No. 416 DECEMBER 2023 The magazine of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding AssociationOver the last couple of years, overall membership of the BHPA has been at best maintaining or slightly falling. This was partly due to Covid, but our numbers have not recovered in the subsequent years. It seems that there is still an input of new students of all disciplines, but there is a group of members – particularly intermediate paraglider pilots – that are drifting away from the sport. I have been on the hill for a reasonable amount of time this year, in the UK and abroad, and I have had many conversations with both paragliding and hang gliding pilots about this subject. It appears that there is a natural wastage point in a paraglider pilot’s progression, where they get to the intermediate stage – having progressed to an intermediate or maybe an advanced wing – and then begin to get disillusioned. Some are concerned that they may not have the skill set to manage their wing in rough conditions, yet baulk at the idea of going on an SIV course. They begin to go to the hill less frequently, and to fly in a narrower range of more stable conditions. This becomes frustrating and they eventually drop out of the sport. I would like to suggest that, to save these pilots leaving the BHPA and flying in general, they consider giving hang gliding a try. An intermediate hang glider would give more performance than they require without the concerns in rough conditions. Maintaining BHPA membership numbers benefits us all in lower costs. Although pilots would need to attend a training course, particularly to get the feel of a different aircraft, there are many areas of common understanding. An intermediate paraglider pilot has a considerable skill set that is highly transferable. Understanding airflow over the hill, meteorology, airspeed appreciation, general airmanship, instrument understanding and maybe XC knowledge – it would be more of a conversion than learning from scratch. Yes, there are other considerations. The early stages may be a little more difficult as you need to be able to make a more precise landing approach due to the hang glider’s better glide angle. This does not take long to get used to. And yes, a hang glider is a little more involved to land as the flare is different to that of a paraglider. However you will find an intermediate hang glider is extremely forgiving. There are even some excellent intermediate gliders that are made for a paragliding harness, if you don’t fancy flying in a prone harness. Yes, there is more hassle – a hang glider is a 5m long package that you need to transport and store. This is not the end of the world, and there are a lot of people out there who will happily give you all the advice you need; many pilots share storage and transport. However there are advantages. You can be confident the wing will maintain its shape in rough air no matter how strong the thermal is. Hang gliders are very easy to launch and ground handle. The landing is a little faster, but you rapidly get used to that; even when you get it wrong you are only falling onto your knees. A further benefit of flying hang gliders is that the weather window is wider. Good penetration and a wider speed range potentially enables more airtime. 10 or 20 years ago many hang glider pilots were very keen on open XC flying. Now, with the increased performance of modern hang gliders – a wider speed range and good upwind penetration – there is more interest in defined XC: out- and-returns and triangle flights. Also, while we all still enjoy going to the hill, there are alternatives like winch and aerotow flying that allow a much wider weather window and wind direction options. These are areas that have completely transformed the sport over the last few years. If you are interested in giving hang gliding a try there are a number of routes you could follow. The easiest might be to have a dual flight to get the feel and an appreciation of a hang glider; there are a number of places around the country that can help you. After that, if you want to progress, there are a number of good schools that will be happy to take you on. And exciting new training options are being being developed which can make hang glider training more accessible and convenient. Let’s face it, if you love flying and natural free flight, why give that gift up when there are other ways to continue in this fabulous sport? If you have any questions or just want more information, please contact me via the BHPA. 2 SKYWINGS DECEMBER 2023 attitude Photo: Richard Sheppard Paraglider to hang glider crossover? STEVE YOUNG, LONGTIME HANG GLIDER PILOT4 SKYWINGS DECEMBER 2023 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 Clive Mason checks out the Microlite Fly/Avian Rio2 outfit Photo: Clive Mason THIS PAGE Andy Buchan (Wills Wing Sport 3) and Sean Staines (Ozone Photon) at a breezy Bell Hill on Saturday October 15th. Photo: Roy Ménage 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 SKYWINGS ONLINE All issues of Skywings magazine are now freely available DEADLINES News items and event/competition reports for the February issue must be submitted to the Skywings office by Monday January 2nd. Letters for the January Airmail pages should arrive no later than Friday December 15th. Advertisement bookings for the January edition must arrive by Saturday December 9th. Copy and classified bookings no later than the following Saturday December 16th. regulars reviews features DECEMBER 2023 SKYWINGS 56 SKYWINGS DECEMBER 2023 news The other XC league A first ‘special prize’ in this year’s XContest UK went to Warwick Lister-Kaye (below) for an epic 100km crossing of some of Scotland’s most remote terrain in April. His prize was three bottles of wine from XContest UK chair Guy Anderson. The top six pilots over three flights were Hugh Miller, Tom Wycherley, Joe Dart, Kirsty Cameron, Andrew Kruszynski and Jake Herbert. Prizes were also awarded for pilots making their first 100 and 200km flights. Congratulations to Warwick again, and to Ian Lloyd- Jones, Andy Howson, Chris Williams, Gary Senior, Liam Toothill, Sean Chu, Barry Johnson, Dominic Jones, Grzegorz Przybylski and Steve Gill for cracking their first 100s and winning Cross Country T-shirts. New 200km club entrants include Mick Roche, Adam Kozlowski, Laurence Lawson and Mike Byfield. XContest UK is a three-flight XC league for paraglider and hang glider pilots. It was set up in spring 2023 by a small group of XC enthusiasts, including previous XC League winners and national record holders, to promote XC flying on our small islands. It has quickly become popular; it’s directly shaped by the pilots entering flights, who help decide the rules. XContest differs from the longstanding XC League in a few ways. A handicap system means that EN A, B and C paraglider pilots can score more equally with higher-performance flyers. Triangle multipliers encourage circuit flying on light-wind days, balancing the challenges of such flights with the complexities of open distance flying – the scoring system reflects the fact that there have only ever been four 300km straight-line flights made in the UK by paraglider or hang glider. And it’s free, with automatic uploads from most instruments. The 2023 XContest season closed at the end of September but prizes will continue through the winter. Just post your flights to XContest UK and the Telegram group, tell your story, and be in the running for a Cross Country T-shirt. Devon sea thermals to 2000ft, 20km out-and-returns along boggy moors, wave flying over Scotland until your toes fall off with cold – it all counts! One of XContest UK’s core principles is to celebrate the successes of people doing their first big flights. Lakes Classic news The 17th iteration of the fabled Lakes Charity Classic will run to a new format next summer. The four-day event will take place at Grasmere from Thursday to Sunday, June 20th-23rd, with the competition running on the Friday and Saturday in parallel with the X-Lakes hike-and-fly comp. In addition to stellar organisation and stunning mountain flying, at the heart of the LCC is its fundraising mission for diverse causes. This year a total of £8,750 was donated to 18 organisations to support their mountain rescue, environmental or health related work across the county. The 2023 competition was also a triumph, with early-bird pilots enjoying great conditions in the days leading up to the competition. Lakes Charity Classic A comp B Comp 1 Jacob Aubrey Elliott Brown 2 Tom Hodgkin Gareth Jarvis 3 Ed Cleasby Adam Milward X-Lakes Hike & Fly Hardcore H&F Academy 1 John Westall Jack Sewell 2 Dave Ashcroft Tom Shuttleworth 3 Greg Chilton Danny Murphy Finally, a massive shout out to Pete Askew, who has directed the LCC for a decade but has now handed the reins to Baz Roberts. Registration for the 2024 event opens in January at Mark Shaw visits Taiwan BHPA Senior Tech Officer Mark Shaw was a keynote speaker at Taiwan National Sports University’s ‘Paragliding Experience Exchange’ at the end of October. Mark had been invited in 2022 but had to give his presentation online due to covid restrictions. This year, attending in person, he was able to spend eight days in Taiwan. The conference was attended by Sports Administration Ministry of Education officials, senior university staff, and Taiwanese instructors and tandem pilots. Mark’s address covered BHPA activities, UK paragliding incidents and insurance; he also attended a Q&A session at which paragliding’s appeal to young people was discussed. A second keynote speaker was Beni Stocker, head of training and safety at the SHV. The Taiwan-funded trip included visiting some of the island’s flying sites. Mark was able to fly at several including Luye on the east coast, Puli in the mountainous centre, and SaiJia in the western central mountains, venue for a 2012 PWC competition. SaiJia also hosted the practical part of the conference; delegates got to see paragliding in the flesh for the first time and even to try controlling a paraglider. DECEMBER 2023 SKYWINGS 7 Mark and Beni’s warm welcome at the University was made possible by the hard work of Joyce Lin, Pitt Tseng, Hsinchen Daniel Fanchiang, San Fang Huang and their colleagues, under the direction of faculty leader Professor Jerry Li. Taiwan has excellent potential as an international paragliding destination. Despite its relatively small flying community, Mark was impressed by pilots’ extraordinary friendliness and their eagerness to share flying stories and advice about flying locations. Timo tries again – and again! Not content with his World and European junior paragliding free distance record claims from May 19th (307km), French prodigy Timo Leonetti has now claimed 478.0km from Caicó in Brazil on October 16th, and 484.0km via up to three turnpoints. His October claims, still pending, are now trumped by his October flight. Timo, 20, will qualify as an FAI junior (under 26) until 2028. The current non-junior record is 610km (Sebastein Kayrouz); Timo already has a non-record 500km flight under his belt from 2021. Expect more fireworks! [As we go to press we learn that Timo flew 526km and 531km via turnpoints from Tacima on October 28th!] Till Gottbrath on sabbatical After 17 years in post, Till Gottbrath stepped down as manager of the Nova Pilots Team in October. Now on sabbatical, he intends to hike New Zealand’s 3,000km Te Araroa Trail. Into his shoes steps longtime team member Timon Weber. The unique Nova Pilots Team model is worth examining. In the 1990s Nova was dominant in the competition world, but began to Top table at Taiwan’s Paragliding Experience Exchange (L-R): Beni Stocker of the SHV, interpreter Joseph Huang, the BHPA’s Mark Shaw, Ms. Du, Section Chief, Taiwan Sports Administration, Ministry of Education, and Professor Jerry Li of the National Taiwan Sport Universityrealise that hardly anyone was interested in classic comp flying any more. At the same time there was strong development in XC flying, and in EN B gliders that you could fly a long way. As a result Nova founded their pilot team as a new concept based on friendship and team spirit. And, of course, great flights, records, etc. But it has never been exclusively about performance – you can become a team pilot without epic deeds: people who are very active on social media, who take good videos and photos, write articles or are simply respected locally. Nova’s route to foregrounding their gliders and pilots has proven surprisingly effective over the years. Till hasn’t gone; he intends to return to his role as Nova’s copywriter and PR guy, but to slow down a little nevertheless. Meanwhile, all hail new skipper Timon Weber and the Nova Pilots Team! A flying date with Santa The BHPA Development School Altitude Trips is again running their annual ‘Flying Santa Claus’ activity at the Swiss ski resort of Engelberg. Last year’s event saw over 60 Santas take to the air; this year more than 80 pilots are already registered. Participants meet at the cable car station, launch at around 3,000m and fly between the famous Titlis and Little Patagonia peaks. Anyone in a Santa outfit rides the cable car for free (including non-flying family members who love skiing!). Altitude Trips also runs winter adventure courses from the local glacier take-offs, including over-snow proximity flying and daring night flights, which are legal in Switzerland. The Santa flight is on December 9th; all are welcome (Santa dress code is mandatory). For more information Outdoors for All With a general election just around the corner and prospective MPs of all parties vying to win your vote, now is a good time to lobby for better access to the countryside. The main restriction that we would like to see lifted is the specific exclusion of hang gliding and paragliding from Open Access Land under the Countryside Rights of Way (CRoW) Act 2000 (sometimes known as the Right to Roam). Unfortunately, with only about 7,000 members, the BHPA doesn’t hold much sway when it comes to lobbying. To that end the Association has recently agreed to join forces with a disparate consortium of organisations representing outdoor enthusiasts. Together our numbers total about 4 million members; enough to attract the interest of most political parties. The group is drafting a ‘manifesto’ encouraging access to nature and proposing new legislation to allow it. The manifesto is deliberately very generic (and not worth including here). To go into detail might be divisive; other member organisations include the National Trust and the British Horse Society. The aim, at this stage, is to get the next government to include a review in their own manifesto. Then, when it comes to the detail and implementation, we at least have a seat around the table where we can push our own agenda. You can do your bit too. When prospective candidates knock on your door, or shove promotional material through your letterbox, you can tell them that access to the countryside is important to you, and that a review of the CRoW Act 2000 is long overdue. It’s a bit silly that, under current rules, we can walk to take-off, fly (in accordance with airspace regulation) and land (as tolerated trespassers), but we are specifically precluded from the act of taking off (except in Scotland). In Scotland, everyone has the right of non-motorised access to most land provided they act responsibly. This does not appear to have generated any problems and is something we would like to see adopted throughout the UK. Martin Baxter, BHPA Sites Officer 8 SKYWINGS DECEMBER 2023 news In brief Insurance change/no change. Romero Insurance, the BHPA's third-party liability insurance brokers, have announced that they are being bought by leading US, UK and Ireland brokers Assured Partners. Assured describe themselves as 'a national partnership of leading independent brokers specialising in property and casualty and employee benefits.' Martin Mansley, Director of Romero's Sport and Leisure Division, has advised the BHPA that from its point of view nothing will change; the personnel we deal with will remain the same, as will the procedures we have in place for dealing with claims. Parafest website is live. A new web presence for the 2024 Parafest event is now live, including online ticket sales. The event, in North Wales from June 13th-16th, is the UK’s biggest pilot party for all foot-launched and single-seat trike aviation. Four-stroke king Paul Bailey says, ‘After 20 years in the business, Parafest is the best flying event I have ever been to.’ All the details, and FAQs, are at North Wales repack. This year’s club repack will take place on February 3rd, from 10am until 3pm, at Upton-by- Chester Village Hall, 28 Heath Rd, Upton- by-Chester CH2 1HX – the same venue as last year. BHPA-licensed repacker Bernard Clewer will on hand to help and advise. Attendance will cost £10; go to link. The venue has facilities for preparing hot drinks, and a microwave! Enquiries AGM reminder. The BHPA 2024 AGM runs at Loughborough University on Saturday February 24th, starting at 11am. Any member wishing to raise a discussion topic should email details to the BHPA Office by December 31st. Nominations are also sought for BHPA Merit Awards. Citations for these must arrive at the BHPA Office by Friday December 22nd. The AGM venue is the Holywell Park Conference Centre, LE11 3GR. Forbes Flatlands. Registration is now open for Australia’s fabled Forbes Flatlands hang gliding comp. Practice is on Monday 15th January 2024; the competition runs Tuesday 16th-Tuesday 23rd. It’s one of the best! Details and registration are at BHPA 500 Club WIN CASH PRIZES AND HELP THE ASSOCIATION! October winners John Casson £129.40 Robert John Williams £64.70 John Blofield £32.35 Lewis Bagge £19.41 Jonathan Down £16.18 Hugh Boyes £16.18 Hugh Burnaby-Atkins £12.94 Mark Remnant £12.94 Darrin Hooper £9.71 Robert Bradley £9.71 BHPA £323.48 Winners will note that payments of the above sums have been made to the account from which they contribute to the 500 Club by standing order. In case of error, please contact Marc Asquith on 07802 525099.Rick Ware 1950-2023 John Richard (Rick) Ware, hang gliding pioneer and hugely experienced hang gliding and paragliding instructor, has died at the age of 73. Rick will be remembered by many as the CFI of the Paravion Paragliding school in Wiltshire, but he had a long history in free flight before taking that role. Rick started hang gliding in 1975 and founded the Sir George Cayley Hang Gliding Club in Scarborough. He and Ian Currer set up the Northern Hang Gliding Centre, where he taught many pilots until selling the school to Ian in 1985. For the next ten years, Rick taught hang gliding and paragliding at various schools, mostly in the south of England, until settling in Marlborough and working as CFI at Dave Sollom’s ParAvion. There he remained, leading the other instructors as a headmaster leads unruly pupils, until the school changed hands in 2001. At that point he retired from teaching and, deciding he needed a change, found a position as a Court Usher, a role he took to with aplomb. Rick was an incredibly good instructor, having just the right balance of awareness, friendliness, knowledge and limitless patience. His laid-back approach and wickedly dry sense of humour made him extremely popular with his students and the other instructors who worked under him. He was very fit, happily spending long summer days running up and down the training slopes with apparently limitless energy. He loved Marlborough and the surrounding area and his days off were often spent on long country hikes with his beloved partner, Sally. Rick will be remembered by many pilots, both current and retired, who owe their enjoyment of the sport to him. As he took them through those first few days of training in his calm, reassuring and enthusiastic manner, he set them all a superb example. He will be missed greatly. Rick has his own page on the British Hang Gliding History web site; just Google ‘Rick Ware hang gliding’. 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