Any day between the 15 and the 30th of June could be the launch date of a new Paramotor challenge: To fly over 1500 km and +20 hours along Sweden, taking advantage of the long days around the summer solstice to complete the longest distance by powered-paraglider. Dani Martinez, former Spanish and European PPG champion is ready for the “X-Sweden 1500” expedition, for which he will use a Fly Products paramotor “Special Edition” with Corsair Black Devil engine and chassis made of ergal and aluminium, and a Paramania Revolution glider of 35 square metres –the same glider used in the recent PPG flight over the Everest. It is interesting to note that Dani will use a paramotor with a high hang-point this time, to offer him better stability with the high load of the gear: nearly 150 kilograms, including +100 litres of fuel. And he is also considering to take off on roller-skates, to help him with the start run!

If everything goes as planned, Dani would beat the distance record set by Ramon Morillas in April, 1105 km from south Spain to the Canary Islands. Not surprising, as Dani and Ramon have known each other for many years, share the same passion for paramotoring and also similar ideas about what could be done to push the limits of the sport. “I had the idea of this flight for a long time in my mind, way before I knew that Ramon would do the flight to Canary, knowing that the long summer days in the North of Europe were perfect for flying big distances. Sweden is the perfect scenario, with favourable winds and flatlands”, says Dani.

He will not be alone during this long flight. Spanish para-trike expert Paco Diaz will be piloting a tandem trike Eco 2 (Fly Products) with a cameraman to take images of the flight, and at the same time he will attempt to set a distance record in tandem powered-paraglider landplane (PL2). So, 2 records on the same day and place; that’s the goal!

“I feel confident about this record attempt. I have a very good gear and support from a lot of people, I only need good weather conditions and I will make it! It seems more probable to find better winds blowing from south to north, which is good as the sun sets even later in the north, which would give me more time”, explains Dani. About the roller-skates, he says that if he has to launch in no wind with such a heavy load it would be better to do it on wheels. The load will be anyway supported by his back and legs so it is still considered ‘foot-launched’ (RPF1) by the FAI.

And landing with the roller-skates on? “No problem, I can skate almost better than I walk - and these have all-terrain wheels. I’ll be fine”.

Visual coverage
For security reasons and also to be followed online by PPG lovers around the world, Dani will carry GPS tracking systems and also a GPRS mobile phone system that will allow him to send live pictures and short videos of the record flight as it is being done. The images will be uploaded almost immediately to the ‘X-Sweden 1500’ website, so that anybody can see what Dani sees from the Swedish skies as he crosses the country towards a new world record.

Source: XSweden 1500
Pictures provided and copyrighted by XSweden 1500
For further information about XSweden 1500, click here