No. 380 DECEMBER 2020 The magazine of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association2 SKYWINGS DECEMBER 2020 attitude I am writing this on the first day of November, having heard the Prime Minister announce a month’s lockdown on the television last night, and having convened an urgent online meet- ing of our management sub-committee today. Since the first lockdown was imposed we have had two (Ian Currer and Dave Thompson) out of the three technical staff on furlough. I spent yesterday drafting formal letters to each of them, moving them off the Furlough Scheme and onto the Job Support Scheme (JSS). I emailed these to Ian and Dave at 17:15 yesterday evening. Soon after 19:00 they went in the bin as being no longer relevant, due to the announcement of the withdrawal of the Job Support Scheme and the extension of the Furlough Scheme. For the time being, Dave and Ian will remain on furlough. Both have spent time telling me how tedious this is! Financial projections for forthcoming years have been looking particularly grim for the BHPA and we have been going through a redundancy process with the technical staff, expecting that we would once again have to bear their salaries in full from November 1st. As a result of the introduction of the JSS and extension of the furlough scheme we have brought that process to a halt. Winter is always a quieter time for our staff; we will review the position in respect of workload and our finances in the spring, before the JSS/furlough scheme comes to an end. The office staff have coped magnificently throughout the furlough scheme and we have now brought all of them back to work in the office. We have complained from time to time that our office is actually too big for our needs. However, just now that is working to our advantage. The office staff can easily maintain large physical separations and stay safe. Nevertheless, we will remain flexible and allow those who can work from home to do so. Sadly, one of our full time staff, Carla, having returned to work following furlough, dis- covered that her new childcare arrangements rendered working for us financially unviable and has resigned. We are genuinely saddened by Carla’s departure and wish her well for the future. We will struggle through the winter with the remaining four office staff, two full- time and two very part-time, but we may well need to recruit someone in the spring, depend- ing on how things look then. Please be patient with the office staff, they are overworked and, from time to time, working from home. Amongst the issues considered at today’s meeting was the effect of the new lockdown. Currently the guidelines say: ‘Stay at home. This means you must not leave or be outside of your home except for specific purposes. These include: to exercise outdoors or visit an outdoor public place.’ In our view, our sports can be argued to constitute exercise and our sites are frequently outdoor public places. The regulations permit visiting the country- side for open-air recreation, but the Department for Transport guidance seeks to ground almost all recreational aviation. Despite having that inconsistency pointed out to them they are sticking to their guns. I sus- pect that they fear that any lifting of the main message will lead to mass disobedience and so they take a hard line. Our aim is to try to maintain freedom for pilots to travel individually to sites and fly. The resumption of flying in July saw a significant spike in accidents following the three-month layoff, and we would not want to see another spike arising simply from pilots being out of practice and desperate to fly. By the time you read this, any guidance we are able to give will have been placed on our website under the ‘News’ section and on our Facebook page. Finally, at this time of year we are beginning to look at the arrangements for the AGM. I anticipate that this year we will have extremely limited capacity for physical atten- dance. We will increase our virtual capability, probably live-streaming proceedings again on Facebook, and possibly also using a meeting system such as Teams or Zoom or the like. Voting papers will arrive in Skywings, either in January or February, and I would encourage members to vote by paper. You can fill in the voting paper and scan it to our office, or just post it. In all likelihood this will be the only way most people will be able to vote. Finally, can I thank everyone who has taken the time and trouble to email me with plaudits for the work we are doing to keep people flying (for the ancient hangies, I have even had one such email from the legendary Brian Wood!). I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and healthy Christmas and a flyable New Year. Surviving the winter … MARC ASQUITH, BHPA CHAIRMAN I apologise that the Attitude page is turning into the old ‘Chairman’s Column’ that used to occupy the space back in the days of yore. However, we do feel that it is important that we try to keep members informed as to the state of play of the BHPA itself, and also of the sport in general.4 SKYWINGS DECEMBER 2020 regulars regulars reviews features DECEMBER 2020 SKYWINGS 5 THE BHPA LTD 8 Merus Court, Meridian Business Park, Leicester LE19 1RJ. Tel: 0116 289 4316. SKYWINGS MAGAZINE is published monthly by the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association Ltd to inform, educate and entertain those in the sports of Paragliding and Hang Gliding. The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, their Council, Officers or Editor. The Editor and publisher accept no responsibility for any supposed defects in the goods, services and practices represented or advertised in this magazine. The Editor reserves the right to edit contributions. ISSN 0951-5712 SUBSCRIPTIONS AND DELIVERY ENQUIRIES Tel: 0116 289 4316, THE EDITOR Joe Schofield, 39 London Road, Harleston, Norfolk IP20 9BH. Tel: 01379 855021. COVER PHOTO Luisa Morales flying her Moyes Litespeed RX at Mercury in May 2020 Photo: Katy Cole THIS PAGE Autumn flying at Westbury on October 11th Photo: Matthew Burton DESIGN & PRODUCTION Fargher Design Ltd. Killane House, Ballaugh, Isle of Man, IM7 5BD. PRINT & DISTRIBUTION Newman Thomson Ltd, One Jubilee Rd, Victoria Ind. Est, Burgess Hill, RH15 9TL. ADVERTISING Tel: 07624 413737 Email: SKYWINGS ONLINE Go For the December issue enter the username Dec_2020 and the case-sensitive password 73Ft8#1u For the January issue enter the username Jan_2021 and the case-sensitive password 92$XUe=5K DEADLINES News items and event/competition reports for the February issue must be submitted to the Skywings office by Friday January 1st. Letters for the January Airmail pages should arrive no later than Friday December 18th. Advertisement bookings for the January edition must arrive by Thursday December 10th Copy and classified bookings no later than Thursday December 17th.6 SKYWINGS DECEMBER 2020 news Charity paramotor flight Yorkshire pilots Ric Womersley and Richard Shaw, both BHPA paramotor instructors, are planning to set off on a long distance charity flight on the first possible day after Christmas – Covid restrictions and weather permitting. The ‘Ric’s Coast to Coast For Cancer Research’ route will be between Withernsea on the east coast near Hull, and Southport, on the west coast north of Liverpool. Whether the flight is east-west or west-east will depend on the weather. Ric (above), a former British team pilot who is planning to open a new paramotor school in the Goole area, will be flying a Parajet Polini 250 kept aloft by an Ozone Speedster 3. Richard (left), former British team leader, will be aboard a Fly Products Eclipse Atom 80/BGD Luna 2 outfit. Their 200km route will roughly follow the Humber estuary and M62 motorway, with waypoints at the Humber Bridge and the Emley Moor, Pole Moor and Winter Hill communication masts. The route has been chosen to allow easy navigation; it is also designed to facilitate good main road/motorway access for their ground crew. To contribute to Ric’s Coast to Coast For Cancer Research go to: XC League winners Despite a truncated season, XC-minded pilots have done still made their mark on the XC leagues. British team pilot Alex Coltman (Gin Leopard) led the paragliding league by a head and shoulders , his 868 points more than double the score of 2nd- placed Steve Watts (Advance Omega X-Alps 3, 415.8 points); Jake Herbert (Ozone Zeno) was 3rd on 356.1 points. 123 pilots made scoring flights. The hang gliding side was no less keenly contested, but by far fewer pilots. The three female entrants are led by 2019 veteran Kinga Masztalerz, along with Laurie Genovese and Yael Margelisch, recently joint runners-up at the Disentis PWC. Among a total of 14 new entrants is British Open regular Steve Bramfitt, 35, originally an accomplished acro pilot but more recently an exponent of hike-and-fly. Steve, a professional tandem pilot at Interlaken, has found the time to compete in three VercoFly events in Switzerland and two Swiss Opens. In 2018 he came 2nd in the Bornes To Fly event, 3rd in the Jura Hike and Fly and 10th in the X-Pyr; in July this year he flew in the Pro Race of the Eiger Tour at Grindelwald. He will be supported in the X-Alps by Matthijs Groeneveld, himself an accomplished Swiss-mountain paraglider pilot. Another new entrant for 2021 is Théo de Blic, 26, who left Gradient for Nova early this year and recently joined forces with fellow acro star Jack Pimblett to create an international SIV and acro school. Théo will fly a new Nova two-liner and super- light harness, both still in development. Red Bull publicity will ramp up as the event approaches. Behind the razzmatazz, the pilots know they will have to travel 1,000km by foot or paraglider through often-inhospitable alpine terrain. They will endure pain, fatigue and possible injury to avoid elimination and reach the finish. Consummate flying skill and ultra- fitness are required, but the high cards are strategic thinking and mental fortitude. The precise route will be announced on March 16th. Steve Bramfitt for X-Alps The tenth Red Bull X-Alps event is scheduled to start at Salzburg on June 20th, 2021. 33 pilots from 17 nations will complete in paragliding’s toughest and highest-profile event. Entrants include six-times winner Chrigel Maurer, 2019 runner-up Maxime Pinot, Tom Coconea who was second in 2009 and 2011, and Paul Guschlbauer who placed third in 2011 and three more times from 2015-19, plus regular finishers Aaron Durogati, Gavin McClurg and Tobias Grossrubatscher. Patrick von Känel was 8th in 2019; in August he beat Maurer into second place at the DolomitiSuperFly and might have something to say about another Chrigel win. continued on page 8Jeremy Soper wins the 2020 Hang Gliding National XC League! He thinks this is down to my wonderful Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 which he flew on most of the flights. In fact it is entirely due to his own skill and determination. He has these qualities in abundance, and this month we salute his victory. Despite Covid and lockdowns, Soperman clocked up an amazing 911 miles in 2020, very few of which qualified for the League. The extreme performance available from the RS played a part, and Jezzer cannot believe that I haven’t sold it! This glider won Team Gold with Carl Wallbank at the Florida World Championship, and no sooner does it get another worthy pilot than it takes the British XC Championship, too. At £1750 it has to be the bargain of the decade. If you buy it I’ll find Jeremy something else to fly! More big news! I have been spending Lockdown 2 working on a new website. This is the third or fourth incarnation of my long-overdue “New Website”. We’ll believe it when we see it, right? Take a look some time before Christmas, but even the broken old website helps lots of people find delicious new and used kit they might like to buy, like this almost-as-new Ozone Buzz Z5 XL: Christmas! Here is the promised photo of the Newly- Bald-Buzzard in my Christmas wig. When I’m not working on the new website you’ll find me developing anti-Covid measures at Turfhouse. As the picture shows, isolating the virus (using mole grips and a spectrometer) was tricky, but the biggest problem was holding it still with the rivet gun while hitting it with a big hammer. I need more hands….as well as more hair! Back to Christmas, and the website, old or new, holds lots of items which make great gifts for paraglider and hang glider pilots alike. Things like bar mitts and stuffsacks are always there, but used stock changes very rapidly, so take a peek and see whether there is something you want. No pressure – I’ll still be here in Ace photographer Katy Cole snapped this great photo of a certain Champion at Malvern. He flew a few miles that day. Did I mention that my selection of used paragliders and hang gliders is good enough to win prizes? This Litespeed is £1750, but you can pay from £200 upwards for gliders and £125 upwards for harnesses. Winning things is then entirely up to you. You must be bored with my waffling about my stock, and how you can buy great kit here at Turfhouse. Some of you want to know precisely how Jezzer became a champion, and this photo tells all…. Charly Helmets The aerodynamic Charly NO Limits is available as an open - or a full-face helmet. The pressure-formed aerodynamic Kevlar- reinforced fibreglass shells are renowned for their quietness, and come in four colours and four sizes, starting at £225. A clear visor comes as standard with optional Tinted visors available. The Charly Insider is probably the top-selling free flight helmet of all time. The Kevlar-reinforced fibreglass shell is fully-lined, and I stock eleven colours and six sizes from XS to XXL! Prices start at £158, and weight is only 660gm! The stylish Charly Loop costs £120, weighs around 505gm and comes with a helmet bag included. There are three sizes and six colours: Gloss White, Matt Blue, Matt Black, Matt Red, Matt Orange and Nova Silver – see them all on my website: The Charly Ace has a polycarbonate shell and comes in four sizes, with a choice of Gloss White, Matt Red, Matt Black or Carbon-look. Weight is around 560gm, and prices start at £84. The Charly Breeze has a swoopy polycarbonate shell, comes in four sizes in either White or Matt Black - with contrasting removable ear covers to suit different seasons. There is also a version in two adjustable sizes for commercial operators schools and tandem. It weighs about 480gm, and costs £87. I stock all the Charly helmets optional accessories, too! The Ace, Breeze and Loop will all accept the optional visor, available in Grey, Yellow, Orange and Mirror finishes. Prices start at £28 per visor, with the fixing screw set costing another Luppitt, Honiton, Devon, EX14 4SA tel: 01404 891685 Simon Murphy’s Flying Circus Champion! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!news continued from page 6 8 SKYWINGS DECEMBER 2020 Jeremy ‘Soperman’ Soper took the laurels with 386 points – uniquely, in recent years, without any triangle multipliers. Hard-charging Andy Hollidge (Wills Wing T3C) was not far behind on 336 points with Marek Pisarek (Atos VQ-Race) third on 256. Only 12 pilots made scoring flights in the hang gliding league; the word among some pilots was that the season was so far gone when the green light came in July that there seemed little sense in entering anything. While it’s true that the spring, when each good day is better than the last, is the most interesting bit of the XC season, the backdated schedule didn’t deter the paraglider pilots much. The truth is that UK hang gliding is in decline, and perhaps a bit faster than in other countries. Flying a hangie is more worthwhile, compared to paragliding, in regions with better flying conditions. In the UK, if conditions only support a downwind flight a hang glider pilot is at a disadvantage – getting to the coast from the Peak District faster than the paragliders doesn’t save enough time to get home before they do! Oh, for the days when the retrieve was all part of the adventure! Online, the WorldXContest site lists Britain’s Guy Anderson as overall winner of the Open Class on 2,778 points, with Seb Ospina in 3rd place only 195 points behind. Switzerland’s Philippe Leuenberger led the Serial class and Italy’s Manuel Dondi the Sport class, with Yael Margelisch as top woman pilot. Glauco Pinto was top flexwing hangie. Never one to miss an opportunity for world domination, the FAI also has its own online XC league, offering Swiss pilot Sebastian Benz as top in the Open class but agreeing that Philippe Leuenberger is top Serial pilot. Venezuela’s Joanna Di Grigoli gets to be top woman in this XC league, but Glauco Pinto again leads the hangies with Francoise Dieuzeide-Banet as top lady. Saladini goes 530km to goal October is records season in Brazil. Worthy of respect in its own right, but also a welcome sign that some things were returning to normal, Rafael Monteiro Saladini set the bar high by flying 530km an Ozone Enzo 3 to a declared goal from Tacima on October 15th. Rafael eclipsed Swiss pilot Michael Küffer’s record, set from Caicó almost exactly a year before aboard a Gin Boomerang 11, by 25km. If ratified, Rafael’s flight will also become a new South-American record. 2021 FAI Championships Also booked for 2021, and said to be going ahead as we go to press, are the Sport Class hang gliding Worlds at Quest Air, USA (April 18th - 27th), and the Class 1 hang gliding Worlds at Kruševo, North Macedonia (July 18th - 31st). FAI paragliding competitions include the World Champs at Coeur de Savoie, France (May 22nd - June 5th), and the Paragliding Accuracy Worlds in Prilep, North Macedonia (October 7th - 16th). The postponed paraglider aerobatics Worlds is scheduled for Trasaghis, Italy, but no date has been released yet. Finally, the World Paramotor Championships are scheduled for Linhares in Brazil on June 16th - 26th. All these competitions will only go ahead if the world Covid situation permits; book the dates … but not the flights! Lockdown latest! England entered a four-week period of lockdown restrictions on November 5th. At the time details of how this would affect free flying in England was not clear. The BHPA was engaging with the relevant Government departments for further detail. Advice and guidance for Scotland will no doubt be updated by the SHPF to reflect the new tier system. As we went to press there were no changes to the guidance for Wales and Northern Ireland. To stay on top of these developments, not least because early December isn’t nailed on for the new rules for England to be relaxed, please refer to the BHPA website and Facebook pages. The BHPA will continue to work with the relevant authorities to represent the interests of free flying; meanwhile please deploy patience … and common sense! Forbes Flatlands 2021 Unsurprisingly, one competition brave enough to go ahead regardless is the legendary Forbes Flatlands hang gliding event in Australia. The 15th consecutive Forbes event will run FAI Category 2 Sport and Open Classes from January 19th - 26th, with registration and practice flying on the 18th. Forbes, one of the world’s greatest flatland locations, is the spiritual home of world flatland hang gliding. Details are at British paragliding XC League winner, Alex ColtmanBHPA AGM As noted in the Attitude page this month, arrangements surrounding the AGM are a little uncertain. The certain element is that it will take place on Saturday March 13th 2021, starting at 11.00am. The meeting will be live-streamed on the BHPA Facebook page. As the required quorum is two members it will undoubtedly be quorate. It is planned to hold the AGM at Nottingham’s Belfry Hotel, but as no-one knows what the lockdown position will be in March the Association will confirm or abandon this option when the position is clear. The fallback venue is the BHPA’s Leicester Office. The building can accommodate the Exec. and staff – socially distanced of course – with some space for members (usually only a handful turn up at any AGM). In addition to the Facebook live-stream, it may be possible to run the AGM using Go to Meeting (a similar platform to Teams and Zoom). In this case a clickable link will appear on the BHPA website and Facebook page. Any member thinking about seeking nomination for election to Exec should contact Chairman Marc Asquith or another Exec member to find out what’s involved. A member wishing to stand should ensure that their nomination papers (available from the BHPA Office) are received by December 31st at the latest. Nominations are also sought for BHPA Merit awards. If someone you fly or work with has put commendable effort into the sport over a number of years, please consider writing a citation to arrive at the BHPA Office by December 31st. Certificates will be presented at the 2020 AGM. In brief Hike and fly resource. Crickhowell Paragliding offers EP and CP training and a subscription-based Pilot Development Academy, for which they are recruiting up to 30 pilots keen to progress in Pilot tasks, XC and hike-and-fly. Alistair Andrews’ own background in hike and fly racing includes the 2018 X-Pyr; he can advise on, and supply suitable equipment for, hike and fly and vol-biv requirements – he is a Supair main dealer and Air Design importer. Skywings online. The online version of this issue can be found at username Dec_2020 and the case-sensitive password 73Ft8#1u. For the January issue enter the username Jan_2021and the case- sensitive password 92$XUe=5K. Magazines with a cover date over six months old can be viewed online or downloaded without the need to log in. BHPA 500 Club WIN CASH PRIZES AND HELP THE ASSOCIATION! October winners Emile Cope £125.20 Ann Matterson £62.60 Mark Howe £31.30 David Forty £18.78 Richard Clark £15.65 Robert Gray £15.65 Michael Paice £12.52 Malcolm Morrison £12.52 Brian Parkins £9.39 Stefan Smalley £9.39 BHPA £313.00 If by the time you read this you have not received your cheque, please contact me on 07802 525099. Marc Asquith LFBC reduced hours. Restrictions on personnel due to Covid have caused the UK Low Flying Booking Cell to impose shorter opening hours as a temporary measure. Their new hours are 0700-1700 Monday - Thursday and 0700 - 1500 on Friday. This means that NOTAM requests need to be in before 1600 the day before to be effective. If this is not possible a late warning will be published on the morning of the activity; but note the activity will not be covered for the next four hours. Users of the CANP app – Next >