Differents types of competitions
Cross
The cross currently represents the best known of the types of competition.
It is a race on a course predefined by the race committee just before the start of the race.
The route is generally between 50 and 100km, marked by tags to be crossed in order. Each tag is a GPS coordinate recorded in that of each competitor.
The goal is to complete the course by reaching the goal as quickly as possible.
There is one race per day and the competition can last from 2 days to more than a week.
The last world championships in Italy in early July 2017 saw the victory of 2 French, Pierre Remy in men and Seiko Fukuoka in women. Note that France is a very representative nation in the middle of paragliding.
Acrobatics
The Voltige is undoubtedly the most spectacular and visual format of the paragliding competitions.
These are acrobatics competitions rated by judges who score points. The most popular acrobatic maneuvers are often the most technical and therefore the best rated.
The competitors have several rounds to accumulate a maximum of points. 2 types of sleeves are provided, those solo and those with 2 in synchro.
The box of evolution of these maneuvers acrobatics is always carried out in a secure environment, that is to say above a water body, to allow to be placed in the water in case of incident.
Each maneuver to a name, helicopter, tumbling, misty flip .... and the fact of chaining them cleanly increases his score. The end of the run usually ends with a posed on a fairly narrow raft floating on the water , Which makes it possible to increase even more its final score.
Spain and France are the two nations that have the most winners in this discipline.
Walk and Fly
This type of competition has existed for about 15 years but is becoming more and more popular.
The competitors have a journey to realize on several days with compulsory crossing points, having the right to walk, to fly and to sleep of course. Assistance is never far away for periods of rest and for food. These tests require extreme physical and mental conditions.
The evolution of the equipment nowadays tends to be alleviated considerably to such an extent that there are complete bags including sail + harness to less than 3 kg.
The most famous of the competitions of this type is the Redbull X-Alpes, launched in 2003, it takes place every 2 years in July.
The last part saw again the victory of the extraterrestrial Chrigel Maurer before a Frenchman Benoit Outters. This last edition has been one of the most difficult since the beginning.
There are other competitions of this kind, over a few days, with a departure and arrival on the shores of Lake Annecy, the Born To Fly.