Flybubble Team Pilot Alistair Andrews shares the joys of paragliding in Nepal. "After a blinding flying season in 2015, although hopeful, I never expected 2016 to match it. Work was more intense, I spent some time overseas both flying and not, I got married and even lost my job towards the end of the season! I was very lucky to be offered a trip to Nepal to teach some Gurkhas to fly."
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Last year, Dale Lippstreu flew 268km in South Africa on his ATOS (Class 5 rigid wing hang glider).
Although longer flights are often achieved across the South African interior, this is an exceptional flight for the mountainous region of the Western Cape, where the technical challenges usually end flights well before 200km.
Dale shares some insight into achieving this flight.
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Last year, Dale Lippstreu flew 268km in South Africa on his ATOS (Class 5 rigid wing hang glider). Although longer flights are often achieved across the South African interior, this is an exceptional flight for the mountainous region of the Western Cape, where the technical challenges usually end flights well before 200km.
Read moreI will never forget this flight. It will always be present in my mind, during every glide and under every cloud…
The cumulus looked similar to others of the day. So did its shadow and its size. I was climbing with a soft 3m/s under the centre of it, where I always found the best lift that day, if not at the windward side.
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Flybubble's Carlo Borsattino offers some tips for flying well on a paraglider (or hang glider) on light wind days.
Read moreIs it just me, or do some aspects of paragliding strike you as, well, just a bit abnormal?
Read moreCross country (XC) flying is inspiring and adventurous. In its simplest form, you fly from one place to another. Because it’s so exciting when you achieve the impossible, it can be incredibly frustrating when you don’t. Why can I never leave the hill? you might wonder.
XC flying is an advanced skill, and it requires a broad foundation of training and practice to be able to do it consistently.
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Paragliding photos from a wonderful cross country flight by paraglider from Devils Dyke near Brighton in East Sussex to Margate in Kent, via Ashford and Canterbury.
It was pretty tricky getting up – and then staying up – to being with. Eventually our patience was rewarded by an incredibly beautiful, ethereal experience soaring up the side of some beautiful sea breeze front clouds. Then we had great fun gaggle-flying with a nice group of pilots on to Lewes and beyond. Rather than shoot off ahead on our own, we decided it’d be more fun to stay with the gaggle and see how far we could all get together.
What a lovely, lovely day… 🙂
See Carlo’s flight tracklog
Photos by Carlo Borsattino, Flybubble.
The XPYR is a race along the length of the Pyrenees mountains, which divide Spain and France. It alternates with the RedBull X-Alps race for the title of toughest paragliding event of the year. Contestants must carry their paraglider (or fly with it). The course is 480 km, the race starts at 05:30 and ends at 22:30 every day, and lasts about a week. Flybubble Team Pilot Greg Hamerton supported by James Hope Lang competed in the 2016 edition.
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A tactical review from the midfield by Greg Hamerton:Â I don't like jogging. My normal day involves 10 hours or so of sitting at a PC, interrupted by exciting moments of coffee and chocolate. Occasionally, if the weather's good, I'll go flying instead. So to even consider something like the Bornes To Fly, I knew I needed some body-conditioning. Then there was the unavoidable fact that my name appears on the XPYR entry list for July, along with Maurer, Durogati and Coconea.
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