Cross Country August 2018

We had a debate amongst our team here at Cross Country about what makes a great flying shot, and then what makes a great photograph for the cover. People made notes: “Excellent strong image, close-cropped which is unusual, lots of movement, action, joy written on the pilot’s face.” “Nice holiday shot, but better for a calendar. Not dynamic enough for the magazine.” “I like this one. Adventure, wide-angle, nice atmosphere … but it’s not as punchy as the other. So lacks impact.” “This does not relate to flying in any significant way.” “An inspiring shot, almost empty, it’s pure.” “That onboard style has been seen so much.” The images were all good photographs, all technically perfect but it was the story that each one told that was different. Landscapes that capture the…

Harry Bloxham lives in Bristol, England where he has developed a passion for outdoor sports and photography. Shooting landscape, paragliding and other mountain sports, he gives us some good ideas on how to snap that perfect free-flight photo. Find him at hb.photos and on p46 Emilia Plak is a passionate paramotor, paraglider and speed-riding pilot, and works in the sport with Ozone Power. Her most recent adventure saw her coordinate a group of 40 pilots on a unique trip to fly above the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. She tells us about it on p64 Verena Burns learnt to fly in the Lake District, England, and it’s still her favourite place. A South American road trip has been her dream for almost 20 years, and a break between jobs finally made it…

Midsummer Madness The longest day in the northern hemisphere is the summer solstice on 21 June. The days around it provide the longest available amount of daylight for flying far. Matt Henzi (Enzo 2) and Reavis Sutphin-Gray (Enzo) took advantage of that on the longest day to fly 300km from Pine Mountain, Oregon, USA. Flying southeast they flew for almost 10 hours, with base rising to 4,000m in the afternoon. Meanwhile, in Europe, flatland guru Martin Morlet flew his Enzo 3 236km across a large chunk of France for the longest midsummer’s day flight of the year in Europe. He then flew 372.4km the next day too! His 372km flight was submitted to the FAI as a European record in the ‘Free distance with three turnpoints category’. Iranian Summer The flying in Iran…

June saw the inaugural Applegate Open in the Applegate Valley, Oregon USA. Formerly known as the Rat Race, this US National Championship series has been run by Mike and Gail Haley for years, but this year and hopefully forever forward the Rogue Valley Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club took over the reins and ran what can only be described as a perfect flying competition. The only day that was cancelled was the practice day, then seven incredibly racy, exciting and at times demanding tasks were flown in seven days. The competition is broken down into three categories in an effort to make it accessible to every level of pilot: the Rat Race for the chargers; the Rat Race Sprint for those pilots with intermediate or better skills but new to comps;…

Tanguy Renaud-Gouy, 21, won the St Hil’Airtour in June, one of only six pilots to complete the week-long 344km adventure race in France. A physical education student at University Savoie Mont Blanc he learnt to fly when he was 12. After coming 20th in last year’s race he started this year with “no pressure” as he’d already had a good season. “I tried to stay ahead, because I learnt last year you have to.” The race follows a series of three loops, each time coming back to St Hilaire over seven days. The weather was “catastrophic” for the first four days. “We hiked for miles, trying to make top-to-bottoms. But then it got better, allowing us to make some good flights.” Crossing Grenoble on foot on the second day was a low point,…

Two new competition gliders were on test at the Paragliding World Cup in Gemona, Italy in June. Triple Seven’s Gambit, flown by Tilen Ceglar, has “about 130 cells” designer Urban Valic said and flew under RFC rules. Also under the ‘ready for certification’ rule, Christian Amon was flying the new Mac Para Magus 10. Under the RFC rule one test pilot from each PWCA partner manufacturer is allowed to fly a glider that conforms entirely to CCC (Civl Competition Class), but is not yet certified. The glider must be fully documented and correctly trimmed. Designed to encourage more manufacturers into competition, the rule allows them to do real-world testing before re-trimming and refining the wing based on their results and testing.…