1994 Canadian Paragliding Cross Country Notes

The year didn't start out too well. Longest flight in the spring was a flight from Cochrane to Airdrie by Keith MacCullough. May long weekend brought a crowd of paraglider (and hang glider) pilots to Oliver, B.C. Most were there for an informal flyin which was a huge success but a few joined the hang gliding meet. On Day 1, Dean Leinweber of Calgary made the first turnpoint and landed in the same field as a large number of hang glider pilots. Day 2 he was joined by Keith MacCullough landing just short of the first turnpoint.

There was no news of any XC flights in Eastern Canada.

June was the start of the Golden season with good flights by Glen Derouin, Ross Groom [Nzl} and Bernard Wagenbach [Ch]. However, the July long weekend was a disappointment with rain, wind and cloud.

This would be the last rain until August. The long flights were soon to begin! Bernard Wagenbach, a Swiss pilot visiting friends in Golden had little XC experience when he arrived in Canada. He flew to Harrogate Store (41km) for his personal best early in July. The next day he flew to Canal Flats, 143km, the longest flight in Canada for 1994. Later in the month he once again flew just short of Canal Flats landing near the boat ramp for 138km. Bernard's best three flight total was 389km (which would have put him in the top ten on the hang gliding list for 1994) for a total of 885km. Bernard also won Day 1 of the Canadian Paragliding Nationals with a flight to Radium of 88km. He flew any day that looked promising [which was nearly every day for five weeks]. During the Hang Gliding Nationals he would launch early and make his way downrange while the hang gliders raced up and down the valley.

Glen Derouin of Canmore, Eric Oddy of Golden and Dean Leinweber of Calgary all recorded their longest flights in 1994. On the first day that Bernard flew to Canal Flats, Glen landed at the other end of the lake for 135km. Eric flew to Invermere twice and Dean flew to Invermere on the last day of the hang gliding nationals arriving at their goal not long after the last hang glider pilot.

The most incredible paragliding flight of the year was by Peter MacLaren of Vancouver who left Mt. Seven, Golden and headed east landing close to Canmore. The Paragliding Nationals in Golden proved to be another memorable meet. This year 82 competitors signed up, over 40 US pilots. Day one had very strong conditions. As it was Open Distance, the pilots who launched early elected to head North. Some made it to Donald Station, others were caught in the headwind at the end of the day. Chris Muller who launched first headed up the Blaeberry River, the first pilot to take that route. Those who waited and launched later had a taste of the magic Golden glassoff. Many of these pilots flew south without turning. Longest flight of the day was Bernard Wagenbach with 88km; Peter MacLaren with 86km and Mike Solaja who flew tandem with hang glider pilot Ray Smith and made it to Radium tied with Peter for second place. Day two had Chris Muller and Boris Vejdovsky [Ch] winning the day flying into a headwind for 75km. The last day was the Race to Goal as usual. The Harrogate Store was goal [41.5km]. Chris Muller won the day but ten pilots made goal before the window closed and 7 pilots arrived after including Tina Pavelic(USA) and Marry-Anne Karren (USA). Scott Amy radioed in as he passed goal on his way to Radium for his longest flight-88km. It was a great weekend.

1994 Flights

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