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Event info

There will be two rounds of the Auckland Regional Paragliding Competition in 2020


A fun and social event but also a platform for pilots to increase their international and domestic rankings in the run up to the World Championship selection.

Expand page for more details

Flying site

There are many take offs around Auckland suitable for each wind. The place is flyable almost all year round. But one shall pay attenction to the wind in valley while planning take off and landing points.

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Go to Pilot List
  • 40 Pilots max allowed
  • 4 Countries presented
  • ✅ All certified wings allowed
  • 🏆 FAI Status = CAT 2 🏅
  • left before start of event
  • 📢

    The organisers are using Airtribune for registration, tracking, blogging and to publish scores

    Airtribune blogging
  • ♻️

    The organisers support reducing the use of unnecessary plastic at the event. This includes NOT giving disposable water bottles

    Plastic reduction

Prize funds and scoring categories

  • Auckland Champion
  • Auckland Fun Class

Event info

There will be two rounds of the Auckland Regional Paragliding Competition in 2020


A fun and social event but also a platform for pilots to increase their international and domestic rankings in the run up to the World Championship selection.
Results from this comp will affect both domestic (NZPRS) and international (WPRS) rankings and is sanctioned as an FAI Cat-2 event.

Round 1: 14th & 15th November 2020
Round 2: 12th & 13th December 2020
For both rounds, the following weekend can be used a reserve date in the event of non-taskable weather.

Flying location could be one of the following locations:
* Dill's Hill - Auckland
* Moirs Hill - Auckland
* Kaimais Range - Waikato
* Paeroas Range - Bay of Plenty

Depending on demand and location we may put on a barbecue and social event, paid for by a koha system.

Please note that no transport is included as part of this competition, so that's getting there, getting up the hill and retrieve - please make your own plans. If you turn up with no plan for transport then it's very likely that you will not be able to partake.

Pilots will have to upload their own tracklog to the scoring system after each task. Please ensure that you know how to download an IGC file from your instrument. A link for correct scoring page will be published here before the event.

A waypoint file will be provided by email once the event location is known. This is because we have seperate waypoint files for Auckland and Waikato regions.

Flying site

There are many take offs around Auckland suitable for each wind. The place is flyable almost all year round. But one shall pay attenction to the wind in valley while planning take off and landing points. Take care of airspace restrictions for each take off. Located in TMA C, flight ceiling immediately above launch is 3,500ft ASL, rising to 4,500ft as soon as you cross Woodcocks Rd, heading in a north or north easterly direction. Heading south across the valley takes you into North Shore airfield training space with a continued flight ceiling of 3,500ft. Every time this site is flown both North Shore airfield and Kaipara Flats airfield should be advised of your presence. As Kaipara Flats airfield is located directly north of this site (usually immediately downwind) and this airfield is used as a parachute drop zone, there is a no flying restriction within a 3 nautical mile radius of the airfield. This restriction can be reduced on occasions if the airfield is not being used by obtaining their express consent to cut through the south eastern sector, no closer that 2 nautical miles from the airfield.

Take off: Moirs Hill
36°28'15" (36.4711)S; 174°35'9" (174.586)E - Elevation : 301 m.
Landing : 36°28'37" (36.477)S; 174°34'55" (174.582)E - Elevation : 77 m. Requires careful consideration being in a valley with the wind usually coming from one end or the other. An aircraft type landing circuit approach is strongly recommended to determine the wind direction in the bottom of the valley (often different from the wind on launch).
Top landing on takeoff is possible although very tight for hang gliders and often quite thermic posing difficulty for paragliders. An alternative top landing is available to the north east of the transmitter tower requiring a minimum of 600ft above takeoff before making an approach.
How to get there: Access to the site is 6km north of the Puhoi turn off on State Highway 1. Turn left into Moirs Hill Rd, adjacent to the rest area at the end of Windy Ridge. Follow this gravel road to the end and park beside the transmitter tower. Access from this point is by foot through the left hand gate, following the track to the end.

Take off Dills Hill
36°27'25" (36.4572)S; 174°32'52" (174.548)E - Elevation : 63 m.
Takeoff height is 700ft ASL and 400ft above the landing paddock.
Landing :The bottom landing is straigh out in front, in any one of several paddocks.
For hang glider retrieval vehicles the bottom landing is accessed through a farm on the Woodcocks - Kaipara flats Rd. Take the first turning on the left over the railway tracksand drive up the gravel road to the first gate on the right (approx 1.5km), drive through this gate which leads up to a brick house ownd by the Dill family. if no one is home continue past the double garage and veer slightly left across the paddock to a gate amongst the pine trees. Proceed through the gate down to the landing paddocks, closing gates behind you. Check at the farm house before you go through the property. Be aware that the farmer of this property and landing paddock has been from time to time very concerned about gates being left open allowing mixing of stock etc.
How to get there: Located West of Warkworth you reach the site by driving North along State Highway 1 to Warkworth. As you enter the township of Warkworth take the first turn left (Woodcocks Rd) and follow this road for 10km to a railway crossing. Continue up the hill for about 1.5km until you reach the top at a sharp right hand bend with a pull over area and gate to a pine forest on the left. On the right there is a clay dry weather only track leading to the takeoff. Go through 2 more gates up to the trig and then you are in the launch area.

Take off Pukemore
37°31'58" (37.533)S; 175°13'26" (175.224)E - Elevation : 107 m.
Take off Paeroas
38°20'53" (38.3483)S; 176°17'9" (176.286)E - Elevation : 365 m. Winds NW
Take off Kaimais
-37.819919, 175.906382 Wind W.
Source: http://www.paraglidingearth.com/

Selection and entry fee

You must be a member of the NZHGPA with at least a PG2 rating. You should be reasonably confident in turbulent air and be able to launch and land unsupervised in windy conditions.

This event is satellite tracker MANDATORY - so you must fly with either a Spot or InReach and have provided the tracking link in your Airtribune registration.

You must have:
* A certified wing with a valid NZ WOF (visiting pilots are exempt from the WOF requirement)
* Emergency parachute
* UHF Radio
* A device capable of providing a tracklog in IGC format
* A harness with certified back protection
* A phone that you can send a text or WhatsApp message from
* Everything else that you need to legally fly a paragliding in New Zealand


25% of the places (10) need to be held for international pilots until 60 days before the event as per FAI rules, though we suspect that Covid-19 will make this a mere technicality.
The first 10 places will be offered to the highest ranked pilots according to their NZPRS ranking 1st October 2020 (round 1) and 1st November 2020 (round 2) and this will start to take place 60 days before the start of the event.

All other places will be awarded roughly as first-registered-first-offered follow by first-paid-first-confirmed but ultimately at the discretion of the comp director and no discussion will necessarily be entered into. For round 2, after the selection based on NZPRS then priority placing will be offered to pilots who missed out on round 1 due to over subscription.
It is highly likely that this comp will be over subscribed. Some will be left disappointed and there's not much we can do about that.

All pilots are expected to know how to upload the waypoints to their own instrument and MUST provide a tracklog by the nominated submission time. We may not be able to offer support with this so please make a plan for how you are going to submit your tracklog for scoring.

Because Waikato and Auckland have different waypoint files - please be careful. We won't know for sure where we are going until the Thursday before each round.

You can find Auckland waypoints here: http://www.nzhgpa.org.nz/competitions/pg-competitions/downloads/Auckland%20Competition%20Waypoints%202016.wpt?attredirects=0&d=1
...and Waikato waypoints here: http://www.nzhgpa.org.nz/competitions/pg-competitions/downloads/Paeroa-Kaimai%20Waypoint%20List%202016.wpt?attredirects=0&d=1

If you are widely regarded as a nut-job then you may be refused entry at the discretion of the competition organiser without further discussion.

Prize fund and scoring categories

All Waikiato Club pilots receive a resort-range egg sandwich if preregistered.
Eggs as day prizes, and maybe some vegetables.

Auckland Fun Class Trophy (best pilot on an EN-A or EN-B glider)
Auckland Champion Trophy (best pilot)
This trophies will be awarded after each round.

General schedule

Location will be announced by 2000 on the Thursday before the event.

We will meet and gather somewhere for a briefing at 10:00 each morning.
If Dills Hill - meet at Puhoi Pub
If Moirs Hill - meet as Puhoi Pub
If Kaimais - meet at Ronnies Bakery in Matamata
If Paeroas - meet as Ngapouri Road junction

We will then convoy up the hill. A pilots need to arrange their own transport up the hill, and retrieve. The organiser is not arranging this for you. Please note that walking up the Kaimais is not permitted.

During task briefing a suitable watering hole will be nominated for after flight meeting. There may be help with track uploads but it is by far the best if you can do this yourself. Reach around to the people in your group and make a plan for immediate tracklog upload.

Daily schedule

09:30 Meet at announced meeting place if this is your first Auckland Regional Comp, or you did not attend the 2020 NZ PGOpen
10:00 Meet at announced meeting place
11:00 Going up hill
12:00 Flying
Evening: Pub, or social bbq

Accommodation and Activities

If Puhoi then most people will stay at home in Auckland. Out of town visitors can contact us for advice, but you all have friends here.
If Rotorua then most people will stay at the Rotorua Thermal Holiday Park or nearby
If Matamata then most people will stay at the Opal Hot Springs

How to get here

Go to Puhoi, Matamata or Ngapouri Road once advised.

Unnamed Road, Huapai, Waimauku 0882, New Zealand
Auckland New Zealand

Plane

The nearest is Auckland International airport.
Web: https://www.aucklandairport.co.nz/
also:
Web: https://logen.nz/auckland-airport/

Regular bus services connect the airport to the central city and several other local centres. For timetable and connection information, contact MAXX +64 9 366 6400, or vist this page.

Bus

Plan the route with bus here
https://at.govt.nz/bus-train-ferry/
and here http://www.intercity.co.nz/ depending on the town you go to.

Car

If you go to north take-offs (Dills hill, Moirs Hill) you need to take state highway 1 to get to Puhoi. There are about 62 km which will take about 50 min without traffic.
If you go to south, to take off Kaimais take highway 27 to Matamata (150 km - 1,5 hours). If you go to Paeroase after highway 27 continue on highway 5 to waikiki valley. This is a longest destination it will take 5 hours (about 240 km) to get there

Downloads

Waypoint files

Organizers

NZHGPA
New Zealand Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association
Johnny Hopper
Main organiser and comp director

Contacts

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