HGFA Skysailor Magazine

SKY SAILOR 23 September | October 2018 The comp has hadmany sponsors, from the people of Manilla, including Vic & Tom, other businesses in town and the paragliding schools. The major sponsors are the NSWHPA and Godfrey of Fly Manilla. The SoO 2018 saw another epic year with 141 pilots. Day one was the classic north run to Bingara and beyond. Thirty pilots flew over 100km, five over 180km. The day winner was Lukas Grzyb with 142.73km and as a Funster, 428 points. Day two saw another classic NW route out to Wee Waa and Burren Junction, the day winner was Jozef Svec with 146.9km and 441 points. Easter Sunday, the last day of the comp had a wind change during the day, some headed west, others later headed north, a little slower, but again flights over the 100km, the winner was Kynan Wall with 98.45km and 295 points, landing past Bingara. This year saw our first female winner on handicap, with three great flights for a pilot only a few months into her PG2. Our overall winner for the Paragliding State of Origin 2018 was Halina Kaufman with 742 points, 247.3km over the three days. Best crew was Manilla Madness on 2251 points, followed by Russian Comedians on 1826 points and Pepsi Min Sink in third with 1624 points. The State winner was NSW Cockroaches. Over the 15 years I’ve run the SoO, the World Barbarians have won the SoO trophy twice, the Queensland Cane Toads have won it four times, the NSW Cockroaches eight times and only one rained out comp in 2015 (only one small task window). My largest comp was 2013 with 197 pilots registered. Over that time, I’m happy to say only two Sporters have won the handicap prize, all the rest have been novice Funsters. So, after 15 years of running this comp, I’m handing it over to my club, the Newcastle paragliders and for the first time in 14 years, I will actually get to fly – Yahoo!