Foreign and Cuban pilots will take part from March 31 through April 6 in the Paragliding national championship in the mountain area of Puerto Boniato, in the eastern Cuban province of Santiago de Cuba.
The call for the event was launched by the Cuban Association of Free Flight (FCVL by its acronym in Spanish) and the Cuban Air Club (CAC also by its acronym in Spanish) with the aim of developing the competitive skills of Cuban pilots, who, in order to participate, must present a certificate confirming their membership in the FCVL and a reference of his instructor from the club they are associated to.
Foreign participants must present a certificate issued by their regional federations and they must be, at least, in the P-3 category or its equivalent in their countries of origin. Prior to the competition all the contestants must be enrolled and have signed a declaration of responsibility. In addition, they must have their emergency parachutes installed and checked and must bring a digital camera and/or GPS with its corresponding cables for download and drivers if necessary.
By the end of March, the participants must have paid through a money transfer or personal accreditation the enrollment fee of 150 Cuban pesos for Cuban competitors and guests lodged (100 Cuban pesos without lodging). Foreign participants will afford 30 Cuban convertible pesos (CUC) and guests will afford 15 CUC. Judges, the technical director and the current national champion are free from any charges.
During the enrollment process, the organizers of the event will hand in a map of the flying area including the location of every beacon used as well as other data of interest.
According to the Cuban authorities, more that 40 Cuban competitors are expected to participate, most of them coming from the eastern Cuban province of Granma, the champion of the past event, which will be represented by three teams.
About 15 foreign pilots have already confirmed their participation in this event, including a large delegation from France made up of 10 athletes. Venezuela, Ireland, Jamaica, Holland and Germany are also represented in this competition with one contestant each.
The Cuban file on the sky
Cubans practice in particular three kinds of air sports: paragliding, parachuting and paramotoring. The first modality was first introduced in Cuba during the 90’s, thanks to the collaboration of a Spanish federation, which promoted free style.
A paraglide is made up of an ultra light, flexible glider of rectangular shape and lesser in weight than the pilot. It is considered a modality of parachuting, the main difference being that pilots jump after running from really high slopes or gullies.
At first, the geographic characteristics of Abra de Mariana town, in the municipality of San Antonio del Sur in the eastern province of Guantanamo, favored this sport in three modalities: hillside, cross country and Ala delta.
For some time this area hosted several similarnational and international events, however, nowadays it is limited, perhaps because of the fact that it is close to Guantanamo’s Naval Base, although the practice of this discipline is also encouraged in other provinces such as: en Santiago de Cuba, Havana, Matanzas and Holguín.
Some of the free flying events organized in these provinces are: Copa 26 de Julio (July 26 Cup), Liga Oriental (Eastern League) and a paragliding championship held every two years in Santiago de Cuba, and a new competition was added in august 2013, for the glory of pilots and amateurs: it is the Policarpo Álvarez In Memoriam Sports Paragliding Cup, held in Sagua de Tánamo, in the eastern province of Holguín.
Spanish Javier «El Malaguita» TejeiroLópez, world champion in this modality, attended the first edition of the event as a guest and delighted the audience with amazing acrobatics.
Since June 2013, paramotoring, another attractive modality of parachuting, became the last sport to have an “impact”on the Cuban aeronautics; for the first time a Cuban pilot flew from Varadero, in Matanzas province, to the Morro fortress in Havana.
Shortly after that, Luis Alberto García, president of the FCVL, made headlines for travelling in a powered paraglide over the gulf of Batabano, about 110 kilometers at a speed of 40 or 50 km/h, from the Cuban capital to Nueva Gerona, in the special municipality of the Isle of Youth.
This sport has been practiced in Cuba for no more than 15 years. Now as a new variant of paragliding because it is expensive and risky: pilots should not go over 800 meters high and should maintain a speed rate of 50 and sometimes more than 60 km/h, only held from the paraglide. Even so, there are already 13 clubs and more than a hundred pilots practicing it.
