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Description
A Cross-country Camp to smash your personal distance!
This XC Camp is specially designed for those paragliding pilots with previous experience flying cross-country who seek to smash their personal distances and to fly further than 100, 200 and even 300 km.
During a week, we will establish our base camp at one of the best sites in Spain to fly long distances with one unique task: to make your paragliding longest flight ever!
Extremadura: one of the best paragliding zone in Spain
Spain has a good reputation to paraglide, mainly due to its weather conditions. Areas such as Piedrahita, Ager or Algodonales are well known by paragliding pilots to make long-distance cross-country flights.
But there were still areas to discover: in the last years, some of the best Spanish XC pilots were looking for an area without restricted airspaces and with the best weather conditions to make cross-country flights of more than 200 and 300 km. We knew that Extremadura region met these requirements, but we needed to find a suitable take-off place.
And we found it! In the region of La Serena is the small town of Zarza-Capilla, located at the foot of the Sierra de Torozo, a relief of just over 120 meters high that interrupts an immense plain, next to one of the largest reservoirs of the country.
La Serena is a comarca based on a natural region which includes plains, as well as some low ranges of the Sierra Morena. This region has always remained somewhat isolated from the rest of the country, both in its economic and demographic aspects.
The orography of the terrain of this area is easy to fly, with many landing zones, immense plains and low reliefs that make understandable and easy navigation for any type of pilot; The weather conditions in this area are great for paragliding distance flying, with thermal conditions that will allow you to reach flight levels of more than 3,000 meters and incredible low-safes.
Here there are no changing valley breezes or complicated mountain passes. Here you just have to worry about staying high and gliding for hundreds of kilometres!
There are other places in the region where we can take-off and fly, in the strange event that the wind direction doesn't make the flight possible from Zarza-Capilla, we will move to a different site, if necessary.
The best season here to fly cross-country runs from May to September.
An amazing place to fly cross-country here, in Europe
Zero Gravity wants to bet on this flight zone; we believe it can offer the same or better flight conditions for long-distance paragliding flights than other areas located on other continents: you may not need to travel to South America or South Africa to beat your flight distance record. You maybe have a place to do it here, in Europe, with all the advantages that this implies.
Check it out in XContest.org
A PLACE TO BREAK DISTANCE RECORDS
You can check the flights made in this area at XContest.org and see a large number of flights over 200, 250 and 300 km made here. The current record (July 2019) is 314 km.
Fly with a paragliding champion
Our crew for this adventure will be the Zero Gravity Team: Jose will be the CFI in charge, with the support of Pablo, Luisma and Ivan; they will organize the retrievals with a live tracking system, all the safety issues and the necessary logistic.
Our local guide for this amazing adventure will be one of the best Spanish cross-country pilots: Andres Sanchez, "Driu".
Driu is an instructor and owns a local paragliding school in Badajoz. He has been a competition pilot since 2005, first place in several Spanish Championships and member of the Spanish Team in nine PG World Cups.
He also has organized many paragliding cross-country championships at Zarza-Capilla. There is no one better for this job; He knows the area like the palm of his hand.
Driu will be our personal guide, responsible for designing the daily XC routes and will fly with the group of pilots.
REQUIREMENTS
WHAT YOU NEED TO BE AND TO BRING
Although the expected flight conditions are not particularly harsh, this XC Camp is only recommended for experienced pilots with more than 100 hours air-time and with previous experience in cross-country flight.
- You should have a Flight License and a Third Party Insurance specific for paragliding. Bring it with you.
- You should have a Travel Accident Insurance with full rescue/repatriation cover.
- Bring your Flight Equipment, with reserve parachute, helmet, Walkie VHF 2m and mobile phone.
The briefings are in English or Spanish. You must understand at least one of these languages.
INCLUDES
WE OFFER YOU IN THE PACKAGE...
- Daily briefing to design the XC route of the day.
- Shuttle to the flying sites: we can fly in different spots around the base.
- Retrievals in new 8 seat van with air conditioning 🙂
- Airport transfers included.
- Accommodation included.
ACCOMMODATION
INCLUDED IN THE PRICE
We will have our base in the Youth Hostel at Zarza-Capilla. There are not too many accommodations in this small village but in this hostel, we have everything we need: there is a small restaurant, wifi, a next-door pool and it is located just 10 minutes from the take-off
GPS LIVE TRACKING
YOU JUST FLY; WE WILL BE WATCHING
FLIGHT TICKETS
WHEN TO ARRIVE AND DEPART?
The dates of your booking are starting and finishing dates. You should arrive on the day before the starting date, at any time, and depart on the day after the finishing date.
i.e. If your reservation is Sunday, Sept 22th at 9.00 to Friday, Sept 27th at 20.00 you should arrive on the 21st. We start at 9:00 a.m. on the 22nd and finish on the 27th evening. You must check-out on the 28th.
AIRPORT SHUTTLE
FOR FREE
The shuttle service is at the airport at 13:00 h on the arrival date (the day before the starting date of the course or tour) and departs from Algodonales approx. 10h00 on the check-out day (the day after the finishing date). Please keep this time in mind when you book your flights.
HOW TO GET HERE
Zarza-Capilla. Badajoz. Spain
BOOK NOW & PAY LATER SYSTEM
1. Book your place now, without any pre-payment.
2. Buy your flight tickets and make your other travel arrangements.
3. Confirm and assure your reservation with a deposit. Pay the remaining on your arrival. No cancellation fee up to 30 days before the start date.
