Cross Country magazine 128, March / April 2010
Cross Country's main feature was an incredible tale from Namibia by Vianney Tisseau, a French hang glider pilot. It's brilliant when you get photos like his land in your lap. He is a pro snowboard photographer for his day job, and is well used to getting magazine covers and big photo spreads, but he was genuinely over the moon to end up of the front cover of Cross Country. I introduced the piece for him...
The third Namibian Record Encampment, organised by French pilots Gil Souviron and Fred Pignet, was meant to be the biggest and best yet. Instead it threw up tragedy when a car crash killed French champion Jean Charles Balembois. Record hunting was put on hold and then tinged with sadness. But, as Vianney Tisseau’s photographs and diary reveal, when they did fall, it was with style
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Burgsdorf is not even on the map. The closest you get is Maltahohe, a small town of 2,400 people 110 km west of the Hardap region in Namibia. Maltahohe is known for its country hotel – the oldest in Namibia at 103-years-old – its farming, and its 40C baking desert heat.
Some 25 km south is the 13,000-hectare cattle farm of Burgsdorf. Burgsdorf is known for its isolation – its nearest neighbour is 10 km away – and its comfort. Nine double rooms, grassy lawns, two friendly ‘pet’ cheetahs, and a pool make it a relaxing spot. A farm airstrip with eight runways scratched into the red desert dirt like a compass rose makes it perfect for towing.
Next door is an 85,000 hectare fenced-in game park. African big game is bred here and game hunters come from across the world to bag a kill.
But in recent years hunters of another sort have discovered the place. The Germans found it first, then in 2008 Gil Souviron, one of France’s most fervent hunters of big distance, mounted his first expedition, bringing pilots south from Europe in winter to fly big out-and-returns and triangles using the light winds and 4,500 m to 6,000 m cloudbases that set up on a good day.
His team returned triumphant and inspired, with two circuits of 400 km flown, and four world records broken.
His story of mega convergence lines, Morning Glory-like roll clouds, and eight-hour flights with a landing back at the ranch was headlined ‘The Calling’ and his quote, “This is the place I have been looking for all my life” resonated throughout the hang gliding world.
He returned again the next year for a second record encampment, but the worst weather in 30 years brought rain to the desert and flooded the runways. “Namibia is still, I think, the most beautiful place to fly,” he wrote in 2009. Then he put out the call to establish an ever bigger, longer camp for the 2009/10 season...
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See what's in Cross Country 128
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