8th Paragliding European Championship Postponed


NEWS UPDATE

Monday, 26 April 2004

CIVL regrets to advise that the 8th European Paragliding Championship at Kalavrita cannot be held at the originally designated dates due to NATO forces forbidding flying. NATO is responsible for the safety of the Olympic Games in Athens and security has been increased after the Madrid bombings. According to NATO the area that the tasks will take place will be patrolled by aircrafts for security reasons and thus no other flying activity is permitted in the area. The Greek Airsports Federation took every possible action in order to alter NATO's decision but without result. They are ready to host the event but cannot change either NATO' s decision nor the security committee's will for forbiddance of any flying activity in the area more than a month before the Olympiad. The organisers have suggested that the competition should be rescheduled to 1 to 12 October. This proposal and other alternatives are being considered by a CIVL PG sub committee and a decision will be made by early May. CIVL regret that this championship has had to be postponed but realises it is out of the control of the organisers of the event. It is hoped a suitable alternative can be arranged CIVL look forward to welcoming pilots to an enjoyable and satisfying championship. More information will be circulated as soon as it is available

REPORT ON THE RESCHEDULED EVENT IN KALAVRITA GREECE

The 2004 Europeans Paragliding Championship finally took place in the planned location, Kalavrita in Greece. Despite exceptionally good conditions, the event was marred by yet another tragic accident during the competition.

NATO, responsible for security at the Olympics, imposed a ban on all non-essential flying for one month before the games, thus causing the European Paragliding Championships to be re-scheduled.

A busy competitions calendar meant there were very few dates available. In the end the organisers decided that the weather was still good enough to organize the competition from October 1-12.

This is very late in the season and most pilots went to the competition with a real concern that the weather wouldn’t be good enough for a high-level competition. The PWC held in Kalavrita, Greece. However, the weather was almost summertime weather while most of Europe was well into autumn. There  were  6m/sec thermals every day, and daytime temperatures up to 30¼C. When it wasn’t flyable, it was still perfect for going to the beach.



I attended the 8th European Paragliding Championship in Greece at the urging of a friend. I was sight seeing in southern Greece when I received an email from my buddy back in New York City telling me I had to see this event. My friend, Mac Z has always talked up his desire to try paragliding, so I checked out the event's location and found myself on my way. Since I was kind of bored wandering around the fishing villages it was a great break to go to Kalavrita which is a small fishing village in the Peloponnese in southern Greece just one hour's drive from the busy ferry port of Patras. Towering 1,700m above the village of Kalavrita was the launch mountain, with take-offs facing both north and south. The views were spectacular and must have been even more so for the competitors. I was surprised at the number of accidents that occurred on the fifth and final task of the competition. One of the Spanish team members from Santander was killed during the last task and a number of others were also injured; one with a broken back and another with a broken leg. I never realized how dangerous this sport is. For those who participated or were spectators, enjoy this nostalgic trip back to the 8th European Paragliding Championship.

Jump ahead to 2020. Boy has it been crazy since the start of the Covid 19 world pandemic. I was in the US when New York City got overwhelmed with Covid. It was eerie and scary when the city went into shut down. I finally escaped to my family's summer home in Maine where I spent wandering around their twenty acres of shoreline and entertaining myself at night playing slots and other casino games at Miami Club Casino. If you like online gambling learn more about this sweet casino at the affiliate site called Online-Casino-Party.co. Every Thursday they post upcoming promotions offering free spins, match bonuses, tournaments and new slot game introductions.

When I heard that the 16th FAI European Paragliding Championship would be held in Serbia from August 23 to September 5, 2020, I was pumped to go. But the dates for the championship had already been moved once from 18 July to 1 August 2020 to a month later and there was the caveat they added to press releases that said they might cancel “at any time” if the situation around Covid-19 gets worse. I chose not to go. It turned out that the event was eventually postponed to 2022. I have had to be content looking at Youtube videos for instance of a mix of nice moments from the 2020 Paragliding World Cup in Disentis, Switzerland, instead.



2004 Europeans Paragliding Championship

The Tasks

Over the five tasks completed during the competition, distances ranging from 60.5km to 89.5km, were flown. Four of the five tasks were out and returns or triangles with the flight ending at one of the three goal fields close to Kalavrita.

All the tasks were air starts, meaning that we launched and had to fly to the start position and wait for the window to open. Starts were typically one hour after launch leading to quite severe crowding until the field spread out down the course. However, this also lead to some mega gaggles giving great photo opportunities for the horde of press photographers there to report on the comp.

There were between 15 and 80 pilots in goal every day of the competition, though only two pilots managed to make goal in every single task.

A number of serious accidents occurred including the death of Carlos Izquierdo, one of the Spanish team from Santander, was killed during the last task. He suffered a collapse and witnesses said he helicoptered into the ground from about 400 meters. 

Overall Results

  • 1 Christian Maurer CH Advance Proto
  • 2 Bruce Goldsmith GBR Airwave Magic FR
  • 3= Thomas Brauner CZE Mac Para Magus
  • 3= Philippe Broers BEL Crossair Ultima 3

Women

  1. Petra Krausova CZE Mac Para Magus
  2. Ewa Wisnierska DEU Advance Omega 6
  3. Caroline Brille FRA Advance Omega6

Teams:

  1. Italy
  2.  Switzerland
  3. Czech Republic

 

Local Regulations for 8th European Paragliding Championships

 

DRAFT ver. 2.0- 21/5/04

Kalavrita Greece

1st of October to 12th of October 2004

Organized by:

Hellenic Aeronautical & Airsports Federation


Section 7

References

1. General

1.1. Program

* September 29th and 30th - Registration and Training

* September 30th - 14h00: First Team Leader's Briefing

* September 30th - 17h00: Opening Ceremony

* October 1st - October 12th - Contest Flying Days

* October 13th - 12h00 - Closing Ceremony/Prize Giving

If possible CC / PG brought forward to evening of October 12th.

1.2. Officials

Organizer: * Hellenic Aeronautical & Airsports Federation

Jury:

President: John Aldridge

Member: Rasa Grigoraitiene

Member : Vitor Pinto

Steward:

Leonard Grigorescu (Romania)

 

Org. Competition Chairman:

Vasilis Mantzos

Org. Competition Chairman Assistant:

Yiannis Tsougranis

Competition Director:

Vasilis Mantzos

Comp. Director Assistant:

Xavier Murillo

Meteo Info:

Timos Avgeropoulos

Goal Marshal:

Petros Petropoulos

Scoring:

Christian Quest

Communications:

Yiannis Tsougranis

Transport and retrieval:

Petros Kourgialis

Safety:

Yiannis Tsougranis

Secretary:

John Myrianthopoulos

Accommodation:

Ellen Lampropoulou

Press Officer:

Vashilis Mantzos - John Myrianthopoulos

 

1.3. Entry

1.3.1. The entry deadline is the 31st of August 2004 (Entry Fee Paid).

All considered team members must be announced to the organizer through the official website before September 15th.

1.3.2. Applications, with fees paid, not received by the entry deadline may be refused or allowed with a 10%penalty. In case of re-allocated pilots by the selection committee after the official deadline there will be an exemption for the 10% penalty.

1.3.3. Entry fees will be 400E per pilot and 200E for team leaders or assistants and includes:

* Transportation of pilots and gliders from the headquarters to take off on every competition day and practice

days.

* Retrieval along specific main roads and retrieval co-ordination service during every competition day and

practice days.

* Transport of the team leaders and assistants from the HQ to the take off and back to the official landing field.

* Lunch package for every competition day.

* Road maps and official documents.

* Competitor and glider identification materials.

* Access to all championship events. Map with turn points, take-offs and landings.

1.3.4, The following countries have to pay their entry fees directly to FAI:

Switzerland

Austria

UK

The bank account co-ordinates can be found in Section 7 Chapter 7 Sanction Fee

1.4. Insurance - Documentary proof in English or Greek of insurance covering public liability risk to a value of 250.000,00 E must be presented to the organisers before the start of the championship, as well as a personal accident insurance covering medical assistance and repatriation. Helicopter rescue insurance is obligatory. The organiser gives the pilots the possibility of making an insurance at the registration.

2. General Competition Rules

2.1 The following documents are required:

* Pilot qualifications

* Evidence of competitor's nationality

* Pilot's valid FAI Sporting License

* Receipt for payment of entry fees by the closing date

* Satisfactory evidence of glider airworthiness and line strength certificate (Prototypes - Non prototypes).

Deadline is before the start of the first competition day

* Certificate of Insurance as detailed on paragraph 1.5

* Declaration of exclusion of liability for the organiser http://www.europaragliding.net/pdf

* GPS of each competitor for registration

 

The Registration office will be open:

29th 09:00 - 19:00

30th 09:00 - 12:00

The closure of registration is considered as the official start of the championship.

2.2. Contest Numbers

The numbers or letters supplied by the organisers shall be placed under the centre of the wing, top towards the

leading edge. World Cup numbers will be accepted – other numbers will be given at the registration.

3. A drug testing will not be coducted.

4. Take-off

4.1. The following take-off are available:

Velia Antennae W/NW/N - SE/E/SW (1550m height)

Avgo W/NW (2300m height)

Kerpini E/NE (1100m height)

4.2. Ordered Launch - under W/NW/N winds condition using the Velia Antennae's take-off may be used:

5

* First competition day: The top 15 male pilots and the top 5 female pilots based on WPRS have the right to enter in the take-off area whenever they want.

* Following days: The top 15 male pilots and the top 5 female pilots based on official previous days overall

results have the right to enter in the take-off area whenever they want.

5. Radio Transceivers

5.1. Only frequencies allocated by the organizers and the law of Greece are allowed.

5.2. Voice activated microphones (VOX operated) are not allowed.

5.3. The Safety frequency is 143.140 MHz.

5.4. Retrieval frequency is 146.140 MHz.

5.5. The use of mobile phone for retrievals is highly recommended.

6. Championship Tasks

6.1. Re-launch may be used at Velia take-off W/NW/N.

7. All GPS World Cup rules will apply (Annex B)

8. Helicopter response time is anticipated to be approximately 20 to 40 minutes.

9. Scoring and Flight Verification

9.1. For scoring, the version of the CIVL approved GAP formula will be used in combination with the scoring

program Race v. 2000.

10. Daily Schedule (time may change in special cases)

Tasks Complaint / Protest Procedures

08h30 Office Opening

09h30 Deadline for Protests (previous day)

09h30 Team Leader's Briefing

10h00 Transport leaving to Take Off

20h00 Flight Registration deadline

21h 00 Provisional results

22h00 Deadline for complaints.

Contact: Hellenic Aeronautical & Airsports Federation (NAC of Greece)

P.O. Box 70262 Glifada 166 10 GR

Fax:+30210 9649 547 Tel: +30210 9649 788

E mail: eale@hol.gr

Competition Director: Vasilis Mantzos

 

ANNEX A

 

Selection procedure for the 8th European Championship 2004

in Kalavrita (Greece)

European pilots and non European pilots will follow the same rule

The minimum requirements for a pilot to enter this Championship is either

- being ranked in the top 1000 of the current WPRS

 or

- having performed twice 50 km flights in an international competition during the 3 previous years – goal flights over 40 km are accepted

A). WPRS ranked pilot

The pilots ranked in the top 1000 of the current WPRS will be accepted. The current WPRS is the one on the

FAI website till march 1st. Then this list will stay on the site as criteria for acceptance in the European

championship.

http://www.fai.org/paragliding/rankings/

B). 2 flights over 50 km flown in competition (international/national).

These flights must be submitted to the European Championship Selection Committee. Flights performed during

International cat 2 competitions must be submitted with the name of the competition, the location and the date.

Flights performed during national competitions must be submitted with the

name of the competition, the location, the date, full results and organisers contact.

These flights should have been fulfilled not earlier than 3 years.

The selection committee is composed of

- Vasili Mantzos md@europaragliding.net

- Paula Howitt paula@fai.org

- Leonard Grigorescu leonard@minisat.ro

Each NAC must send to Paula the selection of pilots they wish to enter.

TEAM SIZE

6 + 2 pilots for european pilots

NON EUROPEAN PILOTS

Pilots from the top 50 of the WPRS at 31st July are accepted with a maximum of 20

 

ANNEX B

 

TURNPOINTS, SECTORS AND GOAL LINE USING GPS

Turn points

All turn points are the GPS co-ordinates provided by the organizers. The list of turn point co-ordinates must be downloaded at the beginning of the event from the TA computer. Organizers can change or add co-ordinates during the event. In this case the changes will be announced at the task briefing. Most of the time, TP coordinates

will be measured on real distinguishable features on the ground that are recognizable from a great distance and preferably also at low altitude.

The official map datum (geodesic system) is WGS84 and position format is UTM. For

safety reason, pilots must set their GPS on WGS84 and UTM to be able to provide any coordinates in the right format at anytime and to avoid any mistake on GPS coordinates. It also avoids mistakes when entering manually a new co-ordinate in a GPS.

Sectors

Turn points sectors are cylinders around the GPS coordinates supplied by the organizers.

Cylinder are used also as start sector. Depending on the start system, sector can be inside or outside the cylinder.

Start cylinders radius are part of the task setting.

Turnpoint radius is 400m. By default, start radius is 400m

Goal line and finish lines

Two kinds of arrival are possible : with or without finish line.

Organizers should use physical finish line as often as possible especially if public and/or media is expected.

Goal procedure : When the pilot reaches goal, their time is stored by the GPS when they cross the goal line .

When a goal marshal and a finish line are present, the pilot needs to fly over the finish line (or at least land on it) to validate their time points otherwise pilots only score distance points.

Goal time: In Race to Goal tasks and when the finish line is displayed on the ground and goal marshal is present, goal times will be measured by the goal marshal for the 10 first pilots. Goal marshal times will be used

only to update arrival order in case of GPS time error leading to wrong arrival order. In all other cases (no physical finish line, no goal marshal, non Race To Goal tasks, other pilots) the goal time will be measured only using the GPS.

 

TASK EVIDENCE

Source

Data will only be collected directly from a GPS. Tracklog data are private (pilot personal property). They may

be used for media works. No copies of files, or files from any other source will be accepted as evidence for a

flight. Only valid GPS data will be considered as true evidence. Data may also be collected from datalogger’s,

but in such case, a GPS may also be requested to verify datalogger’s data validity.

Valid GPS data

To be considered as valid, the track-log must satisfy the following criteria :

• The track-log must show at least 2 minutes of data and at least 5 continuous track-log points prior to and after the track-log points or a couple of points used to verify a turn-point.

• The track-log must show at least 2 minutes of data and at least 5 continuous track-log points prior to and

after a start.

• The track log must have valid and consistent time stamps.

• A continuous track-log is one where each consecutive point is 20 seconds or less from its predecessor.

GPS data’s are verified following some Checking criteria

GPS Software

GPS data are checked using the CheckIn software.

The software is able to check positions in relation with times.

All calculations concerning departure and arrival time are calculated doing an extrapolation and interpolation

from the previous and the next stored points.

The software is also able to check :

• Departure time during starts.

• Cylinders sectors crossing at air starts and turn points.

• Landing place.

• Time at arrivals,

• The best position reached by the pilot during the flight.

• Positions at a fixed time (stopping of the task in the air).

GPS Checking criteria

For any GPS start line and for each turn point claimed (the turn-point is the GPS co-ordinate supplied by the

organizer), the track-log must show one of the following :

• A point inside the cylinder sector.

• A pair of points for which a straight line drawn from the one point to the next or previous continuous

Tracklog point passes through the cylinder sector.

Forgeable marked way points (mark + enter on Garmin GPS for example) are not considered as trajectory evidences but only as performance declarations.

A tolerance of 0.5% is applied on distance calculations to work around distance display errors on some

GPS models.

A time tolerance of 5s will be applied on start times for Race to Goal tasks.

Best position

Pilots will score their best position reached in the task. It can be the landing place or a better position flown in

the air.

If the pilot flew further before landing, his best ahead position will be automatically scanned from his track log.

Mandatory Track log

In some particular cases where forbidden or dangerous areas are existing, the Meet Director can ask the pilots to provide a continuous track log that shows that they didn’t flew into the unauthorized area. In such case, the whole flight must be recorded with a continuous tracklog (see 0).

Pilot’s responsibility and management of the GPS

• Pilots can have multiple GPS and datalogger’s.

• Pilots need to set their GPS and datalogger on the right parameter to record their flight.

• Pilots need to erase their previous track before every new task.

• Pilots will support all the sportive consequences if they forgot to do so.

• GPS or datalogger failure (software or material) belongs to the pilot responsibility.

• The pilot certifies that he gives back his own track log. The organization may cross check several track

logs.

Because of the ground speed, and because of a too small storing interval, pilots can be declared out of sector even if they have reached the sector. It’s up to the pilot to guarantee that a track recording is done inside the right area.

To avoid such problems, pilots should :

• Use multiple GPS and/or datalogger.

• Use a small enough storing interval.

• Use a GPS that stores at least 2000 points

GPS at landing

If a pilot landed somewhere else than at goal, pilots need to record their landing place to make

their declaration :

• Using Garmin and MLR models, marked point must be stored by using “Mark + Enter” function (and NOT

“goto + goto” function). The last marked point must NEVER be renamed.

• GPS and dataloggers must be switched off or have their tracklog recording set to “off”.

Those actions must be done IMMEDIATELY AFTER LANDING AND BEFORE ANY MOVEMENT ON THE GROUND. ON THE RUNREPORT THE LAST STORED MARKED POINT IN THE GPS MEMORY IS CONSIDERED AS THE LANDING POSITION.

Do not switch your GPS on before GPS control. In case of a second flight, it is the pilot responsibility to make sure he is not recording additional data in his GPS. If not doing so, his first (and official) flight data may

not be usable. (Specific use of the GPS in Distance with GPS points

In this task pilots use their GPS and stored marked points to declare their performance.

 

Using Garmin and MLR models : all non renamed previous marked way points must be erased from the memory before the beginning of the task. The declared performance will be computed using the non renamed marked points (001, 002, 003 on Garmin… or *VL001, *VL002 on MLR, etc). As usual, if pilot does not reach goal, the last marked point will be considered to be his landing place.

GPS models

Because of technical (limitations in accuracy or tracklog recording) and practical reasons (special cable or protocol), only some particular GPS models and software versions suits the Paragliding World Cup GPS control protocol.

The updated official list of accepted and non accepted GPS models is available on the PWCA site :

http://www.pwca.org/GPS/Gps.htm

The PWCA keep the right to add new models in this list during the season.

As an advice, here is the GPS list at the time of these rules update :

 

Recommended models:

• The following Garmin models (III+, III pilot, 76 series, eTrex Legend and Vista).

• Aircotec - Top Navigator (with Year 2000 upgrade)

• MLR SP24xc (free flight edition)

• MLR protocole compatible dataloggers (for example RUAG Dataloggers)

Accepted models for the 2004 season :

• Older Garmin models (like the 12 series, 48, 90, 90xl, II+, III).

Non-Accepted model for 2004 season (but may be considered as backup) :

• Garmin 38, 40, 45, II, other eTrex ‘basic” models and eMap

All other GPS not complying with Garmin, MLR or Top Navigator standard protocols.

Pilots are asked to limit the number of track-log points recorded by their GPS to avoid long downloads and waiting during GPS control.



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