HGFA Skysailor Magazine

8 SKY SAILOR May | June 2019 O ver 19 to 30 March 2019, the Aussie PG Team competed in the 2018/19 PWC Superfinal – an incredible competition that provided 10 days of aerial racing in the skies over Baixo Guandu, on the east coast of Brazil. The region is famous for its Jurassic-style landscape – massive black granite monoliths rising up out of Brazil’s humid green jungle, with wide rivers, coloured by the electric orange earth, winding amongst them. Alongside the World Championships, the Superfinal is the pinnacle of international race-to-goal paragliding competitions. The quality of the field and sheer speed of racing this year proved extraordinary. With light winds, strong conditions and clouds marking climbs each day, the gaggle averaged breakneck speeds of up to 45km/h around 100km tasks, with the top 50 to 100 pilots raining into goal within minutes of each other every day. Racing paragliders really doesn’t get any better. Our Aussie team represented well, with Felipe Rezende in 31st place (Flow Spectra), Kari Ellis on the podium in 3rd in the Women’s Championship and 59th overall (Ozone Enzo3), Wally Arcidiacono in 70th (Gin Boomerang11), Gareth Carter in 77th (Ozone Enzo3) and Peter Slade in 91st (Flow Spectra). Brazil! The PWC Superfinal The Aussie Paragliding Team is back home from the Paragliding World Cup. by Kari Ellis