Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Colombia Paragliding Open 2013

Weather consistency is one of the main requirenments when I'm choosing my flying destinations. I have been watching Colombian paragliding competitions for few years and defenitly want to go and I was not disapointed 8 flyable days out of 8 with total 32+ airtime hours.
Paragliding in Colombia
Getting there is similar to Valley de Bravo, from Los Angeles its 8 hours flight to Cali with layover in Panama City and 2 hours bus ride to Roldanillo. Again, it's essential to know at least basic Spanish, so you can communicate with locals, which are very friendly and helpful.

I stayed with Stephan, Jug and Sergei in the nice house, 10 minutes from the main square. We all participated in Colombian National Paragliding Chempionship (Rolda Open 2013). Most of the tasks was combination of mountain and flat lands flying. I think in one task we have to cross valley 5 times. Clouds and birds are usually out there to help you. There was many PWC pilots warming up before Superfinal and my 50th place out of 134 was ok considering my outdated 4 years old glider. There was 39 Enzos and 42 Icepeaks. Local knowledge also should not be underestimated (32nd and 36th places on a Sport gliders).

Here is a video of our way from home to launch and flight during the practice day: