Recently on the Paragliding Forum, Tom Payne listed the five things he'd learned the hard way in competitions. So I thought I'd do the same here:
1. Making the start gate in the best position is crucial to a good race.
Virtually all tasks in paragliding competitions in Europe are single start race starts, typically using entry starts. If you're not at the start, usually on the up wind side of the start gate near the top of the gaggle then you may as well not be there.
2. Controlling distractions is important to performing well in a task.
Being distracted means you're not flying in the moment and not concentrating on the task. Being on the Comp Committee and doing a lot of scoring means I get a lot of rules questions, it took some time to learn to put off these questions before tasks and to shut out this kind of distraction. My flying improves significantly when I do this well, when I don't I make stupid mistakes. Other common distractions include work, fear, other pilots, your instruments, and oxygen thieves on launch.
3. Going alone early in a task isn't going to win you a race.
High quality competitions have lots of good pilots, and sticking with a good gaggle is the key to pushing through the mid and early sections the race. However, if you drop behind sometimes you have to give up the gaggle, landing early as a result of pushing on too hard can be be very costly.
4. You "make" your own luck.
Different opportunities to improve your position arise during a task, being open to those opportunities enables your take "lucky" opportunities when they arise. If you tighten your focus and observation too much you miss those opporunties.
5. Being indecisive usually results in a bad decision.
Backing your own judgement gives you confidence and even making your own mistakes means you've learned from the flight.
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