This past Sunday I set another new world record for the Speed Over a Straight Course 15/25km.  I flew the Nirvana Instinct NS 230 and 22m Dudek Plasma.  The preliminary results are a new world record of 80 km/hr.  I beat the current world record of 72.96 km/hr and the current pending record of 75 km/hr.  My take-off weight was 137.4 kgs and I carried approximately 30 lbs of extra weight to increase my speed.

I knew the conditions were not ideal, but I was running out of time to get this done.  We sent up a helium balloon to test the winds and we could see that the upper winds starting at 500 feet were really strong.  The balloon was bouncing  around a lot showing us how turbulent it was.  The flight turned out to be the scariest flight I have ever had.  In all my years of flying, I have never flown in conditions so rough.  At times my ground speed was up to 110 km/hr, that is crazy fast!  The wing was all over the place.  It was very difficult to keep the glider under control due to the turbulence.  This flight is a true testament to how rock solid and stable reflex wings really are.  I would never want to fly these conditions on any other wing.  I flew the entire way on full speed bar with the trims all the way out and never a hint of a collapse.

I guess now it’s back to filling out more paperwork.  Thank again to Dennis Chapman, my official observer.  And thank-you to all of my sponsors.

Nirvana Paramotors

Paradrenalin

Dudek Paragliders

Jim Doyle, Pulse Star Spark Plugs

FlyStyle

Flymaster

March 31^st, 2012 –     It is an accepted and time honored adage, that ‘a rolling stone gathers no moss ’.   Assuming this to indeed be the case, then logic surely dictates Ryan Shaw to be free of all fungi, lichens, and any other earthborn nastiness.   What I really mean to say is …. “This man never, never-ever, stops moving “.     Allow me to explain…

Ryan acquired Paradrenalin PPG in 2007 (Phoenix, Arizona).   Since this time, Ryan has quietly and steadily become one of the most respected names on the global PPG scene.   Ryan’s not one to seek out accolades or attention.    Nope … Ryan is old school.  A true gentleman of character.   He is perfectly fine letting his accomplishments do the talking….and this last year, there’s been an awful lot to talk about!

In 2011, Ryan competed in, and placed prominently in a number of PPG competitions, including a hard fought victory in the year- long XContest Competition.    In January of 2012, Ryan was invited to join the renowned Nirvana PPG Race Team (He has accepted their invitation, and plans to race in number of competitions across the pond this coming year).  February of this year saw Ryan take home the coveted Salton Sea National Champion Trophy, with a decisive win over some of the top names in PPG Racing.

Which brings us to here and now.   On March 31^st, after months of particularly windy conditions for Arizona, Ryan sealed the deal on his world record attempt for the 50km Closed Course speed run.    What many folks probably don’t know is that going after any world record requires navigating a maze of NAA/FAI red tape (both pre and post record attempt).  While not quite as much fun as a needle in the eye, it is ultimately a necessary evil that ensures the validity of an individual’s efforts and ultimate accomplishment.  Once green-lighted by these supervising bodies, an individual has just 3 months in which to break the stated record.  Sounds like a lot of time, but ‘stuff’ happens when you’re running multiple PPG businesses.

In spite of life’s challenges and obstacles, Ryan did finally embark on his record breaking run, averaging 75km/hr on his GPS, and breaking the old record of 72km/hr rather handily.  To accomplish this record breaking run, Ryan loaded himself down with 20litres of fuel, and another 10kgs of scuba diving weights, for an all up takeoff weight of 142kg (makes my legs and back ache just thinking about it).  Ryan utilized Nirvana’s newest ‘record killer’ machine, the Nirvana NS230, swinging a standard 51inch carbon fiber prop of their own design.  Dudek provided a 22M Plasma, and Ryan provided the dedication to see the whole thing through.

Ryan Shaw continues to be a man on the move in 2012.  Lucky for him and for us, we’re only ¼ way through the year.  With momentum behind him, I’m sure we can expect Ryan to come home with a few more trophies for his already crowded mantle….way to go Ryan!

                                                                                                                                                Ennis Zajmi, Scottsdale, AZ

On March 31, 2012 I set a new world record for the 50km closed course.  I flew the Nirvana Instinct NS 230 and a 22mDudek Plasma.  The preliminary results are a new world record of 76km/hr, the previous record was 72 km/hr.  My take-off weight was 144.2 kg.  I carried approximately 30 kgs of extra lead weights, to help increase my speed.

When I first decided to start this process, I thought it would be as simple as flying with my GPS and sending the data to the NAA/FAI.  Boy, was I mistaken.  The first step is to get sanction approval from the NAA.  This has to be done prior to even making an attempt.  Once the sanction has been approved (and a small fee paid), I now had 90 days to break the record or I would need to resubmit for approval and pay the fee again.  90 days seems like a long time, but between the bad/windy weather we have had, the endless stream of students I have been training, and trying to coordinate dates/time with the official observer, those 3 months went by way too quick.

Congratulations to Ryan Shaw, flying a Dudek Hadron 20, for winning the February Salton Sea Competition with a world-class time on his second round cloverleaf of 43.8 seconds. That’s fast. Mathieu Roaunet, flying an Ozone Speedster 19, also turned in his usual impressive times but missed a stick on round one and entered wrong on round 2, probably because of our cloverleaf’s weird look. It was a standard sized cloverleaf but two corners were 25 foot pylons (courtesy Paramania).

The most impressive aspect of Ryan’s showing was the world standard cloverleaf that allows fairly direct comparison of skills and he ran an extremely fast 43.8 seconds on round 2. Mathieu was consistently fast with two 44 second times. Emilia Plak, on an 18 meter Ozone Viper 1, had the third best cloverleaf time of 47 seconds.

The caliber of pilots at this competition was extremely high and kudos to Greg Bishop who took on the task with a trike. There are a number of difficulties in flying a trike that make it harder to do well but Greg did a good job with it. If we ever get enough trikes, they would separated out in their own category.