Sebastien Kayrouz hit the bullseye on 7 June 2019 , flying 501km through Texas on his M7, for the first 500km paraglider flight in the United States of America.
Enjoy his interview with Cross Country Magazine’s Editor, Ed Ewing. Click on the image below.
Ozone Team pilot, Charles Cazaux (FRA) has beaten his own record of speed over 25 km triangle course at Col du Banchet (France) with a 46,9 km/h of average speed on 24 of August 2020, setting a new World Speed Paragliding record.
He shares:
“I woke up this morning, just back from a week in Disentis for the World Cup, had breakfast with the kids, walked few steps in the garden and eye on the sky: fresh air, dry grass, bird already thermalling, east/north east tendancy up there, little cloud on the east side of ridges. Hmm… Sound like a good day… A pretty good day. So what’s the plan of the whole family? Kids want to take a rest at home from yesterday hike, really? So I might have a short window to test this airmass., take off is just 10’ from there.
Few minute to check more carefully the forecast, it seems a bit windy for the plan in my mind… But let’s try it! What is a the plan? A speed run training over a 25 km FAI triangle! What? Yes, that’s it!
Years ago I started training on it as a specific exercise to improve myself, my skills using the speedbar, push the limits of my mind, learn to be focus, relax and efficient in this special moment. In competition the final glide with full speed is just few minute of the flight, and I realized I was not so good for it. I spent more and more time to practice in order to be able to fight with the best pilot. It seems it works! 25 km is quite short, every second matters for the average speed. The main thing to deal with is the difference of altitude between the start and the arrival point which must be less than 500m according to the FAI record rules. It means to go fast, you will push and loose altitude but on the other hand you need to deal with this minimum altitude difference. I found that my home place is not so bad regarding the terrain and aerology.
In 2006, I did my first world record on a « speed over a 25 km FAI triangle », I continue the story in 2010 with an Ozone R10, then prototype disappeared from the competition scene, reducing the top speed, so it was pretty complicate to find the right aerology to push the limit faster than the last years.
Back to the present, I am on fire and ready! Sent the Paperwork to the FAI, setting task in the GPS, my Bullet barr is on, my ballast is full, Enzo 3 and Exoceat ready to rock! After several record attempt in Australia, Texas, Brazil, I have been used to this record routine so it was quite easy from home! Take-off, first thermal nearby the cliff and I understood it might be a bit strong for my plan « 10-15 km/h nor-east, 3-4 m/s lift, never mind let’s see what’s possible with such a stadium ! » It has been a quite demanding day playing a lot with the B risers and my speedbar especially over the ridge hitting thermal and headwind even I flew 300-400m over the ground. I was ready to face such a challenge with a right mindset for this daily task! Such a good feeling to cross the line and check the result! A new Speed record…
Thanks to Seiko Fukuoka Naville, my Team partner at Airlinks Academy, as she always push me to improve my skills with safety training, full speed training, detailed debriefing . Thanks to One Day coaching for the advice to keep my mind in the task.
I am looking forward for a D-day with the right aerology or a better place to make it even faster!”
Congrats Charles for such a fast run and cheers from all the Ozone Team.
For record’s details, Click HERE
Caio Henrique Buzzarello has set a new record flying his Enzo 3 in the South of Brazil.
He shares:
“Montes Claros – Minas Gerais is the man stage at the moment for the biggest flights in Brazil! A privileged region with great potential for flights over 350 km and an incredible flight average.
We just caught a beautiful day, blue sky, where the convergence lines ended up being the best options for lift.
It took us 7h and 48 minutes, for 352.2 km of distance, establishing the new record of Mineiro and the center-south of Brazil!
Add to this flight my companions and friends, and it will stay in memory forever!”
For the flight track, Click HERE.
Congrats and cheers from All the Ozone Team.
Photos courtesy of Caio Buzzarello
Cousins Horacio Llorens and Felix Rodriguez Fernandez have just landed from a week long bivy mission in Spain.
On Saturday, June 27th, after spending a full day on the ground due to strong winds, they launched from Alanos and flew 227 km to set a new Pyrenees distance record.
In their words:
“Our goal was simply to enjoy the beautiful Pyrenees, and fly as a team. During the first three days we flew 180 km to the west, where the crest of the Pyrenees ends.
On the fourth day, we were forced to take the day off due to strong wind. The big surprise came on day five when, with decent conditions (nothing special), we were able to fly 227 km for a new distance record in the Pyrenees… we flew back to the east following the predominant wind flow and in a single day we surpassed the full route of the first three days. It was UNREAL!!!!
After that incredible flight, conditions deteriorated. So we decided to stop for now and put our energy into our next vol-bivouac mission. Stay tuned to find out where and when this will be!”
Horacio was flying his Zeolite and Felix his Z-Alps. Both of them flew with the Ozium 2.
For flight track Click HERE
Congrats guys for such a great adventure and a new record for the family!
Cheers from the all the Ozone team.
Congrats to Sebastien Kayrouz, who set a new US Paragliding record in Texas flying his Mantra 7. On June 7th, Sebastien launched from a small hill near Camp Wood and flew a straight-line distance of 503 km.
He flew for 9 hours 45 minutes with an average speed of 52.5 kmh and a maximum altitude of 2,707 m. This might be the longest flight ever done on a 3-liner.
Previous to Sebastien’s flight, the longest paragliding flight in the US was 463km, set by Ozone R&D team member Luc Armant on 2 July 2014.
Sebastien sent us this message after his flight:
“The strong wind made the conditions challenging but the M7 took on everything the day threw at us like a champ and delivered when I needed it to deliver. I loved the M7 before, and I love it even more now. Thank you Ozone.”
Amazing flight Sebastien! Cheers from all the Ozone Team.
For flight track Click HERE
On May 6th, Gillis Bengtsson set a new Swedish distance record on his ZENO. He took off from Ålleberg, a small mountain (90 m) in the Swedish flatlands. He landed, after 6 hours, close to the city of Kalmar.
Gillis is one of the most active paragliding pilots in Sweden. In his early paragliding career he practiced a lot of ground handling and soared a lot on small slopes and even castles.
He has been focused on distance flying for the last few years, and it’s great to see that all his earlier practice and consistency is now paying off.
Congrats and cheers from all the Ozone Team!
For the flight track-log click here
Brigitte Kurbel (GER) set a new women’s world record in Free Distance around a triangle course on her Zeno. After a long walk to launch in Grente (ITA), she spent more than 11 hours in the air to achieve an amazing 269 Km flight. For the flight track, click here.
Brigitte flew six triangles this year, making her the winner of the World XC contest 2019 (women). She flew her Zeno for all but one, for which she piloted the new M7 for a “test-flight” of 231.44 km.
Ramona Eckert (GER) placed second in the XC contest flying her Alpina 3. In Third place was Gabriela Jacober-Wüest (CH) on her Swift 5.
Congrats, and cheers from all the Ozone Team. Thanks for flying OZONE
Last week, excellent conditions in Brazil saw some of the longest XC flights in the history of paragliding.
On October 9th, Ozone team pilot Seiko Fukuoka set a new female record after flying 460 kms, beating Yael Margelisch’s 442km of 4 October. Seiko was flying with teammates Charles Cazaux and Felix Rodriguez. All flying Enzo 3.
On October 10th local gurus Rafael Saladini (Enzo 3), Marcelo Prieto and Rafael de Moraes Barros flew 582km to set, again, a New paragliding world record.
The same day Mexican pilot Alex Loyarte took his Zeno for an impressive 509 Km flight launching from the Rampa De Vôo Livre in Patu.
On October 12th, Seiko flew a bit further, landing 472 kms away from launch.
Meanwhile Swiss pilot, Yael Margelisch (Enzo 3) was about to become the first female pilot to pass the 500km mark breaking the record again with an amazing 553 Km flight.
Definitely a week to remember! Congrats to all the pilots and cheers from all the Ozone Team.
Keep all those long flights coming!
After opening the season with an impressive 162 km declared goal flight, our friends, Wayne Seely and Graham Steel, scored another epic day.
Wayne reports:
“We had another great weekend In the Cotswolds. Light wind and a good cloud base prediction saw us towing from the Cotswolds, an early start at 11am for myself and Graham Steel ( both flying our trusty Zenos) we started with a 1000m base heading to tp1 that quickly went to blue conditions for 40km but as we approached tp2 we were connected with clouds which gave amazing 5ms climbs to 2000m giving us an easy run back to goal, 105k declared FAI Triangle in just under 5 hrs. Not epic by alpine standards but a good day for the UK”
For Wayne and Graham’s flight, click here
Congrats and Cheers from all the Ozone Team.
La pilote Brésilienne Marcella OCHOA vient d’établir trois nouveaux records du monde en un seul vol : Distance en ligne droite ; distance en ligne droite vers un but déclaré bet distance libre avec trois points de contournement.
Marcella est partie de Assu, dans le district de Rio Grande do Norte, pour se poser 10 heures plus tard à
Ceara, après un vol en ligne droite de 411 km.
Les commentaires de Marcella :
« Les conditions de vol étaient très difficiles. De la turbulence, du bleu, et beaucoup de défis. Je suis le dernier treuillé et j’ai donc volé tout seul pendant les premiers kilomètres. J’ai ensuite pu communiquer avec Frank BROWN et Marcelo PIETRO, puis avec Samuel NASCIMENTO et Razfael SALADINI. Le vol était très turbulent et il n’était pas facile de voler sous mon Enzo S dans ces conditions, si bien que je n’ai pas pu m’alimenter avant 14:00 hrs. je crois que je n’ai pas très bien volé..D’habitude je monte bien, mais ce jour là, ça n’a pas été terrible…Nous n’avons eu des cumulus qu’entre 10:00hrs. et midi. Après Quixeramobim, le ciel est redevenu bleu et tout le vol s’est passe dans une inversion thermique qui a rendu les choses encore plus turbulentes. On a échappé à plusieurs points bas. Lorsque j’ai eu l’impression que cela faiblissait de plus en plus (j’ai même pensé à larguer du lest) on s’est soudain pris du +8m/s à l’ombre et opn est montés comme des feuilles mortes. Le restant du vol a été très difficile ; peu de thermiques ; du bleu et nous nous sommes arrêtés à la moindre bulle. Il a été très difficile de rester concentré après avoir battu le record féminin de vol à but déclaré de 377 km. Mais j’ai ravalé ma fierté et me suis concentré sur mon propre rêve. J’étais à 10 km du record, à quelque 300 mètres/sol. Je savais que , théoriquement, j’allais y arriver, mais il y avait tant d’incertitude que je n’y a cru que lorsque j’ai vu apparaître le chiffre 403 sur mon GPS. Là, j’ai pleuré de bonheur car je n’avais jamais éprouvé une telle émotion. J’ai nretenu ma respiration et ai continué à planer encore 7 km, parvenant finalement au chiffre de 410,72 km. Décollage d’Assu ; parcourant le » Sertao » avec atterrissage près de Tamboril, à Ceara. 9h 48 mn de vol. Quel vol ! Si cela avait été facile, cela ne serait pas un record ; et l’avoir fait par de mauvaises conditions avait quelque chose d’encore plus savoureux ! Comme je le disais l’an dernier, il n’y a pas de meilleur contact avec la nature qu’un vol d’une journée. Sans moteur, sans rien ; juste vous, votre aile et le vent. Décoller avec le soleil dans le dos et terminer votre vol par un superbe plané en direction du plus beau coucher de soleil du monde, au meilleur endroit. Rien de plus agréable au monde. C’est là que vous êtes certain que toute la souffrance en valait la peine. Avec la satisfaction d’avoir battu trois records du monde. C’était à coup sûr le plus beau jour de ma vie ! Le rêve de toute une vie . »
Marcella volait sous son ENZO 3
Voir le traçé ici
Congrats Marcella for such an epic flight!
Cheers from all the OZONE team. »
Photos Courtesy of Marcella Uchoa