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| RACE & RALLY SERIES / THE HISTORY |
12 years ago GO UP Brasil revolutionized the Free Flying world with the inauguration of the 1st World Free-Flying Rally sponsored by Peugeot.
The event, which distributed more than U$100.000 in prizes, took place for 3 consecutive years, from 1995 to 1997, in the prosperous interior of Sao Paulo state and had as main aim to create a format of hang-gliding competition attractive both to the press, the public and the pilots.
In relation to the press, the idea was to attract the curiosity of the public carrying out tests with pre-determined goals, making apparent to the population a characteristic of free-flying which is practically unknown by all normal, non winged beings: the possibility of travelling for hundreds of kilometres on a hang-glider. A piece of equipment, roughly speaking, rudimentary and most impressive of all: without a motor !
As for the pilots, the biggest attraction was to put an end to one of the largest inconveniences which we pilots face after a long and pleasing flight: the return to the starting point. The famous “retrieval”.
The success formula was reached on associating these two conditions, creating an itinerant, dynamic and attractive event to the press and public and highly rewarding to the participating pilots.
A new concept therefore arises in world Free-Flying events: the “Free-Flying Rally/Race & Rally”. A dynamic event. A modality formed. An original Brazilian idea, which soon was positively acknowledged by pilots the world over. Nothing could be more just, for a country which in spite of all the difficulties, boasts the best pilots in the world, having a competition team highly respected anywhere on earth.
Over the 3 years the event was held it was considered a success by magazines the world over. However the pre-determining of the routes, independently of the climatic conditions, wind direction and thermal incidence greatly accentuated the degree of difficulty of the tasks, at times making it impossible to conclude some stages.
As the format of the event was a success, why not then transport it to a region where the climatic conditions are considered one of the most constant and predictable of the world
The fabulous Northeast Brazil enters the stage! An arid area, with a high incidence of thermal currents and blessed by the phenomena of a constant incidence of trade winds, which prevail over the whole region incessantly with very small variations, both in their intensity as in their direction.
All this “atmospheric dynamic” had been more than proven with the holding, at the time, for 8 consecutive years of the Xceara, a cross country event that since 1995 has provided pilots from all over the world with long and constant flights and many records, being able to fly on 100% of all flying days.
In 2003 the idea of holding the CearAR / Route 555 was born. This is a rally crossing the whole state of Ceara, from the south to the north. The route commences in Juazeiro do Norte in the Ceara sertao and finishes in Camocim on the paradisiacal north-eastern coast.
The event was held in partnership with the Government of the State of Ceara and the route traced had the aim of divulging free flying and encouraging tourism in the interior of the state.
The event was a success in spite of some cross winds, and practically 100% of the route was completed by all the participating pilots.
Now, with the magic formula approved logistic and technically, we decided to create a new route, crossing this time the entire Brazilian northeast along its biggest extension, this time much more taking advantage of the west and southwest winds which occur in this region.
The new route was traced making the most of the availability of take off points along the route, linking one of the extremes of the Brazilian east coast until reaching one of Brazil’s biggest ecological sanctuaries, located on the north coast of Brazil: the Lencois Maranhenses, giving a total of 1080kms. The ROUTE 1080 was born ! The world’s biggest Free Flying rally ever held
In 2005 we started the first studies with the aim of making feasible the long dreamed of route. In the first precursor*, the team was formed by the tireless north-eastern representative of free flying Thalis Pacheco, followed by the number one coordinator of GO UP’s retrieve logistics Dioclecio Rosendo and myself. The operation was a success: we linked the route’s key points, verifying the technical viability of more than 70% of the route, carrying out the connections between the legs of the states of Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará and part of Piauí.
In 2006 the team of the second precursor set off. The team was now much more eclectic and included Marcelo Moicano from Rio Grande do Sul, Dudu Arroz from Mato Grosso, Richard Murphy from England, apart from Dan and I from Rio de Janeiro. The efficient land team was composed of Didi from Atibaia in a Land Rover and Sergio from Bahia in his tireless Toyota !
The aims this time were:
- Study the viability of alternative routes on the already known stretches
- Discover new take off areas in Paraiba and in Piaui to connect with the already existent ones on the route.
- Define, among the available options already known, the ones which fit best into the route.
- Study the arrival route to the Lencois Maranhenses, especially the history of the flux of the winds in the arrival site of Lencois ( wind intensity, incidence and direction ), as all the north-eastern coast suffers a strong influence of winds coming from the sea, especially in the afternoons.
Once again the expedition was a great success ! Alternative routes were opened, new ramps discovered, place and route of arrival defined !
We now set off for the final phase, the execution of the project: “The Rally SOSertao Flying / Route 1080”.
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