18 minute read
AcroFest 2022
by NZ HGPA
iwoke up in the morning of March 22nd 2021 slightly hung over (massively). We had been celebrating AcroFest21, the first in a decade. Three days of absolutely beautiful weather and amazing freestyle flying over the crystal blue lake rekindled the event that was run through the early 2000s in Queenstown and Kingston by acro enthusiasts.
It has taken a generation of pilots before another keen group stood up to the challenge of organising the event. I’ve been to a few fun paragliding events around the world but AcroFest was definitely the most fun, inspiring and constantly entertaining event I’ve been to. So it was with eagerness I looked forward to next year. 350 days later with the long range forecast released, it wasn’t looking great. Storms were forecast and interest in the landing field at Flight Park seemed a bit low. Everyone I asked wasn’t as sold on entering the event like I was, most people quoting “I’m not an acro pilot”.
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At the event last year there was more than just ‘acro pilots’. It was about encouraging anyone to enter and push their technical flying skills to their next level. The majority of pilots there were not even tumbling above their glider. But I remember every single pilot flying their absolute pants off and by far the best display of glider control I’ve ever seen in one weekend. In fact 2 year pilot Jason Searle stalled, spun and wingovered his way to win the novice category and take out the rookie of the year award.
With about 8 pilots registered and paid we were chatting on WhatsApp about starting times for Friday. It was looking like that would be the only day we would have a full day of towing. Blake from ParatowNZ has run the winch now for two seasons and he knows to get started early. He takes full advantage of good weather as the wind direction and strength can change and quickly end the day. This year the location was moved to the Cromwell Yacht Club with Pisa Moorings being the back-up location
with the prize-giving to be held there like last year.
So we arrive at the lake on Friday by 9am for pilot briefing and get the towing underway to test the tow pattern for the day. Contrary to the forecast it’s a no wind blue bird day and we start the fun with competition runs. A few tows complete and so far everybody has stayed dry, flying great runs right from the start. Now it’s my turn to throw down my first run. The amount of practice I’ve been able to get before the event was only a few short flights in the weeks leading up. Those quick flights and the safety of the water filled me with confidence to complete a good string of tricks to start. I kick my leg as a signal to the boat ‘pilot ready’ and the rope pulls at my harness before the glider inflates lifting me off my feet. The breeze keeps me cool as I visualise my run while the boat pulls me high above the lake. I come off tow, stow my bridle, check my hook knife, then reserves and fly into the box over the lake in front of the beach, carefully accounting for my drift.
I start to take energy in a spiral, I can feel the wind on my face getting faster and my weight in the harness getting heavier as the G’s build up.
By Bradley Franks
The glider pulls as it surges into a steep turn before I straighten out, as I swing through, I grip the inside brake handle and drive it down towards the lake spinning the glider into a high energy Mac Twist. The glider spins more aggressively than I anticipate as I rotate through the manoeuvre and I swing up level with the canopy. In that moment, I realise I’ve pulled too early and stalled the inside for too long stopping the rotation of the glider as I continue to rotate through. I feel the risers pull together and the harness start to catch me as I fall back under the canopy, still rotating. I’m twisted. The risers wrap around each other 3-4 times and the brakes are locked through the twists.
I’ve lost control of the glider now as I try to kick out the twists looking up at the glider still stalled. Before long it starts to enter auto rotation and I can hear Theo de Blics advice, ‘If you don’t know how to fix the situation, throw before you end up in bigger trouble’.
I slide my hand down my leg connecting with the reserve handle and send it flying. The reserve container drifts away from me and the lines stretch out popping the rubber bands off one by one, but just before the round parachute inflates my wing opens perfectly above my head, then boom, the reserve yanks me back as it inflates and my glider surges forward and stops flying. With the reserve doing it’s job well by safely getting me down slowly, I start to pull in my glider. I look down at the water shimmering far below me and I think I should have tried longer to save it but now I have an early date with the lake and get the chance to look back at the cheering beach before I plunge into it.
After I break the ice, people start taking the gamble of getting wet or staying dry with a 20% bonus for a raft landing. Some land with style and grace but plenty end up in the water on failed attempts, neither less entertaining. The atmosphere is really heating up. One by one we hook in, tow up and throw down some spectacular flying testing our glider control and spot landing skills at the end of each run to a cheering beach.
Before we realise it’s 5pm and Blake has completed 32 tows. That’s 32 kilometres of entertainment just in the first day putting smiles on everyone at the beach as we finish up and head to the campground for the night. There ended up being a few people register on the day and the pilot list grows to 11.
The next day we were ready to make the most of the morning before the bad weather but it never arrives. We end up with 3 stunning autumn days in a row giving us plenty of room to fit in non comp tows for others, keeping the boat busy until 5pm again on Saturday. The way points are scored falls into three categories. Technical score (40%), Choreography (30%) & Landing (30%). The technical score is according to the FAI list of manoeuvres and each trick has a coefficient to be multiplied by the judges score so harder tricks end up with better points. The judges just have to score how well they performed that trick out of 10. The judging is shared by the more experienced pilots and there are many roles to be filled to make the contest run smoothly. Almost everyone is involved in running the event making it an interactive experience and it’s a great learning platform for the newer pilots. Its not just the physical flying skills you can build on. If you’re looking to understand how each trick is performed or how to progress safely into acrobatics, there is plenty of discussion from every level of pilot raising the level of understanding for the whole community. It’s an excellent opportunity for peer reviewed advice on how to progress, information that pilots around the world pay a lot of money to receive. It makes the value of the entry fee, that only includes the costs to run, extremely well worth it.
Each manoeuvre during the rounds can only be scored with full value once and each successive time it is calculated at 50% less (left and right sides scored seperate). This sparks a lot of chat between the pilots for our third run looking for tricks we have not yet scored, searching for the most points available. It also incentivises variety which keeps the spectators interested.
As Blake prepares for his last run he asks me, “What full point tricks
Left; Leandro Jêsus Photo; Mark Stevens Right; And the judges are, from back to front: Nico Sand, Clémence Cadario, Ben French, Jack Bailey and Kai (the
dog) Photo; Carly Hayman Below; Sanae Noguchi launching Photo; Mark Stevens Top right; Clémence Cadario (D-bag), Ben Kellett (pilot)
towing up Photo; Anna Stewart
Right; Roll over D-bag from tandem by Nico Sand (D-bag) and Ben Kellett (pilot)
Photos; Nico Sand
Below; Nico Sand and the rescue boat
Photo; Anna Stewart
can I still do?” So I take a look at his score card; Right Heli, right Misty to Heli, right Mac twist, right Mac to Heli, right Infinite Tumble, right Loop… I can see a pattern here. ‘Just turn left!’ I tell him. He thinks for a minute then says “well, this should be interesting”.
Interesting it was! As Blake goes through his run he makes the same mistake I had and pulled his left Mac Twist early, the following rotations wind his risers together locking his brakes. While trying to recover normal flight his glider dives into auto rotation. We watch from the beach, he’s now out of control and the crowd erupts into a chant, “Reserve!, reserve!, reserve!”. “Whoooooo” as the reserve comes out.
But the auto rotation puts the reserve straight into the lines and it slides unopened into the canopy. Reserve two comes out, also straight into the lines and the crowd goes from cheering to concern. Still in auto rotation there’s no sign of the glider slowing but Blake has over ten years experience flying acro and knows how to keep cool under pressure. He pulls on the lines of the round parachute filling it with air quickly slowing him down. Now the first reserve also opens and with all three canopies above him he floats down towards the water plunging softly into the lake before the once again cheering crowd.
Finals day Sunday and with a bit of a mis-start and change of location from Pisa back to the yacht club due to wind direction, we get the finals tows underway. With a clean slate the finalists are free to perform any tricks they like and Clémence Cadario tows up first to put down her last run. As a very experienced tandem and cross country pilot sponsored by BGD designs, Clem claims not to be an acro pilot and is flying in the fun category. She has flown very well and combined with her perfect raft landings, has made it into the finals.
This just proves if you go out there and fly clean runs that look good and land well you can compete with the best. The quote, “I’m not an acro pilot” can no longer stand as an excuse not to enter. Clem starts with a Misty and a Mac Twist which impresses the judges but a bit of a wobbly Heli and SAT followed by a loop puts her a bit far from the raft and her spiral ends up in the water.
Next up is event co-organiser Ben Kellett flying his dirt coloured AirG Emily. Not quite getting the height of others which may or may not be due to the porosity of his glider he was limited to only 2 tricks, Cowboy and Mac to Heli, but a clean run ends with a spiral that he spins before splashing into the water. Impressive enough for a bonus point but too far away from the raft to score well. Maybe if he didn’t wash the dirt out of the porous fabric in the round robins the boat would have got him a bit higher. He is blaming the boat, which one it was we will never know.
After him is Ben French. Ben won AcroFest21 with a clinic of impressive flying. He was the clear favourite this year flying far more technical tricks than everyone else like twisted Rhythmic Infinite, Joker, Corkscrew, twisted Mac Twist and capable of most of the tricks on the FAI list. Ben is passionate about acrobatics and he is just as passionate about sharing the knowledge. If you ever see him at the Flight Park he is more than happy to give tips and pointers to help you if your struggling with a new manoeuvre and personally he has helped me immensely through my progression. There is no exception at AcroFest and many of the pilots draw on his knowledge while he’s at the beach. As he is towed into the sky people take their seats ready for a sure spectacle.
He starts his run with Infinite Tumbling before trying a twisted Mac Twist but carries on the theme of pulling too dynamically putting him into multiple riser twists. With no option but to end his run with a cutaway BASE canopy deployment, he watches his glider float off into the distance as he comes down under a steerable reserve. Always the entertainer he flies towards the raft and nails a perfect raft landing sending the crowd into a huge cheer but his chances of taking out the title this year float away like his glider did when he pulled the reserve handle.
With Ben out the race for the title of 2022 NZ acro champion, the competition is blown wide open with three pilots still to fly. Next up is co-organiser Nico Sand and he puts down a clean run of well choreographed acrobatic flying including Esfera, Mac Twist to Heli, Tumbling and Misty to SAT. Deciding to go for the accuracy points instead of spiral he executes a perfect spot landing on the raft entertaining the onlooking crowd. Everyone is buzzing on the level of flying and the less experienced pilots are inspired by the technical tricks being flown with great accuracy. There’s music playing on the stereo system, plenty of locals watching and a few beers in hand for people who have finished for the day.
Next up is Blake Round, Blake is an experienced instructor who is at the heart of this new movement. A few years ago he decided to take the plunge to buy a world class pay-out winch and a boat to provide a much needed service to the New Zealand paragliding community. After the club lost access to a few mountain sites near water in the last decade, there was nowhere for local pilots to practice safety manoeuvres over water and Blake saw the need in the community for this extremely valuable resource. SIV is a hugely important step in every pilots career where under instruction, we practice simulated incidence over water. Until Blake ventured into buying the boat and winch, the closest place we could do this course was Australia, with most pilots going half way round the world to Europe to enrol in a course.
It is also a requirement to attain our advance license that we do an SIV course but it is just as important that this resource is available to pilots to be able to understand the dynamics of a glider when it stops flying in the way it is designed. For acro the ‘full stall’ is the most important manoeuvre for safety and until you have completed multiple stalls you can not advance in flying any acrobatics safely. In fact so crucial is the stall that it’s the reset of our glider when a manoeuvre goes wrong. Being able to safely stall and reset you glider is the basis for safely flying acrobatics.
Blake’s passion and efforts for making this service available to the flying community in New Zealand, along with other significant contributions to the entire free flying community was rewarded this year with the Jill Borst Memorial trophy. So after seeing his dream come true last year to eventually hold acrobatic competitions again, he lines up for his final run for AcroFest22. He did
Above; Ben French cutaway BASE canopy release Photo; Anna
Stewart
Above; Kat Cerna gets the
target Photo; Mark Stevens
have to dry all his equipment from the day before and repack his two reserves but he was ready to throw down a display of acrobatics that hopefully ended up in a raft landing and not another reserve toss.
He flew a great run of dynamic manoeuvres including Infinite tumbling, Twister, Joker and SAT to Heli unsurprisingly all to the right! He ends with a spiral and comes up just short of the raft with a bonus point I’m sure for keeping the vibe in the crowd and dunking his gear in the water once again.
The beach was more than impressed but with the judges critique on a few minor mistakes the race to the trophy was now extremely close with only one pilot to fly. Step up to the launch Georges Millet. Having come a close third last year Georges was keen to try and clinch the trophy this year and so he left the launch with a stylish foot drag as the boat pulled him into the air. Georges always flies with style and has many years of experience in acrobatic flying so everyone was keen to see what he could pull out of the bag this year. There was still extra points on the table if he could put down a clean technical run.
On the beach, the spectators were spread out across the launch area as well as on boats in the lake. As Georges comes off tow he flies towards the beach and arriving at his box he starts with a good looking Heli to SAT. He then builds energy in a rhythmic SAT eventually tumbling over his glider before a clean stall exit. A dynamic Mac Twist leaves plenty of height as he goes Misty right then Misty right again before ending with a Dynamic Stall. Trick after trick the crowd watched as he flawlessly Heli’d, tumbled and spun into perfect position for the spiral landing. His approach to the raft was a high energy nose down spiral and you can hear his lines whistle as he bleeds out the energy with a wingtip touch on the water, wowing the crowd before nailing the landing on the raft. The beach goes wild and he has flown a near perfect run to take out the trophy of 2022 NZ Acro Champion. Although the stars of the event have displayed tremendous flying skills and put on a show for the crowd, every participant has again executed exceptional glider control no matter their level. Second year entrant Jason Seale takes out the novice category for the second year running and Clemence Cadario takes first place in the fun category. But after a fifteen year acro hiatus local tandem pilot Thomas Rold shows he’s still got it by flying exceptionally to take the Freestyle Freak award pulling tricks out of the bag any new school pilot would be proud of.
Everyone has stories of success and not so successful tales as we pack up for prize-giving. We gather at the Pisa Moorings restaurant for the awards and Ants the owner puts on a great dinner in his private room out the back.
I reflect back on the event as the beer goes down and think how lucky we are to have once again pulled off an epic event with 3 beautiful blue sky autumn days. I guess the weather gods just know that every year on the 3rd week of March we need 3 calm warm days to run the best event in New Zealand.
I really hope next year we can build the momentum and encourage pilots of all levels to come and participate, pushing the skills and development of our community higher and higher, just as Blake had envisioned. Next year I hope I don’t hear ‘I’m not an acro pilot’. Instead I’d love to see new faces come down and test themselves in a non serious, fun learning environment. So get hold of ParatowNZ and support Blake by enrolling in courses or coming out on free tow days to see what your capable of, and until next March Fly hard, stay safe and progress slowly.
Final results
1) Georges Millet 2) Nico Sand 3) Blake Round 4) Ben Kellett 5) Ben French 6) Clemence Cadario. NZ acro champion: Georges Millet Fun category: Clemence Cadario Novice category: Jason Searle Freestyle Freak: Thomas Rold Accuracy trophy: Ben French
Below; Georges Millet on his winning run Photos; Mark Stevens
