Friends family sometimes want to follow us on our travels around the globe, and find out what we are up to during our "holidays". So I thought I would give a brief introduction to those who are not familiar with what happens during a typical competition.
The participating paragliding pilots arrive at the venue (HQ: head quarters) the day before the first task day (race), to upload their GPS (Global Positioning System or satellite navigation equipment, Sat Nav, like a TomTom but for the skies). By "uploading" our equipment onto the HQ's computers, this gives us all the waypoints necessary to complete a course. We are also asked to complete forms giving our insurance details, our pilots license numbers, pay our subscription fee is this has not been done already through the internet, and are usually given a "live tracker" which is a small devise used to keep track of us when we are flying. It is a useful piece of equipment as it allows non-pilots to follow us on a certain website so that they too can enjoy the race from their laptops.
Sometimes on the arrival day, the organisation has set up a shuttle service to the take-off (place where we start a race) to enable us to free-fly and get to know the area and feel the air before the first day of a race event.
On that previous day once we have uploaded our instruments and been given a map of the area, we are given a time later in the evening when we meet for a "briefing" with the meet director and his team of organisers. At this briefing, we are given instructions of where to be and at what time the following day so that we can be shuttled up to take-off in organised minibuses with all our paragliding equipment, ready for the race. Also at the welcome briefing, there is usually some kind of social event so that other pilots can socialise together, giving us the opportunity to catch up with fellow pilots from around the world who are competing in the same race.
On the first race day and consecutive race days, we meet at HQ, load our paragliders and equipment onto a but, and go to takeoff.
There, we are given a packed lunch (usually), which we tend to eat before hand for energy. We lay out our gliders and prepare all our equipment so that it is ready for take-off when the time comes.
The meet director will then call us to another briefing on the take off and have a chart or board, on which he will write up: radio safety frequency, retrieve frequency, SMS telephone numbers for retrieve and emergency. There will be a map and he will importantly write the task (this is the route we must follow to complete the race) on to the board.
The task will comprise of a start gate (this is the start which you must cross over to start the race), and several other "waypoints" which are invisible vertical cylinders we must fly into and out of on the way to the next point. After all the waypoints have been crossed, there is a goal cylinder, and this is the end of the race.
The most common of races is a "race to goal" which means the first person to goal, wins with the fastest time. There are other more complicated elements of the scoring which I won't go into now, but the above sets out the basics.
At the start we have a "window open" which is a given time which we are allowed to take-off. We then had a "race start" which is usually about 1hr after we have taken off and during this time we try to get as high and as close to the start gate as possible. The race start time is different from the window open to make it fair for everyone to get off the hill and into the air before the race starts.
So, with this in mind, it's now 09h30 and I must get to HQ to jump on my minim-bus to take off.
I've already prepared all my instruments in my "flight deck" (this is the little pouch we have in front of us when we fly and sits on out lap so we can read our instruments), all my instruments have been charged overnight, I've got my camera, my water bottle, 2 x GPS instruments and a radio, suncream, mobile telephone, a banana and now I'm ready.
There is a little more to explain about some points, so I'll be pleased to receive your feedback and questions, and will no doubt write more about some of the other points I haven't mentioned.
Anyway, more later, and if you want to enjoy the race on the Portuguese Open live tracking which I am competing in at the moment, the address is:
http://clubevertical.org/cms/index.php/component/content/article/144-live-tracking
Bye for now .............
No comments:
Post a Comment