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Podium finish in France!

Posted on May 13, 2013 in Dean Eldridge   

Back in the UK now after a 12 day stint in France for the very well organised classic Open Competition and subsequent Slalomania 2013 round 1. Also on the trip were Parajet Team Pilots Phil Jennings and Ric Womersley and Sussex Paramotor, Parajet dealer Mark Morgan.

It all started very well for me with 2 precision tasks, the first one a spot landing and the second a race around the pylons. Good solid points in these meant I started the competition in 3rd spot. However, that’s as far up the standings as it got for me in the Open, with a bad decision made in a ‘declared speed’ task and some technical issues with my carburettor and the attached competition fuel container, I dropped to 12th overall and was not able to claw back more points such was the high standard of the other competitors. One of those being Phil who demonstrated what a great all-round pilot he is, utilised all the skills he’s learned in competition during the last few years to earn a very respectable 5th place and 2nd highest placed foreign pilot. For Ric’s first foreign event he put in some good solid results and could have been the only person to have made an extremely difficult spot landing if only the landing marker was not made out of the slipperiest material known to man! Ricky was the only one who got the spot but unfortunately looked like he had just landed on a banana skin, went over on a knee losing the points, a damn shame.

After a day of rest we started the 1st round of Slalomania for 2013 and all had a swap around of equipment from what we had been using in the Open. I just changed my Paramania GTR from a 22 to my trusty 20, Ric changed from a 24 down to my 22, Phil jumped on a GTR18 and transplanted his Polini 200 engine into his Zenith chassis to replace the Top80 and Morgy got out his spanking new custom coloured GTR20 and Zenith Moster for some action. The scoring for Slalomania is unlike the Open, being immediate but also incurring huge penalties for any mistakes. My brief to the other guys was to start steady and progress forwards rather than charge like a bull at a gate at the first task and risk getting heavily penalised at an early stage. The strategy paid off with us all improving as the tasks went on. It was a little frustrating though when some tasks got cancelled due to the wind, when the 4 of us were all on super solid GTR wings that could have coped with much stronger conditions. Neither did we have any issues with our beautiful Parajet Zeniths, giving great feedback and control in all situations.

The competition was prematurely ended on the Saturday due to unfavourable weather forecasts ahead meaning 2nd spot on the podium for me! Phil progressed up through the ranks to take a great 7th and would have pushed on for more as would Ric and Morgy given more tasks. Ric for instance got 4th place on the last task until it was cancelled.

A mention must also go out also to local pilot Guillaume Vallance flying a Zenith Polini 200 and Paramania GTR20 taking a superb 6th place on his first slalom competition. Well done Guillaume! 3 Parajet/Paramania combo’s in the Top10 but it’s going to be all 5 of us next time around!

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