http://www.xcmag.com/2011/11/the-godfather-of-serial-class-exclusive-interview-with-rob-whittall/

Twelve years ago Rob Whittall stuck his head above the parapet and
shocked the world by announcing that competition paragliders were too dangerous
for us to race on. Instead, he proposed, we’d all be having a much nicer and
safer time were we all flying certified wings. Serial class was the way forward,
he announced.

What made Rob’s declaration so prophetic was that he, of all people, knew what
he was talking about. Ex-world paragliding and hang gliding champion, world
record holder, test pilot of some ten years for Airwave, Edel and Firebird, and
soon to be founder of Ozone, Rob had just narrowly missed winning the previous
year’s Paragliding World Cup series on his own machine the Cult, so was more
qualified than anyone to make such a bold statement.

The paragliding world stood still, blinked, scratched its collective head, then
broke into a schoolyard scrap that was to go on for years.

Rob’s words were heeded by many, but not by those that wielded the clout in the
sport, and after a stuttering start their impetus petered out.

In hang gliding, while "prototypes" used to be allowed in Category
I competitions, for a long time they have been slight variations on certified
gliders and have not been considered unsafe ever since the "Pro Dawn." Robby
goes on:

Now that Serial class has been pretty much globally adopted, will
competitions now be safer?

No, unfortunately, not really. For sure we have the potential to reduce the
risk, but you will never eradicate it. Flying paragliders at the top end of the
flight envelope will always be dangerous no matter what we do.

In competition we are frequently low, pushing at full speed and close to rock
faces. The outcome of a collapse at a moment like this is more a question of
luck than skill, but you better hope you got a lot of both for the best result!

To make competitions safe we would all have to stay on the ground and play cards
instead. But let’s face it, danger is good and makes things exciting but the
important thing is pilots recognise the dangers and respect them and their own
ability to deal with these situations.

This is crazy. Hang gliding is dangerous but not like this.