Page 63 - Cross Country Travel Guide 2019

Sign up to a competition and explore the best of what’s on offer in the USA and beyond

Green Swamp Klassic
This a Sport Class only competition, with
more advanced mentors on hand to help

small groups of pilot learn more about the
art of flying cross country and competing.
The weather in Florida becomes soarable
from late February, so this is the perfect
opportunity to kickstart your season.
It’s an aerotow comp, with live tracking,
and the sign-up fee includes all your tows
plus the usual T-shirt, maps, day prizes,
parties and barbecues. A maximum of 80
pilots take part. In 2018 each day saw a
task of between 40km and 60km, taking
advantage of any tailwind, to make a

straightforward and relatively easy task.
Green Swamp is the year’s first US HG
competition, the first of six in the year. April
sees Quest Air Nationals in Florida (week
one and two), followed by the East Coast
Hang Gliding Championships in June.
23-30 Mar 2019, airtribune.com
ushpa.org/page/competition-calendar
Photo: Dave Aldrich

Big Spring

Prove yourself in Big Spring, Texas, one
of the best cross-country hang gliding
competition flying sites in the world. As
organisers say: “We usually fly big distances
every day so be prepared physically. This
is not Europe.” By big they mean 150km-
300km tasks, with the record being a 346km
monster that saw 100 pilots in goal.
This is August, and it’s hot, with cloudbase

between 2,000m and 3,600m. Expect
cloudbase up to 5 m/s. Launching is from a
vast airfield by aerotow and it starts when the
inversion breaks and the cu’s start to pop at
about midday. Tasks start at around 2pm and
thermal activity lasts until 7pm.
After launch you will be flying across
sparsely populated farm country with lots of

options for landings. If the task doesn’t bring
you back to base, the light southerly flow will
take you north. All hang gliders are welcome:
Sport, Open, Swift, Rigid.
10-17 August, airtribune.com
Photo: Tim Meaney

NORTH AMERICA CROSS COUNTRY TRAVEL GUIDE 2019 63