Published: Friday, 11th July, 2008 23:55
Flying high over Tinto!
By David O'Leary
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Golden eagles and red kites won’t be the only sights to see swooping over the Borders countryside this weekend.
The British Paragliding Cup is being held this weekend at Tinto Hotel, Symington and over 100 paragliding pilots will be seen defying the basic law of gravity
Organised by the Scottish Hang-gliding Federation the competition is one of Scotland’s premier Paragliding events and top pilots from throughout the UK and overseas will be competing.
The basis of the competition is that a cross country task is set where the field of up to 100 paragliding pilots will be tasked with flying from the start, a hill facing into the wind on the day, to some destination probably between 30 to 80 km away.
To do this the competitors will have to evaluate the weather conditions, the terrain, as well as utilise areas of lift along the route such as thermals – areas of warmer rising air to maintain height. In-between thermals pilots fly fast so as to minimise the time in sinking air and therefore height lost.
The general equipment all competitors will have is their paraglider, paragliding harness – basically a seat from which the pilot controls the wing, mandatory helmet, reserve parachute, and for this competition a GPS unit.
Most will also have warm clothes and a vario which basically advises the pilot of their altitude and rate of climb /sink.
Robert Veitch of SHPF has also asked for generous or curious locals to get involved. He said: “ If people driving around the Borders this weekend with space in their cars see pilots struggling with their gear, then do offer them a lift.
“They will be full of great stories about their flights and will be trying to get back to the Tinto Hotel or more likely to the nearest pub. Offer them a lift and hear about it first hand.”
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