Horacio Llorens, multiple paragliding aerobatics World Cup Champion and Infinity Tumbling Guinness record holder announces his new sponsorship deal with Gradient - he told us these breaking news in a skype call two days ago. We managed to get hold of him at home in Albacete, Spain as he was making his final preparations for the next Search Project starting today.

"After flying 4 years representing my cousin's (Raúl Rodriguez - RR Wings) brand it was a very hard decision to make." - he said.

In the past during the Search Projects he was already often seen flying cross country with Gradient wings.
The brand currently does not have a high level competition wing but Horacio also said that a prototype is already in development for the 2014 season.

Horacio and Thomas de Dorlodot (also with Gradient) together with a small production team are in these moments on an airplane towards Tahiti, the middle of the Pacific ocean to set off for another great adventure. There, a large catamaran boat is already waiting for them to become their home for the next 3 months on the search for special islands. You can follow them on the Search Facebook page.

Please help and sign this petition! There is a major problem building in Austria. The Ministry of Transportation is about to make transponders to be a mandatory equipment to carry for all aircraft including paragliders and hang-gliders to be visible on radar screens! This would be a huge throwback for the free-flying community and a potential danger that other countries will follow this example! Support the movement against the transponder!

After 6 years flying for U-Turn, Pál Takáts now announced to change to Ozone paragliders!
Ozone writes: "In the very near future we will be announcing a Trickster 2, which is the “easiest” competition acro wing that we have developed so far. Pal will be flying the Trickster 2 along with a full complement of Ozone wings, from the Fazer 2 to the Enzo 2 and everything in between. His PPG flying skills are also on the rise, and we are confident that he has a very bright future in all branches of our sport."

Read more about Pál's personal thoughts about his decision in his blog.

After the Aerobatic Paragliding World Tour final has ended this sunday in italy the official APWT official ranking has been published yesterday.

At the end François Ragolski (FRA) won the ultimate consecration and became the new World Tour Champion after 2 years on the 3rd place. François took the lead of the world ranking straight after the first stop in Albania and his consistency all the season long helped him keeping the lead. He is followed by Eliot Nochez (FRA) who got the 2nd place on every event of the season but could not fill in the point difference between him and François. The 3rd place was held by Théo de Blic (FRA) who managed to climb here because of his consistency on every runs.
So once again France took the 1st top spots on the podium.

Sebastian Kahn (AUT) managed to climb up to the 4th place while 5 times world cup winner Horacio Llorens has to take the 5th place.

This season saw a really high level particularly with apparition of the twisted tricks and we saw a never seen yet originality in the presented tasks.

In synchro the team Face to Face (François Ragolski - Raul Rodriguez) won every events and naturally were awarded with the Synchro World Tour champion title. While Sol Acro Team (Rafael Goberna - Hernan Pitocco) got the 2nd place and Twisted Boys (Horacio Llorens - Théo de Blic) who did some mistakes on the last run climbed down to the 3rd place.

The 2014 APWT is now finished but the season is not finished. Stay tuned next week for the Sonchaux Acro Show with the world top pilots and the week after for the French Championship that will be a really strong fight due to the high level of the participants.

Overall 2014 APWT solo results :

1. François Ragolski (FRA) | World Tour Winner
2. Eliot Nochez (FRA)
3. Théo de Blic (FRA)
4. Sebastian Kahn (AUT)
5. Horacio Llorens (SPA)

Overall 2014 APWT synchro results :

1. Face to Face |Raul Rodriguez - François Ragolski | World Tour Winners
2. Sol Acro Team | Rafael Goberna - Hernan Pitocco
3. Twisted boys | Théo de Blic - Horacio Llorens

In the name of the whole aerobatic community I would like to thank all the orginisers and volunteers who helped us with all their amazing events ! THANK YOU !

Marvin Ogger and Tim Alongi are showing their skills in this sick GoPro - Edit.

For Marvin Ogger, paragliding is about “the feeling of flight, and nothing else." He's one of the pilots blending the disciplines of classic 'acro paragliding' and 'freestyle flying'. So, which does he do? Both.

"It's not about categorisation. I've realised that the disciplines really overlap. 'Freestyle flying' takes 'acro paragliding' to a variety of terrains. Every hill, every rock, every piece of architecture is a potential park – sometimes 100m above the ground, other times a few up kilometres up!"

Of course, this style of flight requires years of experience and extreme skill – one, in particular: "Above all, you need to be able to land from several meters up using a 'tail-slide!'"

"Freestyle flying’ takes ‘acro paragliding’ to a variety of terrains!"

Watch the video above to see how Ogger and his friend Tim Alongi explore the world of what's possible on a paraglider, bringing the sky and the ground together in some very daring ways. And remember, it's all about practice. Says Ogger: "The more time I spend in the air, the more fully I can move there too."

Content: http://www.redbull.com/en/adventure/stories/1331691802960/this-is-ground...

This Video is dedicated to Paulina-Sophie Bruck Gramko - A young girl who died in a paragliding-accident this year in Austria.. Rest in Peace..

justACRO: Hey Horacio! You and Hernan Pitocco just released your new Video: “Redbull Slingshot”. How this idea did came up?

Horacio: The truth is that this idea is on my mind since a long time. The first, who did the free fall from a paraglider during infinity tumbling was Antoine Montant a few years ago.
I have seen Pal Takats doing aerobatics with the tandem many times, so for sure the Slingshot was in front of us - we just needed the tools. With the help of Supair we created a special harnesses with a three ring system. So we could disconnect the pilot and the passenger from the tandem in the same time and free fall.

justACRO: Who was the main pilot and who pulled the release? How did you decide?

Horacio: I was the pilot who was in charge to do the tumbling and keep the Infinity straight. Hernan Pitocco had the responsibility to launch us in the right moment.
Both of us wanted to be the pilot so we decided by playing the game "rock-paper-scissors" and I won. (laughs)
Anyway both of us had a very important task to do.
 
justACRO: In a split of a second of the video you can see Hernan in your Tandemacrowing. What was going through your mind, as you saw this?

Horacio: That was the first time we practiced and our idea was to leave the tandem going up to have the feeling of a climbing free fall. But the truth is that the strong winds (+50km/h) moved the tandem when we leaved, that's why the tandem was under us when we started to free fall. 
So when i saw Pitocco in front of me and the white material of the tandem bellow him I knew he was going to be in problems. Like always there is no time for fear, just time for the reaction and Pitocco moved like a ninja to leave the canopy in less than one second. 

justACRO: Respect guys! Keep on going like this. Thank you for the Interview. We wish you two a nice upcoming season 2015!

It’s not every day you see three paragliders in sync as wingsuit pilots speed between them. And it’s certainly not every day you see these guys playing in the skies above such a stunning castle.

Paragliders Horacio Llorens, Theo De Blic and Rafael Goberna joined the Soul Flyers, Fred Fugen and Vince Reffet, to make the incredible video produced by Shams over the scenic Peyrepertuse Castle.

The project Higher Limits was created to promote Peyrepertuse Castle application to become a UNESCO heritage site.

Llorens explains the epic two days of flying: “We had two really perfect flying days. The first day we had six hours, we flew all around the castle and we were doing acrobatics and playing.

“The second day Fred and Vince started jumping from the helicopter in free flight. In the afternoon we could play together with them in the air. I did an infinity tumble and they passed close, at 200kph, it was a super-nice experience.

“We did a formation in the air and they passed again super-fast, like bullets, I was in the middle and they sped super-fast direct to me, it was super-cool.”

The pilots were able to land and take off from the ruins of the castle, a unique experience. The tourists visiting definitely got a thrill when they all flew close to the castle grounds.

Llorens adds: “It was a pleasure to fly at the Peyrepertuse Castle and be part of the project."

But it’s not any group that could pull off such a technical stunt, it only worked because they know each other incredibly well.

“First of all you need to know everyone perfectly,” stresses Llorens. “I’ve known Rafael Goberna since he was 15 and Theo De Blic is my acro-partner.

“You try these things with people you trust 100 percent, not even 95 percent, you need 100 percent trust.

“So this is the most important thing, then we can plan together.”

The group is passionate and already talking about future projects they could pull off.

Llorens adds: “At the end celebration, we were already speaking about our next projects, we have a lot of really cool ideas.

“We can really play together; create gates in the air for them to fly through, for example. For sure in the future we will play together more.”

A few days ago Thomas from Asynchron has released his paragliding simulation app for Android.

It's still semi realistic but close to real glider physics behavior. You stear your paraglider with breaks left/right and via weightshifting and it's possible to fly most of the maneuver in the acrobatic paragliding world.

If you don't want to fly acro, you can try out some accuracy competitions, cross country or paramotor pylonraces! With the integrated Google Play Game Service you can put your scores online and compare them to other players all over the world.

Statenent of the developer:
"There is still some space for improvement. Currently I am trying to get the maneuver detection in acro mode done. If this is working in future, there will be be a scoring system for competition mode. Currently it can detect helico, sat and infinity. At the moment too less to give some serious points. Now I know that competition judging is really hard work ;)"

Try it out! It's a nice way of passing the time on non flyable days!

Trailer of the game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R2YDacdIBo

Its available on Google Playstore:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=at.asynchron.paragliding

Asynchron's website:
http://www.asynchron.at/

Flying in Austria was not legal since the birth of our sport, however very few was aware of this, since it wasn't enforced much. Except at places like Geritzen, where too much stuff happened, and pulling out a 20 year old regulation seamed to be the perfect way to keep foreign pilots away.

Looks like this is going to change from May 1st, and there is a new regulation in final review. Pilots holding a hang gliding or paragliding license from following countries my than lawfully fly in the Austrian Alps:

• Australia
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Germany
• Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• Hungary
• France
• Italy
• Lithuania
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Romania
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Ukraine

The Austrian Aeroclub have proofed these regulation, and accepeted them as equivalent to Austrian license.

Keep in mind, 3rd party liability insurance is a must, and you have to carry your licence and insurance with you on the flight.

Pilots from all other countries may obtain a special “Guest-Licence” from the local “Austrian Flying School” by providing proof of qualification (e.g. IPPI card, national license,…).

This is great news for our upcoming event the justACRO Boogie. See you all there soon!

Great news to the paragliding, and specially for the ACRO community. We have been in the dark zone for years, some have been fined for flying and doing what we love to do, because their licences were not accepted. 

Luckily the federation have heard our vocies and after years of preparation, the law to regulate and allow certain foreign licences to be used in Austria is going into effect by 1st of March, 2017.

Pilots, with licences from the following countries are accepted:

Keep in mind, 3rd party liability insurance is a must, and you have to carry your licence and insurance with you on the flight.

The full text of the order can be downloaded here.

If you want to learn more about the situation, read our initial post.

Danke Österreich! See you all at JustACRO Boogie this summer!

Many of you may know Michael Sean Muldoon, aka mikesm08 here on justACRO. He is one of the most active members of this site. Full of passion about acro and spent loads of time sharing his comments and ideas offering help to other pilots all around the world. Unfortunately has suffered a serious accident recently and needs our help now to cover the costs of his medical treatment. Follow the link to learn what happened with him and how you can help. Thanks for all your contribution! Stay strong Michael and a speedy recovery!

Since Horacio Llorens set the latest record in 2012 with 568 turns, Veso was working on beating it but did not have much luck with his attempts due to different reasons.

Veso's past attempts:

2010: Peru, Lima, 249 turns jumping out of a helicopter.
2014: Black see, Bulgaria, 289 turns jumping from an Antonov airplane.
2017: Bulgaria, 397 turns jumping from a hot-air balloon at 5000 meters.
2017: Bulgaria, the next day jumping out of a balloon at 7000 meters. No record due to struggles with his paraglider.
2018 August: Bulgaria, jumping from a hot-air balloon at 7000m with a brand new 16m2 Supersonic 3DX. 120 and 80 turns, struggling with his glider and destroying his neck in the attempt.
2018 September 20th: NEW WORLD RECORD with 613 turns.

Veso was sharing us all the details about his record flight in a phone call. Here is what he shared with us:

"To set the last record in 2012 Horacio jumped from special helicopter called the Eurocopter. They climbed to the extreme altitude of 6500 meters. In Bulgaria we don't have such a helicopter so I had to exit from a hot-air balloon. I really wanted to do this in Bulgaria and needed maximum altitude so I choose to do this over the flatlands where the ground level is really low, only 150 meters over sea level. This way I had some advantage in elevation over Horacio who flew over higher grounds with 400 meters AMSL in Guatemala. He also lost some time after between jumping from the helicopter and entering the Tumbling so I was quite positive that the altitude will be enough to break the record. 

During my last attempt in August we climbed to 7000 meters and I was able to enter the Infinite at 6800 which would have been perfect. But my brand new Sol Supersonic was 'waving like a toilet paper'...It was so unstable and I had to keep correcting really hard that resulted in serious pain in my neck...I had to exit after 100 turns...then I triend again without success. I was devastated...After this I decided to change my entire equipment again. I got a new harness and fixed all my settings by sewing them to a fixed position so it would not change at all. And I also had to change the glider once again. After seeing my friends flying it I went for the new Ozone Session 17m2 because it looked really solid in the maneuver.
Emotionally I was having some difficulties both in my private life and also with the balloon pilot who was not able to decide if he will fly me up or not due to missing permissions. In the very last moment he finally said yes and luckily the project was on! We climbed to about 6400 meters and I was already standing on the edge of the balloon ready to jump when the balloon started to sink and my glider begin to move around underneath me. I had to wait until the balloon stabilized loosing precious time, altitude and nerves. Finally I jumped at 6280 meters but got a cravat in the opening which also cost me some altitude to resolve. 

Looking down into my box I saw 4 sets of power lines right on my course line so I also had to reposition a little bit. Finally at around 5900-6000 meters I entered the Infinite. It was going so well with the Session that I did not feel much joy Tumbling for so long. In fact it was actually quite boring somehow. I did not have to work much to correct the maneuver so I was barely even looking up at my glider but just locked my neck looking forward to avoid hurting my neck.
I was really planning on exiting the maneuver low, at  around 200 meters above ground level but the lower I got the clearer that I was drifting exactly towards those high voltage powerlines...Finally I had to exit at 400 meters and missed to perform at least 20-25 turns more. In that moment I had the feeling that I did not make enough turns for a new record and was pretty upset...but after looking at the video it turned out that I was wrong! I am really happy but already planning the next attempt because I want to extend my own record even more - before someone else would do it!"

Congratulations Veso!

 

Chronology of Infinite Tumbling World Records:

108 turns: in 2006 by Raúl Rodriguez (ESP) - inventor of the Infinite Tumbling
122 turns: in 2007 by Antoine Montant (FRA)
158 turns: in 2008 by Chrigel Maurer (CHE)
211 turns: in 2009 by Chrigel Maurer (CHE)
281 turns: in 2009 by Horacio Llorens (ESP)
287 turns: in 2012 by Hernan Pitocco (ARG)
374 turns: in 2012 by Max Marien (USA)
568 turns: in 2012 by Horacio Llorens (ESP)
613 turns: in 2018 by Veso Ovcharov (BG)

In the last Episode of Bergwelten (Mountainworld) Sebastian Kahn and Simon Winkler (Team AirG Products) showed the beauty of synchroflying above the snowcovered Alps. Skip to 09:00Min and check it out!
https://www.servus.com/tv/videos/aa-1xvez4k5s2112/

Foto: Haakon Brenna

Dear justACRO fans, I need your help! Please share your emergency situations caught on tape and help other people not to make the same mistakes! From cross country emergencies to acro, collapses, twists, cravats, reserve deployments, etc. - everything is welcome!

I am working on new episodes for Master Acro such as Misty Flip, Misty to Heli, SAT to Heli, Heli to SAT, Heli to Heli, MacTwist, MacTwist to Heli, Tumbling, Rythmic SAT, Infinite Tumbling...There are many special situations and emergencies that I am not able or not willing to reproduce. Not only looking for situations related to the maneuvers above, but also in general. Even non-acro related action can be very useful because I am also planning to create a collection of all kind of paragliding fuckups - explained and analyzed.

How to share?
Fast and simple: use http://wetransfer.com to send your high-resolution video to the e-mail address info@justacro.com

In the comment please write the following information:
- The type of glider flown in the video
- The size of the glider
- Your take-off weight
- Your name (just for the record, please note if you don't want your name displayed)

Many thanks in advance!
Pál Takáts

Marvin Ogger and Tim Alongi are showing their skills in this sick GoPro - Edit.

For Marvin Ogger, paragliding is about “the feeling of flight, and nothing else." He's one of the pilots blending the disciplines of classic 'acro paragliding' and 'freestyle flying'. So, which does he do? Both.

"It's not about categorisation. I've realised that the disciplines really overlap. 'Freestyle flying' takes 'acro paragliding' to a variety of terrains. Every hill, every rock, every piece of architecture is a potential park – sometimes 100m above the ground, other times a few up kilometres up!"

Of course, this style of flight requires years of experience and extreme skill – one, in particular: "Above all, you need to be able to land from several meters up using a 'tail-slide!'"

"Freestyle flying’ takes ‘acro paragliding’ to a variety of terrains!"

Watch the video above to see how Ogger and his friend Tim Alongi explore the world of what's possible on a paraglider, bringing the sky and the ground together in some very daring ways. And remember, it's all about practice. Says Ogger: "The more time I spend in the air, the more fully I can move there too."

Content: http://www.redbull.com/en/adventure/stories/1331691802960/this-is-ground...