A special season ... by Baptiste LAMBERT
All around the planet, the beginning of the year 2020 will have been disrupted. Paragliding activity is no exception to the rule ...
Baptiste LAMBERT, member of Team Kortel, tells us how he managed this period in relation to the preparation of his hypothetical season.
I started flying again in February. During the winter, I received a new wing and a new Kanibal Race 2 that I was eager to tune. I was very motivated and started to train intensively with very good pilots who were willing to race with me. I flew as soon as I could, in all kinds of conditions: that's where piloting is formed! While the winter was not even finished, I made a 200km triangle between the Bauges and the Chablais (on March 14!). It was going to be a great year!
And then, there was the confinement and the flight ban. During this period, competition cancellations rained down: Superfinale, PWC Passy, PWC Italy ... I created some tutorials to change my mind (links at the bottom of the article). I also planned many distance flights, located all the passages on Google Earth, optimized each transition to save time. This is where my idea of a 350 kms FAI from Saint Hilaire was born.
In the end, the confinement went pretty fast.
Once I was cleared to get back in the air, I resumed my training and flew a 300km round trip, even though the CFD had not even reopened. I didn't enter the random competitions that were sometimes cancelled a week before, and I preferred to stay in free-flight mode until August. I also took the opportunity to take up kiting again and to do combo days: paragliding in the morning, kiting in the afternoon: a delight!
Lately I have realized my biggest FAI triangle: 306 kms from Bourg St-Maurice, swallowed in a little more than 10 hours. The course passes by the Mont Billitat at the end of Chablais, then just before Chamrousse, at the end of Belledone and finally I finish by a point behind Les Arcs. That gives me 428 points in the CFD. But I might not have enough time to win it this year because August will be very busy with competitions.
On the program, the pre-world cup in Spain, the World Cup in Switzerland and the European Championships in Serbia (my first selection for the French team!). The course of these events is still uncertain due to the resurgence of the virus in Europe, but I remain optimistic.
I hope that my long distance flights will have prepared me for the marathon of competitions that awaits me 🙂
