The final event of the US Paragliding Nationals, celebrated in Chelan, has come to a close.
Ozone Team pilot, Nick Greece reports:
“Chelan, Washington is one of the top flatland paragliding competition arenas in the World! This year the US National Championship’s final leg was held in this part of Washington where pilots get to fly through beautiful mountains, across incredible flatlands with rivers and hanging lakes cutting the wheat filled landscapes where a glacial explosion carved a swath from Canada through Washington and Oregon million of years ago. Passing over historic cities like Coulee City, which houses one of America’s greatest engineering achievements of the 1930’s, Grand Coulee Dam. Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water.
Racing paragliders is similar to sailboat racing. In this competition 150 competitors launch in an hour-long window and get into position for the start. We then race for 2 to 5 hours across wide expanses ranging from 40 to 100 mile-long courses averaging speeds of 20-40 mph per day. The first person to come in gets 1000 points and one point for every second behind …read more
Source:: Ozone Paragliders