Antoine Girard’s South America Update

Antoine Girard and Martin Beaujouan have started their South American bivouac journey 80km south of Santiago, Chile. Very few pilots have flown in this area – heavily forested locations make the access extremely complicated with few take-offs or landings.

In addition, stable conditions have made it very difficult for Antoine and Martin, who have covered 160km out of the 700km planned for this part of their mission. Both pilots remain optimistic with the route ahead, saying that the only major complication will be finding water. Follow Antoine’s progress along this challenging 2500km South American bivouac flight click HERE.

Stay tuned for more!

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Source:: Ozone Paragliders

Stefano and Emi Set New Tandem Distance Record in New Zealand.

Stefano Gigli came to New Zealand five years ago. His first stop was Raglan, where he immediately fell in love with the Kiwi lifestyle. Since that first visit, Stefano has called New Zealand home. Last summer he began flying the Swift 41 and noticed its XC potential right away, which inspired him to go for distance in New Zealand.

OZONE Power manager, Emilia Plak, is a regular visitor to New Zealand, and when she returned this year Stefano immediately scooped her up as his passenger and set off into no-man’s-land. Stefano and Emi took off from Wanaka and flew what could be the longest tandem flight ever achieved in New Zealand.

In Stefano’s words:

“The valley breezes and the sea breezes from the east and west characterize this southern region and it is not always easy to make good flights or get to goal. The weather changes constantly and when you fly you must always keep in mind the possibility of bivouacking somewhere. Last December we had four days of wonderful weather to fly and we had a lot of fun. With the SwiftMax we were able to increase the average speed in the transitions and its glide performance allowed …read more

Source:: Ozone Paragliders

Nick Neynens and his 200km triangle at home

Nick Neynens has been exploring the mountains around the Southern Lakes of New Zealand ever since he learnt to fly. His latest 200km triangle attempt (still good enough for a new national record) had him landing just down the road from home. In his words:

The previous day after getting snowed on and waiting for over four hours on take off for cloud to lift, I’d had a great flight through the boonies until I popped out at Glenorchy and realised my SPOT subscription had lapsed! I landed on a ridge and spent a frustrating few hours on the internet before calling it a night, waking the next morning at cloud base with cold toes. By 10am I was already in the air, with a quick scenic run up the Earnslaw burn to check another fast melting glacier (the snow came after a month of record heat, it looks like late autumn) as cloud swirled around in the not so mellow southeasterly. Climbing just a few hundred feet before reaching cloud base at 5500′ or so, I ran up and down Mt Alfred sniffing out a climb and then continued down the Dart valley, with a side trip into …read more

Source:: Ozone Paragliders

X-Light 2: Sol’s latest pod harness

Sol have released a new lightweight pod harness, the X-Light 2, in four sizes and three colours. The Brazilian company say the cross-country harness is optimised for aerodynamic performance and comfort. It weighs from 3.7kg in the S size, to 4.15kg in XL, and is EN and LTF certified for pilot weights up to […]

The post X-Light 2: Sol’s latest pod harness appeared first on Cross Country Magazine – In the Core since 1988.

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Source:: Cross Country – International Free Flying Magazine