Paragliding World Championships: task 5

Kari says:

Another long day in the harness here in Feltre! Forecast was light winds and hopefully less stable conditions, with up to 3000m cloud base over the peaks and lower out towards the valley. The Task Committee sent us on a 73km task around 6 turn-points - a ridge run with some tricky turn-points out in the valley flats.

The start was on the back ridge again and pilots climbed out to 2800m waiting for the start gate. I had a hard time squeaking out from launch in the stability and was one of the last to transition back into the higher peaks. I arrived just in time to surf up the front of a big cloud and go on glide, just below the main gaggle.

The high start had seemed to promise a better racing day than yesterday and the gaggle took off at full steam. Unfortunately below the inversion there was barely a bug fart to be found going up in the stable conditions and over 100 pilots landed within 25km, including Gareth, Felipe and Pete. After my experience scratching out in the snotty conditions in front of launch, I was not keen to dip below the inversion again. So I conservatively topped up at the first turn-point and then again on the next spur and managed to stay alive through this early widespread gaggle carnage.

Steve had also pulled on the hand-brake and caught up with me 13km from the first turn-point. We crept slowly down courseline until we finally pinged out in a better climb with the (now small) lead gaggle over a huge rocky peak and dived in to grab the turn-point.

The day had switched on and conditions were much easier as we surfed our way back down the contour of the enormous ridge without bothering to turn. Unfortunately it barely lasted an hour and the day switched off again just as quickly, as we struggled to get height on the ridge for the final turn-point in the valley flats before turning for home. Steve pushed out early and landed just after tagging the turn-point. I waited for a stronger climb on the ridge then dived out to tag the turn-point. After 4.5 hours in the air we were nearly out of day and I made a decision to go on glide straight at the next turn-point to maximise distance, instead of going back to try to get up on the ridge. I eventually landed 8km short of goal. Only 6 pilots made it into goal today, an amazing achievement.

Today was a pretty tough and long day of flying, but totally worth it when the scores came in tonight - the Aussie team has moved into 5th place out of 48 countries in the team Championship!!!! 🇦🇺😊 I was top Aussie for the day in 8th overall, Steve was in 27th, Pete was 51st, Gareth was 69th and Felipe was 106th.

The organisation has declared tomorrow an official rest day. After 5 tasks this is very welcome. At this stage the forecast for next week looks very promising and we are likely to fly every day to finish the comp!!! Truly amazing.

I am very stoked to have my Aunty Jilly and Uncle Kel join us here today in Feltre to cheer us on for the next week. It makes the experience even more special. 🙏