Jeff opens Moirs for the season

Famed Auckland pilot, Jeff Ripley, has officially opened Moirs Hill for the season with this 41.37km open distance flight. He gets 1.25 points per km for that, equaling 51.71 points.

His flight wasn't enough to keep Auckland on top of the Club Competition table, though, as the Southern Club has taken a narrow lead.

End of Season 2018/19 Wrap Up

2019 New Zealand Paragliding Cross-Country Championships

April 1st 2018 to March 31st 2019

End of Season Wrap Up

Here's the confirmed standings and wrap up of the 2019 competition! Weather-wise, the season was a bit of a mixed bag, and I think some who thought they'd wait until after Christmas before taking their holidays for flying, found out that they had left it a bit too late for getting the best days. Eight out of the ten best scoring flights were flown before Christmas, and of those flights, six were flown on two just days in December!

One pilot who was all prepared and geared up earlier in the season was this year's XC Champion, Louis Tapper. By December 23 Louis already had the rewards of a trio of long flights that comfortably placed him at the top the table, and he was never overtaken. Well done, Louis!

Louis says: “Nice to have won finally. The process of progression is still however the most fun part for me, not the trophy or winning... The new wings/online contests are making flights more accessible and visible than ever, however planning and preparation are key for those aspiring to fly big or deep in NZ”.

Here are some highlights from the season:

• A 150+km FAI triangle flight, NZ's fourth longest (Tapper, 156km, Treble Cone)
• A 125+km out-and-back flight, NZ's third longest (Dave Watson, 127km, Mt Alfred)
• NZ's longest FAI triangle flown outside of Otago (Fraser Monteith, 89km, Cheeseman)
• Three NZ100km open distance flights
• Three North Island 75km open distance flights
• Twelve flights over 100km, when measured with up to three turn points
• A new regional open distance record for Auckland (Leighton Joll, 77.0km, Dills Hill)
• A new regional open distance record for Northland (Mike Ferguson, 50.2km, Tiwakawaka)
• A new regional out-and-back record for Canterbury (Monteith, 64.7km, Cheeseman)
• The long standing (Nov 2000) open distance record for Roys Peak, Otago bettered (Benjamin Kellet, 91.6km).

For details of other site records flown during the season, look for asterisks in the right hand column of the Season Site Best Flights tables of the full report.

2019 NZ XC Champions and Category Winners

*1st place and 2019 NZ XC Champion

Pilot: Louis Tapper

After consistently placing in the top four of the Champs in the last five seasons, Louis this year wins the competition with flights that included the longest ‘free flight’ category (3 turn point) flight (168 km); and a superb 156 km FAI triangle flight, 30% further and higher scoring than the next best of the competition!

* 1st Runner Up

Pilot: Dave Watson

Dave's 120 km triangle flight on December 23 was the second highest scoring flight of the season and really puts take off Mt Alfred on the paragliding map (if it wasn't on it already). When measured as an out-and-back, the flight ranks as NZ's third best ever!

* 2nd Runner Up

Pilot: Fraser Monteith

In his second season of the Champs, Fraser really demonstrated how to navigate through the mountains of the Arthurs Pass area with time to get back again - just commit and go deep and direct! And proving that you can fly big triangles away from Central Otago. Fraser's flights broke the Canterbury Regional records for both FAI Triangle and Out-and-Back task types!

* 2019 Women's XC Champion

Pilot: Sanae Noguchi

Sanae's flying included an open distance best of 44 km, and XCs in three South Island regions - Otago, Canterbury and Nelson!

* Best Rookie

Pilot: Nicholas Sand

Nicholas's flights included an open distance best of 82 km, which was mountainous back country flying from Pakituhi Spur, Otago, all the way through to the edge of the MBZ (mandatory broadcast zone) of Mt Cook!

* North Island Champion

Pilot: Mark MacDonald

One of Mark's flights was the season's best open distance from Kamai (69 km). (Also notable was a great late season triangle attempt, from Kaimai again, that was so close to doubling the distance of the North Island FAI triangle record!)

* North Island Best Open Distance

Pilot: Barry Sayer

82.8 km from Te Mata Peak, Hawkes Bay.

* South Island Best Open Distance

Pilot: Rory Devine

124.4 km from Brewster Hut, Otago.

(Report written by Tim Percival, administrator of the NZ PG flights database, on behalf of the NZHGPA Paragliding Competition Committee).Well done all of the above! (Especially Louis) :) Thank you to all who submitted flights so we could see where there was good flying to be had.

2019 NZ PG XC Champs Final Standings (top 50 placings)

Click on these links to go to full report for the 2019 New Zealand Paragliding Cross-Country Championships, including the table of the top 50 placings. (Note that the XContest-published XC Championship table is, at the time of writing, still incorrectly including some ineligible coastal soaring flights).
XC Champs Table - Final Standings
North Island Table
2019 Season Site Best Flights
Seasons 2018 and 2019 Milestone Flights

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Auckland leads into the winter

The XC Season has dribbled into winter with Auckland in the lead of the Club Competition.

Evan Lamberton is leading the scoring for Auckland, but Barry Sayer has the best flight so far, scoring 55 points for his 44km open distance flight from Te Mata Peak.

Brisk Insurance continues to support the NZ XC Comp

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So in summary whether you are a business owner or salaried person Brisk Insurance will get you an insurance policy to prevent financial death for your family so contact Anand and support his business as he is the expert in designing the right life insurance policy for you and your family.

Louis wins the XC Championship

Louis Tapper has clearly won the 2018/19 XC Championship with 622.05 points. He also had the highest scoring flight, in New Zealand, of the season... a 156km FAI triangle in mid-December.

The PCC congratulates Louis on his huge achievement and we will get the trophy engraved and shipped down to his Mum for him.

Louis had this to say about his victory:

The cross country season hasn't been that flash weather wise, but I have tried to make the best of it, with a few lines planned 5 years ago coming to fruition. I have seen the XC trophy sitting on Bryan Moores' table for quite a few years and more recently Nick Neynens has dominated, nice to have won finally. The process of progression is still however the most fun part for me, not the trophy or winning. This season has also had the biggest walkout (5 hours) in 7 years after pushing a triangle out late in the day with my extremely lightweight gear (Ozone Enzo 3 and full comp harness 25kg) ;-). Not that bad really considering how stuck it is possible to get in the NZ mountains. The new wings/online contests are making flights more accessible and visible than ever. Planning and preparation are however key for those aspiring to fly big or deep in NZ

Well done, Louis!

Southern Club well ahead...

With the 2018/19 Season well underway it's clear that the Southern Club is still the best when it comes to scoring the big distance flights on the Club Competition.

Southern Pilots, Louis Tapper, Glen Stevens, Aaron Ford, Bryan Moore and David Watson are really cleaning it.

The Canterbury Club is second, with slightly over half as many points, with Fraser Monteith doing the big ones.

Auckland, in 7th place, is humiliated.