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18th FAI European Paragliding Championships

Task zwei ist beendet, 97 spannende Kilometer!

Daniel Graf, 11. August 2026
Der zweite Task wurde etwas länger angesetzt. Die Wetterpprognosen sagten einen Nordwind auf 2500 Metern von 25 km/h voraus, somit wurde der Task in den Süden gelegt. Bereits bei der Teambesprechung wurde klar, dass der Start entscheidend sein könnte und eine Linie im Norden eine Option wäre. Die Idee wurde aber als zu grosser Umweg gewertet und es wurde vermutet, dass das Feld den direkten Weg über das Flachland wählen würde. Stephan hatte die Aufgabe, wenn er genug hoch sei, den Norden zu inspizieren, das tat er, und Sarah ging mit, leider sahen sich die Beiden weit unter dem Spitzenpulk als das Startfenster öffnete. Doch die Linie schien interessant und so fanden sich diverse Piloten im Norden über der Ridge ein um gemeinsam Richtung osten zum ersten Wendepunkt zu fleigen, auch Roger entschied sich für diese Variante, während Tim, Noé und Jérôme die Route übers Flachland wählten. Sarah und Steph schaften es tatsächlich stetig den Rückstand aufzuholen. Nach der dritten Boje war Sarah zusammen mit Roger an der Spitze des Feldes! Hammer Leistung! Dann standen die letzten Hürden dieses Tasks an, von Wendepunkt 3 ins Goal. Erst übers Flachland, dann zwei Täler queren und zum Schluss über einen Pass in ein weiteres Tal. Am Briefing wurde ausführlich darüber informiert, dass der Pass, oder besser gesagt die Hochebene thermisch nicht viel biete und deshalb hoch überflogen werden soll. Steph war dann sehr tief und musste nach dem Pass nochmals ordentlich Höhe tanken, was aber viel Zeit kostete. Roger ging als einer der Ersten in den Endanflug, musste dann aber etwas vom Gas, weil die Höhe knapp wurde. Tim, Jérôme und Sarah kamen mit ausreichen Höhe und erreichten super Plätze. Sarah kam als erste Frau ins Goal und wurde zweite im Task bei den Frauen!!! Schlussendlich waren alle Schweizer im Goal und wir durften uns auf den langen Heimweg machen. Nun steht noch ein gemeinsames Nachtessen auf dem Programm, bevor bereits der nächste Task morgen absolviert wird.
Regio South - 7 - 2026 2026

Quando la Previsione non Basta: Pazienza e Condizioni Sportive

Ruben Hutter, 11. August 2026
Le previsioni erano molto promettenti e sulla carta sembrava esserci tutto per una gran bella giornata. Dopo un caffè, un succo di frutta e una piccola sessione di teoria sugli aspetti da considerare e su cui lavorare per diventare piloti sempre più completi, ci siamo quindi diretti verso il decollo.

Nel frattempo però erano già arrivati i primi segnali che qualcosa non stava andando esattamente come previsto: alcuni piloti che stavano volando in zona ci avevano scritto che le condizioni reali non rispecchiavano per nulla quelle annunciate dai modelli.

Arrivati in decollo abbiamo deciso di posticipare lo start di 15 minuti, nella speranza che la giornata si attivasse un po' meglio. Alla fine si parte!

Elia e Diego sono stati i primi a decollare e, con un po' di fatica e la giusta dose di pazienza, sono riusciti a salire fino in base. Per chi è partito qualche minuto più tardi la storia è stata decisamente diversa: il ciclo buono sembrava già essersi spento e Albino è stato l'unico che, insistendo con pazienza, è riuscito poco più tardi a raggiungere la base e ricongiungersi agli altri.

Per chi non aveva già bucato subito dopo il decollo e non era riuscito a fare quota, la scelta più sensata è stata quella di dirigersi verso l'atterraggio di Acquarossa: a Malvaglia il vento di valle si era infatti già fatto piuttosto deciso.

In quota Albino ha aspettato Elia e Diego nella zona della Nara, ma una volta ripartito non è più riuscito a trovare una termica sufficientemente organizzata ed è stato infine costretto ad atterrare.

Elia e Diego sono invece riusciti a proseguire fino al TP Canariscio. Da lì, però, il Lucomagno si presentava completamente coperto e il live tracking ci ha dato un'ulteriore indicazione poco incoraggiante: un pilota in arrivo dalla Surselva era stato costretto ad atterrare proprio in quella zona.

Decisione quindi intelligente di non forzare il tentativo verso il Lucomagno e di adattare il volo alle condizioni realmente presenti. Una giornata ben diversa da quella promessa dalle previsioni, ma proprio per questo interessante dal punto di vista dell'allenamento: leggere quello che succede davvero davanti a noi e saper cambiare piano rimane una delle capacità più importanti in volo.



Meteo percepita



Termica generalmente debole, molto ciclica e non sempre facile da individuare.

Parecchio vento, proveniente da direzioni variabili e a tratti poco chiare.

Alternanza tra fasi deboli e bolle termiche improvvisamente molto forti, strette e poco organizzate.

Sopra i 2500-2600 m le condizioni risultavano leggermente migliori e più gestibili.

Negli strati inferiori il volo è stato invece decisamente sportivo e poco piacevole.

Insomma, non certo la giornata XC che ci avevano fatto immaginare i modelli, ma comunque un altro buon allenamento di lettura delle condizioni, pazienza e capacità di prendere le decisioni giuste al momento giusto.

Grazie a tutti per la partecipazione e alla prossima Regio Sud!
Disentis Open 2026 2026

Technical wrap-up task 3 and prize giving

Jörg Ewald, 10. August 2026
On the final day of the 2026 Disentis Open we experienced two technical problems:

The correct approach to Elevated Goal was not indicated properly to all pilots, leading to some of them underflying goal or even not reaching it.
The ranking used for the prize giving ceremony was incorrect.

This is to show the results of the analysis of those two topics, and what measures will be taken to avoid them in the future.


1. Elevated Goal
Instruments and apps used to navigate during paragliding races fall in two broad categories:

Those that have a built-in model of the terrain altitude, and can therefore give altitude above ground (AGL) besides the altitude above mean sea level (AMSL)
Those that do not have such a model, and can only give AMSL

In addition, since Elevated Goal was only introduced with the May 2026 update of Section 7F of the FAI Sporting Code, not all instruments and apps support Elevated Goal yet. If they do, they can receive all the required information from the task file (thanks to Jérôme Kägi, this was introduced in the XCTask file format a few months ago). If they don't, a task file with an Elevated Goal (instead of the classic "ESS then goal") could be refused by some. And even if it is accepted, pilots will need to be active themselves to make sure their app or instrument guides them to goal at the required altitude.

To cover this all automatically, we would need to publish the task in several different ways. This increases the risk of mistakes, because each pilot would have to know exactly which QR code or task code to use for which instrument or app. So in an attempt to make things easy for pilots, we published only a single file, which did not use the Elevated Goal feature (and would therefore be understood by all instruments and apps), but which gave the goal waypoint 300 m above the actual altitude of the goal field.

This worked fine for all the apps and instruments of the second category, the ones only using AMSL. It also worked for some that do use AGL (e.g. SeeYou Navigator). It did not work well with the official version of XCTrack: XCTrack always guides you such that you reach classic goal cylinders at ground level, regardless of what the goal waypoint's altitude is. As a result, those who aimed for an arrival altitude of 0 m, as indicated by XCTrack's "Altitude over goal" indicator (thinking that was 300 m above goal), arrived at the goal cylinder at roughly waypoint altitude. Marco Vergari and I had discovered this before the Disentis Open, and I should have made this particular point much much clearer when we discussed the task and Elevated Goal. In the end most of you reached goal quite high anyway, the two pilots who were affected (Raphael Oerer and Stefan Bahn) accepted the outcome.


Consequences
As had been suggested by a few of you, from now on, when we set a task with Elevated Goal, we will publish the task as such: Goal waypoint altitude is the actual altitude, and the task file contains the information that this is an Elevated Goal task, along with the used elevation. If necessary, it will be up to you to adjust the task on your instruments to make sure that you arrive at the correct altitude. As an example, here is the last task of the Disentis Open, given with Elevated Goal: https://tools.xcontest.org/xctsk/load?taskCode=e1d8cda1073edcca - the code is "nepo". Try this out, especially with instruments and apps without Elevated Goal support, to see if it is accepted (and then maybe requires adjustment) or if you need to plan to enter such tasks manually. This all will go away as more and more apps and instruments are updated to include Elevated Goal.


Support for Elevated Goal
To my knowledge, as of now, the following support Elevated Goal:

SkyTrackPro: Full support for Elevated Goal
XCTrack:

the official version accepts Elevated Goal tasks, but you have to manually ensure that you arrive high enough: If the landing is in flat terrain, you can use "Altitude over goal" and aim for the 300 m elevation. If the goal is on a slope, it's better to use "Next TP Height", configure its "Shown value" as "AMSL", and remember your target altitude (goal altitude plus 300 m elevation).
XCTrack has full support for Elevated Goal since June 2nd in their beta versions, but they have not yet made an official release that includes it (https://xctrack.org/Change_Log.html).

SeeYou Navigator: Accepts the task information, but ignores the Elevated Goal information. You can set the "Finish altitude" in AMSL (goal altitude plus 300 m elevation), which results in what we want.





2. Final ranking mixup
After the prize giving, we discovered that the results used for the four podiums had been created without FTV. Once FTV was applied, the podium changed in two of the four categories. What had happened?

When Katherina set up the comptition in our scoring software, she applied the usual template for Swiss competitions, with all the categories predefined. I forgot to mention to her that unlike in our weekend competitions - which we run without discards - this one would use FTV with 25%.
After Katherina published the competition results for task 2, pilots remarked that no FTV was used. Katherina was unavailable, so I made the change in the competition settings, published the results, and saved the file.
Katherina had the competition file still open on her computer, without my changes, and continued working on that for task 3. So when she created the results after 3 tasks, they were without FTV again.
I noticed that a few minutes before the prize giving, and rushed to correct it again. I thought I deleted the result files without FTV, but must have picked the new ones with FTV.
To copy the podium pilots' names to my notebook, I opened the latest files, without looking at the actual numbers - but these were the ones without FTV from before.
Only after the prize giving, when Fred Monnet asked for some details, did I notice that those latest files did not include discards.
When I recreated them with FTV, we saw changes in two categories:

In the Junior category, Nic Jacomet and Thierry Stoll switch first and second place
In the Overall category, Davide Licini moves to second, third is Simon Steiner, and Bruno Liard goes to fourth place


Consequences:

Internally at Volirium, we will now start each session by closing FS if it is still open, and loading the latest version of the competition file.
Competition results will always be verified by at least one, ideally two additional people before the prize giving. (We want to maintain the element of surprise and therefore prefer not to publish them to everybody up front.)
Volirium will cover the registration fee for Bruno's and Thierry's next participation in the Disentis Open.
Volirium will not charge the organizer for the scoring of task 3 of the Disentis Open.
Disentis Open 2026 2026

100 km task on the final day, prize giving

Martin Scheel, 8. August 2026
By Jörg Ewald: Good weather, finally! Sunny, very little wind at altitude, dry, it looked almost perfect. The only hair in the soup: the super-heated Surselva would pull in air from both North and South - some reports even talked about the onset of "shallow Föhn", which we had gotten to know already at the beginning of the competition. Our objectives for the task were therefore: Go big, go to places we have not been yet this week, stay away from the areas most affected by the inflow from the South, and therefore land in Trun instead of Disentis. The task led first to the West, towards Oberalp pass, then crossed the main valley towards Vals. Another long crossing led to the Flims and Laax ski arena, with two turnpoints (Cassons and Grap Masegn), back across the valley one more time to Bündner Rigi, and then goal in Trun, for 99.3 km. The first few climbs were rough and fast, and pilots had no problem with getting to a good position for the race start. Some attempts to do the first valley crossing before the start and take the start cylinder on the South side had to be abandoned, in the end the whole field started together racing towards Oberalp pass. Conditions there were much more turbulent than expected: With no defined wind direction, every thermal going off would pull air towards it, making for a wild mix. Back to launch and crossing towards Garvera worked well, the pilots did not even have to go deeper towards Piz Muraun to make maximum altitude and continue onward. Originally we had planned to fly to the mountains to the South-East of Vals, but ultimately decided to turn earlier towards Flims, to avoid the expected turbulence in that area (thanks for the hint Martin!). From there, most pilots followed the "logical" route along the eastern ridge, which worked really well by then. Only, Noah Kiener had a different idea, he headed straight North, along the western rim of the Vals valley, This worked even better, and he arrived at the Cassons Grat turnpoint with a lead of about 20 minutes. But what looked like a decisive lead started shrinking again quickly when Noah struggled finding the one thermal that would give him enough altitude for the final crossing of the Rhine valley. The followers had almost caught up with him when he finally hit the right spot, climbed out and flew to victory, still with a 7-minute lead on the followers. In total 44 pilots made goal in this long and demanding task. Their arrival times ranged from 2:45 h to 5:18 h. As one of them put it: "It was level 2 all the way around" - meaning "sporty, demanding, but OK to fly". Unfortunately, two pilots lost control of their gliders during the race and were unable to recover. The first incident required a complicated helicopter rescue out of steep terrain, the pilot was transferred to the hospital, and we all wish him a speedy and full recovery. The second pilot had enough altitude to deploy his reserve parachute, ended up on the ground unscathed, but in steep, rocky territory he could not leave on foot. With REGA having an incredibly busy day, he needed to wait for nearly 3 hours until they came to fly him out. Day winners Junior: Nic Jacomet (SUI) Sports Class: Frédéric Monnet (SUI) Women: Violeta Jimenez (USA) Overall: Noah Kiener (SUI) This was the conclusion of the 2026 Disentis Open. A new crew stepped into huge footprints, and ran a successful competition - with kind guidance by members of the previous organization team from the sidelines. Despite starting out with the worst weather forecasts for the week that we all could remember, we managed to fly three interesting and challenging tasks that showed once again what a fabulous spot Disentis is for paragliding racing. Some mistakes were made, and either fixed on the spot, or taken as a lesson, to improve on for the next edition. The final mistake being that for the prize giving, the author (Race Director and acting presenter) mixed up some names when calling pilots to the podium. This is why the pictures below do not completely correspond with the actual final rankings: Junior 1. Nic Jacomet (SUI) 2. Thierry Stoll (SUI) 3. Nicola Heiniger (SUI) Sports Class 1. Frédéric Monnet (SUI) 2. Gaëtan Gerber (SUI) 3. Loïc Theubet (SUI) Women 1. Zaborowska Agnieszka (GBR) 2. Violeta Jimenez (USA) 3. Linda Hoch (SUI) Overall 1. Lars Meerstetter (SUI) 2. Davide Licini (SUI) 3. Simon Steiner (SUI) Photos by Martin Scheel.
Regio South - 7 - 2026 2026

Update Venerdì / Regio South 2026 - 7

Ruben Hutter, 7. August 2026
Buonasera a tutti quanti!

Eccoci con l'ultimo aggiornamento per la Regio Sud - 7: l'allenamento di domani, sabato 8 Agosto, è confermato!



Sabato 8 Agosto – Allenamento confermato

La giornata si conferma buona per il volo, anche se la mattinata partirà piuttosto lentamente. Sulle Alpi ticinesi è prevista un'inversione marcata nelle prime ore: attorno alle 09:00 sarà ancora presente fino a circa 1700-1800 m e verso le 12:30 resterà uno strato stabile indicativamente tra gli 800 e i 1300 m. Anche nel Sopraceneri l'atmosfera rimarrà piuttosto stabile fino alle 11:30 circa.

Nel corso della giornata la situazione migliorerà progressivamente e nel pomeriggio entrerà in funzione un buon gradiente termico. Le basi sono previste inizialmente attorno ai 2000 m, per poi salire progressivamente fino a circa 3200 m nel pomeriggio.

Il vento meteo sarà quasi nullo e non dovrebbe rappresentare un fattore limitante per l'attività di volo. Come di consueto, nel pomeriggio saranno comunque possibili i rinforzi delle brezze locali nelle vallate.



Luogo e ritrovo: ci troviamo domani alle 09:30 a Malvaglia, presso la filovia.

Il DABS di domani non presenta restrizioni specifiche per la zona dell'aeroporto di Ambrì. Rimane comunque importante prestare particolare attenzione al traffico aereo legato al Fly-In previsto durante la giornata, soprattutto nelle zone di Ambrì, Ritom, San Gottardo, Airolo e Bassa Leventina.



Ricordatevi di iscrivervi tramite il sito ufficiale!

Vi aspettiamo domani – Ruben e Elia
Disentis Open 2026 2026

Disentis Open 2026 — Task 2 Race Report

Raphael Oerer, 7. August 2026
Task distance: 35.8 km Launch window: 11:15 Race start (SSS): 12:15 Status: Task stopped due to incoming rain in the east — but with most pilots already safely on the ground A Short Window, A Fast Task Today's weather only offered a narrow window to fly, so the task committee opted for a short but punchy task. It turned out to be exactly the right call: a compact 35.8 km course that delivered fast, tactical racing and a goal field full of smiling pilots. Conditions Before the start, cloudbase sat low at around 2300–2400 m, gradually building through the morning. By the time the start gate opened at 12:15, cloudbase had climbed to roughly 2700 m — enough to give pilots a solid position for the start. The clouds themselves developed quickly, and staying clear of cloud base in the final minutes before the start proved tricky for the field. The Route Out of the start, the task led west along the ridge to the first turnpoint, then out into the valley for the second. From there, pilots faced the day's first real tactical choice: take the longer line along the high ridge, or push the shorter, lower ridge line toward turnpoint 3. The leading gaggle chose the low route — but arrived at the crossing point undercooked, leaving the valley crossing to turnpoint 4 with only around 2300 m. That decision would go on to define the entire race. The Key Moment The chasing group played it safer, topping up to around 2800 m before committing to the same crossing — a difference of roughly 500 m that proved decisive. On the other side, the leading gaggle pushed for the ESS on the south side of the valley first, but their thin altitude margin forced them to cross back to the north side in search of lift just to reach ESS and goal. Not everyone made it — several pilots landed just a few hundred metres short of the ESS cylinder. The chasing group, by contrast, arrived with height to spare and could fly the optimised line straight to the ESS without any detours — closing, and in many cases erasing, the gap to the leaders in the process. The Finish With rain moving in from the east, the task was eventually stopped — though by that point the vast majority of the field was already on the ground. A well-timed call all around: the short window was used to full effect, producing a fast and genuinely exciting racing task. Most pilots came into goal with a smile. Results: Overall: 1. Morane Montavon 2. Lars Meerstetter 3. Martin Kubicek Sports Class: 1. Stefan Bahn 2. Raphael Oerer 3. Thierry Stoll Women: 1. Violeta Jimenez 2. Agnieszka Zaborowska 3. Martina Hauri Juniors: 1. Thierry Stoll 2. Nicola Heiniger 3. Jean Morisetti Fotos: Martin Scheel
Regio South - 7 - 2026 2026

Update Giovedì / Regio South 2026 - 7

Ruben Hutter, 7. August 2026
Buongiorno a tutti quanti!

Eccoci con l'ultimo aggiornamento per la Regio Sud - 7, in programma questo weekend dell'8-9 Agosto!



Sabato 8 Agosto – Molto Buono

La giornata è confermata come molto buona in tutto il Ticino e sarà quella scelta per l'allenamento. Il potenziale XC è aumentato rispetto agli scorsi giorni, con valori indicativi tra i 120 e i 160 km. Il gradiente termico entrerà in funzione progressivamente nel corso della mattinata, con condizioni sempre migliori fino al primo pomeriggio. Le basi termiche sono previste attorno ai 2000-2200 m al mattino e tendono a salire fino a 3000-3400 m nel pomeriggio. Il vento si mantiene debole in quota con direzione prevalente da SW-W e non dovrebbe rappresentare un fattore limitante; dal pomeriggio sono comunque attesi i consueti rinforzi di brezza nelle vallate. Lo sviluppo cumuliforme sarà presente ma, al momento, non sembra compromettere l'attività di volo.



Domenica 9 Agosto – Buono ma instabile

Anche domenica presenta un buon potenziale di volo, tuttavia aumenta sensibilmente la probabilità di sovrasviluppi nel corso del pomeriggio, in particolare nelle zone a nord del Ticino. Per questo motivo sabato rimane chiaramente la giornata migliore per lo svolgimento della Regio Sud.



Luogo: L'opzione preferenziale rimane Carì o Dagro. La decisione finale verrà presa venerdì sera dopo la pubblicazione del DABS e l'ultima verifica delle condizioni meteo. Ricordiamo inoltre che sabato presso l'aerodromo di Ambrì si svolgerà un Fly-In con intenso traffico aereo previsto durante tutta la giornata; questo aspetto verrà considerato nella scelta del sito e della task.



Ricordatevi di iscrivervi tramite il sito ufficiale!

Vi aspettiamo – Ruben e Elia
Disentis Open 2026 2026

Task 1: Easy start, difficult end

Jörg Ewald, 6. August 2026
The main theme for yesterday was "finally flying a task". Given the wind (Sout-West to South up high, North-West low pushing in as an amplified valley breeze), the options were limited. So we opted for a classic with a twist: Flims and back - but with a few modifications: - While the pilots were free to choose their line for the leg to Flims (around the Nagens area), we set four turnpoints on the way back, leading them out towards Ilanz, then back towards Crap Masegn, then out to Brigels, back up to the top of the mountain behind Brigels (La Cauma) before the End of Speed Section around Piz Dado to the East of Brigels. - With the wind coming in over the Lukmanier pass, landing in Disentis was not an option, so we set the goal in Trun, 10 km down the valley. The total distance was 69 km. The day started out with good thermals up to about 3300 m, more cumulus clouds than anticipated, and a noticeable drift towards the north up high. After the start it took the fastest pilots less than 45 minutes for the 34 km to the first turnpoint in Flims. But then conditions changed. From the second turnpoint onward, pilots rarely managed to climb above 2700 m, and the closer they got to the last two turnpoints near Brigels, the more difficult climbing became in general. The leader at that time, Lars Meerstetter, arrived in Brigels below 1800 m, and had to take a detour to Piz Dado to get up again, which took him 17 minutes. The following group arrived 8 minutes later in Brigels, and found a climb between La Cauma and Piz Dado. Nicolas Poncelet was the first at the last turnpoint, and secured the fastest time with a clever move to ESS behind Piz Dado, beating Lars by 2 minutes. Only, this was not enough to overcome Lars' leading point advantage. Behind the leaders, the pilots who had managed to make more altitude before flying into the Brigels area had an easier time reconnecting and getting to the final turnpoint, but as Lars had demonstrated, with patience and skill, even getting up from quite low worked out. The climbs were quite rough at times, due to the mix of wind directions - due East on the ground in Brigels, South to South-West higher up. In the end 46 pilots made goal, and all but four were already on the ground when the task was stopped due to a shower east of Disentis. Winners Overall: Lars Meerstetter (Switzerland) Women: Lene Spaarwater (Chile, 8th overall) Sports Class: Frédéric Monnet (Switzerland, 7th overall) Junior: Jean Morisetti (Switzerland, 3rd overall) All photos by Martin Scheel.
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