Fwd: Ready for prize giving

Ready for prize giving (photo: A. Smith)

Fwd: pwc 2012 bir billing final results

More from Andrew:

 

And so it's all done. A short but fun last task.

Couldn't change much really.

Only one place change at the top, Theuns moving to third. So two Sud Afris on the podium!

There were cash prizes ( don't tell the the receiver of revenue!) so the guys are extra happy.

Theun's first international podium. Go Theuns!

 

Also the first time an Indian pilot has won the overall. Good on ya Vijay.

Large closing ceremony at the landing, going on till after dark. Gliders still coming in to land through the gloom.

We then joined the Indian crew at the Tibetan Joy Cafe for a quick snack and celebratory drink and toke.

 

Ranking officers included an Air Commodore and two Colonels. Waiting downstairs was our heavily laden taxi, ready for the 12 hour haul to Delhi.

Fortunately the local lads helped with Himalaya's finest for the drive, so the first half was rather fun! Especially the military road blocks.

 

We arrived in Delhi before dawn and took on the challenge of getting into the airport building. Not possible without a paper ticket. Much admin to get paper printed out from the iPads. But done now, and the lads are through. I can't enter the building for another 7 hours though.

 

So going to take in the Akshardham temple, meant to be more spectacular than the Taj and the eighth wonder of the world. Cool.

 

 Paragliding International Competition

2012-10-23 to 2012-11-01

Task 1-5

Total results

Provisional

Task	Date	Distance
Task 1	2012-10-26	46,0 km	Race to Goal with 1 startgate(s)
Task 2	2012-10-27	43,5 km	Race to Goal with 1 startgate(s)
Task 3	2012-10-28	66,0 km	Race to Goal with 1 startgate(s)
Task 4	2012-10-29	49,8 km	Race to Goal with 1 startgate(s)
Task 5	2012-10-30	39,0 km	Race to Goal with 1 startgate(s)

#	Id	Name		Nat	Glider	Sponsor	T 1	T 2	T 3	T 4	T 5	Total
1	58	Vijay M Soni	M	IND	Niviuk Ice Peak 6		930	946	878	981	897	4632
2	57	Nevil Leighton Hulett	M	RSA	Ozone Enzo		924	811	885	954	938	4512
3	59	Theuns Johannes Koekemoer	M	RSA	Enzo		884	671	749	988	896	4188
4	45	Gurpreet Singh Dhindsa	M	IND	Niviuk Ice Peak		831	736	839	918	842	4166
5	56	Andrew John Smith	M	RSA	Nivuik IP6		528	807	905	967	927	4134
6	43	Stanislaw Radzikowski	M	POL	Triple Seven Rook		731	770	764	798	773	3836
7	34	Konstantin Treglibov	M	RUS	Ozone Enzo		979	816	800	564	532	3691
8	4	Szymon Sapeta	M	POL	Sky-Country Evolution X		546	714	734	789	845	3628
9	37	Anatoly Lomovtsev	M	RUS	Para Avis Odissey		755	645	755	543	762	3460
10	41	Slawomir Robert Kedziak	M	POL	Ozone Delta		579	612	633	766	788	3378
11	5	Agnieszka Schwenk	F	POL	Triple Seven Rook		526	510	697	792	760	3285
12	35	Vitaliy Kovylin	M	RUS	Sky Country Evolution		519	655	670	557	740	3141
13	55	Dmitrii Zhuravlev	M	RUS	Paraavis Vqr10		523	560	581	753	711	3128
14	31	Nikita Makarov	M	RUS	Axis Vega II		532	539	599	573	641	2884
15	32	Klaus Pedersen	M	DEN	Gradient Aspen		674	276	688	560	684	2882
16	48	Maxim Zubarev	M	RUS	Nova Factor		545	643	640	475	532	2835
17	68	Prakash Chand Thakur	M	IND	Ozone Mantra M4		522	609	618	350	714	2813
18	62	Aleksandr Matveev	M	RUS	Gradiend Aspen 3		567	527	554	770	362	2780
19	42	Grzegorz Rafal Dudka	M	POL	Advance Sigma 7		552	627	473	352	687	2691
20	1	Svetlana Gennadievna Pozharskikh	F	RUS	Advance Sigma 8		462	535	553	505	635	2690
21	33	Ulrik Mailand	M	DEN	Sky Walk Chilli 2		545	542	473	619	491	2670
22	36	Anna Darchenkova	F	RUS	Para Avis Joy		596	503	541	405	579	2624
23	27	Raj Kumar	M	IND	Sky Walk Canny		569	526	488	544	350	2477
24	63	Yevgeniy Oreshkin	M	KAZ	SC EVO 26		508	473	287	714	489	2471
25	72	Arvind Paul	M	IND	Airwave magic 4		509	121	666	676	480	2452
26	2	Sergey Stanislav Makovskiy	M	KAZ	Artik 3 Nivvik		509	569	567	352	454	2451
27	28	Akhilesh Yadav	M	IND	Mac Para Envyz		509	540	467	455	354	2325
28	67	Kamal Kumar	M	IND	Ozone Delta		522	121	548	510	542	2243
29	23	Thangboi Vaiphei	M	IND	Pro Design Jalpa		394	494	470	385	438	2181
30	20	Praveen Kumar Sharma	M	IND	Sky Walk Chilli		397	425	432	386	454	2094
31	69	Igor Borisov	M	RUS	Swing Mistral		448	430	455	357	399	2089
32	29	Vishnu Sharma	M	IND	Mac Para Envy 2		485	425	440	241	390	1981
33	61	Oxana Negriy	F	RUS	Sol Ellus 4		122	479	457	439	438	1935
34	65	Jyoti Prakash Thakur	M	IND	Advance Omega 6		482	306	526	468	143	1925
35	38	Dhirendra Singh Thakur	M	IND	Mac Para Envy 2		348	425	320	312	513	1918
36	49	Dimtry Moriakov	M	RUS	Nova Factor 2		441	121	470	365	517	1914
37	66	Raj Kumar Thakur	M	IND	Advance Omega 7		182	513	552	528		1775
38	60	Mikhail Krapivin	M	KAZ	Gin Tribe		122	518	548	198	355	1741
39	8	Sundar Raj	M	IND	Pro Design Jalpa		122	425	441	294	425	1707
40	54	Jigish R Gohil	M	IND	Axis Pluto 2		308	353	414	209	288	1572
41	11	Kuppu Samy	M	IND	Pro Design Accura		382	495	233	190	210	1510
42	30	Suhas Narayan Chaudhary	M	IND	Pro - Design Accura		194	217	427	262	351	1451
43	12	Gurjant Singh	M	IND	Mac Para Envy 2		387	197	209	366	211	1370
44	18	Pawan Kumar Negi	M	IND	Sky walk Canny		388	202	284	197	236	1307
45	16	Ajit Sangma	M	IND	Sky Walk Chilli		153	294	288	294	143	1172
46	73	Dinesh Kumar	M	IND	Advance Epsilon-3		350	365	345	100		1160
47	6	Meenu Yadav	F	IND	Para Avis Jazz		387	250	406	100		1143
48	46	Shankar Singh	M	IND	Niviuk Hook		122	219	111	543	143	1138
49	9	Shashi Pal Rana	M	IND	Pro Design Accura		270	316	144	196	211	1137
50	50	Samarth Sharma	M	IND	Ozone Geo		154	157	138	475	211	1135
51	71	Subhash Chand	M	IND	Ozone Mculse		122	121	449	365		1057
52	26	Lianzamawi Vualnam	M	IND	Mac Para Envy 2		237	268	194	189	143	1031
53	7	Amit Anil Kakade	M	IND	Axis Comet		145	306	111	100	282	944
54	64	Natalya Goncharova	M	KAZ	Firebird Raven		508	121	289			918
55	13	Katasani Srinivasa Reddy	M	IND	Pro Design Accura		122	407	111	133	143	916
56	17	Akash Singha	M	IND	Sky Walk Chilli		195	198	205	172	143	913
57	19	Gurvinder Singh	M	IND	Independence		196	144	119	103	143	705
58	47	Vishal Kumar Jassal	M	IND	Advance Omega		122	318	111		143	694
59	3	Amit Sangrai	M	IND	Swing Arcus		155	121	111	100	143	630
60	22	Rakesh Kumar Panghai	M	IND	Sky Walk Chilli		128	121	118	105	143	615
61	10	SS. Khalnong Lamkang	M	IND	Pro Design Accura		122	121	111	105	143	602
62	25	Lalrannghaka	M	IND	Mac Para Edn 4		122	121	111	100	143	597
62	15	Bijay Borah	M	IND	Sky Walk Chilli		122	121	111	100	143	597
62	21	Mukesh Kumar Chourey	M	IND	Sky Walk Chilli		122	121	111	100	143	597
62	24	Milan Swargiary	M	IND	Pro Design Accura		122	121	111	100	143	597
62	14	Bhanwar Lal	M	IND	Sky Walk Kayene		122	121	111	100	143	597
67	53	Igor Gordeev	M	RUS	Jor Paravis		511	0				511
68	51	Sukhcharan Sing Brar	M	IND	Axis Pwto							0
68	52	Jaswinder Pal Singh	M	IND	Ozone Electron							0
68	44	Robert Zagorski	M	POL	Ozone Rush					0		0
68	39	Przemyslaw Andrlej Wojtkiewicz	M	POL	Ozone Mantra							0
68	40	Kacper Kowalski	M	POL	Ozone Mantra							0
68	70	Alexander Karmanov	M	RUS	MAC Marvel							0

 

Billing last day

Mr Smith sent this final report from India:

And so it finishes - with another perfect day.
Wind still.
Thermals up to 3.
Inverted but we still managed 3,200m for the start.
Thereafter mainly ridge racing and spin jumping at about 2,500 m.
A shortish 45 - 50 km race.
Nev got it by 40s from me, Vijay a few minutes back followed by Theuns after another 10 s.
So our taxi took the first 4 again.
Overall Vijay may just retain 1st from Nev.
Guprid was in 3rd so depends on the goal points, but he may keep it.
Then Theuns in 4th and me trailing in 5th overall.
We all made goal near the front every day (although I was penalised 450 points the first day!) so job well done by team SA.
We've had 7/7 flying days
The locals are not surprised ... they expect 100% here!

Still a bit ugly on launch. The Russian super hero was penalised 200 pts for cloud flying with shouting and half threats from his 'team manager' unfortunate.

We are going to taxi thorugh the night to reach Delhi tomorrow am.
I will head back while Nev and Theuns travel to the NE of India for a flying festival.

Task 4 pics

Billing Task 4 update

Andrew Smith reported:

Hey guys,
Today's update from paragliding heaven.

A more stable day today. Blue at launch with some small Cu's at around 4,000 on the bigger east facing cliffs. Not even a gaggle of vultures above launch. Although we've had them every other day. One Himalayan Griffon passed so low over/through launch that the spectators had to duck!

Over the last 6 days the maximum lift as shown on my fancy new machine (hooray, no finger/neurone probs today) has declined as follows:
6.1, 5.8, 5.4, 4.8, 4.2, and 3.7 today. So tomorrow probably even softer and slower.

Not that it's a problem at all. Very smooth transitions with a perfect but slow climb on every spur, sublime.

A bit of unhappiness at launch. The young wild Russian (their reigning national champion) who's leading the comp was protested for cloud flying yesterday. On the first day he got the jump (by 350 m) on the whole front gaggle at the start and we weren't able to catch him (he's a great plot and v fast). Theuns was certain that he was well in the cloud. Someone else saw him as well and he was officially warned.Then yesterday he did the same with one of the top Indians. So a formal protest.

Start was awesome again. Tiny wisps of cloud at 3,400m. Of course it's rather cool. Thick gloves and three layers needed. Many guys flying in down jackets.

As we waited at the top a glider came out of the high mountains about 10 km away where base was +4,000m. He glided right over our heads.

Today's task about 60 km across the fingers/spurs/ridges. No soaring at all.

The racing is speeding up and full bar on the crossings. Nev, Vijay and I spent most of the time together and got clear of the main group.
The Ruskie went a bit hard and landed out. Theuns joined Nevil's aggressive (and maybe more risky?) front line and our taxi was together for the final moves.
Only Vijay (now defending the overall lead) remembered the +3 km speed section end, and shot out low to get it. But Theuns still prevailed taking line honours from him by 19 s, me 30 s later followed by Nev after another minute. This is before any lead out points, but probably won't change anything.
So as we head into the final day Vijay should be in the lead, Nev 2nd, Theuns about 5th and me 6th or so.

Yes, the final day. You may ask. But it is India and the meet director told us last night that he had some other commitment and was stopping the comp. Originally he wanted to stop it after 3 tasks! And nobody can argue - you see he's a military Colonel! And that's power here.

Bir Billing - Day 4 Task 4

Just in from Andrew:

 

Well, another fantastic day in flying paradise.

More stable today with slower climbs.

Max climb over the last as per machine/ 6.1, 5.8, 5.2, 4.8, 4.2, 3.7 m/s.

 

So getting more stable.

 

Will give you a blow by blow report when we get a connection.

A difficult 60 km or so task with a very tricky finish (sneaky ESS 3 km out) only Vijay remembered it!

BUT our taxi styled today. 1st 4 places by quite a way.

 

Theuns took line honours by 10 seconds from Vijay, 30 seconds from me and Nev inside a minute.

Today was across the topography, climb on every spine and full bar across the valleys.

AmaZing!

 

The Russian bows today so Vijay will move up to 1st and Nev 2 nd.

 

It looks like they plan to stop the comp early though because the MD has another commitment! India!!!

Bir Billing Photo updates



Nev and Vijay @ Goal (photo A. Smith)

       Rice paddies with race-ridge in background (photo A. Smith)

                       



Launch (photo A. Smith)  

4,000m 'hills' (photo A. Smith)

                                                                        

Day 3 Task 3

Andrew reporting:

Hey girls

Nother perfect paragliding day in the Himalayan foothills.

Clear and stable to start

Some puffs at 3,200m but hard (30 mins) to get up.

Started above a +3000 m knife edge with a spectacular view over the snow covered peaks.

Alas no camera!

Doubted my instrument at the start and went back for a sure dip.

So was on a catch up mission

Indescribably good flying.

Racing through huge bowls just below the sinking base ( it ended up at 2,600)

Have to take the odd climb to cross the fingers (ridges).

Can be hard to judge the first turn - the slopes are so huge that you can't be sure if you're turning just above all bushes or huge trees.

Caught and thru the front group after half way except for the Ruskie who was far ahead.

So 2 nd in, then Nev and Vijay a few minutes later.

Theuns 10 or so more.

All good.

Just had a R6.50 (<$1 USD) plate of Dhal..

Even better.

Av speed 37.

For 77 km o&r.

Tibetan prayer flags outside our digs (photo A. Smith)

Bir main road

More from Billing

Today's brief report
Awesome start again, getting a coupla hunnerd metres above base
A bit busy at times with wings descending thru the cloud from above!
Racing along the spines today
Steep ridges >45 deg mostly treed, some cliffs
Some lees to wrestle with, but generally great with climbs up to 6 or so.
You have the finishing places
Pretty cool flying here, big globes essential
Temperatures in the 20's by day and well < 10 at night
Prices still boggle us
A plate of dhal and rice at the goal field cost R6.50!
Later then

Bir Billing Day 2 Task 2

Just in from Andrew:

Nother nice day.
Base 2800m.
50 km up and down the ridge.
Bit more tricky, nice racing on the back ridges.
Vijay out lined us near the end putting 10 minutes onto the lead.
Russian, Nevil and I next, about 45 seconds between us.
Theuns a bit later.

Fwd: WhatsApp image

Bir/Billing pics

Best Regards
Andre

Indian stuff

More from Andrew:
>
> Hey girls,
>
> We're having a complete blast in Bir/Billing.
>
> Bir started to grow as a Tibetan refugee village. Now it's a Tibetan community surrounded by elaborately gilded Buddhist monasteries ( you know, monks with round faces and shaven heads wearing purple robes, golden lions and huge gongs, all drinking yak curds? ) So being Tibetan, many folk have slightly Chinese features (it's a joke, so laughs here please), and different cuisine.
>
> Bir's a hilly place at the foot of the Himalayas, rising from 1,500m at Bir through 2,400m at the Billing takeoff ( the first change of slope ) to 3,400m at t he crest of the ridge just behind takeoff. The next hills back get up to +4,000m and then into the PROPER hills.
>
> Mornings are clear, with Cu's starting on the east-facing slopes around 9 bells. Base was varied today, from 2,400m to 3,100 m. So we don't see much of the topography after 10 or 11 am (see pics).
>
> Everything works by taxi. Roads are v tight, between terraced rice paddies or tea fields. So the protocol is to hoot. At peds. At other cars. At dogs, sheep whatever. Continuous. No aggro, but plenty horn.
>
> Taxis are mainly (very) small Tata's. Pilot travel is 3 wings on roof and one in back. Tight with 3 Sud Afri's on the back seat.
>
> It's about 40 minutes up the windy windy to T/off. Virtually no overtaking. Hooting all the way.
>
> The comp is smallish with about 65 entrants, mostly less experienced. The Indian superstars Vijay ( our gracious host ) and Guprid and the Russian National Champion ( forget his name ) are the best of the bunch.
>
> Today's task was a 50k race up and down the ridge, then a few k's out for the end of speed section and back to landing. Pretty easy, but you need to get each climb first time to stay fast.
>
> The start was fantastic. We all got 200 - 300m above base in the wisps. Strong fingers of lift shooting up at 6 or 7. Himalayan griffons, Lammergeiers and a host of other raptors showing us the cores. Have to be careful though as they easily fly into you if you join them the wrong way!
>
> We (Indians and Sud Afris) were styling at the start. Only prob was that the Ruskie was 100's of metres above us and he could avoid the second climb, never to be reeled back in!
>
> Sharp fingers run down from the back ridge into the valley, separated by bottomless gullies. Each finger works, and on both sides! Quite fun flying. And great racing. Never certain where along the ridge the climb will be if the vultures aren't about, so the advantage changed back and forth a few times. Guess we will understand the lines much better in a day or two.
>
> By the second last TP, the Russian was a few minutes ahead with Nevil and Vijay neck and neck. Theuns gave them a few minutes and Guprid and I went to the wrong turn point, extending their existing advantage over us by a further 5 or even 10 minutes. We had been told which was the second last turn point but it was somewhere else!
>
> And to compound matters this Jimmy couldn't manage to start his fancy (and nice) new instrument so had to guess the distance to some turn points. Ugly.
>
> Unbelievable number of paragliders here. Free fliers. Bivvy artists. Tandems. Jockey and John Silvester coaching. Russians by bus load. French. Some Brits. Probably +200 in the sky today.
>
> Culture & Touring
>
> Amazing place India. Bedonered cultural diversity. Quite religious in general, the main beliefs being Hindu, Buddhism, Sikh and Islam. Vijay is Hindu so he's explained the significance of some of the temples we've visited and the importance of some of the 1,008 Hindu gods. An old temple we visited nearby, Baijnath, with the sacred/protected monkeys, dates back to about 750 AD.
>
> On the drive up to take off, there's a small temple where you leave an offering to the flying god ( actually the goddess Matagi who rides a tiger and carries a trident and sword, protecting us from all things bad) make some gifts of food, ring the bell, light the incense and so forth.
>
> The opening ceremony included a prayer ceremony on takeoff. Sit cross legged around the fire on which the priest sprinkles oil while chanting as those around repeat the chants and sprinkle spices into the flames. Then orange and black daubs onto the foreheads ( and temples and ear lobes ) - makes Catholicism look plain vanilla! We all receive marigold garlands for luck.
>
> Food is Indian. Unless you hunt out noodles in the Tibetan quarter, and get a bit more Chinese flavour. So we have curries, rice, dhal, kidney beans etc. prices are low to ridiculous. Last night our meal for four (2 x mutton curry with rice, 1x chicken curry ditto, 1 x veg curry, 2 portions dhal, beans and plenty roti with 2 cokes and water) amounted to Rp 380 or R65!
>
> Here education is taken seriously and the kids all attend school diligently. In neat uniforms, for long hours. An interesting observation is that while cellphones and TVs are omnipresent, the Indian culture remains strong - even kids wear traditional clothes. Not the Disney franchised pink barbies and blue Ben tens fed to our kids by American tv. Probably because Bollyhood is so strong and dominates the programming here - apart from cricket of course!
>
> Sent from my iPad