From Zero to Hero

After two very disappointing seasons in 2011 and 2012, I started to doubt if I had what it takes to be in the top. Although I had some good individual tasks, I couldn't keep it together for a full comp. After a lot of thinking and discussions with fellow pilots, I realized that I had to improve in three things which I applied in the Colombian Championships 2013.

1. Discipline: At the Pre PWC South Africa I messed up my chances of getting a good result because of a stupid GPS mistake. I have also seen how a simple knot on the lines can mess up your task day, so every detail matters!! I started to get into the habit of eating well, getting proper rest, avoiding any kind of stress, taking time to prepare the equipment and paying more attention at the briefings.

2. Equipment: Except for the South African Pre PWC, I was never flying the latest gliders in the market, which made it very hard for me to keep up with the leaders in terms of speed and glide. Luckily my friend Mark Watts was aware of this and was kind enough to let me compete in the Colombian Open with his Ozone Enzo.

3. Control:  Nowadays you need to stick with the gaggle and learn how to 'Control' it to your advantage and attack in the last third of the task . My strategy was to play my strengths by climbing better than the others positioning myself on top of the gaggle, for me climbing fast is as important as gliding fast. Is also important to be fully aware of what the others are doing, what the weather is doing and what can I do to position myself better at certain points during the race.

Before the start of the comp , I was fully aware that the level in Colombia had increased dramatically, especially Julian Carreno and Steban Novoa who showed some real balls at the previous Colombian Open. On top of that we had some Amazing pilots coming from Europe and USA to warm up for the Superfinal. As I was aware of the high level of this comp, my aim was to squish  in the top 10. I had two proper days to train  in which I covered most of the taskable area of the valley.

The first task we saw proper racing conditions with some tricky bits, I fell behind in the first half of the task but managed to catch up with the leaders and arrive in the 8th position.

The second day was a 104 km task with very weak conditions, only the leading gaggle of about 15 pilots made it to goal , including myself in 5th position.

 In the third task we were  challenged with a 80 km task in tricky conditions, I arrived 6th and climbed to second overall  by this point I realized that with some consistence I could be winning the comp.

 The fourth task was a 53 km task in fairly good conditions, this time I flew by myself quite a bit and managed to arrive second in goal and positioned myself on top of the overall results :)

 Task 5 was the longest with 117  challenging kilometers, I started really well but made a wrong move and fell behind the leaders by up to 15 kilometers, as the conditions were decreasing, I decided to fly conservatively and somehow I managed to catch up with the leaders and although the conditions were shutting down, we managed to catch a very scary fire thermal that helped us to get to goal.

Task 6 was just 69 km in perfect conditions, It ran so smoothly that I don't remember much of it, I arrived 5th and my closest contenders Julian and Bernardo arrived before, narrowing the gap of the top 3 spots overall.

Day 7 was really stressful and emotional for me as I had to defend my place for one more day and the weather conditions were uncertain. Eventually they set a task of 45 km almost impossible for such a day. I mostly flew with my closest contenders trying to keep control and it worked until wind became a factor and I got grounded as my contenders flew away 10 km further. Luckily it was such a crappy task that it wasn't worth much, so I still had a chance.

At the end Julian Carreno, Jaques Fournier and I ended up with the same amount of points, sharing the first place and making history. This also meant that Julian and I became Colombian Champions. It was great to share the title with him as we started to compete at the same time and ever since we have been good friends and rivals.

Hopefully this new season will bring some interesting flights and hopefully good results. At the moment my plan is to attend the PWC events in France, Serbia and Turkey.

South African Pre-World Cup

Not long ago I decided to register for the Pre Word Cup in Porterville South Africa expecting that a miracle would happen . Well, it happened about a month ago when I was granted an award by the University of Brighton. This award helped me to fund most of my trip and now I am just a few days away from my next adventure in a new continent.

I have not been to a competition since World Cup Colombia in January and I am still flying an uncertified wing which nowadays is banned in most competitions but thanks to the Airdesign guys I will be flying a PURE and I am very excited because this will be the first time in my paragliding career when I get to compete with one of the best gliders on the market and not with an old model like I always do.

THE SEASON HAS FINISHED....

At the beginning of the year I decided to set myself some challenges. The first one was to get my advanced pilot licence in England and then win the prize for the best newcomer to the british championships which I managed to achieve during the opens in Slovenia and France. The second challenge was to qualify and take place in at least one Paragliding World Cup and luckily I was selected for the round in Portugal where i flew with some of the best pilots in the planet. challenge number 3 was to be number 1 in the colombian world ranking list by the end of the season, and thanks to the effort and concistence I am now number 1 in my country and number 14 in South America ;-))) .

A principios de este año decidí establecerme algunas metas. La primera era conseguir mi licencia de piloto avanzado en Inglaterra y luego ganarme el premio al mejor debutante en el campeonato británico, lo cual he conseguido durante los Opens de Eslovenia y Francia. La segunda meta fue calificar y competir porlomenos en una de las Copas del Mundo de Parapente, por suerte fui seleccionado para la etapa de Portugal, donde competi junto con algunos de los mejores pilotos del planeta .La meta número 3 fue llegar a ser el número 1 en la lista del ranking mundial colombiano al final de la temporada, y gracias al esfuerzo y concistencia ahora estoy número uno en mi país y el número 14 en Suramerica ;-))).

BEST SHOTS 2010

Paragliding World Cup Portugal DIA 1

Hoy se dio comienzo a una nueva etapa de la PWC, esta vez en Serra Da Estrela Portugal. Hoy nos han puesto una manga de 68 kilometros casi que en linea recta. al momento de briefing las condiciones estaban suaves, entonces esperamos a ver si mejoraban. A medida que paso el tiempo, el viento fue aumentando y nubes grandes comenzaron a formarse en los alrededores justo despues de abierta la ventana. Masomenos 20 pilotos lograron despegar pero la manga fue cancelada por riesgo de tormentas.

todos lo pilotos estamos usando el nuevo aparato de live tracking, asi que todo el mundo puede observar las carreras en tiempo real por medio de la pagina oficial.

www.paraglidingworldcup.org

Paragliding Competition Calendar 2010

Summer is just about to start and also the competition season in Europe. this year my calendar seems quite promising, starting with the first leg of the British Open in Slovenia from the 5th to the 11th of june.

In july 10th to 17th I'm going to the Pre World Championship in Piedrahita (Spain) a well known place for massive tasks, fast flying and long XCs.

From 21 to 25 of august, I'm going to participate in the french junior paragliding open only for pilots aged 21 or below . Is going to be very interesting to race against fresh young pilots and not the usual middle aged guys !!.

And last but no least from august 28th to september 4th the second leg of the British Open will be in the town of St Andre in France. the 150 places have been taken about 4 months before the comp starts and the pilot list is packed with legendary names such as Luc Arnant, Russ Odgen, Nevil Hulett, Mark Watts and many more. will be really fun to race in strong conditions against many european legends .

I am also looking foward to the PWC Rolda in january 2011. I have flown Rolda many times in the past and i would say that has a lot of potential for a World class competition due to its weather, wide valley, roads , towns and people, also the organizers are making a huge effort to make PWC rolda a unforgettable competition.

Axis Mercury 2008