Comp poster and press pack unveiled

And it is beginning!

The new poster for the Worlds 2009 has been unveiled, along with a smart new seven page press pack.

The press pack is in French, so here is a rundown in English of what it says:

The biggest hang gliding competition in the world is coming to France from 20 June to 4 July 2009.

130 pilots representing 34 countries over 12 days of flying

The French team is the fourth in the world, and has the world number one, Mario Alonzi, on the team, and they know the site well

Laragne is an exceptional HG site in the southern Haute Alpes

It’s been used for comps before: The Europeans in 1994, GB champs in 2002, 2003 and 2008, Pays Bas in 1998 and 2008 (what is Pays Bas? Is it Holland?), and French champs in 2000, 2003 and 2006.

It’s a good XC site. The French triangle record was set from here in 2007 by Gil Souviron – he flew a 275 km triangle via Mont Ventoux, Dormillouse and Grenoble before returning to Larange. Bon Vol, Gil.

It’s going to be a hot comp: French star Mario Alonzi will be there – he was fourth at the World Championships in Texas 2007. Current World Champ Attila Bertok will be defending his title, while all eyes will also be on youngster Blay Olmos, the 20-year-old Spanish superstar. But watch out too for Scott Barrett from Oz, who won the pre-World Championships here last year.

In the teams, all eyes will be on France battling it out against the current World Champs the Brits. Scorchio!

On the what-to-look-forward to pages, it tells us there will be:

20 June: Registration

21 June: Official opening ceremony with ‘musical animations’ in the streets

26 June: The Fete de Monteglin, and feu de la St Jean … from memory this is a big fire in the square, with beer

27 June: Pizza and Paella night in nearby village of Ribiers … not to be missed, as the paella is good and pizza excellent

27 – 28 June: The Fete de l’air and Fete du Sport .., a weekend of great fun stuff to do for kids, including acrobungee (?? sounds exciting), model aeroplane comp, and lots of things flying in the air

30 June: Evening cinema … 4000 years of aviation history

30 June: Spaghetti Party in Chateauneuf de Chabre … a new one for me … sure to be a hit

2 July: Cultural evening from 9pm

3 July: Musical evening from 9pm

4 July: Closing ceremony.

There will also be exhibitions:

15 June – 6 July: Hang gliding cartoons, in the Tourism Office

15 June – 27 July: ‘Imaginary flying machines’ (perhaps by children? I’m not sure)

And during the comp an exhibition of the history of hang gliding. Reminisce and laugh about how they used to billow …

Alongside all this there will be some people flying hang gliders and a competition. Hope to see you there. If not see you there, then make sure you check the blog regularly – we will be all singing all dancing with updates half a dozen times a day.

Roll on June. Vive La France!

Brit upset - Gordon Rigg not selected

Oh my gosh ... Rich Lovelace reports:

Noticeably absent from the team is Gordon Rigg (8 times UK Champion) and Dave Matthew’s who had had an outstanding results year in comparison to 2 other pilots (see results below).

The panel have stated how very close and difficult this team selection was, but it is most unfortunate that they have selected a team which so severely undermines the importance of the UK Nationals and has caused so much unrest and demotivation among the pilots – me included. “What do you have to do to get selected?”

Video: The Pre-Worlds

Cool!

Video: Chabre 2009

Competition winner: Scott Barrett

All the pictures from the Awards night: are in this Flickr set


Gold! Scott Barrett picks up the first place trophy

Scott Barrett: winner of the Laragne pre-World Hang Gliding Championships 2008



Scott Barrett on launch today.


Scott Barrett talks about his glider, an Airborne C4. This was recorded yesterday.

Closely followed by...

Second place was Balazs Ujhelyi from Hungary flying a Moyes Litespeed

Third was Dan Vyhnalik, Czech Republic, on an Aeros Combat

First woman was Daphne Schelkers from the Netherlands on an Icaro Laminar 12


And the Good Sportsmanship award - voted for fellow pilots - was won by Hans Kiefinger, Germany. Congratulations to all.

Team results: GB, France, Hungary

Team results are:
1: GB
2: France
3: Hungary

Carl Wallbank, captain of the British team, collecting the team prize.

The British team, with Gordon Rigg holding the basket of local goodies, collect their applause.

Task 7 winner: Attila Bertok

Smokin! Attila Bertok won the day in a fast time of 2hr 21mins.

The Oz Report on Task 7 at the pre Worlds:
" The lead gaggle was slow, very slow. Scott would later mention how even with Andreas and Mario Alonzi, they just weren't taking any chances and he had resolved to stay with the gaggle. Balazs (who was in second place) had caught up with them starting at the second start time.We started turning on the north side of a valley on the lee side of a small ridge (the wind was 5 mph out of the northwest) here the lead gaggle had just been wasting their time. The lift was poor yet again... "

Task 7: 107km to Puismoisson

Airborne: Scott Barrett takes briefing notes at launch this morning.

Photos from launch: are in this Flickr set

8.30am: It's a beautiful day here in Laragne, and looks like it should be a good flying day. Scott Barrett might be in first place with a 200 point lead, but there's still everything to race for. Join us on this last day in France as we head into the home straight of the pre-World Hang Gliding Championships 2008! Someone give me a sports mic...

9.15am: Rebrief at 9.45am to decide which hill to go up. The wind is from the north, which means using the lower-north take off on Chabre, or going up Aspre and waiting until the afternoon for the southerly/westerly to kick in. Lots of "I don't know" going on in the HQ briefing rooms jut now.

9.50am: We are off up Chabre. To the lower north take off. Reports later and through the day, technology permitting.

3.30pm: A 107km task to goal at Puismoisson, south of Sisteron, is in progress. The first start gate opened at 2.30pm, with later gates at 2.50pm and 3.10pm. Launch was fairly hectic off the lower north, although a good wind ensured gliders could launch quickly. Conditions on the north side were weak, with slow climbs to around 1800m. Base is forecast to rise to 2,600m by 3pm, and in the south - the direction pilots are heading - that looks like the case. It's blue pretty much everywhere else. Launching earlier was better - later pilots found it hard to scratch up, and some bombed out while the earlier gaggles drifted lowish along the hill.




6.30pm: Initial reports from the goal field said 39 in goal. Secondary reports said 50. Lots sounds like a good bet. Initial reports/unfounded rumours also suggested current world champion Attila Bertok might have won the day - he left on the second start gate, and landed at goal with the leaders.

8.45pm: Pilots are arriving back at the HQ, which is decked out for the prize giving ceremony, with a band, buffet and local officials. Scott Barrett got to goal ... he just walked in to download his GPS. Now we have to wait and see if he's done enough to hold onto his lead.

9pm: GB team chat. They reckon they did OK. Carl Wallbank, British team captain, was first across the line. Pic of the download line at HQ right now:



9.30pm: 32 goal pilots have downloaded their tracklogs. So we are still waiting for a few. The band has started. We have just had 30 minutes of speeches. Pic is of Ali Gali (left, with glasses), the safety director, who acted as interpreter for the head of the FFVL and Laragne's mayor, also pictured. It's an oddish scene. The band is playing soft shuffle jazz, while sunburned pilots stride up the steps of the salle de fetes with their GPSs, oblivious to the local political importance such an event holds. Vive la France, vive Laragne! We will have a winner soon.



9.45pm: I just had a talk with M Chaves, from Italy. He sort of blew it today, his instruments died, he got nervous, and he felt he was flying blind - he got first turnpoint and that was it. But he was happy. He said the flying was great, that it had been a dream for 20 years to fly at this level, that he flew a task during the week and ranked in the top 40. It's a reminder that it's not all about winning - it's the taking part that counts as well...

10.15pm: We are waiting for 15 pilots. "They are on the bus. They're probably going to be at least half an hour," said the scorer about 60 seconds ago.

Pics are of the room as it is, with drinks and canapes, and a hang gliding simulator, which the kids are loving.

Video: Meet Dave Matthews

British Champion Dave Matthews (GB) talks about winning Gold in Texas, the longest-ever flight to goal in Britain, and why he likes to fly. Camera shake, Tyler Rigg (4).

Photo: View of launch from the air

Bruno Jeannin took this great photo of Chabre launch on Sunday June 29. If you were there, can you spot your glider? Thanks Bruno.

You can see the original and another at this Flickr set. You can also download the original high resolution image from there.

Photos: launch

Local photographer Nathalie Fevez was on launch Monday June 30 and took these photos, now in this Flickr set.

Video: Scott Barrett, task 6 winner

Scott Barrett won task 6, and now leads the competition by some 200 points. He talks about yesterday’s flight:

0-60 seconds: “I won yesterday. I have to maintain my points lead. And yes, I can win this competition. Task 3: there were reports of a 90-glider gaggle at the first start gate. Thankfully I wasn’t in it.

1-2 mins: “I took the second start with 30 other pilots. We zig-zagged through the valley. It’s important to take good climbs on the headwind legs, take turnpoints quite low going headwind, and high going tailwind. These things make a difference.

2-3 mins: “Caught up first gaggle. Racing tactics are decided on the day. Depends on the day, and how long the task is. Best points are when you can leave the latest and arrive over goal just in front of the other guys.

3-4.5 mins: “You want to be in goal first. On Australia: I live in Newcastle. We do a lot of dune soaring. We race topless gliders up and down the coast on lower hills than here. We race in conditions like this in Bright. Flying here in Laragne is quite a lot like flying at home.”

See Scott's Task 1 winner's interview here