Paragliding 'Top Gun', Royal Marine goes up against the best of the best

CSgt Grant Oseland swooped into 2023 in style, competing in two of the most significant international paragliding events, The British Winter Open and The Paragliding World Cup.

“Almost on a whim this year I found myself traveling to Brazil for two big international paragliding events; The British Winter Open and then the Paragliding World Cup.

“Specifically, the town of Castelo which is located about 450km north east of Rio de Janeiro and 145 km from the state capital Vitória in the state of Espírito Santo. The town is surrounded by huge vertically slabbed granite mountains giving a stunning ‘Jurassic park-esc’ setting. 

“The first competition was the 4th British Winter Paragliding Open which marks the start of the UK competitive season. It sees the world’s best pilots all keen to place highly and increase their world rankings. 

“The second competition was the Paragliding World Cup which used the same venue and is only the world’s best pilots who have been selected on merit form past results. Each competition is held over seven days with a different race task set each day depending on the weather and location. 

“Last year, due to work commitments, it proved difficult to get away to compete in many comps so my world ranking position dropped. This year however, the stars (so far!) have aligned a little better, so I am keen to make the effort to compete wherever possible. 

“How we race is a question often asked. Paragliders are highly engineered aircraft which can travel large distances from height via gliding, using nothing but the natural energy occurring from the sun’s heat and air movements. So, in effect we are solar powered, very green!

“Pilots aim to seek out areas where the air is moving upwards and avoid the sinking air, enabling them to gain height which can be converted into distance along the ground. The areas of lift are like stepping stones to climb and glide. The better the pilot understands how to use the lift, choose a route around the task, and fly the paraglider, the faster they can fly a given task. Placing multiple gliders (usually up to 130) in this situation with a competitive nature and different individual tactics will develop a full-on race around the given task.

“For the British Open I tried to focus on flying in a disciplined fashion in a very unfamiliar location and applying all the lessons I have learnt over the years to place in a good position. This tactic paid off and over the course of seven days racing, I secured a podium position of second place. We flew six tasks ranging in a distance from 59km to 92km in length over stunning landscapes with only one day lost due to poor weather.

“The next comp was the Paragliding World Cup which is basically like Top Gun, the ‘best of the best’ competing, so the level of pilot is literally the world’s best, no pressure then Royal as they say…

“This was my third attempt at a PWC event, my best previous position has been 88th so my only plan was to try and improve on this position. From Task 1, it was clear the standard was high. Any hesitation in racing the task line was punished heavily by losing ranking positions. Just taking one turn too many in a thermal, to try to gain a bit of extra height over the competition, will see a pilot loose 40-50 places almost instantly. 

“The racing over the week was extremely tight with only seconds separating the pilots racing over +90km tasks. I managed to place 41st over the comp which I was slightly disappointed with if I am honest, but given time to reflect on my performance and debrief, the final placing does not reflect just how close the racing was and on some of the days I found myself beating world famous pilots.

“But the real reason we fly is hard to put into words, like really hard, the views, the locations, even the people, all help make the activity. Imagine being able to just leave the ground, with your equipment made of nothing more than nylon and string, to effortlessly rise above the mountain landscape and literately share the sky with the birds, or use the clouds to gain lift and then soar up the side of the clouds. It genuinely is almost impossible to describe the feeling and sensations available to the paraglider pilot.
“This would not be possible without the ongoing support of the RNRMC, Sports lottery and talented athlete schemes to aid with funding and the Command team at HMS Collingwood for allowing / arranging the time away to compete.

If you are interested in starting Paragliding, more information is about the association and adventurous training opportunities is available on the Paragliding page of the website.