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For those who don't know Billing in India yet, it is considered by many pilots as being one of the most pleasant flying sites in the world.
Conditions are superb for XC. Cloud bases up to 6000m (though not during the competition days), clear air space for miles, and incredible views of the highest mountain range on earth. Mix this with the friendliness and hospitality of the local people, and you have all the ingredients for an amazing paragliding trip.

Billing take-off is at an altitude of 2420m ASL,1000m AGL The launch is certainly not the most 'friendly' in the world, but neither is it the worst by a long shot. Hours of excitement were provided for the contingent of local people who made the trek up the mountain each day as gliders failed to fly or flew with their pilots bouncing along the ground like rag dolls.

The competitor limit was set at 75, an substantial increase on the previous years 27....as the deadline for registration approached, a couple of pilots pulled out with minor injuries, whilst others worshiped the god, Ibuprofen, in an attempt to be fit to fly the following day. The carnage had begun, even before the first task had been set! The list of potential entrants was way beyond the maximum subscription - a testament to the success of the local tourism department in promoting the area.
2003 competition winner Nikolay Shorokov was on the waiting list until an 11th hour injury to one of the Australian pilots opened up a place.

Unfortunately we didn't witness any of the legendary 6000m cloud bases. In general base started at around 3000m but dropped during the day to 2500-2600m. Avoiding cloud flying became an issue on most days. The day generally ended at around 4pm making life trickier for the slower pilots to reach goal. However daylight until 6pm meant that safe landing options could generally be found.
Out & return type tasks along the main range provided ample opportunity for pilots of all abilities & experience to enjoy the flying, many amassing personal bests in terms of both airtime & distance.

Task 1


We woke to blue skies and a severe inversion. The task committee of Adie Kumar, Gurpreet Dhindsar & Xavier Murillo are well versed in the flying potential of this area & devised excellent tasks each day.

A 71 km race to goal around 5 turnpoints (B25 with 4km start radius, B01, B19, B28, B30, A01 Goal) was set. Many of us were struggling to get used to a paragliding trip where we went up the hill at 9am and briefed before 11am! Window opened at 11.45 and most of the field were ready to cross the line at at 12:30, all waiting on the ridge just East of take off. Even at this time of day the thermals were well formed and the going fairly easy, though there was no sign of any clouds. Speed was very important, especially knowing that the day finishes so abruptly. The thermals remained good all day and some clouds started to form late on with base up to 2800M.

The day took its toll on Spanish pilot Fernando Aceituno who broke his elbow after an awkward landing & had to be repatriated for surgery. Nikolay won the day with Britain's Jamie Messenger second. 39 pilots of the 72 who flew made goal, including Brits Jamie, Ulric, Jim Mallinson, Jug Agarwal, Mark Graham, Steve Purdie, Lex Roxburgh, Steve Etherington and Nicky Moss.

Task 2


A 100km race to goal around 4 turnpoints was the challenge for the day (B03 with 2km start radius, B12, B33, B04, A01 goal). The local weather guru predicted a fast day with strong climbs, alas this wasn't to be!

Window opened at 11:30 and there seemed to be no hurry as the thermals seemed very weak. The inversion had thickened which provided some interesting conditions. Even the strong thermals failed to penetrate the sooty black line as we thrashed about in mixing air. When the race started at 12:10 there was already a fair spread of pilots, needing height to push into the valley for the first turnpoint. The leaders managed to climb early on to 3200M (how, I don't know) and said they had a really easy start!

The day saw a number of pilots landing or assisting in the rescue of pilots involved in incidents. One Czech pilot crashed into trees within a few kilometers of the start as he lost control & his brake handle became attached through his carabiners. ( a salutory lesson in using 'locking' type carabiners) Fortunately he was uninjured & continued to fly a motley selection of borrowed gliders for the remainder of the competition.
Less lucky was a free-flyer who impacted & required (& thankfully received) helicopter rescue. Said pilot was revealed to have been carrying a large rock in the back of his harness as ballast. The impact caused extensive damage to his spinal area.(second lesson of the day - ballast consisting of water or fine sand are the ONLY acceptable forms according to the PWCA rules) Local instructor Gurpreet landed to assist the injured pilot and co-ordinated the rescue in collaboration with Jim Mallinson & the Himachal rescue department.

Conditions later in the day lightened & made the final sections of the task tricky in weak lift with limited landing places & diminishing light. Our esteemed Meet Director Xavier failed to execute a perfect landing in the closely terraced fields & was carted off to hospital for assessment.

2 pilots, Russian Nikolay & Jamie Messenger demonstrated their undoubtable talent & persisted in the weakening conditions to make goal. Many more were grounded between the 80km & 90km points. Kenichi Kawakami of Japan executed a koala landing below the 3rd turnpoint & was helped to terra firma by local people who saw his black glider wrap itself around the tree as darkness fell. Keni was extricated from his perch & taken back to the village, fed, watered & offered a bed for the night. The following morning the tourism department dispatched a car to retrieve him just in time for him to make the morning task briefing.

Task 3 To fly or not to fly?!


We arrived on launch to find the tourism department erecting a huge banner declaring the "COMPETITION IS IN PROGRESS. NO FREE FLYING TILL 9TH NOV.2004 VIOLATERS WILL BE PROSECUTED"
Police at the foot of the mountain had been checking competitor identity & refusing admission to those without competition passes, without explanation. It became obvious that the tourism department had made the astonishing 'knee-jerk' decision to ban all free-flying in the interests of 'competition pilot safety'. They alleged that the previous days accidents had placed comp pilots in jeopardy as the helicopter had been occupied with evacuating the free-flyer. A pilot meeting was called to discuss the impact of this. Mixed responses were evident ranging from stop the competition, to declare the day to be a non-comp day to allow everyone to 'free-fly'.

Xavier (resting a broken fibula from his previous days landing) declared in large print on the task board " we are ALL free-flyers". A vote was taken & the majority chose to task. A meeting was requested with the local bureaucracy to iron out the situation later that evening.

Many were against the decision & the grumbling continued through the task briefing where a 77km race to goal was set around 2 turnpoints (B17 with 25km start radius, B29 and A01 goal). At 11:50 the window opened with better conditions than the day before. Most of the field were waiting on a ridge just to the west of launch for the 12:30 sprint down the course line.

Slightly more lively conditions were encountered on course as the inversions did their stuff, with a few more clouds and a base dropping to about 2500M. The first turnpoint out in a valley was too difficult for some, and once again conditions slackened later in the day causing a percentage of the field to land within 5km of goal. Those later pilots persistent (& lucky) enough to make goal surfed the tree-line restitution to drift in with very little height. If you were't in goal by 16:00 you weren't going to be. Nikolay won the day with Ulric Jessop third. With Jamie seventh the top spots were open to anyone, though Nikolay was looking invincible for the top spot. 20 made goal, including Brits Ulric, Jamie, Jim, Steve Etherington and Nicky Moss.

Task 4


The tourism department had declared a 3pm prize giving......many murmurs were heard from the assembled pilots about how we were going to get the prizewinners back to goal in order to receive their prizes at a time when in previous days we had still been in the mid-sections of the task at this time.
However, adopting the theory of an 'Indian 3 o'clock' a 60km task around 5 turnpoints was set with a task deadline of 4pm (B48 with a 2km start radius, B44, B07, B23, B42, A01 goal).

Window opened at 11:40 with the first clouds already established and most of the field were airborne early, going quickly to base at 2600M and having to mill around for ages. The start was spectacular for the amassed visitors. At 12:30 the whole field left from cloudbase for the first turnpoint in the flats over Bir village. Someone in the tourism department had apparently been consulting the weather deities as it proved to be the fastest day of the competition but with the most cloud and lowest base.

The task was fast and furious with good and consistant climbs. Goal times were good, with all the prizewinners with the exception of the third placed woman, Russian, Marina Olexina, being downloaded, present & correct in the goalfield tents in ample time.

Nikolay won again, making it 8 straight wins over the two years. Jamie was in second to confirm his second place overall and Brett was third, on the day and overall. Ulric came in fifth, giving him a fourth overall placing, well done. 40 Pilots made goal, including Brits Jamie, Ulric, Jim, Mark Graham, Steve Etherington, Nicky Moss, John Cardiff, Jug Agarwal and Zabdi Keen.

A local audience of in excess of 1000 gathered to enjoy the prize giving & competition closing. The Himachal Tourism propaganda machine had been in full motion to ensure a full complement of dignitaries, press & hangers on to publicly enjoy & report on their successes. The self-congratulatory tone of a bureaucracy unable ( and possibly unwilling) to understand our sport, never mind organise the intricacies of directing & scoring a competition was hard to accept. Their abject failure to acknowledge the help & support of Adie Kumar & Gurpreet Dhindsar in the organisation of the competition was an appalling omission & one which Jim Mallinson took upon himself to rectify by hijacking the microphone, thanks.

Most of all, thanks should go to Adie & Gurpreet for all their long hours of work both before & during the competition, maybe Adie will get his money back from the dis-organisation for the scoring program, though he hasn't yet!

All in all the competition was exactly like a competition you'd expect if you were in India. Good intention and many people to do the simple jobs, and few people to do the difficult jobs. The competition was great. The conditions were great. The area is spectacular and possibly the most consistant flying area on the planet. Unfortunately the bureaucrats with the best intentions are strangling the area. Indian pilots are having there permissions to fly removed because they are considered unsafe (some having flown 100km+ flights!). It remains to be seen if there will be a fourth pre-pwc next year; if there is we will be there.

report by Mark Graham and Nicky Moss