Seven amazing days were given to the pilots who made it for Round 2 of the US Paragliding Nationals over The Wasatch in Salt Lake City, Utah. We flew over 500km during the week, and averaged over 72km per day. There is something magical about getting to race every day of a comp. This competition gave pilots the opportunity to explore some amazing places tucked up into the Wasatch. Crossing over Lone Peak was spectacular.
The task calling couldn’t have been better. Although, some wanted shorter tasks as they were grinded down to a fine powder towards the end of the week. The opportunity presented itself to explore the entire range, Bill Belcourt and the rest of the sages on the committee didn’t let it slip away. So much so that we broke the out and return state distance record with three lone Eagle Team Pilots coming into goal. Josh Cohn took that one, and his flying was truly inspiring all week. Brad was next in, and Pete Schaefer slowed his roll and found a final climb that put him into goal while eleven before him didn’t have the altitude to hit the launch turn point before gliding to goal at the school. Nice one Pete, and good job getting in the top 10 overall!
 
We flew South and our Danish Eagle & UP team pilot Mads Syndergaard from Denmark took the deep line and slipped away on a serious solo mission. He pushed hard and turned very little, landing at goal 23 minutes before Josh and the posse arrived. There we so many guys flying amazing all week. Mads won the other task we flew south as well by almost 9 minutes. Thank goodness the wind starting blowing from the other direction, and we started flying north, otherwise Mads would have likely continued taking us to school on that route. Nate was charging super hard as he has been since the 90’s. That guy is so fun to fly with, and you know you’re in the right place when you catch up with him and get to laugh your way to the top of a ripping thermal with him. Matt Beechinor (aka “Farmer”) keeps getting it done day after day. He is the model of consistency and as at the worlds, Farmer was the top finishing American consistently finding the line and success. Eagle Team Pilots continued to dominate the podium, and 7 out of the top 10 were Eagle Team Pilots.
Eagle Team Pilot Johnny Van Duzer took home the trophy for Serial Class Champion, and if I’m not mistaken this is a three-peat for his third title in a row. Johnny is always at or near the front of the pack, and makes that Trango 3 go better than some of the comp wings. Johnny is never one to follow, and always seems to pick a solid line, maybe that’s why he continues to crush.
Jochen Rink took the Sport Class by over 1000 points. This guy will be one to watch out for in the years to come if he doesn’t get ahead of himself. He was flying with the leaders all week.
 The Eagle women represented as well with Cherie Silvera and Melanie Pfister tracking first and second overall in the Women’s Class. Cheri has been racing for a long time, and it was good to see here kick butt. Melanie had some really impressive finishes in Europe this Summer.
What an amazing week. Big thanks to Mark Gaskill for doing a fantastic job as Meet Director. Everything was very organized, and everybody was pretty happy. Lots of folks wanted me to thank Brad for getting the strippers to unfold gliders on launch. Josh Waldrop handled his Launch Director job like a pro, and set a really sweet vibe at launch with no major launch incidents the whole week. Big Thanks to LE Herrick, Marge Variano, and the rest of the chase crew. There were so many people that volunteered to help at this event. Chris Hunlow opened up his house for HQ, Alejandro, Evo, Zac, and all the other drivers and people that helped are what make these events possible. Will Gadd talked about “The Collective” up at the Canadian Nationals a couple summers back. Everybody helps out to make these events possible. I wish to express my gratitude to all of the folks who volunteered their week to gift the pilots an amazing week.
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 This year it was decided that we would name the 2009 US National Paragliding Champion over two events. Last year, the Nationals in the Owens Valley only had two days of flying, and we wanted to be sure there were more tasks counted in naming the champion. Jugdeep Aggarwal held the first round of the US PG Nationals at Dunlap in California. It was an amazing week of flying, and combining those scores with the Utah scores gave us a very valid point total to crown Brad Gunnuscio the 2009 US National Paragliding Champion. The combined scoring was set so that we would drop 1 out of every 4 tasks which scored at least 900 points. This was to promote racing, and has been done all over the world at different competitions for years. We would also count the rest of the scores which were not 900 point days, and there would be no discards for these days. We are still working out the wrinkles with the scoring, but should have a better idea on how it will all work for the next go round. After all was said and done, Brad Gunnuscio was Overall US National Champion, Eric Reed was second, and Nick Greece took 3rd. Eric finished second at the first round in Dunlap, and the Badger is always in the money. This guy just continues to win year in and year out. I think we need to do an interview and get inside the mind of the Badger for our next newsletter. Nick Greece gets some much deserved podium time. He has been right there so many times, and had one day of an event drop him off the podium.
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 Big Congratulations to American Honza Rejmanek for taking third and getting the podium time we predicted in our summer newsletter. Honza is already talking about the race in 2011. Christian Maurer dominated the race, and Alex Hofer came in second. The real race was for third place. The world watched as Honza battled British pilot Aidan Toase, as well as Russian pilot Evgeny Gryaznov for third place.
It came down to the wire at the end. Honza got to enjoy his final flight knowing he had taken third place. Honza wanted me to thank everyone who supported him and his crew Dave Hanning by donating to the cause. We will try and get an interview with Honza to share his X-Alps experience with us. He is very busy catching up on his PHD program at UC Davis. However, he did have time to fly around lake Tahoe between classes. Have a look at his track log.
| Athlete |
Country |
Time |
Distance |
| 1 |
Christian Maurer |
Switzerland |
9 Days 23:54 |
818 km |
| 2 |
Alex Hofer |
Switzerland |
11 Days 09:18 |
818 km |
| 3 |
Honza Rejmanek |
USA |
11 Days 23:54 |
672 km |
Go to www.redbullxalps.com for complete coverage
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So our USHPA magazine editor Nick Greece is a pretty sick bird. He almost left paragliding after only a year to follow a career as a rapper, and is almost famous on the East Coast for laying it down. Luckily, he chose flying. He was 3rd overall at the combined US nationals, and has always been a steady performer at competitions. He had a pretty great season cracking off three flights over 100 miles, and he was also part of the group that flew over 100 miles in the Owens before the 2008 US Nationals. I’ve yet to fly the 100 miler, and Nick is making me feel pretty soft.
One of this year's 100+ mile flights was at Piedrahita in Spain during a competition. This will be the site of the 2011 Paragliding World Championships. They cancelled the task and Nick just kept on flying because it looked safe and fun and he was right. The other two long flights were in Jackson Hole over some fairly committed terrain.
Pretty cool that our magazine editor can send it with the best of them. Nick is always trying to spread news about all good things and cool stuff, and what better way to get the word out about www.XContest.org than to be winning. He is top dog in United States competition. Nick likely has 2009 wrapped up as US Champ since we are getting close to the end of the season.
XContest quickly became the world’s biggest worldwide XC online systems in 2007. They have made it pretty easy to download your flights and they have a great many cool features. Nick has inspired me to sign up and participate. Now all I have to do is fly 100 miles.
View the details of Nick's 208km flight from Piedrahita |
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Introducing the new Flytec 6015 variometer. Ther perfect vario for the intermediate xc pilot.
- Integrated super sensitive 20 channel GPS
- Automatic tracklog recording up to 50 flights and 291 hrs
- Return to last thermal pointer
- Track compass with wind speed and direction
- Scrolling vario graph
- Digital airspeed display when used with optional HG or PG sensor
- Ground speed & Wind speed & Wind Direction
- 3D track log (IGC format)
- Automatic flight start and stop detection
- 50 flight logbook
- 20,000 track log points
- Flight memory data maintained if batteries are removed
- Navigation track compass
- Return to last thermal pointer
- Glide Ratio
- Current position display
- Up to 300 waypoints and 1 route (option)
- Size: 5-3/8" x 2-7/8" x 13/16" (138 x 74 x 23 mm)
- Weight: 6.3 oz.(182 g) including batteries without clamp
- Optional scratch resistant display face available
- Battery life over 40 hours on 2 AA (included) or 10 years in standby mode.
- Continual display of battery status in run mode and in start-up sequence
The 6015 Vario should be available for purchase very soon. Please check the news section of our website in the coming weeks if you are interested in purchasing this vario. You can email us now to pre-order this product. |
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After a decade of class-defining performance, the Trango family is ready for the next incarnation – and this time UP's got something very special in store for you! Made to take the word ‘performance’ to the next level, this is THE wing for XC and Serial Class competition hounds.
UP Trango XC – the best performing certified wing, this thoroughbred 3-line race machine makes fast flying easy, and has the feel and the handling to help the pilot centre lift fast every time. We call it SENSATIONAL BALANCE
A true 3-liner is a wing that has only A, B and C line attachments on the canopy - just like the UP Edge, just like the new Trango XC. The advantages are obvious, with lines meaning drag, and less drag equalling more performance. On the new Trango XC the 3-line concept has been enhanced with the second generation of the UP Pitch trimmers, where the entire airfoil is changed when the trimmers are applied, so that although the wing is slowed down in climbing mode its near-perfect stalling characteristics don't change at all! The brake travel even remains the same!
Highlights of the UP Trango XC
- True 3-liner - less drag, more performance, more fun
- New risers designed in conjunction with the comp prototype risers - efficient and easy speed increase at at your feet
- 2nd generation Pitch Trimmers - slow down the airfoil in lift without compromising slow flight feel. Also handy for tight landings
- New wingtips - better handling, gentle stall characteristics and reduced induced drag
- New canopy camber - tips are higher in relation to canopy center compared to recent UP wings. This makes for higher projected aspect ratio, and has allowed us to go reduce the flat area of the wing for the same weight ranges
- Rounded cell openings - improves the inflation and strengthens the leading edge for increased tuck resistance
- Full race line concept - all lines made from unsheathed Aramide
- 2nd generation Airfoil Stabilising System in the leading edge. Straight from the competition prototypes, this UP innovation keeps the leading edge shape with NO MYLAR inserts, and allows pilots the performance and stability of comparable Mylar leading edges without the hassle of accordion folding, and with no risk of cravattes
- Partial Brakeline Tensioning System - the UP BTS is employed for most of the trailing edge, in the middle the brake lines are moved forward from the trailing edge to improve canopy definition and control
- SpaceFrame Concept - no rigid or semi-rigid Mylar inserts in the canopy design, all shapes are maintained with carefully calculated pull only, just like in a Space Frame
This all translates to a new performance wing like no other. It launches better than most school wings, it handles like a hot knife in butter, it has a high top speed of 57km/h and it remains very stable all the way up there. Add to this the directional stability at speed and the very docile behavior when the going gets rough, and you have the perfect tool for going far, fast.
We expect to begin delivery of the M size in December 2009, with the other sizes to follow shortly thereafter.
Trango XC Tecnical specs
| Size |
S |
S/M |
M |
L |
| Flat Area |
23.17 |
25.52 |
27.60 |
29.97 |
| Projected Area |
19.67 |
21.66 |
23.59 |
24.44 |
| Flat Span |
12.13 |
12.74 |
13.29 |
13.80 |
| Projected Span |
9.62 |
10.10 |
10.54 |
10.94 |
| Flat AR |
6.4 |
6.4 |
6.4 |
6.4 |
| Projected AR |
4.71 |
4.71 |
4.71 |
4.71 |
| Chambers |
72 |
72 |
72 |
72 |
| Load-bearing ribs |
26 |
26 |
26 |
26 |
| Total line length incl. brakes |
293 |
307 |
321 |
333 |
| Number of lines incl. brakes |
168 |
168 |
168 |
168 |
| Line dimensions |
0.8/0.9/1.1 |
0.8/0.9/1.1 |
0.8/0.9/1.1 |
0.8/0.9/1.1 |
| LTF Category |
2/3 |
2/3 |
2/3 |
2/3 |
| EN Category |
D |
D |
D |
D |
| Vtrim/Vmax |
39/57 |
39/57 |
39/57 |
39/57 |
| Start weight min/max |
65/80 |
77/93 |
90/107 |
104/122 |
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The Airwave TANDEM glider has a huge trim range as well as a large weight range, making this tandem the most versatile on the market. The huge trim range through positive and negative trimmer setting means that the tandem can both fly very fast as well as super slow. The LTF measured a top speed of 52km/h at the top weight of 220kg, and the glider still received an LTF1-2 even at this high speed and top end weight. Even at low speeds the TANDEM is amazingly versatile. At 130kg with trimmers full slow (this is usually not done!) the tandem still retained such good handling that it received the LTF1-2.
The wing is lighter than all previous Airwave tandems at just 8.6kg and is the best launching tandem we have ever made. The TANDEM is available in 3 colors.
More information
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The Niviuk Speedarms have been designed and made using the same textile material as that used in the professional cycling environment around the world. This proven, hard wearing and practical material is produced in Italy by a manufacturer who has one of the best reputations in the world for producing high quality clothing for the sport of cycling.
The 4th Dixon White Memorial Fly in is going to happen October 23-25th.
UP has issued a safety notice on some of the Pico's, Summit XC's, and Trango 3's that were manufactured using Liros Dyneema (Liros DC) lines.
