In the Menu to the right we've added pilots' photo galleries. If you'd like to share your pictures with us, please send the address to kociecka (at) gmail (dot) com
On behalf of all competitors the PPO Team would like to thank our sponsors, thanks to whom we could reward the best three pilots in all categories: open, women, serial, sports, Polish and Polish-women. Altogether we gave away prizes worth around 3000 euro. Below we present all sponsors and the prizes:
Polish Paragliding Association
- 1400 euro altogether for the best 3 pilots in the overall ranking, the best woman and the best Polish pilot
- Closed helmet
- Paragliding overalls
- Footrest
- Speed bar
- Thermoactive underwear
- Closed helmet
- Open helmet
- Beskid Paragliding T-shirts
- GPS covers
- Balaclava
- Speed bar
- Flymaster B1 Vario
- Men's polo T-shirt
- Women's polo T-shirt
- 2 men's thermal undershirts
- 2 women's thermal undershirts
- Paragliding rucksack
- Helmet cover
- T-shirt
- Cap
- Wind sock
- GIN hooded jacket
- 3 travel bags
- 3 CD travel boxes
Devin was our sponor for mineral water. Pilots could also taste Red Bull and Jim Beam during the prize-giving and closing party.
Overall Podium
8.00
Right now the sky is fully overcast, but after yesterday, when actually no one believed we could fly a task and in the end we had 66 happy pilots at goal, everything is possible. First pilots briefing at 9.30
Results after Task 4
Open
1. Nikolay Shorokhov (RUS) Gin Boomerang
2. Yassen Savov (BUL) Mac Magus 6
3. Peter Vyparina (SVK) Niviuk Icepeak
Women
1. Marina Olexina (RUS) Gin Boomerang 6
2. Anna Verbitskaya (RUS) Axis Venus 2
3. Klaudia Bułgakow (POL) Gin Boomerang 6
Serial
1. Theuns Koekemoer (RSA) Axis Venus 2
2. Piotr Pawłowski (POL) Nova Triton
3. Bogdan Bazyuk (UKR) Gradient Avax XC2
Sports
1. Bogdan Bazyuk (UKR) Gradient Avax XC2
2. Mykola Struk (UKR) Gradient Avax XC2
3. Michał Maślonka (POL) Advance Sigma 7
12.00
The day is cancelled due to the overcast sky and some drizzle. The prize-giving ceremony starts at 18.00.
9.00
The sky still doesn't look good, but at least it's not raining, we've got some 6/8 of medium clouds and wind around 6 m/s from NNW. We're not giving up so easily and we'll be going up.
16.00
At 15.00 we've started a Race to Goal of 49 km with goal in Bania.
18.00
Many, many, many pilots at goal:
1. Yassen Savov (BUL)
2. Pawel Faron (POL)
3. Nikolay Shorokhov (RUS)
21.25
Standings after Task 4:
1. Nikolay Shorokhov (RUS)
2. Yassen Savov (BUL)
2. Peter Vyparina (SVK)
One of our Sponsors for the event is Flymaster Poland. As a big part of the organization team here are girls, we are very impressed with the Flymaster team line-up:
Below with Yassen Savov, the T2 and T3 winner:
Wednesday has greeted us with thunderous applause. We're waiting for the situation to clear up.
Next Briefing at 12.00 at the Headquarters.
12.15
The Task is cancelled due to bad weather conditions.
At 20.00 we will be having a rescue and first aid training presented by a member of the Polish Tatra Mountain Resue Service. We're gathering by the Headquarters. If it's raining we'll hide at the cinema.
No Report back - 0 points for the day
No Sign Out - 100 points penalty
Your safety - priceless!
Suby's Photo Gallery
In the photo 2/3 of the Task Committee, Stena Vyparina (SVK) and Orlin Dimov (BUL). The third one is Krzysztof Ziolkowski (POL). So far they have done a great job setting challenging and at the same time safe tasks.
7.30
The day has dawned sunny and calm just like two previous days. We are expecting another task, but we might have some thunderstorms in the late afternoon. More news later...
14.30
A shorter task was set today, 62 km. There are some big congestus clouds building at the back, but they should not bring us thunderstorms in the task area. The start was open at 13.10 so first pilots should be at goal very soon.
17.00
Around 80 pilots at goal! Yassen Savov first in.
14.30
At 13.30 pilots started a race to goal - 96 km. First TP (B40) is 36 km East from the T-O, then they come back, do a small zigzag in the valley and land at the same goal as yesterday. Conditions are good, there's less wind than yesterday.
21.00
43 pilots at goal:
1. Yassen Savov (BUL)
2. Rafał Łuckoś (POL)
3. Peter Vyparina (SVK)
First woman: Marina Olexina (RUS)
00.23 ;)
Provisional results of Task 2 and Overall results atfter two tasks are on the official website.
In the Main Manu you will also find official results for Task 1.
First five minutes of the competition:
Grzegorz Misiak is the official photographer of the event. He's always there where the action is. You can see all his photos in the Gallery .
Pilots from the photo are ok ;)
14.00
Pilots are flying now a task of 83 km, a zig-zag in the valley. The sky looks great, pilots are reporting good conditions, we might have many at goal.
...
18.00
Over 50 pilots at goal. First to fly in was Merinus Brenkman on an Avax XC 2!! Then Nikolay Shorokhov and Orlin Dimov. First Polish pilot was Spike - Michał Gierlach on a UP Edge.
21.30 - edit
The RSA guy wasn't first in. He missed the second last point. First 3 pilots are:
1. Nikolay Shorokhov
2. Orlin Dimov
3. Stefan Vyparina
First Polish pilot was Krzysztof Ziółkowski on SOL Tracer.
congratulations!
23.00
After correcting a mistake in scoring formula settings, the first woman at goal is Klaudia Bułgakow.
...has finished and we have got 135 pilots in the competition. Check out the competition gallery for some pics from yesterday.
In the second task of 94 km 21 pilots at goal.
ALL RESULTS HERE
Russian Open has just kicked off in Sopot. Today they flew a 64 km triangle - many people at goal. The cloudbase was at around 3000 m. Some pilots are taking the opportunity of flying two (or even three) comps in a row as Shambhala have put all events next to each other in their calendar.
Some pics from today.
Hotel Shterev in Sopot is offering special price for PPO pilots. A double room will cost you 20 euro per night. There's a limited number of rooms, so please book them as soon as possible at freefever@abv.bg or 
+359899914801
. The person responsible is Valery Cvietanov.
Including all registered pilots
Above the most popular wing brands.
And the most popular models are:
Advance Omega - 14
Gradient Avax XC - 13
Niviuk Peak - 9
Axis Vega - 9
As we have a nice cinema at our disposal in Sopot, we decided to organize some educational activities for you. One of the will be mountain rescue training, in which we'll show you what to do in case of tree-landing, how to safely get somebody down and how to behave in other emergency sistuations in the mountains. The training will be presented by Jakub Poburka, who's a member of the Polish Tatra-Mountain Rescue Service.
We would like to remind you that you should always have with you (in an easily accessible place in your harness) some emergency gear in case of tree-landing, at least an anchor sling, a carabiner and, the most important, dental floss (lack of which might result in a four-hour koala-style tree-hanging on a Mexican pine, see picture). You should also carry a whistle and something to drink within reach.
Army Adventure Wing (Skybirds) comprises of seven team members, the Team Leader in the rank of major and the rest are corporals and sergeants. Some of the team members have been flying for a while, 2-3 years now but, as they claim "it has been an uphill task, since paragliding in India is not a mainstream sport in flying. In 2007 the team got a shot in the arm when we started training under a qualified instructor". Last year they took part in the Pre-World Cup held in India and this comp will be the first time the Indian paragliding team would participate in a foreign country. "Slowly this team is begining to take shape, not worried bout the results at the moment, learning is what we aim at" claims major Arjan Singh Bedi (but this might be just smokescreen ;)
We, and by "we" I mean the female part of the organization, are waiting impatiently for a photo of the team in their uniforms.
And for the time being we can let our imagination go wild:
Indian army to the right, on the elephant. To the left Alexander the Great. Maybe some Macedonians will come as well.
If the Axis Girls haven't done that job, we would like to encourage you some more to take part in the comp. Polish Paragliding Association is offering 1400 euro in cash for the winners. That money will be devided between the best pilots in the women, open and Polish classifications. Some top pilots are already interested in taking part in the comp, including Yassen Savov and Nikolay Shorokhov. Come and try to kick their ....
We're happy to present competition poster with the new official logo.
To encourage you to take part in the competition (and pay the entry fee as there are more and more spots taken) we would like to present to you some of the participants. To start with let us introduce you to the Axis Girls in their everyday uniforms. If you want to find out if they also fly in their miniskirts and if their harnesses are closed or not, you'll have to come to Sopot.