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Brazil Baby!!

KAVU athletes, Nick Greece and Jeff Shapiro head to Baixo Guandu, Brazil to represent the U.S. in the PanAm Paragliding Championship. Additional photos: Tyler Bradford

By KAVU

May 8^th, 2018

Engineered for good times

Funny thing about a KAVU trip, Fun is always the emphasis.

Nick Greece and I met our friends, Tyler Bradford, Francisco Henriquez, Bill Hughes, and James Bradley in Baixo Guandu after a flight to Vitoria in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil.

We all were there to fly our paragliders and compete in the PanAmerican Championships, a race between pilots and teams from all of the Americas; north, central and south. Part of the fun of this type of trip is getting to see friends from all over the world, who convene to share a passion for free flight while often experiencing new places and new culture.

Safety first

Before the competition began, legendary Brazilian pilot, Frank Brown gave us all a briefing on what to expect while flying over and around Baixo Guandu which, was an appreciated and helpful list of information. While flying competition tasks, we never know where we'll end up. The aim is to finish the day's course and land at "goal" but, sometimes it doesn't end up that way so, learning about conditions and hazards is something that can make the difference between a safe landing and an unwanted adventure;-)

Up the hill

Each day, the entire field of 120+ pilots would load onto a bus for the ride up the mountain to launch.

If there had been any night time rain, the road would turn to "chocolate" and we'd all have to pile out and do what we could (even if sometimes it was just watch and hope) to get the bus past the difficult sections of the road. As long as we were laughing, it was always KAVU and just part of the adventure!

time to race

Upon arriving on top of the mountain, we were greeted by a perfect grassy launch and music for good vibes. Wings were laid out and harnesses made ready for the days task.

I always find it peaceful during the couple of hours before a race day starts. Sitting on launch after getting my gear ready, watching the sky and trying to learn about the character of the day, watching birds and in general, just being thankful to be "here and now". It's life I love living!

Off we go!

When the task is "called" for the day, we all pile off the hill in a mass exodus and try to climb in thermals to work our way to the edge of a virtual start cylinder that we can see on our flight instruments. If we do it just right... like in a sailboat race... we all cross that start line one second after the start time commences and, we're off!

The game is to fly as fast and efficiently down or around a course, flying through virtual cylinders or "turn-points", that we can see on our GPS units as we go, and hopefully, on to a predetermined "goal".

We're each scored by how far we make it around the course, whether or not we made it to the goal and if so... how fast we got there. Simply - the fastest pilot to goal wins the day. Daily scores are both for individual pilots and in this comp, for the teams representing each country.

goal!

Flying a course and making it to goal at the end of the race day is a memorable feeling. Happy pilots, a lot of stories and often.....a "goal beer" acts as a reward after an intense day.

Looking back at the sky and reflecting always offers some of my best memories of a trip like this one.

it's about the people

Evening meals and connecting with unique and like minded people is a huge bonus to racing paragliders around the world. One of the nights, Nick and I found a small street carnival where he promptly showed me how to knock candy off a shelf with a BB gun!

Boys gotst skilz!

solitude

On a day that was called off for one of many reasons, Nick, Tyler and I headed up to launch on our own. It was quiet and very different than the hustle that happened during the race.

Sitting and taking time to soak it all in was memorable in it's own way. At the time, hanging with a couple of good friends in that epic and beautiful spot was just what I needed.

last day

During the last day of the comp, it was looking like the weather might get the best of us and that rain might cause the day to be cancelled. Slowly but surely, it started to break up and as the clouds parted...

...we suited up.

In the end, the day turned out to be epic and we were able to race hard and have a fast run around the course. Goal was glorious and knowing the comp was over was bitter sweet. I was happy to have had another unbelievable KAVU trip but bummed it was coming to an end. The best part of ending an adventure though......

...is that it's the beginning of another!!

kavu days ahead!

Jeff Shapiro

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Footnotes

Jeff Shapiro is an OG KAVU athlete who is all about loving life and spreading the KAVU vibe. He can be found chasing his bliss and living local, worldwide!

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FootNotes

Jeff Shapiro is an OG KAVU athlete who is all about loving life and spreading the KAVU vibe. He can be found chasing his bliss and living local, worldwide!

Havasupai 2025

Brazil Baby!!

KAVU athletes, Nick Greece and Jeff Shapiro head to Baixo Guandu, Brazil to represent the U.S. in the PanAm Paragliding Championship. Additional photos: Tyler Bradford

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