Infinite Tumbling, in which the pilot centrally flies over the canopy and smoothly gets to perfect Helicopter, is the view you can see in acro competitions nowadays. It seemed to be impossible not so long time ago.
In the middle of 90's forerunners of acro did commonly known wing-overs, loops or they twisted spirals to the ground. Pilots such as Mike Kung, Marcus Grundhammer, Andre Bucher, Andy Hediger using the race gliders surprised spectators with stalls, helicopters, flying back, flying half wing with the one of the risers unhooked or with other deformations. The real turning point was the discovery of the figure called 'SAT' in 1999 by Raul Rodrigez. At that time he thought about changing it into more dynamic tricks such as Asymmetric SAT or Tumbling.
The informal World Cup in acrobatic paragliding took place in 2003 consequently followed by the official one in 2006. Vertigo, Acrolac, Acroaria, Vertigo Voss, Paranoia Acrobatixx and Adrenaline were the editions of the Cup which were attended by the best acrobats in the world. The rivalry in the competitions caused the increase of general level. Nowadays pilots concentrate on smooth moving from one manoeuvre to another creating more spectacular and stunning for the eye performance. For instance SAT turning into Rhythmic SAT and further smoothly to Infinite Tumbling ended up with Helico. Helicopter changed to SAT and vice versa, Mac Twist to Helicopter, dynamic stall to Helicopter... all to Helicopter.
Apart from the solo events there are also synchronized acrobatics. Two pilots simultaneously do the same tricks. Synchro Spiral, in which the wings brush against each other, Rodeo-SAT or Rodeo-Helico are the demanded minimum. Sometimes pilots fly with the smoke generators making their show more colourful. Paying attention to safety competitions are performed over the water and the participants land on the raft sized 4x6m placed just in front of the public.
Nowadays, a complete professionally prepared acrobatic equipment has been introduced to the market. Specially tested harness with two reserves, different systems of fixing(wczepianie) the canopy or wing. Moreover, canopy or wing definitely differ from the mass produced ones not only as far as size is concerned but also the materials they are made from. Furthermore, they behave differently in the air. They allow to perform manoeuvres which seemed to be impossible a couple years ago.
Tricks descriptions in magazines and in the Internet, publications, instructing movies and acro courses make practising easier and safer. Lots of pilots spend all the time for trainings, competitions and shows. The best pilots comes from France, Spain, South America, Austria and Switzerland.
How about Poland? Is the development of acro possible in our country? Is there a place for acrobats in our paragliding history? Sure, there is! There are some hot heads worth mentioning.
In 2003 Arek Kryda, a pilot from Bieszczady, took part in the acrobatic competitions in Norway. Those were the first acro competitions in which the pilots jumped out of the helicopter. A glider was packed into a special container called D-Bag (Deployment or Dropping Bag). After launching the proper system, pilot fell down releasing a glider. The glider opened and after a while the pilot got the normal state of gliding. The points scored by Arek and figures he performed were of the second importance. Arek stated that the most important was the opportunity to take part in the event.
Another pilot worth mentioning was ever memorable Kuba Łacheta. Bored with flying he totally concentrated on acro. He attended professional trainings above the water and his skills improved very quickly. In 2005 just before the death in car accident, Kuba performed such tricks as SAT, Asymmetric SAT, Loop and Helicopter.
Being under the strong Kuba's influence, Krzysztof Fabia, got involved into acrobatics as well. At the very beginning, he was practising on his own, then he joined power with Jarek Borowiec. They created the first Polish acro team called 'Fly or Die'. They organised trainings and journeys. Unfortunately, in 2008 the team activity was suspended because of job reasons and the lack of possibilities of training together.
Anyway, exactly in the same period, two brothers from Lubelszczyzna, Michał and Grzegorz, made the first steps in acro. They regularly kept in touch with 'Fly or Die'. They shared the information and sometimes practised with the team. When 'Fly or Die' got suspended, Szwedo Brothers, Krzysztof Fabia, Aleksander Bojda and Adam Soliński set up another team 'Acro Collective'. They organised group trainings in Szczyrk and in Slovakia, ending up the season with practising in Austria. During that intensive training the whole group managed to control such tricks as SAT, Asymmetric SAT and Loop. Some pilots worked on Helicopter and Tumbling. The season 2009 was started with changes of equipment into the professional one, brushing the tricks learned during the previous season and training the new ones. The team got first invitations for shows in Poland and abroad.
It is impossible to drop a line here about all the pilots, some gave up, some are known only in the local areas. Anyway, the acro boom arises in Poland. There are more and more new pilots engaged in 'acro-fever'. Although, the level of Polish acrobatics is lower than the world one, the first serious steps were done to improve it. Who knows, maybe one day we will have chance to admire struggling of Polish representatives in the world arena.
