And the winners are...

Team classification:

1st - French Ananas

2nd - Doc's Bollocks

3rd - NITSPY - NIDEC Defense Group

Best teams

Anita Hafdis Bjornsdottir (ISL) - best LTF 1 girl

Kionia Pujol (ESP) - best LTF 1-2 girl

Sports Class:

1st -Ruth Churchill Dower (GBR) Advance Sigma 7

2nd - Christelle Lamoine (FRA) Gradient Aspen 2

3rd - Ariane Kuenzli (CHE) Nova Factor

Ariane, Ruth and Christelle

Serial Class and Open Class:

1st - Kirsty Cameron (GBR) Advance Omega 8

2nd - Esther Garaizar (ESP) Sol Torck

3rd - Beatriz Garcia (ESP) Niviuk Peak

Bea, Kirsty and Esther

Many thanks to our sponsors for the very generous prizes and trophies
Prizes from:

• SupAir
• Flymaster
• Jamie Messenger guiding
• Niviuk

Trophies:

• Ager Town Hall
• Monsec Activa

In the news in Andorra....

Day 6 - cancelled

Unforunately the weather forecast was right. We have quite strong winds already from the West, even at ground level. It's all the fault of a cloudy front which is entereing from the West and is carrying rain to the Pyrenees. On top of that there's already a thin layer of cirrus, which will grow during the day. So, with broken hearts, we have to cancel the day.

We would like to thank Ignacio Ruiz Guardiola for providing us with very detailed daily weather reports and also for being sorry that he couldn't have brought better news for us today :) Thank you Ignacio!

27th August - Day 6 - Morning [10:00]

Its windy in Ager this morning and we can't consider setting a task unless it drops.

We were due to have a discussion group with a visiting psycologist last night but is was postponed due to the long retrieve so it has been rescheduled for this morning and we will reassess the wind afterwards (around 11:30).

Text by Chris

Task 4 - all back safe and 'mainly' happy!

The overall results have changed considerably after todays task...
Laurie is unfortunately unwell and was unable to fly the task, a few of the high ranked girls jumped the start while some lower ranked girls really got it together and made excellent distances.
Anne-Claire our task winner has told us that it was the best flight of her life! :-)

The task was ambitious, technical and challenging but many pilots told us they really enjoyed pushing themselves through the various conditions and terrain. For some the retrieve was long since we had pilots scattered over the entire task, many of them in improbable or inaccessible places.

Lets see what tomorrow brings....

Day 5 - Task 4 - Update [19:22]

Most of the retrieve is now finished and we are waiting for the last few pilots. Today was a technical task and promised to play havoc with the retrieve (which it has done) but everyone is now reported safe and collected....

We have been mentioning the quality of the wind dummies this week and it's quite ironice that they were the only two in Goal (but then we found out that they didn't take the final turnpoint....how slack is that !!)

Downloads are nearly complete and we will have results out soon - now we just wait for the vehicles to return !

Text by Chris

Day 5 - Task 4 - Update [15:00]

A report came in from Nicky about 10 mins ago (sorry its a bit busy in HQ today) that our leading gaggle at the moment is Kirsty Cameron, Caroline Thomas, Isabella Reibling and (doing her first ever XC competition - and in the lead gaggle) - Catherine Bartholdi

More in a bit

Text by Chris

Day 5 - Task 4 - Update [13:30]

Latest news from the meet director (Nicky) is that the first group of girls are now on their way across the gorge towards Vilanova de Meia (Turnpoint 2).

A few are low but they are working hard to climb out of the gorge (which doesn't really have any landing areas).

Keep reading - more news soon.

Text by Chris

Day 5 - Task 4 - Times decided [12:15]

The times have been posted. Window open is in 10 mins at 12:25 and is open for 2 hours. Start is at 13:00 and the deadline is 19:00.

The race is on !

Text by Chris

Day 5 - Task 4 - 100.7km Race to Goal [11:40]

A task has been set - this is quite a technical task and is a 100km Race to Goal to the beach by the lake north of Tremp.

The start is a 3km Exit Cylinder around the take-off. Some of the other cylinders are also 3km - these are shown on the map which you can find at www.fastretrieve.com/mapping

Leaderboard will be operational during downloads and is at www.fastretrieve.com/download

Times will be published as soon as they have been decided.

Text by Chris

26th August - Day 5 - Morning [10:30]

Day 5 is here and we have a cloudless sky. It looks like we may have to be quick this morning but we still have a good chance of tasking.

We thought our wind dummies had been abandoned in the car park but a low save from a last minute vehicle has sorted the problem.

Now we wait - but hopefully not for long....

Text by Chris

Night-time activities

The girls don't seem to stop, whether it's day or night. This night many of them went kayaking in the moonlight to watch the sky from the middle of the Santa Ana lake...

Embalse de Santa Ana

... and two nights ago we organised a trip to the observatory. On its website we can read "The low rainfall (less than 500 mm per year), moderate humidity and high percentage of cloudless nights are particularly important in making this such an ideal location." - looks like a perfect location for us as well.

Source: http://www.parcastronomic.cat/

Day 4

No task today. We went up the mountain but even though conditions were good on launch the meteo NW wind was too strong and caused our windummies to run bravely away to land.
Most pilots flew down to land at Àger Camping and a pool party is about to kick-off in celebration of Chris' birthday.
Chris has had a hard day here today running the gauntlet of all the girls offering him birthday kisses!....But it looks like he may just survive ;-)

More news (and in colour)

Report on Task 3

Day 4

Another warm sunny morning here in Àger.
We are expecting similar conditions to yesterday though with a slightly lower base but less wind in the mid levels.
Morning briefing has just finished, pilots are going to take off at 9:30 and we hope that our birthday-boy scorer can find his way back here to HQ very soon. He did make a short appearance  at 9am for a 'happy birthday' sing-song from the pilots but was last seen scuttling back towards his bed!  ;-)

Speedy Garcia !

Latest from Chris in Scoring: the fastest average speed over todays task was an IMMENSE 49.67 km/h
These girls are racing at World Cup speeds :-)

Task 3 goal - wouldn't you speed to it?

 

Just do it!...

...is the mantra of the girls here in Àger this week.

We have the fastest windummies in the west helping us out here.
Jamie Messenger and John Ellison, both top level World cup pilots on their 'underwired' ;-) 'Mantra R10's (the F1 of paragliders) are doing their stuff giving us feedback on conditions and generally watching out for the safety of the pilots by following the gaggles. We did laugh on launch when one of them commented that he didn't really want to launch in case he bombed out - Boys,  Just do it!

Todays task was a a great race start after the pilots gaggled near start to then take the 1st tp in the Àger valley. After they climbed out to base above the ridge its rumoured that task winner Bea turned less than 3 times on her glide to goal.
The lead gaggle of Bea, Laurie, Trude, Kirsty, Klaudia and Sandra were pushing each other all the way to the goal cylinder. Landing at the lakeside beach for a swim, a beer or 3 and to watch the French play SIV games over the lake was a great way to end the task.
We just had 1 moment of excitement in the organisation today when a pilot bumped into the mother-of-all-thermals the likes of which she had never experienced before....the squeal on the safety frequency as she went stratospheric had us anxiously scanning the sky for a reserve deployment. We all breathed a huge sigh of relief when a shaky voice came over the radio some minutes later to report that she was 'ok now'.

Everyone here is learning something; from the competition novices to the experienced leading pilots and the organisation as well. Sometimes it seems that 'school' can be fun!

Day 3 - Task 3 - Update from Goal [14:05]

There have been a lot of triumphant SMS messages from the Goal - at the last count we now have 21 happy pilots :-)

Text by Chris

Day 3 - Task 3 - First reports from Goal [13:40]

Its been a fast one - we have just had a report of the first 10 pilots in goal

Text by Chris

Day 3 - Task 3 - Update [13:15]

Its looking good from the ground. The conditions are building nicely and a lot of the girls are heading for orbit. A few wings are still a bit low but most seem to be finding climbs....

So far we only have one on the ground (as far as we know)

Text by Chris

Day 3 - Task 3 - Update [12:50]

It seems to be a morning for 'ooops'

We were wondering where all the pilots were going and then it transpired that one of the waypoints had been transmitted wrong to HQ - the first turnpoint is, in fact, B40 not B04 !

The live map has been updated and, happily, all the field is now going in the right direction....

More in a bit

Text by Chris

Day 3 - Task 3 - Updated times [12:15]

OOps - it seems we got the start time wrong....

The start is, in fact, in 15 mins at 12:30

Sorry :-(

Text by Chris

Day 3 - Task 3 - Times

The times have been set - the window opened 20mins ago at 11:45 - start is one hour later at 12:45 - the deadline today is 1900.

All landing pilots today will be ferried to the goal so they don't miss out on the swimming and then we will bring them all back for downloading together.

More news later

Text by Chris

Day 3 - Task 3 - 75,1 km Race to Goal [11:35]

A task has been set (actually, this is the task we were hoping to do yeaterday) - the goal is on the shores of a lake to the north east (just north of Tremp) and all the pilots have been advised to bring a bikini. There will be plenty of opportunity to swim and relax in the goal area.

The task is 75.1km and, as soon as they are set, the times will be published here...

The task map can be seen at www.fastretrieve.com/mapping and the leaderboard will be available later during the downloads at www.fastretrieve.com/download

More news as it arrives

Text by Chris

24th August 2010 - Day 3 - Morning [10:00]

Day 3 is here and its a nice sunny morning here in Ager. The forecast is for a bit of wind but it still looks possible to task.

We think we might have a bit of a record this week. About 3/4 of the field are on serial or fun wings but both of our wind dummies (Jamie and John) are current world cup pilots flying Mantra R10.2 wings so we reckon we have the worlds fastest ever wind dummies....apparently it causes some interesting problems in the thermals (just think 'ever decreasing circles')

Everyone is on the way up the hill now and we should have more news soon.

Keep reading

Text by Chris

WO in the news

Womens Paragliding Open begins in Ager

Day 2 - Task 2 - Update [17:15]

Its a shame but Laurie didn't make the goal - she landed just 1.7km short. All of our ladies are now back and the downloads are complete - the results will be online very soon.

We thought (briefly) that Kionia had reached the goal - until the scoring system pointed out that her GPS had been left on for the ride back and the retrieve vehicle had gone to the goal field ! To be fair to her Kionia herself immediately protested that she hadn't made goal and something was wrong.....

Keep an eye on the website for the results - more tomorrow....

Text by Chris

23rd August - Day 2 - Task 2 - Update [13:30]

The conditions are proving to be quite weak today and we have quite a lot of pilots down already. However, we have just received news from Nicky that Laurie Genovese has gone stratospheric and is on her way towards the goal (we think she may be a bit lonely there though....)

Text by Chris

23rd August - Day 2 - Task 2 [11:10]

A new morning is here and a lot of excited competitors are up on take-off. We have just received details of the task.

Today's race is a normal Race to Goal to the north east of Ager to Figuerola D'Orcau and is 37.8km.

Window opens in 20 mins at 11:30 and the Start (which is 2km around the first turnpoint) is at 12:15.

The task map and retrieve status is at www.fastretrieve.com/mapping and the Live Leader Board will be at www.fastretrieve.com/download

More news as it comes in......

Text by Chris

1st Task results

A great 1st task with 15 pilots in goal and lots of personal best flights.
Conditions on launch were strong at times but well within the capabilities of the girls competing here in Àger.
After a brief  delay due to strong thermals blowing through the take off,  we set a 53km local task all within the Àger valley to allow the pilots to aclimitise to the area and the organisation to monitor the entire progress of the race.
Conditions at times were strong and in some places windy but with constant monitoring of safety levels the task ran to its end. The final pilot to land reported back at 18:59, 1 minute before task deadline!

Watching the race develop from launch we saw tactics, luck and sheer determination as the lead gaggle battled for position.

These girls can race!

Results of Task 1 published: on the website
1st Kirsty Cameron (GBR)
2nd Klaudia Bulgakow (POL)
3rd Sandra Monse (SUI)
4th Laurie Genovese (FRA)
5th Domenica Bender Tcacenco (BRA)

We have a similar forecast tomorrow so pack those bikinis girls - if things go to plan we are heading for goal at the lake!

...

Task Committee - Nicky, Bea, Joanna

First task briefing

Gladys Gomez

Esther, Bea and Kionia

Womens Paragliding Open - Day 1 - Task 1 - First pilots in Goal [15:00]

They are making a race of it ! - The first three pilots are in Goal (Kirst Cameron, Klaudia Bulgakow and Sandra Monse) - Kirst was in first - I'm not sure of the order for 2nd and 3rd....

Text by Chris

Womens Paragliding Open 2010 - Day 1 - Task 1 - Update

We just got news from take-off that, with 16 seconds to go to the start, the first gaggle was returning from the pre-start waypoint to take the start cylinder spot on time.

As far as we can tell, the order was Laurie Genopvese, Caroline Thomas, Sandra Monse and Kirsty Cameron....

Keep reading :-)

Womens Paragliding Open 2010 - the beginning

The start of a paragliding competition is always a hectic and intense time and this one is no exception (most of us arrived on Friday night and Saturday was the usual panic to get ready for the registration) - one thing stands out though and that is the atmosphere at this competition. Everyone is really excited about the week ahead and it shows.

We have a great mix of pilots across all levels of paragliding (for some this will be their first ever competition, some are seasoned competitors and we have a number of World Cup pilots as well) and this was well reflected in the pre-event briefing last night.

The briefing had a lot of the 'normal' content (radio usage, safety procedures, a description of local conditions and favoured tasks etc) but also featured an excellent talk by Karolina Kociecka on how to actually read a task board and what all that info means to a pilot (where to be when the start happens, what the end of speed section means, why you still have make the goal cylinder etc)  - it was well received.

Now the registration day is over and we can concentrate on the competition. It has been decided to start with a fairly 'gentle' task to ease the new pilots into the comp. The task is now set  (this blog is a bit late - sorry for that, it's been quite a busy morning) - and is a 53km Race to Goal with the goal here in the landing field. Its an interesting task in as much as it has a turnpoint before the start (presumably to allow a bit of practice before the race actually gets underway).

A graphic representation can be found at www.fastretrieve.com/download and this screen will change to the Live Leader Board as soon as we start the downloads (the Live Leader Board gives a good 'first impression' of the results but does not account for leadout points etc).

For those who want to see the Live Map (which shows landed pilots and the state of the retrieve) you can see it at www.fastretrieve.com/mapping)

We are all looking forward to a great week of competition - check back here regularly for updates....

Text by Chris

Pilot Committees

Task Committee
Nicky Moss (MD) (GBR)
Joanna Di Grigoli (VEN)
Beatriz Garcia (SPA)

Safety Committee
Kirsty Cameron (GBR)
Judith Mole (GBR)
Esther Garaizar (SPA)

Protest Committee
Klaudia Bułgakow (POL)
Caroline Brille (FRA)
Ruth Churchill Dow (GBR)

Ager, Day 1

22.08 - the weather

Typical daily schedule:
9:00 - Meteo briefing
9:30 - First transport to the take-off
12:00 - Briefing on launch
19:00 - Task deadline
21:00 - Social event

Tonight

Elements of Success

Two times World Cup Champion Anja Kroll will give a very personal insight into how she was able to climb to the very tops of the rankings.
Location: the grassy area in front of the wooden cabins - bring a beer and a blanket

Briefing in brief

Registration is over and there are 36 girls ready to take part in the competition. We've just finished the first general briefing. We've talked about safety, the flying area, scoring formulas, task setting, retrieve procedures and bikinis on the beach :) There's a rumour going on that the briefing was nice and thorough... well, that's the way we do it.

Josep Maria Mercade - our guardian angel

Miquel Lazaro of the Catalan Federation

Practice flying

Turned out to be a perfect flying day, most of the girls went up the hill to find very nice conditions. Some photos from today follow:

Isabella Reibling

Kirsty Cameron

Jessica Love

Domenica Bender Tcacenco

Training Day

Most competitors arrived already yesterday. The practice day has welcomed us with a superbly looking sky. All girls have gone to the take-off to get to know the competition area. Keep your fingers crossed for the sky gods to be on our side till the end of the event!

Jess & Bella

Joanna Di Grigoli

Àger, good choice

Àger has been very busy this year, with two comps already finished, one underway and our coming in August. It was a site of both hanggliding and paragliding Spanish nationals and right now it's hosting the Hanggliding European Championship 2010. Apparently the weather has been very generous to the pilots and during the paragliding comp they flew 5 out of 6 days (with one task cancelled), during the hanggliding nationals they managed to fly 9 out of 9! and now during the Europeans the've already done 8 in 10 days (with one day announced as a rest day).
Part of the organisation team has already arrived to the site and we'll be informing you on all our doings.

See you in a month!

Womens Paragliding Association

The Womens Paragliding Association was officially born at 20:50 (cet) on 18 March 2010.
The Inaugural General Assembly unanimously voted in the President, Executive Secretary, Treasurer and the Executive Board.
Klaudia Bulgakow takes on the role of President, Karolina Kociecka as Secretary and Anja Kroll is in control of finances. Nicky Moss, Caroll Licini and Des Pansi join them as members of the Board.

Registration is Open

Registration is now open on the www.womenspgopen.org website.
You need to be a registered user of the forum in order to register for the competition. If you haven't registered already please do this here before trying to apply for the competition.
Qualified pilots will be accepted into the competition on a '1st paid 1st in' basis.
If you don't meet the qualification criteria published on the website please contact us using the Contact Us form on the website so that we can try to help you.

Womens Paragliding Open supports 'The Wings of Hope'

We are committed to support a worthy cause in the course of this event and have chosen the charity ' Wings of Hope' as our partner.
Wings of Hope is an organisation that provides free education to poor and orphaned children in developing countries.
We believe a solid education is the best way out of poverty. The education we can provide will help these children break the cycle of dependency, and become providers for their communities.
See the www.womenspgopen.org website for more information.

Qualification criteria , entry requirements and registration

The qualification criteria and entry requirements are published.
We plan to open registration in February 2010.
Please check the website for updates and more information www.womenspgopen.org