Heading for Texas! If the current La Nina conditions persist, Edinburg may be the place to go for World Record Breaking conditions this year. 31 Rigid and Hang Gliding Records have been set from Zapata (down the road) and Will Gadd set a previous paragliding World Record in 2002 of 423.4km. I am planning to run a Paragliding World Record Encampment from 17th June 2011 to 17th July 2011. Let me know if you are interested in joining us! La Nina does lead to increased hurricane activity which may spoil the fun.You can monitor the drought conditions here.

Gradient introduce the Bright 4

Gradient has comes out with a new school glider, the Bright 4. It has passed the EN A certification in size 24, 26, 28 and 30. All sizes are available. The Bright4 22 will be coming soon.

The Gradient team took a lot of time to finalize the wings' development. The target was to create a wing for a wider range of beginners. According to Gradient director and developer Ondrej Dupal, it was the wings' safety that has been improved. For this, a lot of test flights took place in the rough conditions of world record spot "De Aar", South Africa. The gliders' characteristics and ground handling should achieve an effective and fast learning progress among new pilots. Easy take off and stable flight fit for beginners that are looking for relaxed paragliding fun. The Bright 4 comes in a brand new colour design: The Gradient wing got replaced by a big logo on the down sail. This matches with the upper sails colour combinations. Test reports will be available on DHV and Gradient web during next few days. Serial production for all four sizes will start at the beginning of January 2011, size 22 will follow in February-March 2011.

Where should you go to fly megga distances?

Thanks to 'otto' on PGForum for compiling this list of 300km + flights.

Anthony Allen on fire!

The last three days has seen South African pilot, Anthony Allen fly an incredible 141.1km, 137.1km and 173.2km from Pampoenfontein on his newly aquired Gradient XC3. The latter is the Western Cape State Record.