New models comming in spring !

In splendid weather ADVANCE were able to introduce the SIGMA 7 and the BI BETA 4, both in the final phase of their development, to a wide section of the public!This year, due to magnificent weather, the Stubai Cup 2008 attracted a huge number of visitors. From Friday to Sunday the sun was often blotted out by paragliders instead of clouds.For ADVANCE the announcement of the SIGMA 7 and the BI BETA 4 was our main feature. In the hands of the 10 pilots of the SPÄLTI OMEGA 7 up-and-comers team these wings were presented for the first time. Both these gliders are nearing completion and will be available in Spring/Summer 2008. (For detailed info. see the PDF) The iMPRESS 2+ harness, a certified version with a thicker protector, attracted a lot of attention, and not only from pilots from Germany. This harness is also just about to be finalised. On our homepage we will keep you up to date about the finishing touches to these products.The opportunity to try out gliders was enthusiastically taken up. Above all we were surprised at the large demand for the EPSILON 5 and ALPHA 4. Both these wings can also be used as motorgliders, and this year on our stand one could distinctly hear many dialects from the flatlands. It’s well known that both these gliders have already made many friends among the paramotor fraternity. The OMEGA 7 test glider also found itself almost permanently in the air - there was no sign of it relaxing on the stand. This wing continues to impress pilots, and so its elegant shape could frequently be admired from below.

New Reserve parachutes developed ..

ADVANCE now offers two newly developed reserve parachutes, the NANO (Dwarf) and PROTECT II, which feature very fast opening performance.ADVANCE, Swing and U-Turn GmbH have formed a strategic development partnership in the field of reserve parachutes. These three companies are combining their project resources, so as to be able to bring new and topical technology on to the market at attractive prices as a result of intensive research and development.The most important feature of a reserve is its short opening time. To achieve this extremely fast opening behaviour the PROTECT II’s Rapid Inflation System (RIS) comes into effect:- the parachute has special bands which make sure that the canopy edges around the base don’t lie flat on each other. The precise pre-tension of these bands create air channels which enhance the opening qualities in the first split seconds of deployment. This means that the PROTECT II opens as fast as a small canopy, but provides the low sink rate of a large one.PARATEX RS TX40The light fabric of only 40g/sq.m is specially formulated to meet the specific demands of a reserve parachute by combining just the right relationship between weave density and weft. Paratex RS TX 40 uses both single and double polyamid threads, with the double threads cleverly worked into the weave. This creates an extremely light material with high strength and long life.

I'm back in Canada !!

ahhhh its cold here , -14 c last night that sucks ! but Spring is comming ! I decided to come home i was lonely for my dog and to sleep in my own bed and eat my own food ! Auber was happy i was home , I will have time to take care of bills , taxes and reflect on how nice a trip it was ... it's over for this winter but i will start my plans for next fall for the remained of the trip to Argentina , the bike is sitting in Panama for my return ! I am now making plans to go to Brasil in Feb for some flying ... , then come back when it is warm again ! pictures to follow soon . cheers

Panama and area ....

Well i spent about 5 days in Panama , and at first i hated it , busy and polluted compared to where i have been in the past number of weeks . The hotel was on a busy road and noisy, but the price was right , 38 dollar night . It was called Hotel Montreal ! But it was in a great area of the city and i felt totally safe at all times . The city is booming in construction, and lots of tourist. I made it finally to the canal !! It has always been a dream of mine to see this place and i was impressed ! Lots of older military bases and houses from the when the USA controlled the area are now left abandoned . The canel is surrounded with jungle and protected areas . I rode to the Colon area on the carribean coast and had a beer at Historic spanish fort , then rode 1.5 hrs back to the pacific coast and had a beer at the old USA fort . I did start to enjoy the city by the time i left and realised how much more i want to see when i go back later in the year.

Panama city !!

Yahooo .. i made it ! I made goal ! A lttle slow but ! Paragliding terms for those of you who don¨t know , anyways .... Yes i"m into the people the noise and the pollution . But I"m glad i can see the city i"ve dreamed about and read about ! No accidents , no banditos , just good riding and alot of nice memories . Just about 3 months ago we left , man did that pass quick ! Now i"m off to see the city the canel and the area ... cheers

Costa Rica..

Well, i must say i had alot of fun in Costa Rica , I went to few national parks , saw alot of birds Tucans , macaws etc , most of the monkeys and lizards and a few others.. I met alot of foriegn tourist mainly germans... and canadians ! But I never really met many Ticans... too bad . staying at hostels you don´t really get to meet the locals and to them your just another tourist ! but i did meet some interesting people and had some fun. Now after crossing into Panama the first stop was a mountain town i was reccomended , but when i got their it was packed with people , it was Satuday and they were having a festival ... so i exited after a few hrs and rode down the road to the city of David . from here i rode south to the coast and it again was so busy i just kept riding south , now i am in Santiago . Heading toward panama city ... i guess , maybe i´ll get side tracked for a few days on the beach before i enter the confusion of the city ! cheers

Has it been 2 weeks...

Well , I must confess, doing blogs is not really my thing, as you might be able to tell . While I am having fun, I keep forgetting to tell the world about it. I just crossed into Panama yesterday after leaving the OSA penninsula. The border crossing was easy and not busy, i had a couple of kids help me , one to watch my bike and the other to put every step in order , which ended up costing me 5 dollars and a coke ! Great value for the ease of the crossing !
After New years I ended up in rain for 3 days , everything was soaked , it was the hardest rain I have every rode in. Very interesting and a little dangerous ! Ended up going down to the bottom of the east coast , just before the Panama border . More rain and everything smelled like mold ... so I bolted for the west coast again made it to Uvita , a small little town below Dominical . I then visited Uvita for a few days and then went to the Osa penninsula, to see some wild life . It really is a nice place to see animals you only have seen in pictures .
Ahhh to be back where the sun is again and dry cloths... this is a nice area of Costa rica !

New website comming soon !

Yes , Garth is building me a new site , for those of you who wonder why i haven"t changed my old tours and such ... hopefully we will have it up and running this spring ... cheers

Monteverde for new years !

I went riding in the back country heading north again, towards Monteverde or the high lands it was nice to be up high and cooler riding. checked out the small towns where the tourists don"t go. Made it to Monteverde in time to do the zip line at 1:30 , 2 hrs of fun the longest highest and such in Costa rica right now , i wanted the year to go out with some fun ! I quite enjoyed it for the money .. went to a pub for the evening and celebrated the new year ! Yahoo it"s 08 !!
I left today for lake Arenal over the back trying to get lost but not such luck today just a really nice ride in some great areas along the lake . It reminded me of new Zealand alot ! I also saw my first monkeys since being here on the side of the rd, in the trees , the mother was holding a baby which was so small you could barely see it on her chest . She was eating flowers while the little one was breast feeding, so cool . Now i am in La fortuna typing and tryng to see where to go next ... hmmm well see .

Parrita for x mas !

I made it to Barry and Janes house for x mas day ..they made me supper and we went boggie boarding and watched the sunset with beers in hand ! They just moved into their new house on bandaras beach north of Parrita . I spent the next few days lazing around reading , my secound book of the trip or is it the third ? hmmmm well it was nice to enjoy thier place and their company....thanks and bunch , Gracious ! I am starting run again, 2 months and about 6 dozen beer later my gut is getting bigger, i"ll look like my brother soon if i keep it up !! Stab! so working out has become a routine ... when i left Parrita i followed some back roads in to the forest and seen some Tucan birds , they are soooo cool , got lost found my way and got lost again . Nothing is marked in the back area here ... Went over a bridge and looked down into the river , lots of crocs and big as well 20 ft long.. , went paragliding on an evening flight in Caldara, saw the locals place to fly !

A sweet week in the sun !

Wow, they really have some nice beaches here , first stop was in the famous Tamarindo beach area , did"t really care for this area too developed and too many Canadians !! It was like a mini anybeach in America , complete with the bitching when the auto teller does not work , people are so stupid , they expect everything to work here like back at home . well f**%4uckin stay at home then. Enough said ... a day here was all i could handle. I slipped down the coastal rd checking out a bunch of beaches and areas and ende up staying in Sumara for x mas eve. This was a nice small town and not too over developed yet , the rd in here was through lots of forest and water crossing and swimming holes ! sweet ! I called it iguana road ....

Felix anos everyone !

Well , what a fun time i had trying to cross the border into Cosata rica , the day started out leaving San juan de sol just acroos the border . I decided to take a back rd .. ha... well i was in the boonnies , army guards checking me out thinking i"m smuggling some thing . 2 checkpoints looking for guns and dope. Then i thinking maybe it was not such a good idea to be by myself along the border in the middle of the mountains in Nicaragua. Well no problems except for this long hill which was all mud and ruts oh shit ! Well half way up i spun out and fell over and got stuck in the mud ! It was so hot out , 90% humidity .. about 1 hr of stuggling , pushing, swearing and laughing got me to the top . A few trips up and down to collect my cloths and helmet , the rest was smooth except when i hit a mud hole and crashed again , that shit is slippery for anything .. well i arrived at the border with mud all over me and the bike , i was quite the suprise for a few . I think all of costa rica was trying to get back to Nicarugua for x mas. It was either wait in line for 5 hrs joining the line about 2000 people , or pay for some service , 35 dollars and 1 hrs later i was out of Nicarugua . Now i had to enter Costa rica ! another 2 hrs and a few more dollars and i was heading for the beach .
I did fall again this day ... i was putting my kick stand down on a slight up hill trying to get my music on and over i went ... shit , you just have to laugh at my stupidity sometimes !!