“After second place in the French Championship and the trees, I had to bounce back and do a good competition at the Pre World Championship in Cœur de Savoie, especially for the mental.
It’s done, I won this last competition by 3 small points!!!
What a start to the year, 5 competitions, 3 wins and 2 second places, didn’t expect that much but I’ll take it!
This win gets me pumped for the next big step, the European Championship in Serbia at the end of July.
Thanks to all and to the organization for this beautiful event. Congrats to Julian and Tim for 2nd and 3rd place and Capu for the women’s title!!!”
The 4th Ozone Krushevo Open will take place from September 03-09, 2022.
This competition is designed in the spirit and model of the Legendary Ozone Chabre Open, a stress-free paragliding cross-country competition with an emphasis on fun and learning through in-depth XC coaching and setting achievable tasks.
This event, like the Chabre, is aimed primarily at pilots with some XC experience, who want to get more into competition or further hone their XC skills. Daily briefings and de-briefings by Jocky Sanderson set the stage for a week of intense learning in a perfect location for fun XC flying.
Classes include Fun, Recreation, and Sport, which are governed by your wing’s aspect ratio. There is also a Rookie, and Women’s class.
The Krushevo region has a long history of successful competition tasks. Early September is ideal for XC flying weather, and the history of the location suggests that many kilometers will be flown – join us!
Ozone Team Pilot, Rafa Saladini has just won his second consecutive Panamerican PG championship celebrated in Governador Valladares, Brazil.
He reports:
“I’m really thrilled to receive this gift of winning the panamerican twice in a row. 2020 and 2022.
I’ve been training myself to become more mentally and emotionally resilient. It doesn’t matter how technically good you become, if you are not mentally strong, you will never reach anywhere close to the very concept of performance excellency and mental/emotional resilience. And to me that’s what paragliding competitions are all about.
After flying 7 days in PWC Roldanillo, we had the brazilian nationals and the PWC Baixo Guandu, both with 7 nuclear tasks. My family was exhausted for having me so many days away. My wife and two kids were badly sick and needing my presence. It was only two days before the panamerican that my wife told me to go.
Eva, my 4 year old daughter yelled before I left: “If you are going again, you better win!!!”
From that moment, the pressure was on!!
She was REALLY upset when I told her I was 2nd in the first task. “Papa, please turn yourself into a rocket , so you can win”.
So I won the second task and the competition only to become her rocket !! Now that Eva knows I won the Gold Medal, she is finally accepting me back home.
Throughout the week, I was really sick so I could not keep my exercise routine, and to compensate I meditated for 15min every morning before breakfast and had a mandatory appointment with Noam, Level Master of my Chess App. Every morning I would play 6 to 8 games before the task to warm up my brain, and of course I would lose them all.
I tried to talk to Noam so many times
But his silence is Cruel
His moves are his savage way of teaching
The only way of communication is to play
He dominates the game with no chance for his opponent
I never beated Noam. I played probably more than 400 games against him. Every loss, a lesson. Every “almost”, a hope that I have the potential to beat him. After so many silent tries and bitter “almost victories”, this last wednesday‘s morning, after winning the previous task, I could scream out loud:
Check Mate!!
I beated Noam for the first time. If it is coincidence or not, my paragliding level is raising as my chess level raises, and Im really happy about it…”
Baixo Guandu conjures up many images, flying over gigantic black, granite domes followed by evenings enjoying all-you-can eat BBQs.
Baixo Guandu is one of the best places for a competition in a country full of amazing places to fly. It has been a favourite World Cup destination since we first headed there back in 2013. Subsequent competitions were held there in 2015, 2018 and a very successful nine task Super Final in 2019.
It has a wide variety of terrain, which provides lots of options for interesting and challenging tasks. The area is mainly flatland with hills, but there are some low mountains as well. The main flying area is separated by the sweet and rather muddy, meandering Rio Doce. The thermals are relatively big and not too strong, usually 2-3 m/s, and often marked by clouds. All of this adds up to lots of options for the pilot to choose for transitions. Do you go to the right side of the river and take the mountains, or the left side in the flats? For many, the mythical area to the north, near Pancas, is what paragliding fairy tales are made of. Pilots fly over an amazingly scenic area full of huge granite spires and boulders. Words have never been enough to describe the legendary Pontões Capixabas Natural Monument. Many refer to it as “Jurassic Park”, others just shake their heads and laugh at such an amazing flying experience.
We hope we will take you there again, and bring back photos and memories, along with a podium full of winners.
