Australian Team Advance Pilot, Enda Murphy, recently beat the Irish paragliding distance record with a flight of 140km on his Advance prototype on 27th July. The paragliding distance record of 61km is held by Eoin Hogan, set in April 2004 on his Apco Allegra. Enda had been planning to try some distance flying in Ireland, with a two week stay from 14th – 30th July visiting friends and relatives. The weather had been quite warm and dry in comparison with normal Irish conditions. However he had no luck in the first week and a half, as the conditions were either too blue and stable, or too windy with low cloud base to have any real attempt.
Luckily conditions on the day allowed a great declared goal flight of 138km from hills near Dungarvan, Co. Waterford to near Brittas, Co. Dublin, and open distance of 140km, but unfortunately for technical reasons it doesn't stand as an official record. Enda's flight more than doubled Eoin's record and has also eclipsed the existing hang gliding record of almost 130km which was set by Geoff McMahon earlier this summer. Enda’s flight is all the more creditable given the vagaries of the Irish weather and the Atlantic influence which makes our neighbouring island, the UK, much more amenable to distance flying.
Enda landed at about 6:45pm on an evening when the sun set at about
9:25pm. He said that there was lots of mileage left in the day – maybe
another 50km to 75km, but he had reached the edge of Dublin controlled
airspace.
Enda's flight track can be viewed here.
As you can see from the tracklog graphics, cloudbase was falling but
there was still lots of lift in the sky. The mind boggles at the
possibility of Enda crossing the border with Northern Ireland as the
sun went down to break the 200km barrier! He’s certainly capable of it!
Many congrats to Enda on an outstanding flight from all his friends in the IHPA!
Australian Team Advance Pilot, Enda Murphy, recently beat the Irish paragliding distance record with a flight of 140km on his Advance prototype on 27th July. The paragliding distance record of 61km is held by Eoin Hogan, set in April 2004 on his Apco Allegra. Enda had been planning to try some distance flying in Ireland, with a two week stay from 14th – 30th July visiting friends and relatives. The weather had been quite warm and dry in comparison with normal Irish conditions. However he had no luck in the first week and a half, as the conditions were either too blue and stable, or too windy with low cloud base to have any real attempt. 
Luckily conditions on the day allowed a great declared goal flight of 138km from hills near Dungarvan, Co. Waterford to near Brittas, Co. Dublin, and open distance of 140km, but unfortunately for technical reasons it doesn't stand as an official record. Enda's flight more than doubled Eoin's record and has also eclipsed the existing hang gliding record of almost 130km which was set by Geoff McMahon earlier this summer. Enda’s flight is all the more creditable given the vagaries of the Irish weather and the Atlantic influence which makes our neighbouring island, the UK, much more amenable to distance flying.