The second stop of the 2021 PWC in Kopaonik, Serbia has come to an end after four valid tasks.
Ozone R&D pilot, Honorin Hamard reports:

“The PWC in Serbia has finished with a really good score for the Ozone team, 1st place with Honorin Hamard, Stéphane Poulaine, Julien Wirtz and Meryl Delferriere .Eight Enzo 3s in the top 10, with 2 on the main podium with Julien Wirtz second and Honorin Hamard third.

One full Ozone girls podium with Marcella Uchoa in first followed by Méryl Delferrière in second and Constance Mettetal in third.4 very difficult tasks, not so many pilots in goal, amazing views on the plateau to go to A11 which was our 2 last tasks goal…

It was great to share with all the pilots a good race like this one, especially in these times. We played football together and fought for the thermals !”

For Full results go to: https://pwca.org/…/2021-world-cup-serbia-2021…/results

Congrats to all the pilots and cheers from the Ozone Team.

Next PWC stop: Disentis, SwitzerlandStay tuned!

Images courtesy of www.PWCA.org

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The tenth edition of the Red Bull X-Alps begins on June 20^th, in Salzburg Austria.

Ozone is proud to support the following athletes with what we think is the most cutting edge, and definitely the lightest, equipment in the race: Benoit Outters, Laurie Génovese, Yael Margelisch, Maxime Pinot, Michael Gierlach, and Cody Mittanck. 

Some of these pilots will be flying the Zeolite XD, which weighs in at an incredible 2450 grams. The F*Race harness weighs just 1100 grams, and the Ozone Angel SQ comes in at just 870 grams. In all, the full kit weighs less than 5kg which will be an essential advantage during the inevitable, and arduous, running portions of the race.

Here’s a few more details on the Zeolite XD from the Ozone R&D team:

“The idea for this wing was to use the tried and tested Zeolite as a basis to test new ultralight materials for the top and bottom surface.

The internal structure (ribs and diagnoals) remains unchanged. For the top surface, we used a new fabric developed by Porcher Sport, the Skytex21. It is based on very fine 6.6 nylon weave and still offers respectable characteristics with regards to breaking load and deformation.

The bottom surface is made with one of the lightest materials available, a PU/Dyneema composite from DSM. It weighs an impressive 13g/m² and still has more than enough strength and stability for the lower surface of a wing, as long as the load on the anchor points is correctly distributed.

We first carried out many structural, ageing and dimensional stability tests. We also tried various sowing and glueing techniques and developed a specific manufacturing process for the gliders. The certification procedure, both for load- and flight tests, went very well especially given the tight deadlines.

Benoît Outters helped us for the final set-up of the wing and Maxime Pinot demonstrated that it does the job by winning the Bornes to Fly race with it. The formidable arena of the X-Alps is our next testing ground with flights in all possible conditions.”

Due to the very high cost of the materials and the complexity of the manufacturing process, the Zeolite XD in its present form will not be available on the market. However, we will use it a basis for future developments as we continue with our research efforts into ultralight equipment.

We wish all of the athletes in the race a safe event!

Cheers from all the Ozone Team

To get the season off to a flying start the Paragliding World Cup will be returning to Gemona in north eastern Italy. Gemona is literally where the plains meet the Alps.

This gives a great mix of truly alpine flying, along ridges and over high pastures, combined with the possibility of turn points and racing out in the flats.The picturesque old town of Gemona is a favourite location with the World Cup, having been a venue in 2016 and 2018, so we are absolutely delighted to be able to keep a promise to reschedule the postponed 2020 event.

This event has an extremely high competitor level. A letter A or B was required for automatic selection, equivalent to a top 20 place in the Super Final! Competing in this all-star event are World/European and Super Final champions along with thirteen pilots who have won a World Cup and eight ladies who have already been on the top spot on the lady’s podium.

Despite the difficult times recently, the World Cup are delighted to welcome a new partner to our flying family: The Chinese Taipei Gliding Sports Association.With a record number of World Cup partners, twenty-three in total, each fielding a team, the team event will be tougher than ever before.

Ozone glider’s team reflects the wealth of experience of Ozone technology along with a fresh new look to the future.

We hope that you will enjoy following Gemona 2021 on the new website at pwca.org and on the live app at http://live.pwca.org/app.Photos and text courtesy of PWCA

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The 3rd Ozone Krushevo Open will take place from September 04-10, 2021. 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!

Registration is open now at: krusevoadventure.com

Photo courtesy of Xevi Bonet

Message from the comp organization: 

“You are probably aware that France has just started its third period of lockdown, while the vaccine roll-out throughout Europe is disappointingly slow.  The FFVL has currently put in place a temporary ban on competitions and it is still unclear how travel restrictions will be eased globally.  

In short, there are so many uncertainties surrounding the evolution of the Covid pandemic that the Chabre Vol Libre team has reluctantly taken the decision to postpone the 15^th edition of the Ozone Chabre Open until 2022.  It is our intention to run the event in its traditional format from 25^th June to 1 July 2022”

For more information visit: www.flylaragne.com

The first stop of the Paragliding Japanese League 2021 just came to an end.

Our friend Yoshiki Oka reports: 

“Last weekend there was 1st leg of Japan League Competition at Ashio,Japan.   And the longest task in Japanese PG competition history of 179km was called.   

14 pilots out of 60 reached goal!   

All of them made their personal longest flight.   Moreover female runner-up, Midori NAKANOME(flying ZENO) extended the flight after reaching the goal and landed 25.2km further totaling 204.1km,which is the longest distance ever flown by paraglider in Japan.”

Overall winner: Yoshiaki HIROKAWA(ENZO3)
2nd:Daigo ARAI
3rd:Kiyoshi NARIYAMA(ENZO3)

Female winner: Keiko HIRAKI(ENZO3)
2nd:Midori NAKANOME(ZENO)
3rd:Nao NARIYAMA(ZENO)    

Congrats and Cheers from all the Ozone Team. 

Photos courtesy of Midori NAKANOME / Yoshiki Oka