The Robair paragliding School rescued the 2010 Swiss Paragliding Acacro Championships. When the event was cancelled in August due to bad weather, the school rearranged it in November, and it was renamed the ‘Robair Coldwater acro sessions’. A correspondent from the school reports:
When we started briefing at 8.30pm on Thursday the question on everybody’s minds was, “How cold is the lake really in November?” and, “Are those dry suits really dry?”
But first things first: As reported earlier on justacro.com the Swiss Championships in August were not valid due to miserable weather conditions.
The announced replacement event in November had people wondering if Swiss pilots are crazy: temperatures are freezing and snow is not uncommon at this time. The regulations of the Swiss Paragliding Federation enforce a waiting period of two months before allowing a replacement event, and our determination to crown a Swiss Acro Champion in 2010 left us no other choice but to do so in November.
All fears were unnecessary: Friday morning was sunny with 16°C. The water temperature was 13°C: Some pilots even decide to fly without dry suits.
Starting with a synchro run on Friday morning the Lucky Clowns (Yves Berlowitz and Remo Niederer) were the first to take off. They were followed by six other teams. We needed at least five teams to make the synchro count in the Swiss Championships, so some of the teams were only formed the night before. Thanks a lot to the pilots for that!
The weather was forecast to change on Saturday, so we aimed for as many runs as possible on Friday. We continued straight away with a solo run and completed the day with another synchro run.
Saturday morning greeted us with wind. The conditions were still flyable and we were able to have another solo run. We started another synchro run but the wind picked up and we had to cancel the run after three teams.
From that point on the weather would just get worse. Two solo runs and two synchro runs make a valid Swiss championship so we decided to call it a day and get on with the prizegiving ceremony.
The pilots especially enjoyed the free food and drinks all day long, and free Red Bull on take off, landing, on the boat and in the bus. Two cool days with not too cool weather.
The organization would like to thank all sponsors, helpers, friends, pilots, families and everyone who made the first Robair Coldwater Acro session possible.
The 2011 event has already been scheduled for 11 – 13 November, with a replacement date of 18 – 20 November
Read more at:
www.acro-cat.ch (French)
www.chrigelmaurer.ch (German)
www.chickenstyle.ch (German)
www.luckyclowns.ch (German)
www.acroleague.ch (English)
See you in the sky
http://robair.ch
