The future of competitions!? by Mads SYNDERGAARD

Postado por Roberto Torres

Mads SYNDERGAARD
Mads Syndergaard é um piloto com vasta experiência na pratica de parapente e que recentemente escreveu um livro com algumas ideias que foi criando sobre a competição no voo livre com o nome “Flying Rags for Glory – the A to Z of Competition Paragliding”. Esteve recentemente em Portugal com Equipa de Portugal
aquando dos preparativos para o Open Nórdico na Serra da Estrela onde é organizador e piloto. Um homem simpático, muito acessível e que fala algumas línguas, inclusive Português. Há uns tempos li no seu blog um artigo interessante e que deixo aqui a transcrição do mesmo. É uma ponto vista da situação atual e futura do enquadramento do parapente como desporto.

By Mads SYNDERGAARD no seu blog http://www.syndergaard.dk/wp/

"The recent Trofeo Monte Grappa was a welcome occasion to ponder the way things are going in our little backwater of a backwater (i.e. XC Competition paragliding). Here are some thoughts that crossed my mind:
  1. Just hanging around at the meet centre it was fun to hear how many people were commenting that the pilot level in the Trofeo was either “matching the PWC” or “way higher than PWC”. If the people voicing this opinion are right, and I suspect they are, then this is great news for the Trofeo, but appaling news for the PWC
  2. I think the field is becoming “boring”. All told there were 5 manufacturers represented in Bassano: 1) Ozone (by a long shot), 2) GIN, 3) Niviuk, 4) SOL, 5) MAC Para – and then one UP, one Swing and perhaps one AirDesign. This can only be percieved as an indicator that the manufacturers are losing interest in this segment of our sport, and that will make any attempts at saving the Open Class redundant in the slightly longer run
  3. It is funny, ironic even, that Ozone, having advocated Serial Class since the very beginning, will perhaps eventually get their way with us, not through sensible reasoning but through “brute force” in that they built a wing (R10) that was both so far ahead, but also so irrelevant to the rest of the paragliding industry (anything below Open Class, by the current looks of it) that it more or less pushed the competitors out of the game. Now I know that I have said that at the moment there are 4-5 worthy competitors with wings that match the R10/R11, but all of these are, excuse the French, inspired by the original, both because to catch up fast there was no way around being inspired, and because (I’m guessing here) it is all but impossible for the rest of the lot to allocate the ressources to this field necessary to get ahead. This means that a pilot with no obvious brand history nor allegiance who is looking for a new wing will almost always get an Ozone, simply because this has proven to be the safest bet in a world where you don’t get to test fly wings before you buy.
  4. Some say that this trend has democratised the podium, and I tend to agree with that – but in my view it will go further than what we can see now. If I’m right, and the technology trickle-down from this class of wings (the 2-liners) to the serial production, bread-and-butter wings in a brands’ lineup is all but non-existing, then only a very few manufacturers will keep pouring ressources into it. This MUST mean less and less support for the Open Class elsewhere, and this accelerates the switch to Serial Class. Perhaps the Piedrahita Worlds is the last Open Class Worlds we’ll see?
  5. So what will happen once the free flying community finally makes the switch to Serial Class? As readers here will know I have always been a strong advocate for the Open Class – but my support is waning a little. I still believe that there will be a number of problems with the Serial Class that we didn’t have with the Open Class (cheating being the worst of them, but also more “extreme” serial class wings for the general public, and no better safety record in spite of the switch) but on the other hand it will open the field up again, with almost all manufacturers around the world already building very good Serial Class wings, meaning the game will open up again, and manufacturers may possibly revive their interest in the competitions scene. We would see a return of NOVA and Gradient, an emergence of SkyWalk, all brands in the absolute SuperLeague of our sport but not present in top-level competitions, and many of the small brands would be able to participate again. I’m beginning to think this would be a good thing, with possibly more money flowing into the whole scene and at least more bravado and colour to the whole thing. The last thing I want, either way, is to compete in a one-design competition environment – I can’t say exactly why but it just doesn’t appeal to me.
I would welcome your thoughts to all of this – and frankly much rather here than on FB, although I do post links to this article on FB it is mainly to expand my readership, and not because I think FB is a great means of communications :-)
Cheers from Mads S"


 



0 comentários:

Publicar um comentário

Subscrever: Enviar feedback (Atom)