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The winning combination

Posted on June 12, 2012 in Phil Jennings   

Being in a similar situation to Dean after only having one short flight on my newly assembled Zenith, I heading off to the British Open. The forecast wasn’t looking good so we knew we’d be flying in between gaps in the weather, thankfully I had great faith in my kit.

After a wet and windy start the clouds lifted and we we’re off on task 1, Pure Navigation. We had 90 minutes from receiving the map to plan and fly a route through as many preset turn points. This was where the aerodynamics of the Zenith chassis really started to show. With only a Top 80 engine I was easily able to fly full speed bar on my Hadron 20 without using full power. Task 2 was a spot landing on return about an hour before sunset.
Next morning we had perfect slalom conditions so task 3 was a personal favorite, double figure of 8 rounding pylons and kicking a stick in the centre.  Task 4 was an economy triangle with speed leg. On receiving the map we had to fly the first leg as fast as possible then the other 2 legs as economically as we could. The triangle size and direction was set by the pilot with the only constraints being we couldn’t leave the map and we had to be back in 90 minutes. I ended up flying to the furthest corners of the map covering the second largest area but my economy was excellent so I won the task. This was a great result as I was the only pilot all weekend to win a task from the all conquering Pascal Vall猫e.

Task 5 was a tricky cloverleaf slalom in a moderate wind which was later annulled due to briefing issues and pilots entering the course in different directions. And finally task 6, a five skittle landing. So at 500’ cut your engine over the skittles lined up 2 meters apart and glide in knocking them all over before touching the ground. This task is really good fun swooping fast at the ground and made even nicer with the Top 80 Zenith, as it only weighs 21kg so there isn’t suddenly 30+kgs of motor to send you off balance.

So after a short but sweet 6 tasks the results were out….

British Paramotor Champion 2012.. Dean Eldridge, Parajet Zenith Polini 200, Paramania GTR
Second place.. Phil jennings, Parajet Zenith Top 80, Dudek Hadron
Third .. Michel Carnet, Nirvana, Dudek Nucleon

The Open was won by French Pilot Pascal Vall茅e, with Dean second and myself third.

Dean and myself are so pleased with the Zenith and can’t wait to be representing the UK in the World Paramotor Championships held in Spain this August.

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