Extending the PG competition season

You would have thought that the FAI calendar of paragliding competitions scheduled in February and March would be dominated by events taking place elsewhere than the wintry Northern hemisphere. But not so! Paragliding Accuracy seems to be growing in popularity, and especially as a way of extending the competition season. For the next two months, paragliding accuracy competitions are dominating the FAI calendar, with Cat 2s lined up in Croatia, Lithuania (tow launching from a frozen lake), Greece and Austria. Two of the events are part of the paragliding accuracy world cup series and are bound to attract strong international participation. Austria is hosting a PG Accuracy world cup competition for the second time. The organisers, Parafly, have built this prestigious world cup event into their annual Stubai Cup flying festival, 18th to 20th March, now in its 20th edition. Parafly maintains that the area’s micro-climate can allow participants to fly in the Stubai valley until late afternoon. Complementing the traditional cross country Stubai Cup and the Cat 2 sanctioned Accuracy World Cup competitions, will be an open air trade fair and an evening entertainment programme. See www.parafly-stubai.at for further information. January, however, followed the conventional summer flying pattern, with the only PG competitions logged on the calendar, in New Zealand, Venezuela, Colombia and Chile. Maybe it’s time for organisers in the southern hemisphere to think about finishing their season with a PG Accuracy event. The weather window for Accuracy is less critical than for an XC competition, and it can be just as fun. For further information see: www.fai.org/hang_gliding/paragliding_accuracy