The 2025 CIVL Plenary — the annual meeting of the FAI’s free-flight commission, held this year in Budva, Montenegro — approved some of the biggest changes paragliding competition has seen in two decades: performance equalisers, a new competition harness standard (CHS), Hike & Fly as an official discipline and a unified GAP/PWC scoring formula. Here is our summary of the key decisions, based on the detailed report by Hungarian CIVL delegate Erő Zsolt.
Performance equalisers
The headline change is the arrival of equalisers: foam tubes fitted to the B1 lines of larger wing sizes to add drag and bring their performance closer to smaller sizes. An organiser can “equalise” a competition to a reference weight (for example 95 kg), so there is no advantage in flying a bigger size. In the long term, the aim is for pilots to buy smaller sizes and for manufacturers to invest in developing them. Equalisers are currently allowed; CIVL had not yet decided whether they would be mandatory at this year’s World Championship in Brazil, and the PWC plans to adopt them from 2026. Full document: Annexe 32 – Performance Equalizers.
CHS: the new competition harness standard
Developed by the CIVL harness working group, CHS is to harnesses what CCC is to competition wings — with one key difference: CHS harnesses must also pass the latest EN test, so they will be safer than non-CHS harnesses. Back protection has been left to the EN standard, instrument access was largely solved by recent pod designs, and harnesses must allow pilots to get in and out without using their hands (magnetic closures solve this). The tail wrapping around the pilot’s head proved impossible to test reliably, so CIVL can convene experts to review a harness after incidents. The current proposal makes CHS mandatory at Cat 1 events from 2030; the PWC and SRS will set their own dates. Draft document: Annexe 26b – Competition Harness Specification.
Hike & Fly becomes an official discipline
Hike & Fly is now recognised by CIVL, with its own WPRS ranking. The first Paragliding Hike & Fly World Championship will take place in Panticosa, Spain, from 6 to 13 June 2027 — time for national associations to start building their teams.
Mandatory live and satellite tracking
After the tracking-related accidents of the past year, Cat 1 events will require pilots to carry their own satellite tracker (Garmin inReach or SPOT) in addition to the organiser’s trackers, and Cat 2 events will require all pilots to be live-tracked, with phone apps such as XCTrack or SeeYou Navigator accepted. Rules on flying without a tracker have also been tightened.
Unified GAP and PWC scoring
Thanks to Jörg Ewald’s work, the CIVL GAP and PWC formulas have been merged into a single standard, with changes focused on stopped tasks, which had led to dangerous situations in rain and thunderstorms. Score-back time stays at 5 minutes for paragliders and 15 for hang gliders; open distance tasks and ground starts disappear; results will show one decimal place; and cylinder tolerance drops to 0.1% in 2025 and 0% from 2026, with the absolute 5-metre tolerance unchanged. The goal line is now oriented along the true direction of arrival, following Daniel Dimov’s proposal. Full document: Annexe 39za – Unified Scoring Formula.
Other decisions
Organisers must now upload all IGC files and a safety report after each competition; prior notice is no longer required for free-flight record attempts; and Niš (Serbia) won the bid for the 2027 World Championship against Pegalajar (Spain). A proposal by Kuba Sto for a new WPRS formula was left for further analysis before a vote next year: Annexe 39zb – WPRS Formula Modification.
Read Erő Zsolt’s full original report: https://hyperpilot.substack.com/p/paragliding-changes-in-2025-equalizers?sfnsn=scwspwa
