Oz Report

Free Flying at the Paraglider Worlds, part 2

Come as a tourist and fly close to the Worlds (Mt Borah, Manilla, west launch)

http://www.manilla2007.com/Default.aspx?tabid=117

http://ozreport.com/10.241#6  (Compare below, to what it originally said)

Behind the scenes Godfrey and the CIVL officials are engaged in, well, negotiations, about various aspects of the 2007 paragliding worlds.  Behind the scenes here at the home of the 2007 flex wing worlds meet director and CIVL liaison person, and only coincidentally Oz Report world headquarters, we are also engaged in a similar (in some cases exactly the same) struggle.

Godfrey writes:

Given that I am in hot debate with FAI about this issue for free flyers, I have noted the situation in more detail on the website now so that there is no shred of doubt as to what free flying any visitors can expect.

There is no question that we will not allow free flyers to fly at the same time on the course line as the Worlds pilots, that is obviously against the rule at 4.5 and compromises the integrity of the event.  It will not occur and was never going to happen under any circumstances.

Godfrey's web site states (slightly edited):

Free Flyers and Flying Holiday Info updated 2nd Dec 2006

You are invited to come to the Manilla 2007 Worlds and FLY !!!!

The Manilla 2007 Worlds event will allow Free Flyers to take to the air at certain times on task days.  A Free Flyers Event Guide will be available online soon and at headquarters to explain the requirements.  Provided that the task does not come back to Mt Borah you will be able to fly soon after the Comp pilots have left the area at the Launch Director's discretion of course, and in accordance with FAI Section 7, para 4.5 rules.

Basically free flyers are not permitted to fly the task line - for safety and competitive reasons, or approach the goal area while it is in operation - for safety reasons.  It might also be possible pending CIVL consideration to launch up to a certain time before the competition flying launch window is open but with strict airspace rules in place.

As the Comp tasks are generally one way to goal, visiting spectator pilots should be able to launch and follow the competitors for an aerial sideline view of the event !

Manilla always sends a warm country welcome to all spectators and pilots and is awaiting your visit.

Why not make the Paragliding World Championships a good reason to visit Australia for a flying holiday in Feb/March 2007.  Come to Manilla for a few days, a week or even the whole two weeks, have a great flying time, party and support your National Team.

The Opening Ceremony (Sat 24th Feb 2007) will feature an Air Show, Pilot Town Parade, Opening Ceremony and free entertainment with all the stars of the Paragliding scene present.

This time of year is not peak season for tourism, the airfares and accommodation are cheaper than in mid summer, and the weather is great for flying at all major sites around Australia and of course its a great time to see all the other attractions Down Under !

We won't be having free flyers at Big Spring, but there are other issues which we are dueling with the great guys (and Heather) at the CIVL Bureau about.  All very gentlemanly and in good spirit (so far).  We all want to support hang gliding and hang gliding competition world wide.

Discuss Free Flying at the Oz Report forum

Boycott at the 2007 Paragliding Worlds?

Portugal pulls out and asks other nations to do likewise. (Mt Borah, Manilla, west launch)

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=9556

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=47282#47282

Fernando Amaral, Portuguese Delegate at CIVL, <fernandoamaral> writes:

As you know the "team size rule" was changed at last February's CIVL Plenary meeting and became effective  the 1st of May 2006 when it was published in the 2006 version of the Section 7B (Paragliders) of the FAI Sporting Code.  Despite that, this new rule which all the CIVL delegates discussed, and to some extent helped to refine and which the Plenary approved (18 in favor, 9 against - 2/3 majority), is not being applied when setting team sizes for the next World Paragliding Championship to be held February 2007 in Australia.  The old team size rule is being used.

As a protest the Portuguese Free Flying Federation (FPVL) has decided not to participate in the World Championships.  The FPVL document explaining the reasons for this decision follows and I ask you to bring this subject up with your own Federations/Associations and to consider if you should take similar measures.

This Plenary decision is not the only one that was not followed later by the Bureau and I'll be back to you soon with details on another one.  There's no point in spending our Federation's money and our own time going to the Plenary if the decisions we take there are not complied with.

Announcement – Paragliding World Championship 2007

The directors board of the FPVL (Portuguese Hang Gliding and Paragliding Federation) hereby, informs all members, and presents the reasons beyond the decision of not be present on Paragliding World Championship, that will take place from February 24th to March 9th of 2007, at Manilla, Australia.  This decision, thus, taken with great regret, is due to the below mentioned issues, and takes the form of a complaint, which will be duly sent to the attention of the Fédéracion Aéronautique International (FAI), to the Portuguese Sports Institute, Portuguese Olympic Committee, International Olympic Committee, Portuguese Aero Club and Delegates of the Commission International de Vol Libre – CIVL.

1) The overall national team results in Paragliding World Championships is obtained by the total of the best three pilot results in each task.  But for how amazing it may seem, on the 2003 Paragliding World Championship in Governador Valadares (Brazil), the enrollment was only allowed, to the Portuguese as well as to other teams, to 3 pilots (2 males + 1 female), while several other countries participated with seven pilots (5 males + 2 females).  In view of this situation, the Portuguese team, present on the that Championship, put in action a request subscribed on site by nine countries, and later by others, in order be removed from the overall Classification by countries.  These requests were not accepted

2) In February 2006, at the plenary meeting of CIVL, which took place in Lausanne, Switzerland, Portugal presented a proposal aimed changing the rules for the teams’ constitution on the FAI category 1 competitions – Paragliding World and European Championships – attributing identical size to all teams and devolving justice and sportive credibility to these events.  Eighteen votes for and nine against approved this proposal.

3) The rule for “Team size and scoring” proposed by Portugal was based on very simple principles:

• Minimum number of participants for all countries is three male pilots + one female (once all accomplish the rules for single qualification).

• The remaining openings will circularly be granted one per team until all teams have received an extra place, then again one per team until reaching a second place and so forth.

This way, there will be a better distribution of participants among the nations.

4) The Paragliding subcommittee reached by unanimous conclusion, during the discussion brought by the analysis of Portuguese proposal, that there was inequity on previous rules.  The fact that there were teams with only two pilots, whilst the competition’s results is obtained from the three best individual results.  The minimum number of participants per country, of 3 + 1, was included on the report of the Paragliding subcommittee, and thereof approved on the plenary.

5) Still, and despite being approved in the plenary meeting of CIVL one year before the Manilla championship, and despite being published on Section 7B of the FAI Sports Code, in force since May 1, 2006, this new rule concerning the teams size, will not be used on the next World Championship.

6) The only argument presented by the organization body is that the new rule for the team formation was not yet in force when the contract with FAI was signed.  The older rule was inherent to the decision, since this was the one in force.  They also claim that the use of the new rule might have implications on the number of participants and consequently on the estimated profits.  Curiously, on the initial phase the organizer showed agreement with the new rules, deciding, later on, for the previously existing one.

The board of the FPVL considers that the required conditions, to attain the primary goal of FAI, for the holding of such championships – provide a safe, fair, and pleasant competition - are not met, nor are the elementary principals of sport's spirit in general.  Therefore, we find it inappropriate to be cooperating with distortion procedures, profiting only some influential minorities to the detriment of the sport's truth.

Due to the presented motives, the FPVL refuses to sign up Portugal for the next Paragliding World Championship, since, in our opinion; it would support an event where the classification of the countries will be not sportive at start.

Yours sincerely, On behalf of board of directors (Prof.  Paulo Branco)

Discuss Boycott at the Oz Report forum

The 2007 Gulgong Classic

The story, not just the results (Gulgong)

http://ozreport.com/10.238#1

Adam Parer <adamparer> writes:

The Airborne Gulgong Classic runs through the last week of November and this small NSW town becomes home to a field of hang glider pilots hoping to sample its world class flying.  Gulgong is out west, but it's not strictly flatlands.  It's less than 1000ft AMSL, there are small hills in most directions with spectacular terrain to the southeast and seabreeze convergence can also kick-in late in the day.  The Gulgong sailplane operation boasts a long, wide grass strip, big hangar space and all the amenities of a camping site, and just for our benefit the club puts on a top feed every night.  Anyone who was here for the inaugural event in 2002 scored phenomenal flying with huge climbs, long glides and 14,000' cloud bases and this year saw a return to those incredible conditions.  As usual the caliber of the competition was red-hot.  Five out of the world top ten, the European Champion, the Pre-world champion, German team pilot Jorge Bajewski, US number seven, Chris Smith, past Oz National champions and the bulk of the Oz top ten were all here.

Day one, 10am and the briefing started with Gerolf Heinrichs presenting a compelling argument about FTV and it soon became clear he was preaching to the converted.  But when a vote was taken, it was decided that OzGAP 2005 would be used instead.  Then the task committee set a triangle of 110km.  The four tugs fired up and within an hour had the whole field airborne.  The day started out well with climbs averaging between 200-700ft/min getting us to altitudes of 8000ft but early into the first leg high cloud moved in from the south and threatened to sour the day.  Shadow overtook the pilots and the course line.  The thermals slowed down and extended glides ate into the altitude.  Patient pilots who dropped down a gear were rewarded when the cloud opened up, let some light in and eventually half the field made it to goal.  Timing was everything on the last leg: some flew the last 28km straight directly to goal, while others found it a huge area of sink and struggled to make it home.  Gerolf made goal first but Michael Freisenbichler won the day.

Day two saw the task committee set a cat's cradle covering over 161km with six waypoints.  The local pilots assured us it was a good day and they weren't wrong!  Cloudbase looked to be around 14,500' and we soon found standard climb rates of 1000ft/min with many pilots finding much stronger averages.  During the race the lead pack dropped some big names towards the end of the course.  At 500' and 10Km short of the last turnpoint Jon Durand drifted in zeros while Chris Smith and Jorge circled above him in sink.  As they met up with Jon they flew off in search of something better but landed instead.  Jon hung with the zeros, eventually drifted leeside behind a small hill and was rewarded with an average of 1300ft/min.  Jonny got 6th and Attila won the day.

Day three didn't look as good as day two so a 132km task was called with goal at Glen Alice via Mudgee and Coolyal.  But the locals assured us we were in for another good day and once again they were right.  Again the cloudbase looked above the 14,000ft mark and climb rates averaged 900-1100ft/min.  The last leg provided an incredible vantage point to watch the bush fires raging in the Bylong valley to the east.  As a change approached from the south the last leg of the course thickened-up with powerful looking cumuli that quickly developed into a cloud street 20km long, pointing along the course line and into goal.  ten made the distance with Jorge Bajewski making it in at 6pm after ridge soaring, below hill height, for ninety minutes.  Michael Freisenbichler won another day.
 
On day four we woke to high winds and most pilots admitted they could do with the rest so by day five they were ready for a cracker of a task: 211km with two turn points.  But when we got on course it was a surprise to struggle under a solid inversion at 7000ft.  After the previous two tasks 7000ft felt low, but the guns pushed hard, with mixed results.  Gerolf and Dave Seib bombed out as did many other pilots who had a hard time with the elusive thermals, but those who made the first turnpoint enjoyed better climbs and a higher ceiling for the rest of the way.  But the first leg was slow and time was now the problem.  Johnny and Attila managed to make goal and enjoyed final glides of better than 16:1 in the buoyant evening air.  Some pilots landed after 7pm.  Jon won the day.

Task five was a short 81km with a turnpoint at the half way mark.  The conditions were inverted again but most pilots pushed hard and were rewarded with improving conditions around the turnpoint with smoother climbs, nicer air and higher altitudes.  Gerolf took the turnpoint with the lead gaggle and pointed towards goal with a required glide of 22:1, and made it!  The others thought this a bit aggressive and were at least 5 minutes slower after stopping for a top-up along the way.  Twenty four pilots made it to goal.  Gerolf won the day with Chris Jones in 2nd and Len Paton in 3rd.  Overall Attila was ahead of Johnny by over 200 points but when someone suggested this lead was good enough Attila replied in his strong Hungarian accent, "Jonny never gives up".

Task six was another 'spaghetti on the map page' affair: 119km with four turnpoint's that intersected throughout the course.  The conditions were great and big climbs averaging 1000ft/min were common.  The air was constantly changing and depending at what time you flew the course determined whether you flew directly to turnpoint or sank like a stone.  Some big names went down including Rohan Holtkamp, Joerg Bajewski and Cameron Tunbridge.  Just as Attila predicted Jonny didn't give up, on the contrary, he won the day with Gerolf in 2nd and Michael Freisenbichler in 3rd.  Overall Attila had just four points up his sleeve to stay ahead and win overall.

Discuss Gulgong at the Oz Report forum

CIVL working on competition scoring system

Agust Gudmundsson wants to work with SeeYou/Naviter (Lausanne, Switzerland)

http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/meetings/bureau/2006_nov

- The FAI working group on the new Flight Data Management System has not yet finalized its work, and this makes it difficult for the compatibility of CIVL software to be determined.

- In May 2006 the new WPRS web site was brought online – it has all results of all sanctioned competitions since 2001, as well as all pilots who have competed in those competitions.  Now we are working on the next steps to add the flight verification and scoring part of it.  This will be free for all pilots and organizers.  Organizers are pressing for this more because of the high prices of commercial flight verification software.

CIVL’s new competition part of the software cannot progress until it is clear what Naviter has already developed.  Rather than duplicating development, Agust Gudmundsson and Scott Torkelsen should liaise with Naviter so the projects can be combined.  Naviter says they have much already in place.

It is important for CIVL to discover quickly exactly what has been and will be done.  CIVL has to decide if we are prepared to wait and delay much needed software, or continue our development without knowing the extent of duplicate functionality.  Scott and Agust will travel to Slovenia to meet Naviter if needed.

- It is aimed to have new version of RACE in place before the Plenary, with bug fixes and some additions already requested.  Old versions of RACE (Race2002 and older) should be removed from the CIVL website.

Discuss Scoring at the Oz Report forum

Bare Naked Ladies

A Canadian Band

http://www.bnlmusic.com/splash.asp

https://www.werkshop.com/bnllive/details.jsp?product_id=11043

All the songs come in non-protected formats.  Put them on your USB flash drive: https://www.werkshop.com/bnllive/customerservice.jsp

Discuss BNL at the Oz Report forum

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