Unfortunately I had some problems getting the carburation sorted on my machine so spent the majority of the time fettling on the ground which was a little frustrating. In the end I found something that worked despite running hot and spent the final few minutes of daylight by myself on the course.

I then spent the whole evening with the Canadian Paramania pilots who have come down to support us, stripping the motor down and looking for anything that might be giving me an issue.

I really take my hat off to these guys for being so helpful and supportive to all of us Team Paramania pilots that have traveled here. It’s great being part of a big family wherever we are in the world!

Thankfully there are no issues with my wings, the only problem will be to decide whether I use my 18m or 20m GTR as it is not possible to change wings during the competition. The 18 is the faster of the two and it’s a pretty long circuit suited to this size but there are a few tasks where it is necessary to touch the wing tip on the water or have a heavy penalty and this favors the 20…

We have another day of testing today so I’ll make sure my Polini 200 is in tiptop shape and make a final decision after looking at the weather for race days. It could come down to being the 18 if it’s windy or the 20 if it looks to be calm…

- Dean Eldridge

I will use the blog over the next couple of days to hopefully get up to date reports and some photos from the pilots in Quebec.

Right after Deano landed he sent me this message:

We have arrived in Montreal and waiting connection for Mont Joli. Unfortunately Danny Crespo’s machine has been confiscated in transit in Frankfurt and they’ve taken my fuel tank too. All things to sort out in the coming days.

-Deano

The pilots have a tough competition coming up in the next couple of days and 100% of it is over water! Take off and landing is on a 50m x 50m platform.

Intense.

I had a few hours of practice around the pylons the day before the comp started and was quite comfortable with all the same equipment used at the British Open so using my beautiful Parajet Zenith with the Polini 200 and my 20m Paramania GTR.

There were a few hot-headed maneuvers by some of the younger participants in the early stages of the comp, resulting in penalties so my strategy was already paying off. By the second day and midway through, I was up to fourth and not too far off 3rd but Mathieu Rouanet was pulling away from me slightly with aggressive flying.

Unfortunately for him, on the Saturday morning, he had a small accident taking him out of 3rd and with no time for any more tasks, the podium spot. I feel very sorry for him as he was attacking for the 2nd position but it reinforced my style for this event to be smooth and not make mistakes. It’s now time for training for the upcoming World Championship ‘classic’ style competition in Spain later in the month and we’ll see if our new found form keeps momentum there too.

Rule of thumb, don’t change anything right before a competition!

However, having the same geometry as my previous prototype machine but with the additional power of the bigger Polini 200 motor I had some idea that things would be OK. And the week previous I had gained useful information about my Paramania GTR20 while working with Lolo Salinas and Mike Campbell-Jones at the French Open competition.

With a break in the weather on the Saturday evening we started the comp. I also came armed with points gained from the previous 2 league events where I came in 2nd. Consistency through tasks is the name of the game for a good result in a championship and that was my focus, to do well in each task and not do anything silly.

I managed good, solid and consistent results and was elevated to 1st place where I stayed for the rest of the competition by keeping at the intensity and focus. My Paramania GTR 20 was the perfect choice for this competition giving wonderfully safe, agile handling in the slalom tasks and being fast, solid and incredibly efficient in the economy and navigation tasks.

A British Championship title for me and the first ‘classic’ style competition win for the GTR, Polini 200 and Parajet Zeneth with many more comps and wins to follow.

Paintball Warfare – Epic Paintball Battle – YouTube.

I had to return to Colorado Springs for work but I came armed with my GTR 20 and my Parajet Volution Thor 100.  If you don’t know Colorado Springs it is in the middle of the United States in the eastern edge of the Southern Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 6,035 feet (1839 m). 

“Once she is inflated it is as if you are flying a “fixed wing” aircraft”

I was a bit worried about climb performance and how hard it was going to be to take off at such an altitude, but the GTR never fails to amaze.  My first attempt was this past Friday, on my 28^th Birthday, I set out determined to fly next to the Garden of the Gods.

After leaving work at about three in the afternoon I headed out for a takeoff spot that I reckoned on Google Earth just about a mile northeast of the red rocks.  The temperature was about 20 degrees C and the wind was gusting about 20 knots, thermals everywhere but it was time to fly.  I really wasn’t worried about anything as I knew how solid the GTR 24 was after flying it in some of the worst turbulence of my life at the Grand Canyon, the GTR 20 would be even more reliable.

“I was being bounced around every which way but not even a wing tip collapse.”

Sure enough, the wing even at over a mile high popped straight up over my head, the easiest wing I have ever launched and off I went.  I probably should have waited for the thermals to die down but my confidence was high that this wing would be like a rock in the air, once she is inflated it is as if you are flying a “fixed wing” aircraft.  I flew over and along the red rocks of the Garden of the Gods, it was spectacular to see from the air, but I was unable to take my hands off the controls to take pictures the conditions were so rough. I was being bounced around every which way but not even a wing tip collapse.

After this day I have full confidence in the abilities of the GTR and the technology that has been placed in her, she is solid and faithful, and even at over a mile high with a 85 k pilot and a measly Thor 100 engine she still wants to fly, and fly as fast as ever.  Stay tuned for more mile high adventures!!

Glenn Tupper

With the superb handling of my Paramania GTR20 wing coupled with my Parajet/Polini 110 Custom motor, I managed to top the timesheets in all the slalom style tasks.

I had to slow down on the ‘declared-speed-navigation-task’ as I was quite a bit faster than I had anticipated, mostly due to the GTR cutting through turbulence like it didn’t exist.

It was great to see all the makes and models of wing, motor/ chassis and how the GTR ranked up against them.

On the Sunday it was enforced how fast and rock solid the GTR really is as we saw some collapses and crashes from others on the low level slalom tasks whereas I just blasted through and set fastest times!

I can’t wait for the competition season to start, everything is ready!!.. Watch out!

-Deano

The morning started with Pascal V, Emi, Grzegorz, Alex, Laurent (Lolo) and myself getting a penalty for illegal early practice only for this to be revoked half an hour later! My current 3rd place wouldn’t have been affected though thankfully.

First, in a great series of events was the 5 slowest pilots in a shootout for two places to join the top 10 to make a 12 pilot quarter-final. Dhiego unfortunately sucked a line from his Revo2 into his propeller on launch taking it down to four with Emi and Raul getting through.

We then had some dramatic action during the next two tasks of the semi-final with Grzegorz catching and breaking his little finger in the propeller on launch but still finishing the first task but unfortunately not able to continue from there.

Alex had a big, downwind collapse and had to land, sadly breaking a propeller and ending his task prematurely.

Lolo and I both flew fast and smooth with my result taking me into first place!!

The wind then picked up quite strong with the pylons dancing around and collapsing all over the place and there was word that the competition was valid at this stage and could be stopped with the top five pilots taking the podium positions and me being the winner.

Needless to say I was hoping and praying that it would not continue but it was decided after 20 minutes that it would go on.

I flew the first part of the task well but made an error coming downwind that put me too close to the last pylon. This sent me beyond where I wanted to be to slingshot myself to the finish and possibly the win.

The miscalculation cost me vital seconds and allowed 3 of the other pilots to make better times giving me 4th overall.

Laurent, flew the perfect head-to-head race with Alex, flooring him down the straights with the speed of his GTR18 and covering the corners well. It was very close at the end though with Alex making some aggressive tight turns to close on some of the distance but by the end of the race Lolo was there in front, a fairytale ending for him as he hadn’t received his engine until Friday night and got just a 10 minute practice in the dark!!

-Dean Eldridge