British Open Follow Up

There was quite a bit of controversy during and after the British Open in St Andre, and (at least for a St Andre resident) it makes interesting reading. Quite a bit of it is related to the 'standard' competition debate ("are competitions dangerous?") but a lot of it is specific to the nature of the event and (according to some) St Andre.

While there are competitions in the UK, the British hold their championships abroad principally for logistical reasons. XCs in Britain are fickle beasts, where you have to choose exactly the right site at the right time using detailed weather forecasts. Most of these sites are very small and couldn't support 150 pilots. And then there would be lots of driving just to get to the sites, never mind do the retrieves.

Holding the competition abroad allows them to choose a single site that will work reliably through a week. This year, they choose a week in Slovenia and a week at St Andre. St Andre is both a common and popular choice; a lot of the pilots know it very well. 

Intimidating terrain at St Andre

But, of course, it is alpine flying and presents a bunch of problems an XC pilot in Britain will rarely see - intimidating terrain, strong thermals and valley winds. There are certainly less intimidating places that could host a competition where the flying would be more familiar to a British XC pilot. And a number of the pilots feel that the competition should be held at such sites. 

This is a debate for British pilots (I'm British and a pilot but not, for this purpose, a British pilot) - how do they want to choose their champion, what sort of event do they want? But the economics actually broaden the debate. The event was oversubscribed and capped at 150 pilots; but the majority were not "British pilots" and there's an argument that choosing "less interesting sites" would reduce attendance and make the event uneconomic.

And then there were a lot of incidents; 14 in total, 10 of which were reserve rides - fortunately without any serious injuries. A shockingly high number, especially on one day when there were 5 deployments. I'm told all the pilots accepted responsibility for their incidents, rather than believing they were the victims of a malevolent site or task committee or plain bad luck. The organizers certainly treated safety seriously (for example, everyone flew with a live tracker) and I wouldn't fault any of their decisions. Most of the incidents seem to me to be caused by 'the urge to compete' overcoming normal piloting decisions; maybe augmented by less experienced pilots following others into dubious places. But, of course, others interpret the events a bit differently!

You can read more at Judith's blog and at the paragliding forum.