We've all seen how folk, shortly after graduating, drift away from the sport due to a myriad of reasons - frustration with slowing skill development, lack of engagement by peers, loss of perceived challenge. All of these factors contribute to new pilots exiting the sport or, worse yet, becoming once a year pilots with next to no currency and a decaying skill set.
Experience has shown that having a competition oriented goal can help a pilot not only get out and fly but fly with a focus on improving - building skills and maintaining currency. The challenge with the current brand of paragliding competition is that it is mostly geared towards experienced XC capable pilots (Intermediate and above) flying higher end (EN C and above) wings. This inability to engage pilots earlier in their careers has been flagged as a contributing factor in falling competition participation.
Enter the Eaglet League. With a motto of 'Growing with every flight' (and help from JetSet Paragliding and Thermal Addict Air Sports), its purpose is to take a step back from the typical XC league format and encourage new pilots (Novice/P-2) on beginner/intermediate wings (EN-A/B) to build the skills that will allow them to grow into XC flying. The goals are smaller, bite size chunks to help encourage pilots to fly new sites, try to climb higher, fly longer, even recognizing that one in a million low save.
The rules and awards can be found at: http://www.jetsetparagliding.
If you are a Novice/P-2 flying an EN-A/B wing in the WCSC region, you are our kind of pilot.
No comments:
Post a Comment