Author: Dave Snowden
Almost everyone who comes into the sport of Paragliding has an intrinsic need to achieve. We simply have to, or our feet would never have had the need to leave the ground.
We measure personal progression through the never ending learning curve of free flight in many ways; from our very first ground handling sessions and familiarities with wing, wind, terrain, dynamic movement and control are just a start yet already leading the way forward to the discovery of properly utilising the third dimension for free flight. We continue to measure our progression through understanding, skills development and increased knowledge. Experience gives us the foundations on which to work, developed skills provide new opportunities and the achievements of our peers become our yardstick. We watch to learn and practice by participating.
Learning the intricacies of becoming a paraglider pilot is more than just having a rating to be deemed competent, or ticking a ‘done that’ box it is an opportunity to flow along that learning curve with an infinite variety of experiences in flight where those who persist, achieve.
Australia can boast of having amongst the very best sites and meteo conditions for excellent flying and cross country in the World. Time and again Aussies have pushed out World Xc records and continue to dominate the World Xc tables, despite our numbers being relatively few. We have an established vibrant events and competition scene which seeks to provide a platform for further development of excellence from within our domestic flying communities.
The World of Paragliding Competition Racing scene has recently taken on a new life. The new Civl Competition Class of wing (CCC) is set to level the playing field between most race oriented pilots. No longer will results depend on having to have, and be able to fly, an uncertified, highly tuned twitchy (often quite dangerous) race glider. As a result of CCC regulations our full race competition wings are each very similar in performance, now the skills and decisions of the pilot are the crucial factor on winning or not so winning. Competition pilots still need to develop and then maintain high skill levels to compete effectively. These wings are accessible to far more pilots who would rather compete against each other rather than the difference in performance between gliders. Similarly, in our Australian domestic competitions there is further recognition for pilots choosing their own choice of class of wing with Serial, Sports and Fun Class (respectively being less demanding but also less performance) being highly popular in many domestic events and increasingly cross competitive with other classes. Whilst those pilots who do choose to take the race route enjoy top level racing directly against their peers with their CCC wings.
Events Structures
So, The route to the very top of Competition Race XC culminates in two places;
The Paragliding World Cup (PWC) and the Fai Civl World Paragliding Championships. (Pg Worlds). The former being an annual multi event ladder of events held in major flying centres around the globe and culminating in a Super final to find the PWC Champion. Pilots have to qualify by achieving excellent results in previous PWC’s or from the very top of their home National ladder. The selection method pulls on the very best current competing pilots irrespective of Nationality. The European nations tend to dominate PWC events in numbers selected reflecting their ‘considered’ supremacy. All PWCA events a also carry substantial World Pilot Ranking System points for Individual and National ranking.
The bi-anual FAI Civl World Championships takes pilots from every eligible Fai registered country based on selection of their top pilots. This is therefore representative of the best of the best in each country of World's Pilots. No one nation dominates by numbers, however 2 to 5 pilots form a National Team depending on the Nations ranking. This Category One (cat1) competition is set over 14 tasking days & every two years to find the World Paragliding Champions, Male and Female.
To be eligible to compete in these events all pilots must have already shown some excellent results in their National or other International Competitions to have a high enough ranking to qualify. For the PWC our Australian pilots can achieve this as an individual competing in any Fai cat2 world ‘Open’ championship (and achieving a top 5 overall result) and not necessarily from competing well in any of our the Australian Comps.
Ladders and Rankings
The Fai Civl organisation maintains the World Pilot Ranking System (WPRS) where individual pilot rankings are derived from all their Overall Fai cat2 Competition results irrespective of where the comp is flown. This is a weighted score based on quality of competition and pilots attending. WPRS is designed to provide a fair indication of both individual and Nations rankings on the World Stage.
For the World Championships our pilots go as a member of the Australian Team. The Team is sliced off the top of our Australian Team Selection Ladder. The Team Ladder system takes into account a pilot’s best task scores from recent AAA Australian Competitions as well as other International task results.
There are up to three AAA domestic based Australian Comps each season, these are open to any competent HGFA pilot and any IPPI ⅘ rated pilot from overseas, designated an ‘Open’ event and FAI category 2 status. These events are all hotly contested, and every task flown has the potential of delivering top up ladder points from tasks flown and WPRS from the overall result. The top slot Pilot in the National Ladder attains the annual title of “Australian Champion”.
Points obtained from a pilot’s best tasks are databased to form our National Ladder (current domestic ranking) and our Team Ladder (Team Selection ranking which can include a proportion International events) . With Cat2 status an event attracts World Pilot Ranking System points which then rank our pilots against the rest of the World’s population of comping pilots. To be eligible for a Cat1 event a pilot must rank in the top 400 of WPRS. So, a pilot flying an Aus AAA domestic event will automatically populate his scores into all three subtly different results tables (Aus National Ladder, Aus Team Ladder, WPRS) and may also gain a PWC qualification with a top 5 overall competition result.
Race Competition / Event Formats
As our the AAA’s are the foremost measure of Australian Pilots capabilities in XC racing, the format of those events tends to mirror task setting, speed and technicalities of the higher rated Cat 1 events. For our AAA events, each task is carefully set to both challenge our top pilots and be achievable for most pilots, whilst all have a safe and enjoyable flight. Tasking is set to prevailing conditions but often encompassed into wind sections, out and returns, or circuits.
We often have quite a range of skill levels in Australian domestic events and always try to accommodate those with less experience to make the most of the day's tasking. It remains a fact that, anyone who makes Goal every day in an Australian AAA will undoubtedly be amongst the top 15 overall. Whilst those who wish to race, can and do, as it’s at least top 10 that counts for them!
There is considerable value in honing one's skills firstly in the Regional AA events. Steady task setting is de-rigeur, often with open cross country distance or downwind via turnpoint flights. Orientated to all Xc pilots and increasingly very social. Tasks in these events carry some ladder points and often attended by some of our top pilots. Mentoring assistance and workshops or pre/post flight debriefs are freely available. This is the place where any upcoming comp pilot can develop skills and tasking strategies without the busyness or innate pressures of a full AAA competition.
Race Comping Skills Development
So, now we have the events. Aiming for a shot at the Paragliding World Cup or World Championships?... Then best get skilled up.
The benefits from being a part of any level of the comping structure come as skills naturally develop. A steady progression through this structure could conceivably see anyone just starting out at the sport steadily climb the ladders to the top rungs within 4 or 5 seasons. Indeed several of our current Australian Squad pilots have achieved their position with less than 5 years paragliding experience.! It takes at least a couple of seasons of solid thermal flying to become XC efficient, then another couple to be task competent, ie Goal flights on task. A thorough understanding of meteo, thermalling, course setting, use of instruments and route finding together with various XC skills is necessary to Task well.
By taking advantage of the mentoring available from our regional squad coaches, knocking out several downwind XC’s may well find a pilot yearning for a little more. Practising into wind or crosswind flight to specific turnpoints will reap reward of reaching designated Goals on Tasks when venturing into the bigger events. After a few events and several tasks completed to Goal, the speed starts to come, then the racing. Top of table results will follow.
A season of good results in AAA’s can see any pilot into the top 20 overall. And an offer of a place on the Australian Paragliding Squad. Joining up with the best of the current crop of competition pilots with the Squad offers a new level of mentoring and skills development in Xc Racing given by our very best Australian Coaches, while mixing it with current and ex champions. This is where full on racing skills are learned, practised, measured and consolidated. Every pilot in the Squad is looking towards a Team place sometime in the future. Those places are few and all are hard won. Every Squad pilot comes to realise that to benefit best is to help each other succeed. The Squad does not dictate who goes into the Team (Results from the Team Ladder sort that), so the build up and development remains structured and also open ended whilst becoming skilled up in fast and efficient racing techniques, tactics, understanding tasking terrain, associated aerology, pilot psychology and flying fitness.
Its around this point that many pilots start to consider options for overseas competitions or indeed may have gained a place on the Australian Team. Careful selection (or indeed saturation) of attendance of highly ranked Fai cat1 or cat2 overseas events may well gain our pilots some valuable WPRS points. Bringing home those points and all that experience helps raise the status of our domestic competitions and is therefore priceless in terms of improving the wellbeing of the sport in Australia.
State Based Comps and Events
Base cross country skills are the core of all task based comps. These skills can be developed within the superb domestic events available to most pilots. The NSW Weekend Warrior series and State of Origin are set at a pace to suit all levels of experience. Many attract very experienced pilots who are often available to mentor others. States, regions and clubs run their own series catering for short duration or daily tasks. Many clubs have developed classic routes or triangles to pick from, fly alone or set with mates. The Events are often very social affairs where exchanges of ideas and advice have pilots greatly improving personal skills, as challenging as any individual wishes to make them and interestingly competitive. Cross country Events such as the highly acclaimed Manilla Xc Camp offer chance of developing Xc distance and duration stamina, draws in several highly experienced pilots where personal best performances (even National record breaking) are the norm. Learning, Developing, and Honing one's own flying skills in these Events pays huge dividends for future higher level Competitions.
There are of course other highly competitive tables and leagues for the cross country specialists, where pure distance flown is the measure of success. Cumulatives from a daily flight scores are databased to give a full season of distance flights. Measuring pilot against pilot, State against State and Nation against Nation. Often having pilots travelling worldwide in search of ever greater scores. Many pilots cross over between the Racing and Xc disciplines using one to train for the other as one discipline complements the other. For sure the above is a basic overview of the Competition structures. The intricacies of the scoring systems, and a whole heap of details become apparent from being within and participating in these Comps. There is a tremendous amount of effort put into each event by the organisers, their assistants, scoring crews and the pilots themselves to make it all happen. Much of which is voluntary, run by pilots for pilots like you. So, the route to the very top is open for any Pilot to jump onto the competition scene at a level that suits them. Every paraglider pilot can benefit from involvement in competitive events and better their flying skills irrespective of their tally on the tables. But, you have to be in it to win it and if you’re having fun from being amongst it all , you’re still winning!.
So, come on up and lets see how high your involvement in comping and events can take you.
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blog: www.aupgsquad.blogspot.com.au
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Lists of Events HGFA pages
Dave Snowden. Australian Paragliding Squad / Team Manager
Author: Dave Snowden