"For the second year in a row, Antoine Montant (France) pockets the highest distinction for a speed flyer. He won it wednesday after the Big Mountain contest of the Speed Flying Pro, the most important speed flying competition which took place in les Arcs. Mickaël Régnier is second and Yoan Castagnoli third.
On the Aiguille Rouge, Antoine Montant displayed his famous combination of daring piloting, strong skiing, surprising choice of line and uncompromising risk taking.
Today in the Big Mountain contest, the speed flyers had to find their way on the mountain being noted by a jury. Antoine Montant's first place today, combined with his third yesterday in the speed cross, paved the way for a victory... only, and only if his rival Yoan Castagnioli finished third or below. This is exactly what happened.
The young speed flyer threw in a conservative line. Castagnoli wanted, above all, to cross the finish line, and avoid repeating last year scenario where he fell in the first part of the same run. He finished 11th of the Big Mountain and 3rd overall.
The outsider Mickaël Regnier, competing for the first time in the Speed Flying Pro, was the most consistent : 2nd in the speed cross and 5th in the big mountain which landed him 2nd on the overall ranking."

For more infos, pictures and videos visit: speedflyingpro.com

The justACRO Team wishes Merry Christmas and a very happy and successful New Year to all the acro flyers around the globe!

Thanks for all your visits and your activity in 2008!

Soft landings and see you in the sky!

On the 22nd of November the JHV (the main meeting of the german paragliding association) was held and the issue of legalizing acro in Gemany came up for discussion (in the moment roll- and pitch angles above 90 degrees are not allowed) Nearly 10 person spoke in front of the public - included Toni Bender and Karl Slezak, the DHV's safety consultant - and said that the complete legalisation is very urgent. The petition was accepted by nearly 100% of the people who were present on the meeting.

However, there already has been once a working group in 2002 which discussed the possibility of legalizing acro flying in Germany. The main reason why that did not go ahead is still valid today: aerobatics flight with paragliders is prohibited by the law, whereas LuftVO §8(1) prohibits aerobatics flight with "Luftsportgeräten", a class which comprises mostly ultralights, paragliders, hanggliders, parachutes. This ordinance can only be changed by the Luftfahrtbundesamt (LBA), the highest German aviation administration.

Now a new working group will be formed to proceed this petition further though the LBA and change the law to let the growing german acro community train and live their passion in a legal way!
Good luck!

Further infomations about the legalization process can be found here
and in the DHV Forum (in german)

Klick hier für die deutsche Version

This beautiful portugese vulcanic island on the Atlantic-ocean (700 km west from the coasts of Marocco) is a perfect paragliding destination. Thanks to its mild and stable climate the temperature is warm all year round (between 19-25C). Due to the passat winds the north side is often cloudy and rainy whilst the south of the island is well protected, dry and sunny with great soaring and thermalling conditions up to 900-1200 meters. Beside more than 70 take-off places, Madeira offers friendly hospitality, a 500 years old history, unforgetable gastronomy and unnumerous outdoor activities...

During their training session between the acro competitions Gábor and Pícsör worked hard to film nice acro moves and to develop and test new, spectacular camera angles. They took it seriously and after the season they returned home with 20 casettes and worked through many long nights just to sort out all the shots. They already edited two clips to share some of the best shots and some secrets, with You!

The Coupe Icare Festival, the biggest freeflying meeting and expo in the world was even bigger and better organized for its 35th edition!
Despite the strong north winds on friday and saturday the weather was mostly sunny and the cliff of St. Hilaire du Touvet released strong lee thermals till mid afternoon. More than 60 acro pilots showed up from all around Europe to participate in the acro demonstrations and unlike in the last years, this time it was possible to climb over the take-off and impress the spectators with acro figures up on the plateu, as well as in the landing place down in the valley.

Find out more on the Coupe Icare site

More photos and blogs:
http://www.coupe-icare.org/photos-2008.html
http://www.ricoufly.net
http://www.murblanc.org/parapente/coupe-icare-2008/
http://site.voila.fr/jcrabiller/icare/voirp.htm
http://photocabos.free.fr/icare2008
http://web.mac.com/christianpignoly/iWeb/Art-Dans-Desir/Coupe-Icare2008....