'Team Langer' on the blog roll

The Irish Team have a new, uncensored, blog. They reported recently on their team selection process:

"The other three pilots basically turned out to be pretty cr*p and we weren't going to waste any more money on them after they eliminated themselves from the competition in a variety of spectacular accidents, including one involving divorce papers!"

Read it here

And see what 'langer' means here :) 

Laragne's place in the world

Word from the organisers:

"Weather pretty good at the moment. Pilots are arriving thick and fast. Manfred Ruhmer has now registered online. Japanese team arrived today - for one is his first time outside Japan!"

Welcome, Team Japan.

Oz Report's in town too

The Oz Report, a well known English language hang gliding website and blog is also in Laragne. He went flying today:

"I headed out toward Apres, 25 km to the north with Warren in tow.  The idea was to do an out and return, but I didn't really have much for retrieval, as Belinda was relaxing.  It was a glide over to Beaumont where I found some ratty lift that I stayed in a bit too long.  Warren kept going but I wasn't that excited about going to Apres, so headed back flying around the valleys and find just as strong lift, but not nearly as ratty.  I'll have to remember that."

The Oz Report is also the place to go if you want to find out about the great sprog debate, and CIVL's new rules on them. It's like, really technical...

Jamie Wanders has arrived...

US blogger and hang glider pilot Jamie Shelden is in Laragne and has enjoyed a couple of practice days:

"Yesterday they were saying that the weather was to turn bad for a few days. Luckily 'they' were wrong. The boys went up for another practice flight and had a great day. Carl was up in wave a lot of the time and was much happier than yesterday. The clouds came in this afternoon and shaded us nicely. I don't know if they will stick around and spoil the day tomorrow. 

"I spent the afternoon at the camping landing field meeting up with everyone arriving. This is my favorite part of the comp. Monica and Scott are here, Curt and Louise, Katharina, Davis and Belinda, Luiz from Colombia and Julia and the Russian team. It's so fun to see everyone again."

She is blogging here (photo lifted from her site - thanks)

Chabre's new ramp

Chabre, the main take off to be used in the World Championships, has a new ramp. Read all about it and see more pics here.

Manfred Ruhmer confirmed ... Rigg back in

Gordon Rigg on launch at the Pre-World Championships in 2008


Update on the Manfred Ruhmer rumour from April is that he is indeed flying for the Austrian team.

And British pilot Gordon Rigg has confirmed he is back in Team GB after a selection drama earlier in the year. A team pilot resigned for 'personal reasons' allowing a slot to open up which Rigg slipped right into. That must have been an interesting conversation.

That also puts a fun spin on things for the Team competition: Current World Champions Team GB with the whole selection stress only just behind them (will they be able to overcome it?), Austria with its big boys in big boots (will Ruhmer really walk it?), and France (second last World Championships in Texas) who have the home turf advantage. All of them will be battling it out for the top podium spot. None of them will be happy with silver.

New Zealand’s concrete boots

Supplied by Team Ireland: “Photographic evidence that team New Zealand has been using the recent great flying weather to its full potential. The pic shows half the team mixing concrete for a local craft brewery, the long task lasted all day and there were rumours of blisters but no one made goal."

In fact Team New Zealand have been busy building because their gliders had not turned up – not one was put on the plane to France.

“One can only hope natural talent will surpass lack of practice,” reports our Irish informant, adding, “One will have to hope a lot.” Ouch! Handbags have been drawn...

Video: Welcome to Laragne

The official promotional video for the 2009 Hang Gliding World Championships

Video: Aspres sur Buëch

Take off from Aspres sur Buëch, Laragne, one of the alternative sites that may be used in the World Championships. Ridge soaring and thermalling. 10 Oct 2008, courtesy of hggreg.

Ruhmer rumours...

The (unconfirmed) rumour is that three time Class 1 World Champion and four time Class 2 (Swift Light) World Champion Manfred Ruhmer will be flying for Austria. He left hang gliding competition flying five years ago, but has started dabbling again - he just won Bassano in Italy.

Wil he or won´t he be in Laragne? And if he is, will it make Austria unbeatable?

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?”