Championship Film

Finally, the film of the 17th FAI World Hang Gliding Championships 2009 at Laragne-Chabre is available!  With a sound track in English and French, the film, entitled ‘Loin des yeux, près du coeur’ or ‘Far from view but close to heart’, runs for 26 minutes.  It includes some excellent footage from take-off, from the air and from the goal fields.  Interviews with a number of pilots, team leaders and organisers, explain the challenges of flying hang gliders, and follow the progress of this successful championship event.  The video includes superb aerial views of the Laragne-Chabre countryside, located close to the Ecrins mountains of the Hautes-Alpes in the south of France.  It is a fantastic souvenir for anyone who participated, and a great way of showing friends, family and wannabe hang glider pilots the beauty and thrill of hang gliding.
In addition, the film, produced by French company Digivision under the supervision of cameraman Christophe Rosanvallon, has been selected to be presented at the famous ‘Festival International du Film de Vol Libre’ at Coupe Icare, St Hilaire du Touvet, from 18th to 20th September 2009. 

It can be downloaded here as a zip containing an avi file (175mb)

  Download Here (English version)

  Download Here (Version française)

After 6 valid tasks, and a very exciting last day, Italy took the title of World Champions. Alessandro Ploner from Italy took the individual title on board his Icaro2000 Z9.
The second team was Austria follwed by France.
Second individual was Jon Durand from Australia follwed by Thomas Weissenberger from Austria.
See the full results here.

Photos and reports see the Blog Page

Airspace on Garmins

There is a way to display airspace information on Garmin map instruments. See the 'airspace 4 Garmins page'.

Ramp

A wooden ramp/runway has been constructed for one of the take off lanes on the top south launch at Chabre. The 18 m long runway will drastically improve launching from this lane.

A very big thank you to The Colombian Hang Gliding Team whose generous dontation helped us build the ramp. See Photos

Turnpoints

A zip file containing turnpoints in various formats is now available on the airspace and the pilot info pages.

Registration – Reallocation complete

We are delighted to announce that the reallocation process for the World HG Championships is now completed.  Out of 33 nations entering, 19 (so far) have entered a fifth pilot.  The fifth pilot score will count towards the team score (best three scores count in each task).  Read more

Sprogs & drugs & rock n roll

Following the CIVL Plenary in February, there is a requirement that all pilots competing in the FAI World HG Championships in Laragne, must have their sprog settings checked before they will be able to fly the first competition task.  The FAI is also warning pilots to be prepared for anti-doping testing which could take place at any international competitions.  Read more.

Entry Fees

A reminder that the full entry fees are due on the 1st April 2009  Payment details here

Registration - stage 1 complete

The first stage of registration for the 2009 World Hang Gliding Championships is now complete, with 35 nations confirming their participation. So far, 122 places out of a potential maximum of 130 have been reserved. Therefore, according to the Local Regulations, there will be no further places allocated at this time. If the number drops below 120 before the 20 May deadline, then one round of allocation will commence. This will give the top nations the option to enter a fifth pilot. (more...)

2009 Registration OPENS

Registration for the 17th FAI World Hang Gliding Championships 2009 is now OPEN! Teams of up to four pilots must be registered by the National Aero Club or appointed HG Federation, and should reach us by 31 January, 2009. Once the team is registered, selected pilots can register individually. After 31 January, any remaining places are allocated to registered nations in order of their WPRS ranking, up to a maximum of 6 pilots per team. The maximum number of pilots accepted for the 2009 World Championships is 130.

2009 Rules, Rules and more Rules!

The Organising team of the 17th FAI World Hang Gliding Championship, 2009, has been working for several months with CIVL officials, discussing the details of the Local Regulations. There are many issues to resolve in the hang gliding competition world, and the Agenda for the CIVL Hang Gliding Subcommittee meeting, to be held next month in Austria, is long indeed. Although we hope to publish the 2009 Local Regulations before then, expect some changes later to reflect decisions that will be taken at the CIVL Plenary.

CIVL Officials Appointed

CIVL Officials appointed The CIVL-appointed Jury and Stewards have now been selected for the 17th FAI World Hang Gliding Championships, to be held here in Laragne, France in June....More

Scott Barrett Wins

 Scott takes the individual from Balazs with Dan Vyhnalik in third , the UK take first team with France narrowly in second.... see the Results

Check the Blogspot for latest news and photos and video ...... go here

Photos on Flickr .....go here

Results here

Pilot Profiles

Pilot Profiles now going up , go HERE or access them from the Blogs or Press Pages

To read previous news stories go here