By Godfrey Wenness – event organizer

Australia - the land “Down Under”, has long been known by hang glider’s for great XC flying, epic annual competitions and is the breeding ground for famous pilots and gliders. Indeed some of the worlds best “Hangies” call Australia home and many top international pilots come down every year for months at a time to escape winter.

Wide open spaces, almost no airspace restrictions, friendly farmers, safe skies and landscape, modern facilities, cheap living, a great social scene…and of course reliable weather which provides an XC season from September to May, are the main drawcards.

Over the past 20 years paragliding has slowly made it’s way into the HG dominated local scene, and with a few world records and a long history of annual world class events, the 5th continent has become well known to “jellyfish” pilots as well.
These are some of the reasons why Manilla, Australia, was chosen to host the 2007 Paragliding World Championships with an unprecedented vote of 23:4 at the 2005 CIVL plenary.

Paragliding Worlds events have however in the past failed to attract significant numbers of visitors and spectators for one or another reason. Mostly it’s due to remote locations, a limited potential visitor flying and generally a lack of a simple invitation !
Manilla 2007 will be quite unique in that spectator/visitor pilots are invited and encouraged to attend and fly before and after the competition pilots have flown away from Mt Borah.

This will be possible due to the type of tasks flown – usually one way to goal style, in all directions over a wide open flying region. That results in almost no congestion on course as pilots head off down wind. For spectator pilots, that means being able to follow the course to goal with little or no interference to the comp pilots. It also means they have the chance to attend one of the best “free” XC skill’s clinics ever – they will get a live, in flight view of the worlds’ best in action.

Imagine flying XC and seeing thermal’s many miles ahead. That’s exactly what Manilla 2007 will provide for visiting pilots. It’s also the reason for theme of the event slogan – “See the Sky Come Alive”.

Despite popular belief, the Manilla flying region is not pure flatlands. The area offers a variety of landscapes including a series of wide flat and narrow river valleys, rolling hills and plateau country (1500-3000ftASL), low ridges (to 1500ftAGL), lakes, and a volcanic feature with a peak at over 5000ftASL ! It’s only after flying 30-60 miles out, depending on direction, that you will see pure text book flatlands (600ftASL). The best thing is to view it via Google earth or look at the static Google pictures on the event web site.

Conditions can vary from strong but smooth 1000-1600ft/min 12,000ft+ blue days with 10-15mph of wind drift, to easy cruising classic 600-1000ft/min days with clouds made in heaven, and right back to light scratchy 200ft/min inverted tests of patience with winds in different directions at a few levels and a constant issue with bombing out.

Miscalculated long glides, blue holes or bad tactics in sink zones often result in disappointing bomb outs but also amazing “low saves”. The latter have almost attained legendary status in Manilla, as most that visit will find out. A moon shot climb up to 10,000ft which started from a little beep at <100ft over the ground just before landing can be one of the most rewarding thermals a pilot can find – it’s the stuff of bar talk long into the night (of course the low save height gets lower and luckier with each beer) !

The classic comp task or XC flight is the down wind blast for up to 130 miles+ on good days. But don’t think for one second that it’s as easy as it sounds. Just because over 1/2 the pilots get to goal on these days doesn’t mean it’s a “walk in the park” - the wide ranging times taken show the true story ! It’s XC and racing that is very different to that in the alps or mountainous areas, and those in the lead have no one around to watch as is the case in out and return ridge style tasks.

The Manilla area is also cheap to stay by european and big city standards. A pub bed for a week costs around GBP40, a big Aussie beef steak dinner with salad and “veggies” around GBP4-6 depending on size, and all important beers in “schooner” glass (375ml) are GBP<1. Most visitors stay from 2-4wks to maximize their XC flying and Aussie country experience. For total mobility, rental cars can be organized for as little as GBP10 a day from capital cities. The coast for flying and beautiful clean sandy beaches are only around 3hrs away by car too !

The 2007 event which has been in planning for nearly 10 years will start with a street parade, airshow (including military jets, and all types of aircraft, skydivers etc), opening party, fireworks and concert. It will also feature a purpose built town square open for the 2 weeks, with food outlets, big screen and nightly entertainment to act as a focus point for visitors. Unlike previous Worlds closing ceremonies, which are held after the last day, Manilla 2007 will have its one on the last task night in the form of a street party, ensuring everyone stays in town to cheer the new Champions.

The event web site has a full accommodation list which includes a home stay option to cater for the extra visitors. It also has a number of travel itinerary and route suggestions for pilots coming down under for the event and to generally have a flying holiday while there. Manilla is 5hrs NW of Sydney by car and 45 mins by QantasLink to nearby Tamworth Regional airport. A daily train service for GBP25 takes 7hrs direct to Manilla, but if you check the internet you can find cheap flights for only GBP40 one way.

The Paragliding World Championships in Manilla next Feb/March gives all pilots a unique opportunity to visit Australia, enjoy and indulge in their passion for flying, have a great social time, and also, of course, to support their national team pilots.
Don’t forget when coming to Australia its important to learn the local greeting – not “hello” but rather you should say “G’day”. Manilla is looking forward to say G’day to pilots around the world.

For more information see : www.manilla2007.com