Newly elected CIVL President Bill Hughes is announcing some changes for the coming year. Leveraging a little-known, and never previously used section of the CIVL Internal Regulations, he has declared a CIVL State of Emergency, which gives him and the CIVL Bureau broad powers to enact changes without requiring Plenary approval. The changes being announced today are as follows:

• The FAI provision that Category 2 events must reserve 25% of the slots for foreign pilots is changed to: 15% for foreign pilots and 10% specifically for pilots from North America.
• To better distinguish competitors from free-flyers, and to create a more cohesive look that will play better in social media, each year CIVL will announce what color all gliders must be in Category 1 competitions. For the 2024 season, the color is brown. Gliders of any other color will not be accepted. The color for the next season will be announced every year after the CIVL plenary.
• All organizers of Category 1 and Category 2 competitions with 100 pilots or more must provide free gym memberships for the 2 days prior to, and the duration of, the competition.
• In order to provide a more familiar experience for many pilots coming from PG XC, The Hike and Fly working group will be asked to explore how to incorporate carrying massive quantities of ballast into their competitions.
• In Paragliding XC, the performance advantage of fully enclosed harnesses is now clear. However, pilots not flying fully enclosed harnesses have an advantage because, due to airflow and evaporative cooling, the pilot is able to fly in relative comfort and without the danger of overheating. In order to level the playing field for all pilots, the following rule has been created:
  • All pilots must either:
    • Fly inside a fully enclosed harness made from non-breathable material, which should result in an environment inside the harness of at least 40 degrees Celsius and 110% humidity. A small port to allow sweat to drain out the bottom is allowed.
    • OR
    • if flying a harness not fully enclosed, seal their bodies (with only the legs, arms, and head outside) inside thick plastic garbage bags to mimic the environment described above.
• Bringing your own speaker to competitions and blasting reggae music at launch is now deemed to be auditory assault.
  • The first offense results in a warning, and lots of people talking about you behind your back.
  • The second offense results in a lifetime ban from any competition, and from any gathering of pilots at any launch site anywhere in the world.
• To reduce the cost and technical work associated with using target systems in Accuracy competitions, the target will now be replaced by a single kernel of corn. Scoring is as follows:
  • If the pilot misses the corn entirely, they score 100 points.
  • If they move the kernel of corn with their foot, but do not crush it, they score 10 points.
  • If they completely crush the kernel of corn under their foot, they score zero points.
• To make PG Aerobatic competitions even more exciting for spectators and to generate more clicks on social media, all aerobatics will now be done over a pool of burning kerosene (more environmentally friendly than burning coal, oil, or tires). If a sufficient quantity of kerosene is not available, a large pit containing snakes or badgers can be used instead.

All of these changes take effect immediately, today, April 1st, 2023.