymaster-b1-nav.html
and the reaction to it's publication:

http://biggovtsucks.blogspot.com/2010/11/really.html

Skywalk video competition 2010 Winner!

2010-12-19T18:17:00.000-08:00

I embedded this video in August because I felt it conveyed much of the appeal of the sport. Skywalk agrees.
Congratulations to José Abreu who has won the 2010 Skywalk video competition!
If you have the bandwidth, watch it in HD - Enjoy.

And for those fellow AC/DC lovers, here's a bit more bumpin' video, also from Jose:

Magic Soap

2010-11-29T22:07:00.000-08:00

I'm no good at remembering jokes. I enjoy hearing them - and have an appreciation for humor; I just don't retain the elements of the story in my brain. . . With one notable exception.

Many years ago I was at a small comedy club and an unknown comic took the mike. He told this joke -

"I was talking to my roommate the other day, about soap. I told him that soap must be magical. He said 'Soap isn't magic! It's just soap!'
I said, Oh yeah? Well think about the soap in the shower. And think about the last thing I wash. . . and the first thing YOU wash. . . It must be magic!"

I've never forgotten that joke. I think about it, with a chuckle, at least 30% of the times I reach for the soap in my shower. I don't know why this has 'stuck' for so long, just that it has. If only all the important lessons in life stuck with the vividness and the humor of that one. . .

Which is why I relate this story. What I write, on this silly blog, is written with the hope that some of it will resonate and 'stick' with you. It's my hope that the wheat will show through the chaff and, when you find yourself in need of a good idea in a bad situation, something you've read here will help.

In the meanwhile, Fly Safe -

Tim

REALLY?!

2010-11-09T21:39:00.000-08:00

In an August post I reviewed the Flymaster B1Nav integrated flight instrument. This post has been one of my most read posts, accessed through Google, by those researching flight instrument purchases.

I reformatted this post and submitted it to the U.S. USHPA magazine for inclusion in the October 2010 issue. Before publication, the article was edited by the USHPA editor, Nick Greece. The article came out and, except for some rather frustrating formatting errors and missing graphics, read the way I had written it - after being edited by the USHPA editor. The article can be seen in it's published format here -> http://issuu.com/us_hang_gliding_paragliding/docs/1010web_mag/18?mode=a_p

The article was written from the standpoint of (me) a pilot wishing to update his instrumentation or enter the Competition XC fray. I prefaced the review by indicating my prior instrumentation was an "aging" Flytec 5020 and a Garmin 76S. I also wanted to convey to the large number of aspiring XC pilots, who cannot afford a $1500 unit, that the B1Nav might be an affordable integrated instrument that delivers the necessary features while costing much less.

I want to fully disclose that I have received some minor discounts on some of my gear because I am an active pilot and this blog has a readership (20,000 page views in the last 6 months). I've never made a statement that I haven't fully believed, nor made a recommendation based upon a freebie offered to me. And I didn't this time - I honestly recommend the Flymaster B1 Nav for those who don't want to spend a grand and a half for a comparable Flytec unit.

Then I received the November USHPA mag. . .

In it, on page 9, was included a NOTE FROM THE EDITOR that addressed, solely and specifically, the article I had written and that had been edited by the editor. The "note' covered more than nine column inches and seemed to be written as a counterpoint to my article. It read, suspiciously, like it had been written by Flytec themselves, using the USHPA editor as a mouthpiece and the non-advert pages of the USHPA magazine as their advertising space.

It stated that "the article was not a review based on objective facts." This is an accusation of personal bias and I resent the unveiled insinuation. I'm a Flytec owner. I like my Flytec instrument but it's time to upgrade to a newer unit and I reviewed the Flymaster after buying it. Bias was not a factor.

It criticizes the fact that I compare it to the 5020 - after I prefaced my review by stating this fact.

It also states, "... since the B1Nav lacks significant features and functionality (compared to units costing twice as much) the comparison is weak." This statement was made by the editor without a single example to support the statement. Frankly I'd like to hear what these 'features' are, since I don't fly one of these top-of-the-line units and wasn't reviewing them.

Then a comparison was made by the USHPA Editor to the Flytec 6015 as a "comparable unit". I'd wager an expensive beer that this statement was made without him ever flying the 6015. At least I referenced instruments that I own and have flown in cross country competitions. To state that the 6015 has comparable features is nonsense. The B1Nav is fully featured - read the article.

I have no interest in starting a feud with Nick. He's a good guy and an excellent pilot. I generally like the work he's done with the mag. But an editor has authority and responsibility. He exercised his authority and completely dodged all responsibility.

I think what's happened here is this - The October issue was edited during some seriously busy XC competition schedules this Summer. The article wasn't my best work and his efforts to edit it properly were probably hindered by a busy flying schedule. Then, after publication, Flytec USA gave Nick a lambasting, using every ounce of influence that their advertising dollars impart. Nick's response was the NOTE FROM THE EDITOR where he threw me under the bus.

And now, this is my response to the NOTE. You wouldn't be reading this if Nick had manned-up and acknowledged some responsibility as the editor of the article. Instead he caved in when the pressure was on - and the casualty was an uncompensated contributor. If one uses a national magazine to attack my credibility, the least I can do is to respond on this little blog -

NEWS: Flytec has announced that they plan to add "significant features" to the 6030 firmware. These features are already offered on the Flymaster B1Nav.

Fly safe and contribute to the USHPA mag, if you feel lucky -

Tim

2011 X-Alps Athlete selection announced

2010-10-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

Tom Payne put this great table of the 2011 Athletes together:

Country	Flag	Athlete	Age	Supporter	Glider	Blog/website	2003	2005	2007	2009

ARG		Martin Romero	36	Diego E. Romero	MacPara Magus XC
AUS		Lloyd Pennicuik	45	Paul Underwood	Axis Venus	link			17	X
AUT1		Helmut Eichholzer	36	Wolfgang Ehgarter	Ozone Delta	link		4		X
AUT2		Christian Amon	41	Mario Schmaranzer	Swing Stratus			X		X
AUT3		Mike Küng	42	Thomas Arzberger	Paratech P8 Proto
BEL		Thomas de Dorlodot	26	Gatien de Dorlodot	Gradient Avax XC3	link			X	10
BRA		Richard Pethigal	42	tba.	Swing Stratus
CAN		Max Fanderl	46	Penny Powers	tba.	link			X	13
CZE		Jan Skrabálek	41	Karel Vrbensky	tba.	link			11	15
ESP		Ramón Morillas	44	Juan Morillas	Advance Proto	link			7	9
FIN		Jouni Makkonen	40	Toni Leskelä	Gradient Avax XC					7
FRA1		Vincent Sprüngli	46	Jerome Maupoint	Gin Boomerang				X	X
FRA2		Philippe Barnier	36	Hervé Garcia	Niviuk Icepeak
FRA3		Clément Latour	28	Gil Thomas	Skywalk Poison 3
GBR		Steve Nash	48	Richard Bungay	Nova
GER		Michael Gebert	31	Florian Schellheimer	Gradient Avax XC3	link		5	X	6
ITA		Andy Frötscher	42	Martin Klotz	Skywalk Poison 3	link	X	X	14	12
JPN1		Kaoru Ogisawa	51	Masaru Saso	Gin Boomerang				5	13
JPN2		Masayuki Matsubara	40	Tetsuo Kogai	tba.					X
NED		Ferdinand van Schelven	27	Anton Brous	tba.
NOR		Ivar Sandstå	44	Inge Haustveit	Niviuk Peak 2
POL		Pavel Faron	37	Piotr Goc	Swing Stratus
POR		Nuno Virgilio	31	Samuel Lopes	Axis Mercury
ROM		Toma Coconea	36	Daniel Pisica	UP	link	X	X	2	X
RSA		Pierre Carter	44	James Braid	Gradient XC3					X
RUS		Evgeny Gryaznov	39	tba.	tba.					5
SUI1		Christian Maurer	28	Thomas Theurillat	Advance Omega	link				1
SUI2		Alex Hofer	34	Roland Moltinger	tba.	link		1	1	2
SUI3		Martin Müller	45	Yannick Flugi	Gin Boomerang 7 light	link			3	X
USA		Honza Rejmanek	36	Dave Hanning	Axis Mercury	link			9	3

source: X-Alps website, Wikipedia, own research || Age at Race launch 17th. Jul 2011 || blogs tbc. || X means participated, but injured or disqualified/eliminated

Flying Safe

2010-10-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

I say this a lot. "Fly safe."*

I think this a lot too. You see, I've never considered having an accident as a reasonable possibility, as long as I "Fly Safe."

I began my flying life at 15, in sailplanes. I was a skull-full-o-mush, as all 15ers are. In order to afford my flying lessons, I became the 'airport kid' and worked around the airport - fueling airplanes, working the launch line, cleaning bathrooms etc; and I learned a lot watching the many pilots come and go. Soon I was towing gliders with a Super-Cub and flying glider rides and intro-lessons. All the while I was observing other pilots - noticing their different styles and techniques.

I developed an indelible image of the difference between a good pilot and one who thought he was good. The 'wanker' assumed he could overcome all variables - but never took the time to think them through. The good pilots always considered the variables and made sure that the sum added up to a safe operation. I'm convinced that this lesson saved my life - often - as I negotiated my early flying escapades while experiencing the insanity of puberty. Applying this lesson has kept me alive during the ensuing 40 years and 25000+ hours. I've made being a "safe" pilot priority one.

National Air and Space Museum- Smithsonian Institution

Don't get me wrong - I did my share of stunts, over the early years, and I'm not dumb enough to list them here. But I've always - even when doing things that I knew were on the fringe of stupid - considered the variables and made an effort to make the right call. I've NOT done many stunts that just didn't pass my 'safe' test.

You've all experienced 'Intermediate Syndrome.' This is a kind of temporary insanity that many experience when they get just enough knowledge and comfort in their abilities to forget about "Flying Safe."
To my chagrin, I experienced a brief Intermediate Syndrome, in paragliders, just before I turned 50, and it resulted in injury. It took five broken ribs to remind me that paragliders are not toys - they are aircraft that need the respect and consideration given to any other kind of aircraft.

For the last 30 years I've made a living flying airliners. The most important job of an airline pilot is to consider the many, many, variables and still provide a safe, boring flight to his passengers and crew. It's hard for me to fly my paraglider with a different mind-set than I do my 747. . . Does that mean that I never fly when conditions aren't optimal? NO. Just as in my airline career, I have flown in conditions that pushed (but never exceeded) my experience and aircraft performance. The secret to increasing your experience level, and comfort in unfamiliar situations, is to do it in baby steps. It takes time and experience.

So, ask yourself, "Do you Fly Safe?"

What does it mean to "Fly Safe?"

MY definition of a safe pilot is one who I would allow to fly with my family aboard. Before making the determination of a pilot's "safety," I look at his/her competence and knowledge (experience); mental state; and motivation on the flight.

Does the pilot have the experience to fly in the conditions that exist presently and those that may occur during the flight?
Is the pilot experienced enough to anticipate problems and avoid/compensate for these problems?
Is the pilot thoughtful in planning the flight and aware of the responsibilities she is assuming?
Is the pilot's competency on that aircraft type sufficient?

We have to remind ourselves that there is an important passenger on board, even when we are flying alone ;-)

So, do we "Fly Safe"?

From the standpoint of flying paragliders in Cross-Country events, when I answer that question honestly, I must admit that there are times it appears that I could have flown with more safety. When I am on a XC flight and get low on the terrain to pull out a save; When I explore the lee to contact a booming lee-side thermal; When conditions at launch are *sketchy-but-flyable* and I decide to launch before it gets worse; All of these situations are second-guessable. The important factor is that I am aware that the safety margins may have been reduced in these situations but, after weighing the applicable variables, have decided it is, indeed, safe.

I know that this appears hypocritical - "It's OK to do dumb things as long as you realize they are dumb."
That's NOT the takeaway here.

What I'm saying is, in the dynamic world of aviation, awareness of your risk at all times, and weighing all the variables, is imperative. To blindly dive into the lee without a consideration given to the consequences, is idiotic - to fly into the lee after considering the sun angle, winds, and plan of retreat, is "Flying Safe."

In a sport where the prize monies are paltry; the fame is but momentary; and the bragging rights only last for the weekend; ask yourself, "How much are you really willing to dip outside your safety envelope to win a task?"

Answer that question honestly, when in the heat of competition, and you'll know my mindset while competing. Consideration of your risk/reward when it's important is the key.

At the moment I have four friends in physical rehab after flying accidents that occurred while pushing the limits of safety. I'm sure each of them has a different perspective on the risk/reward calculation than they had prior to pounding. Please consider their outcomes and daily struggles when you are making critical safety decisions in the heat of battle -
Fly Safe -
Tim
*Even though it's improper English, I live with it.

2010 PWC Superfinal Results and some News

2010-10-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

The US team is heading home from Turkey and they can hold their heads up high. After 7 tasks in 11 days, the US pilots all flew well and brought home 5th place in the Team standings, of which Cross Country Magazine says, "In fifth place was Team USA. The seven pilots flew strongly to show that they are now a true force on the international stage."

Congratulations go to all seven guys: Nate Scales who was the highest scoring US pilot, at 23rd - Josh Cohn placed 28th - Eric Reed at 49th - Len Szafaryn at 54th - Nick Greece, who was leading after task two, finished at 59th - 2010 US Nat'l Champion, Jack Brown, at 88th and Brad Gunnuscio at 92nd.

Thanks for representing the US Comp pilots and flying well!

Final Results are HERE

PWC FORMAT TO RETAIN THE SUPERFINAL:

The PWC format, for the foreseeable future, will retain the 'Superfinal' format, with 5 regional tests before selecting the qualifiers for the Superfinal. This format was overwhelmingly approved and will continue to improve the chances of US pilots to qualify, and participate in, the highest level competitions in our sport.

PMA SAYS "GO SERIAL":

On an interesting note; The PMA has announced:

“The PMA believe that from the material point of view a significant way to improve safety in FAI cat.1 competitions is to restrict them to EN–D gliders. Open Class gliders have their place in competitions but FAI cat.1 is not that place.”

Read the full Cross Country article HERE.

I've gone on record as being in favor of such a move, and I still believe it would help our sport grow and improve the quality and safety of our competitions. I do believe that there is a place for full-on racing (uncertified) ships for use in the PWC that will provide a venue for the highest performance and R&D for the manufacturers. Much like Formula One and America's Cup racing, there is a place for the spectacular performance of a "cost is no object" type of class*, but I feel that competing mano-a-mano on whatever performance wing will provide better 'sport' for a larger market. Admittedly, I am flying an EN-D wing in competitions and this obviously biases my opinion, but my choice of wing is due to my opinion that my EN-D wing provides a increased margin of safety and handling not exhibited by competition wings.

I am not cynical enough to assume that the PMA decision is to boost sales by requiring serious competitors to purchase a Cat 1 comp wing and another to fly in PWC events - I hope they feel it will stimulate the market and expand it. Am I naive? I hope not.

Do I think Cross Country Competitions will become safer? Probably not. Quite simply, it's the stuff between the ears that, ultimately, provides a safety margin. You can fly a Cessna 150 into trashy air & the result will be ugly. Pick your line intelligently and fly safely - THAT's the measure of a good pilot. . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------
* By 'cost is no object' I mean $$ is no object. . . Unfortunately in the sport of paragliding, the cost to compete on the highest performance wings can mean the cost is your personal safety - This I find unacceptable.

Fly Safe,
Tim

Aftermath of a fall - This one turned out well.

2010-09-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

White Mountains in the Owens Valley -
Click photo for larger version - Photos by Jay Gordon

None of us wants to leave a three-day flying weekend knowing that we are leaving one of our own injured and alone in the mountains. We all want, even less, to be that guy.

This weekend, at the Nor-Cal XC league event; three days of flying geared towards new and improving XC pilots, one of our experienced pilots found himself down in the White mountains at around 2:30 pm and spent 12 hours lying injured on the hill, awaiting rescue.

I've heard words of surprise from some of my fellow pilots, that it took so long to get him to the hospital, but I was actually VERY IMPRESSED that the efforts of many culminated in the successful resolution of this event.

Let's work through the timeline of the event -

Shortly after 14:00 the crash occurs at 11,000' in the Whites. No radio call is made by PilotX. No phone call is made by the pilot. It is not known if he was conscious or not.
One of our group happens to be flying in a position where he can see this area of the White Mountains (which is approx. 1 mile East of flight tracks of those flying the task that day.)
The pilot who knew the position of PilotX and another of our group, who had a private aircraft, fly over the crash site to verify the position of the victim and verify if he is injured.

This is the point where I got involved; Just back from goal, with no idea what's up– around 16:10.

Once we had verification that he was on the hill and injured, with an accurate position, I called 911 to get to the local SAR teams mobilized. (I had just been talking to the Mono Sheriff SAR Sargent, 2 days earlier, and actually had asked him the best way to alert them to a problem like this - 911 was the answer)
Stephan & I worked with the SAR coordinator and the ball started rolling by 16:30. Sunset is 1800 – I don't say it, but I know the odds are good that PilotX may be spending the night.
The next 5 hours are spent getting SAR volunteers mobilized and up to the Barcroft Research facility. Once there, it was a 2.5 mile hike – in the dark – in tough terrain, with a couple steep canyons to enter/exit/work around (you get the picture – it took them a while to hike with their 50 lb. packs of med gear and technical equipment. They get to PilotX at 1am.
It takes a while to assess, stabilize, immobilize, and package PilotX for carry-out to a suitable LZ for the chopper, which has been dispatched from NAS Fallon (200 miles away). The Navy pilots are using IR gear to navigate at 11,000' in the terrain – it ain't easy flying – RESPECT.
By 3am I get word that PilotX will be arriving at the hospital in Bishop for evaluation. I get word at 5 am that he is going to be transported to Stanford by air, at 7am

Why did it take 12 hours? Well, we got lucky on this one – that's why.

BECAUSE one of our pilots spotted the crash, and
BECAUSE another of our group had an airplane to view the scene and pinpoint the position, and
EVEN THOUGH no radio or cell contact was made for hours, and
EVEN THOUGH PilotX had no survival gear accessible, and
EVEN THOUGH PilotX had not a single light source – NOT ONE. and
BECAUSE the weather in the area was the warmest September 27th in history,

This one turned out well.

This situation, if things hadn't gone well, could have easily been a body extraction, folks.

You simply can't find someone in a mountain range, this big, without some hints.

Even though PilotX's injuries weren't life threatening, he was incapable of hiking out and had no survival gear with which to buy time to allow for rescue

The guys hiking into the site would have arrived sooner if they'd had the ability to see his position with a strobe light or headlamp. A SPOT would have been a valuable aid to pinpoint PilotX's last known position and to get rescue started in a timely manner. (I'll just go on record now – if I go missing, use my SPOT page on my blog & you'll see where I'm laid out.)

Yup, we got very lucky on this one. Please carry some gear. I carry a spare radio battery. I carry a AA power source for my cell-phone, I carry a strobe light and a headlamp. I carry enough clothing that I could spend the night on the hill. A SPOT is cheap insurance. If the crap slaps the fan, at least put the odds on your side that you'll live long enough to get rescued.

If you fly XC anywhere, even in the Dunlap valley, and you don't carry some survival stuff that is accessible while sitting injured, IN YOUR HARNESS, then you are the intelligence equivalent of the idiot that hikes into the Grand Canyon in flip-flops, carrying a diet pepsi. Please don't be that guy.

It's not like I haven't preached about this before – My article about survival strategies and a DIY survival kit was in the USHPA mag a while back. It's available at http://biggovtsucks.blogspot.com/p/articles-by-tim.html. EDIT: I've had some input from the NAS Fallon helo crew, and they recommend carrying Lite Sticks (red is best) in our survival kits.

The 2010 XC season is almost over for us in the Northern Hemisphere, so take some time and make a survival kit. I hope you'll never need to use it. But if I'm coordinating your rescue, I'll rest easier knowing that you have a light source, water, warmth, and can communicate. I'd also like to send a word of Thanks to the Mono County Sheriff's Dept. and their volunteer team of SAR team members who gave up a nice warm bed to help one of our guys. Fly Safe, Tim

Owens Valley - Bonus Day!

2010-09-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

Mt. Whitney from 13,500'
Click on photos for larger version

A group of us decided to do some "value-added" flying today. Conditions have been suitable for launching from Walt's Point on the Eastern side of the Sierras all week. This launch has been a popular launch since the 60's and allows for long flights to the North.
The launch can be tricky though. Walt's is a cliff-launch - that is, you layout on level ground and then pull up-turn and walk off a cliff. . . It can be interesting. Unfortunately, Walt's launch isn't suitable for a large group due to it's restricted size and requirement of high launch skills.

Flights from Walt's are spectacular because it provides views of the Eastern Sierra Range from perspectives that noone else can experience. You can hear and smell - almost touch the most beautiful mountain range in California.

Mt. Whitney over my shoulder - at 14,000''

We didn't have a goal today. Bishop would be nice, crossing to the White range would be cool, but we were just going flying. A nice relaxing flight with friends. Dean was flying high point - patiently relaying info to Heidi, who had graciously offered to drive for us.

I launched first and went directly to 13,500'. I loitered around launch for 30 minutes to allow a gaggle to form so we could convoy up range together. The views were so amazing that I won't even try to convey their beauty with words. Even my photos don't even begin to produce the vivid colors of the rock and the deep blue of the alpine lakes.

Dean on his R10.2

We all made it to Big Pine without struggle but some high Cirrus was washing out the sunlight so lift was getting shut down. I was tired (not much sleep while monitoring the situation in the White mountains all night) a bit hypoxic, and generally beat. I found a nice big field about 63 miles from launch and landed.

The flight.

It was a great weekend with 13.5 hours flown and 185 miles flown.

Results will be HERE, when posted. My flights are HERE.

BAPA Comp - Owens Valley - Sept. 2010 Day 3

2010-09-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

Paiute Launch - Click on photos for larger version

Another great day in the Owens. To be able to fly three straight tasks is a treat, not often experienced here, due to the areas sensitivity to winds. The ridge has brought us sweet conditions and high temps at the surface - GREAT racing weather!

This was the last task of the 2010 Nor-Cal League and it was fitting that there were pilots from all over the country in attendance.

Many pilots who started their XC comp 'experience' in the league have moved out of the area and it's great that they traveled as far as they did to experience 3 straight days of perfect flying.

Jug leading the pilot meeting

Jug Aggarwal has done a great job of organizing the league events and we acknowledged his contributions to the league. Without him at the helm the events would not be nearly as easy to participate in. This weekend, in particular, highlighted the generosity and selflessness of many of the pilots and their partners, who served as indispensable drivers, fluffers, and just generally spiced up the landscape. Thanks everybody! Seeya next year.

My track on task three

Since most of the pilots would be heading home this afternoon, we called a short task of 30 miles to goal in Benton. Conditions were similar to prior days, but the lift improved during the short task. Today I had some serious fun since I was in the hunt for much of the race and, in the last two thermals, managed to put myself in a position of contention with Kansas, Jug, and Arnie. I was very fortunate to find a nice core and roll out just at the right moment and altitude to allow me to use full speed-bar all the way to goal. Kansas, who was on a superior/faster wing, wasn't able to use full bar due to the turbulence, and this allowed me to hold him off to goal.

Dean Stratton won the day, but I was second - First among us mortals ;-) It was a really fun day. I think this flight was the most 'racing' I've done on an XC task. There were more than 20 in goal again today so there were many pilots who had fun. A great way to end the weekend for many of us.

On a more somber note, we had one pilot go missing. He had crashed at 11,000' in the White Mtns. and was extracted by Mono Co. volunteer SAR crews and a NAS Fallon helicopter early the next morning. His injuries are still being addressed and our thoughts and prayers are with him. My write-up on the rescue of this pilot is HERE.

Fly Safe,

Tim

BAPA Comp - Owens Valley - Sept. 2010 Day 2

2010-09-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

Another fun task in the Owens. We had around 40 pilots fly today. Conditions were essentially identical to yesterday, although climbs were higher in the afternoon.

The task was from Paiute Launch to Qendix -29k north, back South to Jeffry 18k, then North to goal at Benton. Total task distance was 73Km (45 miles).

I was low for the start but headed out anyway, which was a slow beginning to my flight. Eventually I got in the groove and made good time to the North in spite of some weak climbs and low tops of lift. After the turnpoint at Jeffry I had two fantastic climbs to 12,500' and 13,000' that made it possible to cover the last 17 miles in less than an hour.

Results will be HERE (when published)
My flight is HERE

I was off the pace a bit and placed 5th or 6th today, but had a fun, great flight. The views of the bristle-cone pines, high on the White Mtns. and peeks East into the next valley were fantastic. There were over 25 pilots in goal today - many for the first time. Many pilots had their highest, and longest flights of their lives today.
Here is a photo of some happy pilots in goal.

Happy Pilots in goal at Benton.

BAPA Comp - Owens Valley - Sept. 2010

2010-09-25T22:40:00.000-07:00

Today was an eventful day. . . and a lot of fun. We had a great turnout for this weekend and the weather was classic high-pressure Owens. The nice thing about a ridge of high pressure moving in, is that the winds are generally light. The less than nice thing is that the thermals are rocket ships that just shoot through your wing with lots of enthusiasm. . . If one isn't flying with the same enthusiasm as the bullets being launched upward, it can be an un-enjoyable day.

We met at the Motel in town at 9am and had a large parade up to the Paiute launch. There were a lot of new faces so we did a site briefing and an extensive pilot meeting.

The task was from Paiute Launch North to Montgomery Creek (just short of Boundry Peak) the South to the Flynn LZ - 86Km or 53 miles.

I launched about 40 minutes before the 12:45 start and had a decent start. Kansas, Jug, Fred and I were leading out for much of the first 20 mile leg to Montgomery Creek. The winds were light, but definitely had a South component. Just after tagging the turnpoint, I was heading into a nice bowl on about 1/2 speed-bar when the right line severed and I was suddenly without speed-bar for the 30 mile upwind leg to goal. . .

Things were going fine (in spite of my equipment problem) with Kansas a thermal ahead and Fred flying deep and downwind of course. Jug and I were making good time and staying ahead of a gaggle of 4 or 5, behind us a mile or two. We flew a good line with abundant lift and finally Jug and I got a climb, 7 miles from goal, that gave us a 5.2:1 glide to goal. We rolled out & within 5 minutes I saw a wing ahead of me fold up and cascade to impact in the foothills ahead. I thought it was Kansas and made a call. It turned out to be Fred, and he sounded OK. I landed near him about 10-15 minutes later and hiked up to his location with a group who had 4-wheeled as close as they could get, to help. When we arrived, Fred had packed his wing and was just about ready to hike to the ambulance that had arrived. It was a welcome surprise to find Fred walking and talking after watching him pound in. We were met by a Cal-Fire crew and Fred posed for a recruiting ad.

My flight is HERE.

Scores will be HERE.

2010 PWC Superfinal Task 3

2010-09-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

LATE EDIT -
Well today was a tough one for some of our guys -
Jack Brown and Nick Greece were leading out, much of the day and had great times to the ESS (end of speed section) but landed a few hundred meters short of the goal line. This mistake (which was also made by many others in the lead gaggle) cost them 500 points.

For Nick, who's flown quite well, today's score will be discarded when the next task is flown.
Nate, Len, Josh, Brad, and Eric all had a 900+ point day today, so they are still in the running after the discard.
Cumulative results are HERE
Stay tuned.

Tim

**********************************************************
Another task flown today. Around 100 pilots into goal with (at the time of this post) Jack Brown of the USA crushing the field (in terms of PWC finishes) by almost 3 minutes. All 7 of the US pilots made goal today and Nick's lead may not be enough to hold first, over Japan's Kurimoto, but it looks like he'll be in the top-2 or 3 after scores are tabulated tonight. The US Pilots are flying very well and, if enough tasks are flown, the low task score will be dropped - which will help the overall scores of those who had a low task score on the first or second task.

The weather forecast for tomorrow looks OK, but the wind is coming on Saturday so there may be some down days for the guys to rest.

I'm off to the Owens Valley for a three-day end-o-the-season XC Comp. The turnout will be large and it should be fun.

Tim

Again, for those who are looking for links to stay in touch with the action, here are some links -

- Live LeaderBoard

- Organiser's site
- World Cup site
- Pilot list

Blogs
in English: Jack Brown : John Ellison : Neil Roberts

Miscellaneous
Weather forecast

2010 PWC Superfinal Task 2

2010-09-23T18:23:00.000-07:00

The cumulative results are HERE. Nick Greece (USA) is leading the Superfinal after two tasks. Eric Reed is the next US pilot at 23rd. Len and Nate are in the top-60 but the rest of the US pilots have had one bad day. Their standings will improve when enough tasks are flown to allow a discard, so noone is out of the running at this time. Nick's lead is small but impressive considering the stature of the field. NICE FLYING!

Here's a bit of video, shot by Phillipe Broers. You get a good feel for the type of flying a PWC task requires. Today's task was 63K with an average speed of 41.3 kph! That's fast.

Superfinal Turkey taks 1 from broers philippe on Vimeo.

Tomorrow's weather looks good for another task, but later in the week they can expect some wind.

Go Team America F*#K Yeah!

Tim

2010 PWC Superfinal Task 1

2010-09-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

The "LiveTracking" units didn't arrive in time for Task 1 so the provisional download leaderboard is as fresh as the news gets. It looks like many of the big names fell out early in the course. Still many names to be checked in at this time. At the moment, Nick Greece (USA) is leader and Josh Cohn (USA) is in the top-10.

http://www.fastretrieve.com/download/

Tim

Ask me why I fly . . . I dare ya.

2010-09-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

The perspectives available, when flying close to otherwise unviewable landscapes, at slow speed, and hanging from a virtually noiseless machine . . . Sometimes they take my breath away.

Watch this video and then ask me why I fly paragliders.

VERTIGE from Stéphane Boulenger on Vimeo.

2010 Paragliding World Cup Super Final

2010-09-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

The PWC Superfinal begins this week. For those of us, in the US, this year has been a very progressive and successful year for the top pilots. Much of their success is because of their commitment to fly in PWC events around the world. 2010 was also the first year of the altered PWC format, allowing pilots from the non-alpine nations to compete in more regionally located events. We also had our first PWC event, held in the U.S. this decade - U.S. PWC event in Chelan, WA in 2010.

The bottom line is that we have 7 pilots in the Superfinal in Turkey this week:
Jack BROWN (95)
Josh COHN (595)
Nicholas GREECE (451)
Brad GUNNUSCIO (744)
Eric REED (717)
Nate SCALES (158)
Len SZAFARYN (164)

Good luck to all!

For the rest of us, this can be a great spectator event. It is still not evident that the "live-tracking" will be used in this event, but every morning I hope to get some information out. As always, the information is at the mercy of the web access available to the participants and the meet organization.

Below is a list (put out by Tom Payne with some additions by me) of potential information sources during the event.
There may also be info HERE

Official sites
- Organiser's site
- World Cup site
- Pilot list

Blogs
in English: Jack Brown : John Ellison : Neil Roberts
in French: Charles Cazaux : Ain Team Parapente / Team ABAC : Yann Martail : Julien Wirtz : Maxime Bellemin : Jean-Michel Aro-Somohano
in German: Swiss League : Helmut Eichholzer
in Russian: Russian Team

Miscellaneous
Weather forecast

Dunlap Pilots in Goal

2010-09-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

Frank Marquis just sent me this photo (taken by Jon Stallman) of the happy faces in goal on Sunday's BAPA race. Congrats to everyone!

BAPA Comp in Dunlap - Sept. 2010

2010-09-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

Smoke at sunset

The troops met in Dunlap for the last time in 2010 this weekend. The weather was reasonable with clear skies and light winds forecast. I arrived at the top on Friday night and watched the sunset while assembling my pop-up trailer. The sky was red and the sun a bright red due to smoke in the air.

Saturday morning we awoke to smoke clinging to the canyons and in the air. Apparently a fire was burning in the Sierra between Dunlap and Bishop. It was in the deep Sierra and wouldn't affect our flying tasks to the West, but was a good indication of the Easterly evening wind.

Saturday Jug built a task that had us do the valley tour, then head Southwest to Cutler, and back to meet at the pizza joint in Squaw Valley. I launched early and found the lift to be dependable up to the 6,500' inversion. I manged to get a great start and was first over to Hill 49917 and back to launch for the leg to Last Chance. Fred went ahead of me on the way to Last Chance. Josh and Jug took a higher line than I did on the way back to launch and we flew together for the remainder of the task.

It was obvious, as we proceeded from Hill 49917 to Bald Mtn., that the West wind was much stronger than expected. The leg SW to Cutler was going to be tough even if we could get up at Bald (which we didn't).

Everyone except Fredric landed at (or prior to) the ranger station. Fred continued on to land a few kilometers South of the pizza joint.

My flight is HERE.

Sunday's forecast was similar to the preceding day's with light, Southy winds. Jug built a great task of 24 miles that had two valley crossings and some good opportunities for tactical decisions. As it turned out, the task was very enjoyable racing and put a lot of pilots into goal.

I had another good start and was chasing Josh around the course. Another gaggle was trailing me by a climb or two and kept me hustling to stay ahead. It was nice to find climbs when you needed them and, sometimes, nice climbs were found in spots that usually don't work too well.

My last climb was to 7,000' and gave me sufficient altitude to fly to Bald and then to the finish.

It was a very fun day of racing and great to see the happy faces in goal after one of my most enjoyable flights in Dunlap.

Cumulative scores for the league will be HERE when they are up.

Next week the league heads to the Owens Valley and it's looking less than likely I'll be able to attend. I hope the weather cooperates and you all go high & far.

Fly Safe -

Tim