FLYPA
Flypa'11!
Challenges and records
FLYPA JOURNEY - PARAMOTOR DISTANCE WORLD RECORD
Type of record: Distance
Place: Jerez (Cádiz) - Lanzarote
Manoeuvre: Going over the distance about 1101 km through the Atlantic Ocean, taking off from Jerez airport and landing in the coastline of Famara, Lanzarote.
Pilot: Ramón Morillas Salmerón
Date: 23.04.2007
Last record: 941 km
CONNECTING LOS REALEJOS (Tenerife)- AGULO (La Gomera)
Type of record: Travesía
Location: Los Realejos (Tenerife) - Agulo (La Gomera)
Manoeuvre:
Pilot: Ramón Morillas, Cesar Maldonado, Francisco Renedo
Date: 24/04/2006
Previous record: -
On 24th April 2006, the hang-gliding engines pilots Ramón Morillas, César Maldonado y Francisco Renedo flew over the Atlantic from los Realejos (Tenerife) to Hermigua (La Gomera) achieving a new sports feat that is added to other got in the FIST INTERNATIONAL PARAGLIDING FESTIVAL IN LA OROTAVA VALLEY and in FLYPA´ 2006.
This journey recalls the beautiful story of Gara, princess of Agula, the place of the water, and Jonay, son of the Mencey of Adeje, who came from the fire. The elderly say that in the deep ravines of La Gomera is possible to listen to the echo of the last sighs of the two lovers.
Gara and Jonay met on the Bonfire’s Night when they were celebrating the harvest and they fell in love.
The fire had told Gara that after four moons, love would arrive across the sea but, after meeting Jonay, the smoke told her that behind that beautiful love there would be a tragedy so her family could not run that risk even though it meant breaking her heart.
After coming back to Tenerife, Jonay felt a pity that pressed his soul and he decided to come back to La Gomera secretly. This time he would do it swimming, if his love was real, his arms could defeat any storm or dangerous tide….Maybe the wise men in La Gomera would reflect and would bless the union. However her parents´decision was immovable.
The lovers wanted to touch the sky, to get to the top of the island and seal their love in that magical setting, in the sacred rock surrounded by the stars…in that way their love would be eternal. When they got to the top, the princess asked the oracles and they advised her again that her love would not be possible on Earth. A glance between them was enough, their bodies joined with tenderness and passion, with caresses never dreamt. After a kiss and a conspiratorial smile they threw into the void. There would not be more tragedies and they would confirm that their love would live beyond their bodies.
Even today, we can hear the echo of their hearts among the rounded shapes of that rocky mountain in Garajonay, their eternal place that from 1986 is a “World heritage” and from 1989 is one of the most important national Parks in Europe.
That time, the same trade winds that went his Jonay in his personal feat, helped the pilots to repeat the journey successfully.
ALTITUDE IN PARAMOTOR WORLD RECORD
Type of record: Altitude
Location: Los Realejos (Tenerife)
Manoeuvre: Rise to 5395 metres over sea level
Pilot: Ramón Morillas Salmerón
Date: 29.04.2005
Previous record: 5.243 m
We took off at 0 metres from Los Realejos (Tenerife). The flight was not easy. We had to face the breaking of the equipment and strong winds during several days of attempts. Thanks to the sportsman’s technical level and persistence, on 29th April and after a four hours flight over the sea of clouds till the base of El Teide and soaring up 3800 metres taking profit of the influence of the wave, the feat was achieved. Likewise in mountain expeditions, the descent is more dangerous than the ascent. All the team was in suspense for an hour due to turbulence. In those moments is when the pilot must show his value against adversity.
ACROBATICS WORLD RECORD “ 75 SAT MANOEUVRES”
Type of record: Acrobatics
Location: Los Realejos (Tenerife)
Manoeuvre: 75 consecutive turnings in SAT
Pilot: Raúl Rodríguez (SAT team)
Date: 02.05.2005
Previous record: 30 consecutive turnings in SAT
The protagonist tells us his experience:
“We went to Izaña early in the morning to set the new record. All the material was ready from yesterday and the weather is really good today although the clouds are 600 m thick and rising. We are going to take off, all the pilots are taking photos and the local TVs stations are interviewing us just to make us a bit more nervous then we are. We took off at 9:00, I went with Ramón on his two seater PAP 1400 and we are accompanied by César, who is going to make a video, and Paco, who is going to take photos. We are 700 metres above the clouds and we fly over Puerto Cruz where we will land at sea level.
The journey is about 10 kilometres and we are losing height during the flight. We hope that the clouds disappear when we arrive or at least that we have a hole to jump through, but when arriving, we find more clouds. We have a GPS and a compass and we try to continue flying to the sea, however, after two kilometres we cannot get out from the cloud and we are lost. Ramón decides to go down into a spin to go through the cloud. That is just what I did not want because we will lose more than 500 metres until we can get out of it. When finally getting out, we are at 1400 metres above sea level. I get ready while Ramón leaves me on the undercarriage. We are over the sea because it is safer. I release the two seater opening the sails perfectly but I have to twist turnings (we made a mistake). I take the twist out and the four minutes smoke tin and I start with the longest SAT in history at 1000 metres over sea level. I stabilize and keep it with a SAT hook that has been created specially for the record and that let me avoid using all my strength and only hold the control and keep in the SAT position. It works perfectly and the sail is very stable in SAT. I get the position to avoid suffering the G strengths and I try to control the turnings but it is impossible so I relax and concentrate on the height.
I do not feel sick, I am sure I can land in SAT , the pressure is not much but, when lasting so much time, it seems more than it is. When I am at 300 metres over the sea I stop watching the “vario” and I concentrate on watching the distance to land and the height. While turning I watch the runway and when it is the moment, I release the SAT and I level myself to land. I land in the parking of the port that is forbidden for people and cars today so I have a big area to do it. I land softly without acrobatics because I have no height to do them. It is full of people and TV cameras and they come to congratulate and interview me. Little by little, Ramón, César and Paco land and we hug one another. They tell me that I have done 75 turnings in SAT, I did not do the 100 turnings that I wanted because of the height but, anyway, it is perfect because I have known that I do not get sick so I can do more that 100 turnings. Next time I am doing 200. At home I watch the video from the camera I had in my leg and I see my 75 turnings in SAT, the first acrobatics in SAT record.”
ACROBATICS RECORD: “72 MANOEUVRES IN INFINITE TUMBLING”
Type of record: Acrobatics
Location: Los Realejos (Tenerife)
Manoeuvre: 72 consecutive turnings in “Infinite tumbling”
Pilot: Raúl Rodríguez (SAT team)
Date: 01.05.2006
Last record: -
The protagonist tells us his experience:
“The SAT team is in the FLYPA 2006 in Los Realejos, Tenerife. During the week we have been doing exhibition flights taking off from La Corona and landing in El Socorro beach where the festival is celebrated. When I landed the first time I folded my paraglider to take off again with the helicopter the festival offered me to try my record. We are three pilots from the SAT team: Richard Gallon, Félix Rodríguez and me. We went up till 2500 metres; we three took off without problems opening our sails perfectly, we crossed the clouds to be in a good position and let the winds lead us near El Socorro beach. Richard and Felix start their manoeuvres descending fast, I get ready switching on the camera I have on my head and I throw the orange smoke tin, it will help me to see the trajectory of my sail becoming INFINITE. The sail I have is a new Niviuk N-Gravity prototype, it is a bit different from the standard sail. I start the manoeuvre and everything goes perfectly till the sixtieth turning when the wind becomes stronger. This makes me control the sail strongly and I do not know this new sail as the previous one. In the seventy-second turning I cannot control the energy from the sail anymore and I have to stop because it is in the limit. It is a pity because I have more than 500 metres over the sea. I prepare myself to land on the sand. I have fallen 700 metres and it took 1 minute and 52 seconds. Next time I will have to change the sail to be sure I can control it as I want”
ATTEMPT TO BREAK THREE WORLD RECORDS ON SYNCHRO ACROBATICS “INFINITE TUMBLING, DRILL MIRROR MANEOUVRE AND MOLINETES SYNCHRO TRIO”
Type of record: Acrobatics
Date: Los Realejos (Tenerife)
Manoeuvre: Infinite tumbling, Drill Mirror Manoeuvre and Molinetes Synchronised Trio, just one jump by three pilots at the same time
Pilot: Raúl Rodríguez, Félix Rodríguez and Horacio Llorens (SAT Team)
Date: 01.05.2007
Last record: -