Bir Billing, Himachal, India - October 2002
Free flying trip


If it is October it must be Billing: The Nirvana team makes it a point to fly at Billing the site made world famous by French Pilot Xavier Remond who set a world ‘out -and-return’ distance record of 134.9 km here in 92’.

Situated in the Dhauladhar Ranges and boasting magnificent views Billing is a great site for XC offering incredible flying for a short span in the month of October to end November. Distance flying along the mountain ranges to Manali (50 km) and Mandi (40 km) are possible on a good day. The flying here is thermic with the cloud base anywhere between 4000 and 5000 meters at this time of the year. Landing in the valley 4 miles below filled with rice fields and many landing options. A top to bottom takes about ………….an half an hour.

Accommodation in the village of Bir 14 km away from the flying site with infrastructure in the form of basic guesthouses. Here lack of hot water and multi cuisine is made up for in the scenery department with spectacular panoramic views of the Pre-Himalaya mountain range. Tibetan temples and prayer flags flapping in the wind enhance the spiritually charged, tranquil atmosphere.

Having previously done the XC routes to Dharamsala & Jogindernagar, Pendurkar had been aiming for the more adventurous target of 50 km XC flight from Billing to Manali (50 km) crossing deserted valleys and stunning Himalayan scenery along the way.

Piku and Hiren accompanied Pendu, Pankaj flew in from Moscow and Hari made it from Bangalore. It proved to be a breathtaking experience for all the pilots new to flying in the Himalayas the tallest mountain range the world.

www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031030/himachal.htm#1

Bir Billing, Himachal, India - October 2003
Pre-PWC Bir- Billing October 26 - 31 2003


Sanjay Pendurkar has been making it to Bir Billing every October for the past 5 years to fly in the big mountains, improve his flying skills and connect with the community of fellow paragliders who are drawn to this remote yet spectacular site with its immense XC possibilities and stunning views. For the last couple of times he has been joined by a few Nirvana Pilots. This year the circle widened as Pendu was to take part in the Paragliding Pre PWC held at Bir Billing after a lot of urging from the Nirvana Adventures team, well-wishers and friends.

The event was held in association with and according to the guidelines of the Paragliding World Cup Association (PWCA), the Federation Aviation International (FAI) recognized the event and granted it a 'Category-II Status' in international ranking.

For a first timer on the competition circuit Pendu performed well keeping up with pilots of international caliber and state of the art equipment.

Pendu Performs – 17th in the international category and 7th on the Indian.

Task 1 - 100 km. out and Return YOL Camp

Task 2 - Cross country with compulsory touch points at Palampur and Gaggal. The pilots may move ahead, but must land on our before 1600 hours as close to a road as possible.

Task 3 - Turn Points:
1. Palampur(Approx 2000ft.): 21 kms, from Billing
2. Andreta (Hill feature): 10 kms. from Palampur Bir(Souja) DLA : 15 kms. from Andreta

Task 4 - Turn Points:
1. Water Tank (JN) -Height 8500 ft. AMSL (9 kms. from Billing, due East)
2. Ahju Fort - Height 7200 ft. AMSL (11 kms. from Water Tank(JN)

Points – T1 – 678, T2 – 264, T3 – 457, T4 – 786, Total = 2185


The event doubled as the Indian National Championship, which was won by Adie Kumar. Debu Choudhury, last year's champion, was in second place. The standard of all the Indian pilots was excellent. Two years ago few had made any cross-country flights; this year they were tough competitors. Roshan Lal Thakur came a very creditable third! Hot on his heels was Gurpreet Dhindsa (Airwave Magic 3). Bir locals Jyoti Thakur (Advance Epsilon 3) and Nico Avasthi (Ozone Octane) put in strong performances to finish fifth and sixth, closely followed by Sanjay Pendurkar (Windtech Quarx) from Bombay. (excerpt from an article by Jim Mallinson)

www.avonhgpg.co.uk/files/0410enova_hires.pdf [PDF]

Bir Billing, Himachal, India –October 2004
Pre-PWC Bir- Billing November 6 - 9 2004


www.himachaltourism.nic.in/para2003/result.htm#1

It was Billing again for Pendurkar who once more participated in the Paragliding Pre World Cup. The Nirvana team strength was larger with Piku, Hiren, who accompanied Pendu from Mumbai, Hari who joined in from Bangalore, our Dutch and Russian friends who came in from their respective countries.

This Pre-world Cup was the third consecutive event being organized here in which about 80 leading pilots from all over the world would participate. Once more paragliding tasks such as out-and-return distance, height gain and distance over a triangular course were the order of the day.



Pendu performs:

Task 1 – 71.1 km, Task 2 – 100.2 km, Task 3 – 76.4 km, task 4 – 60.3 km

Task 1 – 743 points, Task 2 – 748 points, task 3 - 400 points, Task 4 – 678 points, Total = 2566

He ranked 36th amongst 76 pilots in the International category and 6th in the Indian category.

Check these links for full report :
www.pgcomps.org.uk/competitions/bir_2004/2004_bir_report.htm
www.pgindia.net/result.htm

Bir Billing, Himachal, India –October 2005
Pre-PWC & OPEN FAI - Bir- Billing October 14 - 20 2005

More than 50 pilots from different countries came together for a new selection event of the Paragliding World Cup in Bir Billing, in October. Six breathtaking days of flying (4 valid tasks), with base at around 4000m and stunning views of the highest mountains in the world, added to the whole experience.

Among them was Sanjay Pendurkar ( Pendu) once more on on his ……………….

In the 3rd task of the competition Pendu bombed out, landed unceremoniously in a tree and was helped by locals from a nearby village to unhinge himself and his wing. He continued with the last days task the next day and when the comp was over made it a point to fly to that remote village with gifts of sweets and tee shirts to show his gratitude and even spent a night out there in the remote village flying back to Bir the next day.

Pendu Performs:

Task1 - 53.4 km, Task 2 – 70.1 km, Task 3 – 42.0km, task 4 – 59.9 km

Task 1 – 334 points, Task 2 - 577 points, Task 3 - 452 points, Total 1988 points

Ranking him at the 21st place in the international comp and 5th amongst the Indians.


www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4177

Vagamon, Kerala, India - April 2006
Free flying trip


Gods own country, a small hill station with rolling hills, and a virgin site with a ten km long ridge, a grassy take off at 1100 meters and landing, a two acre field at 100 meters seemed to have a lot of promise. This trip was a Nirvana family trip. Gokul, Vidya & Veda, Chintu & Shwetambara, Pendurkar, Piku, Hiren Sachin, Dilip and Pendu, met up with Hari as well as Meidi & Caroline who had visited us at Kamshet the previous Christmas.

The entire team was very excited about flying this incredible site and exploring its flying possibilities. This was the first fly at Vagamon open to all pilots. Veda the youngest member of the Nirvana team was their mascot. It was Chintu’s first free flying experience away from Kamshet on his new Sport 3.

The gang had a super time as usual and Gokul being a knowing the local lingo organized for a variety of Kerala delicacies for the group to sample each evening. Morning flights were the norm as the mist hung around takeoff in the evenings. On the last day everyone landed at the bottom where cultural evening was organized.

Bir Billing, Himachal, India –October 2006
Nikolay Experience Cup, India (FAI, Category II)


It was competition time again and from 18 to 25 October and Pendu traveled up to the mountains a week in advance to practice his XC skills before this International Paragliding Himalayan Cup began. A total of 57 participants from Russia, Ukraine, Spain, Poland and India took part.

This event has TEN task days, as do European or World championships.
During each of the last three years in 2003, 2004 and 2005,
the Pre PWC events in Bir have had 4 valid tasks of the 4 possible.
Each day the majority of pilots flew good distances, reaching the goals from 51 to 101km.





Pendu Fly: Trango 2

Pendu performs:

Task based points T1 Task 32.1 km, T2 Task 52.3 km, T3 Task 74.1 km, T4 Task 106.1 km
Task I – 150 points, Task 2 – 155 points, Task 3 - 650 points, Task 4 – 506, Total =1461 points

He ranked overall 4th rank amongst 80 international pilots and 2nd in the Indian category giving the number two position in the country.

He Ranked 4th place in the international category and 2nd in the indian category.

www.paraplan.ru/forum/files/7/1927481732.gif

Malvan, Maharashtra, India - March 2007
Kiting on the coast


A family holiday turned out to be a fun intense Kiting on the Beach extravaganza for the Rao family. Sanjay Astrid & Sunith’s holiday away from it all turned out to be an exploration of sorts and is now slated to become a yearly Nirvana Kiting Trip.

Check out the pictures – they say it all