7 years ago (2017-06-24 16:00:26) :
     Whilst we wait for the last few trackers to come in I think the last word in the competition goes to new pilot (all the way from China) Yue Quian. 'Flying is like our journey through life - one where we are always learning'.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 15:58:19) :
     With today's stopped task there will be very little time points difference between those who just made it and those who just didn't. With just 10 pilots left to check in we should know the scores very soon.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 15:57:10) :
     Just a brief reminder to anyone who is here in Nis - the Prizegiving and Closing Ceremony will be held at HQ at 20:00

7 years ago (2017-06-24 15:19:56) :
     Yassen has just come in with his tracker - along with about 50 other sweaty pilots - the atmosphere is electric! Everyone is very tense, nobody can work out who the winner will be, this is going to be very, very close.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 14:23:27) :
     All the pilots have now landed safely and we should have the final scores shortly.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 14:21:40) :
     So we now need to sit very patiently and wait for the pilots to come back and return their trackers so that we can have the exact scores. And as we all know, a watched HQ door does not yield pilots brandishing trackers, so I suggest that you all go and watch one of Paragliding World Cup cameraman Philippe's excellent films on World Cup TV.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 14:19:20) :
     As for the ladies overall scores that will be very interesting too. Wooyoung Jang was leading lady this morning but landed early today, Atsuko Yamashita who was 4th this morning had flown 57.5 km when the task was stopped.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 14:10:10) :
     Also for those who had crossed ESS before the task was stopped it doesn't make sense to interpret a pilot's place when they aren't racing, therefore we let them fly to goal and validate their time points.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 14:07:38) :
     For those who had crossed end of speed at the stop time, they are allowed to continue to goal and will get time and goal points as the goal is often the easiest and safest place to land and that is obviously where we want pilots to go to.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:56:02) :
     You can now see on our live leaderboard that the times of the first 14 pilots to cross end of speed before the task was stopped are shown as times and everyone else as their distance flown at the time the task was stopped.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:53:24) :
     If there is one or more pilots in goal it will be valued as normal and not devalued due to the stopped task but it may be devalued by other things, like the quality of the day for example. It depends on how the pilots are spread out and if pilots were still flying to determine the

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:52:33) :
     A stopped task is devalued depending on how many pilots were still in the air when it was stopped. Today virtually everyone was still in the air - I think only around 10-15 pilots had landed.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:51:03) :
     Just a note on scoring a stopped task - If more than an hour and 5 minutes have elapsed since the start, then it will be scored, if less than an hour and 5 minutes have elapsed it won

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:45:01) :
     The converse is obviously true, if there are very few pilots in goal, as was the case today when the task was stopped, most of the 1000 points will be needed to be shared out to give a fairly even distribution of points reflecting the distances the pilots flew along the course line, leaving very few time points to be distributed amongst those in goal.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:40:53) :
     How do the time points work? The more pilots in goal the bigger the % of time points will be as the distance points become irrelevant as everyone flew the same distance.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:38:33) :
     Looking at the overall scores from this morning, out of those who got to goal before the task was stopped and will therefore, unlike Yassen, get time points which could threaten his position on the top spot are Stephane Drouin (5th across ESS, currently lying 2nd), Du

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:29:43) :
     So how is this going to affect current overall winner Yassen Savov whose distance at 14.53 was just before End of Speed?

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:26:15) :
     Then Alexandre Jofresa, Olivier Henry, Franz Erlacher, Du

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:24:57) :
     Now where was I before it started raining. Next across end of speed were Felipe Rezende, Stephane Drouin, St

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:19:42) :
     The task started at 13:30. Stefan Bernhard got to goal after 1hour and 20 minutes at 14:50. The task was stopped at 14:58 - and the rule is we wind back 5 minutes to 14:53. Therefore anyone arriving in goal with a time of later than 1:23 will get their distance round the coarse at 14:53. Now I may have got that completely wrong - but will keep you posted as soon as we can find scoring guru Ulric. %D%A

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:13:10) :
     Out of the 14,000 people reading this, I can see that none of you understood that! Let me have another go at explaining.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:12:28) :
     You may have spotted that the task was stopped at 14:58. This means that any one arriving after 1 hour 23 seconds will only get distance points, i.e to their position at 13:53

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:04:28) :
     Jo

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:03:39) :
     Alessio Voltan flying a Gin Boomerang 11 and for team Woody Valley, was next across end of speed

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:01:56) :
     TASK STOPPED AT 14:58 DUE TO RAIN ON COURSE

7 years ago (2017-06-24 13:01:49) :
     Stefan Bernhard got end of speed first - in 1hour and 20 minutes and 16 seconds, he did really well in the 2014 Ozone Le Chabre Open in 2014 coming 1st, winning all 3 tasks, he's obviously found his feet in the Paragliding World Cup circuit now too, having done really well in the German open circuit in 2016 - 13th and 16th.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:59:32) :
     Overall winner Yassen Savov has just crossed end of speed 5 minutes behind the leaders

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:57:09) :
     The top 20 have crossed end of speed in less than 1 hour and 24 minutes to fly 61 km

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:56:14) :
     Hernan Pitocco, St

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:54:44) :
     first across end of speed - St

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:54:05) :
     Pilot 299 has taken the lead - 0.4 km to go

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:53:29) :
     Alessio Voltan has taken the lead, they are all at about 400m off the ground

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:51:45) :
     Hernan Pitocco is in the lead - 1.2 km to go

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:51:34) :
     The leaders are all all going past Clement who has got stuck in the higher terrain. 2.5 km to go to end of speed, this is so fast - with the top 6 right together.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:49:15) :
     Stefan Bernhard has taken the lead, taking a more direct route down the valley rather than going via the mountains like Clement

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:47:50) :
     Clement really needs a good climb, he's 356m above the deck and only in 1.6

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:46:47) :
     It's quite windy but the conditions are fairly friendly.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:46:14) :
     Clement has slowed to get a climb, he's in a 1.8, at 799m with 5 km to go

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:45:02) :
     Pilot 79 is going at 79 kph!!!! I think he is going way too fast to even be in a bus!

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:43:59) :
     Clement Latour is 3 km out in front of the others but lower than those behind at 859m - and 6km to go.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:42:21) :
     Yoann Chavanne is in second place, he's no stranger to winning tasks. He won a task in the Paragliding World Cup in Montalegre in Portugal in 2015, and won the 1st task in the 2015 Paragliding World Cup in Switzerland, but I really don't think he can catch Clement now.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:38:52) :
     Clement Latour has only 8 km to go to End of Speed.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:38:51) :
     Clement Latour has only 8 km to go to End of Speed.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:38:25) :
     A lot of the pilots have said that the roads here give off good thermals, it looks like Clement has chosen that route for finding thermals today.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:38:25) :
     A lot of the pilots have said that the roads here give off good thermals, it looks like Clement has chosen that route for finding thermals today.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:36:18) :
     Clement Latour 's tracker has just come back on line showing he has a 2 km lead, it looks as if he is following the main road to Pirot - I do wonder whether he's in a bus, but he's at 1051m, so I guess not.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:35:43) :
     Yael Margelisch is right up with the leaders on her Ozone Zeno, flying for Team Woody Valley - go Yael

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:31:25) :
     Rafael Saladini World record holder is with the leaders in the second group behind Marko Novak and Clement Latour

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:30:25) :
     Task 2 winner (by 18km) Yury Mishanin is leading the pack just behind them.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:28:56) :
     X-Alps veteran Clement Latour and Paragliding World Cup veteran Marko Novak are racing neck and neck down the valley, Clement is higher at 1473m and Marko at 888m.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:24:26) :
     Clement Latour is storming ahead, first to launch today and looks like he'll be first to goal

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:18:17) :
     The major group is now storming all over turnpoint 2 - from there its a race south east all the way to Pirot

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:14:05) :
     First to turnpoint 2 is Clement Latour being cahsed by Rafael Saladini and Marko Novak

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:06:31) :
     There's a huge group of pilots working the hills to the south - 4km behind Clement

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:03:01) :
     She's quite low though so its probably time to top up some height meanwhile Clement Latour is charging ahead with lots of air below him

7 years ago (2017-06-24 12:01:44) :
     Rising star M

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:57:49) :
     Its all changing very quickly Clement Latour now has quite an impressive lead

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:53:16) :
     There's a huge group flying down the hills to the south but the leaders are actually in a breakaway group flying noth of the track line

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:45:20) :
     With a ground speed of 60km/h Felipe Rezende is leading out

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:42:13) :
     Its quick - 85 pilots have already taken the first turnpoint

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:39:44) :
     With the wind behind them this is once again going to be a very fast task.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:34:26) :
     They are all now charging north for a short leg to turn point 1, where they will turn south for a long leg down past Pirot to goal and end of speed.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:31:53) :
     There is a big gaggle to the west of launch, what an amazing sight as they all charge forward

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:30:46) :
     Another manufacturer we are hoping to see back at the Paragliding World Cup is 777 as Mads Syndergaard has joined the Valic brothers this will be a manufacturer to watch

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:30:41) :
     The start is now open

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:27:40) :
     We're really looking forward to seeing BGD's new wing the Diva in the Paragliding World Cup later on this year - perhaps flown by Bruce himself or his talented son Tyr.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:24:40) :
     The last pilot in this Serbian 2017 Paragliding World Cup has just taken off Evgeniya Belova on her BGD Cure.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:18:21) :
     He works closely with new countries who want to run a Paragliding World Cup, like Russia, Armenia and Kazakhstan. In a phrase - Goran organises the future of the Paragliding World Cup.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:16:38) :
     From start to finish Goran makes sure everything is done correctly, from liaising with the drivers to the local Mayor, holding the hand of new organisers

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:14:44) :
     I know I am typing on behalf of all the Paragliding World Cup pilots when I thank our President Goran Dimiskovski.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:14:01) :
     Well done to launch meister Goran Dimiskovski who has untangled and safely got 600 pilots off in very difficult turbulent conditions this week, in Presidental fashion

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:13:51) :
     With 20 minutes left to start open we have just 10 pilots left to launch.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:07:53) :
     Conditions on launch are considerably better now. Well having just said that somebody has now ended up in a bush.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:05:44) :
     It's also worth looking at some of Brett's stunning videos on our partner XC Mag's website.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:04:39) :
     I love the Boom11, it's roll neutral in thermals so you don't need to keep holding in the brake, it's easy to balance in thermals Brett told me.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 11:01:28) :
     I've just been speaking to Canadian pilot Brett Hazlett in the take off line about his new Boomerang 11.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:52:37) :
     There is a very interesting in-depth review of the Zeno in the May 2017 edition of our partner XC mag

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:47:19) :
     A lot of the leading ladies have told me that they love the Zeno making it possible for them to be up there with the men in this level of competition.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:46:02) :
     Merve Arslan currently 5th lady and 2nd lady in the task yesterday has just taken off on her Zeno which looked very stable despite the turbulent conditions.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:40:46) :
     A lot of other pilots I have spoken to this week have all agreed with Pepe, the flying here is really technical, which gives it such potential.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:39:49) :
     For Pepe there is a great variety of terrain to use, it's really interesting, you need to be aware of the wind change your speed to adapt to the climbs

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:35:57) :
     Andreas Malecki currently lying 4th overall is just about to take off.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:31:16) :
     This Paragliding World Cup is going to put Yassen (7 task wins) right up with Maxime Pinot (9) for the most task wins in the last few years - well done to both.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:29:14) :
     Jacques Fournier has another theory about Yassen, he's convinced he was born with an inbuilt thermal detector somewhere in his body!

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:28:02) :
     The thermal activity is improving making the conditions much nicer in the air and at launch with better air coming up take-off

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:24:12) :
     Yassen if off to loud claps and whistles from the crowds

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:23:20) :
     No stress, for Yassen it's taskable, therefore it's winable! But even Yassen will need to play this very carefully, he's first overall by only 29 points.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:21:31) :
     Yassen Savov with his beautiful pink and white Enzo 3 glinting in the sunshine has just walked onto launch. Do I detect a slight amount of stress?

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:17:56) :
     Wine buff Franck Perring is just about to launch, I think we'll all need a large glass (or two) of wine after this.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:16:11) :
     Victor Sibirtsev ranked 10th overall and Arnaud Baumy ranked 5th have just walked onto launch and are setting up to take off.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:08:52) :
     Top Russian female pilot Daria Krasnova is voting with her camera and taking pictures of all the spectators, she hasn't decided whether she'll take off yet today.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:06:08) :
     Louis Tapper has just taken off and made it look easy - a bit like kite surfing 2000km up the Brazilian coast in 2010 - a kitesurfing world record he holds.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:02:12) :
     Once pilots have got round the corner from launch and got up it seems ok. Pilots are climbing nicely just to the east of launch.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 10:00:56) :
     Take-off is currently closed as the wind is cross making the launch turbulent.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 09:55:25) :
     Martin Rebord has literally leapt into the air to woops from the large crowd.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 09:50:29) :
     To have maximum safety in windy conditions we have a digital wind metre on launch from with the readings are constantly shouted. Too high and we stop.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 09:50:26) :
     Arnaud Beugnette just took off making it look very easy unlike some of the others who are currently being untangled

7 years ago (2017-06-24 09:44:46) :
     X-Alps Veteran Clement Latour is off. Don't forget to keep up with the X-Alps action this summer with our partner XC mag who as always give an excellent report.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 09:39:28) :
     The task is a 61.4 Km downwind task with the same goal as yesterday. Take off is at 12h but pilots can go earlier if they want with the start at 13h30

7 years ago (2017-06-24 09:26:51) :
     The briefing is taking place.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 09:26:32) :
     Goran Dimiskovski looking very official wearing Jack&Jones (the Paragliding World Cup's favourite clothing company) has just started the stampede to collect their Flymaster trackers.

7 years ago (2017-06-24 09:24:26) :
     Our partner Wind organise the Paragliding World Cup in Portugal and organise mountain and sea activities, from flying to sea caving. In their team Peter Slade, Felipe Rezende, Louis Tapper