SAFA Skysailor Magazine

6 SKY SAILOR November | December 2022 by Steve Blenkinsop Like the Eurovision song contest, the Hang Gliding Europeans extends an invitation to Australia as guests and is viewed live around the world. Recently, both in Ager (Spain), and Krushevo (North Macedonia), Australia flew as an unofficial team and finished fourth. This year eight Australians with good world rankings and a driver, took up the invitation. The pilots took a gamble on Monte Cucco in Italy being worthwhile to attend. At another FAI Cat 1 competition there, the Worlds in 2011, we only flew two rounds out of 10 due to the weather. This year, conditions were way beyond expectations with nine hard days of racing in outstanding conditions. After day one, Australia was in first place ( results here ) . We ended up dropping off the pace as the comp went on, but everyone got valuable airtime in a very high quality competition setting. Personally, I had 56 hours of flying this trip over 13 days of practice and tasks. I was lucky to be renting a glider based on days flying not hours! Why the Europeans? There was a scheduled Pre-Worlds event in North Macedonia at about the same time, but it was only a one-week competition and, in the end, it was cancelled because of poor interest. We saw the Euros in Sigillo as better value in terms of advancing team skills, ease of getting to and dollar value. We wanted to fly with the best, and this was it. NSW pilots Trent The Eurovision Hang Gliding Competition Sigillo, Monte Cucco, Italy, site of the 21st FAI European Championship, 10-23 July 2022 Photo: Courtesy civlcomps.org Day reports at CIVL-Cucco-2022