Kari wrap

The 15th Paragliding World Championships in Feltre have finished... its hard to believe.

I'm so proud to have flown as a member of the Aussie team with the boys over the last 2 weeks. We came here ranked 14th as a nation and after an absolute ton of flying over 11 tasks, we achieved a final result of 5th place!!!! It's a fantastic feeling! 🇦🇺😊🇦🇺

A big congratulations to my team mates - Gareth (top Aussie in 12th!!), Felipe, Steve and Pete - for your results in the last 2 weeks. As a team we came together so well, with each of us stepping up at various points to contribute and get the job done. Thank you to our team leader Dave, who kept us focused and worked endlessly behind the scenes on our behalf. We couldn't have done it without you mate.

Nothing is ever as we expect it to be and the Worlds experience has been no different. Going into the comp I knew I would be working overtime to try to manage stress, pressure and fatigue of a 2 week competition - flying in a new place in big mountains that I am not used to, racing amongst enormous gaggles all day, making sure I was eating and drinking enough, maximising my use of down time to recharge, maintaining my focus etc. And I was tired, I got run down and sick with tonsillitis in the middle, it was stressful at times, there was pressure to perform, the mountains and the gaggles were insane... But through all the chaos and the drama I was surprised to find that for the majority of the time my headspace felt calm and relaxed. I pretty much loved every minute. 😉

In large part I think this was due to the vibe and feeling amongst the team and in the house we have shared for the past 3 weeks. This has been a major highlight of this whole experience for me and amazing to be part of it. A huge and heartfelt thank you to Axa, Louise, Alba, Sa Bine and my Aunty Jillian and Uncle Kel for the time that you spent with us in the Aussie team house. Everyone's support and the happy distractions you provided, were invaluable to help us relax and switch off in between flying.

So my first Worlds are done and I am happy with how I flew. In the Women's Championships I placed 2nd. A very big congratulations to Seiko for defending your title, you flew very, very well to win. It was an honour to fly in such a strong field of female pilots and I have connected with some amazing, inspiring and fun women in the last fortnight. I am also proud to have placed 40th in the overall Championships, out of 150 pilots. 😊

Final results are at: https://airtribune.com/worlds2017/results/task2702/…/overall

Thank you to Feltre 🇮🇹 and congratulations to the CIVL/FAI for a well organised and incident free Worlds, with great tasking in a beautiful location. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies were unforgettable!

Time for a final selfie before I go home!!! 🤓

Worlds Task 11 - G rap

Going into the last day in 10th with a podium in sight, it was worth pushing hard in pursuit of a result. Unfortunately this works both ways and after being really stuck at about 20km's I met up with Kari and Steve way down low. Eventually Kari and I got out of our hole, unfortunately leaving Steve in it, and set out to catch the leaders, eventually hunting them down with about 7km to go and coming in to goal about 21st for the day. Since we got so stuck this resulted in a 25th day placing on leadout, and the winner got a break on the gaggle, resulting in lower scores for the rest. Dropped to 12th in the final placings.

After 11 tasks it felt like I could do this forever - just getting into the groove!

Overall the Australian team came 5th in the world.

Kari came 2nd for women, and 40th overall
Gareth came in at 12th overall, Pete Slade came in just behind Kari at 45, Felipe Rezende at 85 and Steve Nagle at 117.

Worlds Task 10:

Day of ups and downs, had to top land with a harness problem with only 25mins to the start, lucky cloud base was not much higher than the hill. Thanks to dave for the help taking my whole kit apart and rebuilding it on launch, made the start on time. Good for the first 15km, then i had a cravatte which needed sorting outside the best thermal of the day, by the time I had it organised it was pointless going back to the climb, so i bombed down the course low across the first big valley crossing. Got a reasonable climb on the other side and angled straight at the turn point in the flats while the lead gaggle stuck to the ridge. Picked up a reasonably crappy climb and could see that the course line was starting to shade out. Pushed in front chasing the sun line and marking some thermals for the group, and arrived at the sun over a factory complex which provided a broken climb while about 100 pilots bit the dust. It took us about 30mins to climb to about 500m agl, and another 15mins to get to 1000m. By this time there was about 30 pilots left in the air. The last 20km was characterised by slow broken climbs and poor glides, but the gaggle stuck to it and after a last ditch ridge soar 6km from home, popped over the hill and cruised in. 5th for the day gets me into 10th overall. Unfortunately the Brazilians and Koreans both got two pilots into goal and skipped us in the teams, however we did a big catchup on the Swiss. Really close between 3rd and 6th with all to play for tomorrow. Kari consolidated 2nd place in the womens. So a mixed bag today.

Pete on task 10

The organisers arranged for us to go later than normal to Rubio Launch east of Bassano as
it was raining heavily in the morning. Upon arriving to launch we were enveloped in thick
cloud and visibility around few metres. Jokes like ‘ we have arrived to Cloudbase’ were
made as we put in same extra layers for the cold.
Gladly soon after the sun appeared followed by the first thermals. A 58 km task was set and
with start just above launch. As is normally the case pilots played the suck into cloud , exit
and re enter cloud merry go round until we went blasting down the ridge and back. The pace
was fast and base very low at only couple of hundred metres above hill. After 20 fast km
shadowing on the course line forced the massive gaggle out into the flats were we worked a
1m/s climb to about 900m. Then this shadow began to make its way up the course line so
the race was on to stay in front of it. 130 pilots arrived about 100m over an industrial area
that had some filtered light on it. The ensuing madness of fighting over 0.2m/s claimed it's
victims , including all the Aussies except Gareth who showed amazing tenacity to hang on
for over 30 minutes to climb to 800m and then glide off with a group of 20 into the improving
conditions. After some great patient flying he came in 5th for the day, an amazing result that
places him in 10th in the overalls. The Aussie team is looking forward going out on a high
tomorrow, the last day which is forecast good .

Worlds Task 9

54 km task with two options, safety in the mountains or risk the flats for the short route.

We went in the flats and with some help from the other flat countries (brazil, germany, england) we put the euros who are scared of the flats to the sword. I reckon 15km in front after 30km. 

The day deteriorated somewhat and the lead gaggle struggled into the last turn point and I had to go around some houses to get to the windy side of the gorge and soar the river bank in the valley breeze for a very low save ;-) This worked out and with a couple of gliders we transferred to the main ridge and started rocketing up the big hill.

Unfortunately a couple spots of rain meant that a strategic stop was called to the task. The Germans knew the stop was coming (safety committee member), went on glide and cleaned up 1st-3rd. Frustrating for me as the small gaggle of 5 I was in were climbing strongly towards final glide in the sun, with a clear track along a big ridge to ESS and goal. We had the day in the bag if the task was completed as everybody in front was on death glide to the shady flats.

Stopped tasks are always a balance of charging down the course in case a stop comes, or maintaining a good position on the course line in case it doesn't.

Gareth, Felipe and Pete in 21st, 22nd and 23rd. Team in 3rd

Paragliding World Championships: task 8

Kari says:

Great day of racing here in Feltre today. Fairly light winds, low base at 1500-1700m and a much less stable, clear airmass providing decent climbs, even down low. The Task Committee set a 74km zig-zag task around the valley.

This sport is great for keeping you humble. Conditions were 45' cross and messy on launch today and I made a bit of a cluster of it. It took me 7 attempts to take off and when I finally successfully launched I got a big cheer from the crowd watching. 😂 I made the most of my 20 minutes before the start opened though and managed to get into position with the main gaggle.

Conditions were beautiful and smooth out on course and the first couple of turn points passed quickly with a combination of climb/glide and contouring the terrain with the main gaggle. I was moving well, but not as fast as the lead group who were really motoring. By halfway through the race I was well behind them and needed to get a jump.

The crux of the flight was a turn-point way out in the middle of the valley and provided an opportunity to make up some time. I was with Pete and Felipe as we transitioned out. Cumulus were marking the way and we stopped briefly to top up. With gliders climbing ahead, I moved on quickly and tagged the turn-point. Then I made a decision to move slightly off courseline to climb again in a strong thermal downwind. Short term time loss for long term gain. A gaggle joined me and the extra altitude allowed us to take a more aggressive line back to the ridge, putting us in position just behind the lead group.

We caught up with Gareth who had had a fast run with the lead group until he got a little low and slow just before the final set of turn-points. We stomped into ESS together.

There were 118 pilots in goal for the task. Gareth was top Aussie in 25th, I was 29th, Pete was 38th, Felipe was 62nd and Steve was 103rd.

Our Aussie team is maintaining our 4th position in the team Championships!!!!! We are stoked. And totally focused on the final 3 days of flying to finish the comp. 🇦🇺😊🇦🇺

Results, including task 8 and overalls, are at: https://airtribune.com/worlds2017/results

(📷 credit: Dave)

Paragliding World Championships: task 7

Kari says: More thunderstorms in the forecast today so it was back to Bassano again. The organisation did really well to move things along on launch and we got off nice and early for a short 53km sprint task ahead of the weather.

For me, today's task was a good reminder of why it rarely pays to fly a task impatiently.

The start opened and we all hammered off to the first turn-point on the ridge. The remainder of the task was then in the flats. High cirrus cloud was suppressing the thunderstorms, but enough sun on the ground kept conditions nice and racy, with cumulus marking the way. The gaggle I was with had moved nice and fast on the ridge, however slowed right down when we hit the flats. So I left and for the next 25km I pushed on hard, chasing the small group of leaders out the front. My luck lasted until just before the final turn-point where I found myself about 100m above the ground and finally pulled on the hand-brake.

I had gotten myself properly low and slow and for the next 15 minutes I scratched my ass off. While I was doing this, a large proportion of the field flew over my head and into goal. I eventually squeaked in, but was slow. I'd blame this poor decision making on the pseudo-ephedrine I'm dosed up on, but suspect it's more likely my impulse control problem I suffer from occasionally. 😊

Pete had a stomping good day out front with the small lead group and was best Aussie in 9th, Gareth also had a good day and was in 19th, I was 73rd, Felipe misjudged his final glide was just short of goal at 103rd and Steve landed a bit shorter in 121st.

Thanks to Pete and Gareth's hard work today the Aussie team continues to climb the rankings in the team Championship, jumping another place to 4th!!!! 🇦🇺😁🇦🇺 Plenty if high-fives in the house tonight!

Task 7 and overall results are at: https://airtribune.com/worlds2017/results

(📷: Martin Scheels)

Task 6.

After 5 tasks and a rest day, the team was chomping at the bit to get back into some racing. The last couple of tasks saw very stable conditions , so we were pleased to see fluffy clouds at Bassano where they set a 85 k task up and down the ridge. There was a fair bit of wind on launch but was not so bad in in the air. The whole team got off launch and climbed to 1800m. Just before the start, the gaggle split into 3 groups with one in front of launch, one above and another way behind launch. Once the start began, all 3 groups headed for the first turn point which was below Monte Grappa and about 20k from launch. The group out front got there first and turned back for along the ridge for tp 2. By this time a large cloud before tp 2 started to get serious and the organiser's started to keep an eye on it. By the time the pilots were back at launch this cloud was in full blown cu nim mode. I was in the air by then way out front climbing. The lift was becoming strong and consistent and to me, it was obvious it was going to be stopped. I straight lined it away from the stormy mass but still continued to climb, 2k later i was away from the growing cloud above me and its persistent lifty air and flew into a convenient blue area that was also above the main landing area. there was plenty of lift around so the anti g was deployed, Ten minuets artfer landing, the sky clouded over as the storm grew bigger, half an hour later the gust front came. Interesting to see free flyers On the main Bassano ridge ignoring the threatening sky. All comp pilots landed safely. Back at home, the team is nursing Kari who has come down with a sore throat. Pete , who is a vet, is on standby with the gloves on ;)

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. 🙏

Worlds Task 4 from Kari

Paragliding World Championships: task 4

The light wind, low base, stable conditions with afternoon thunderstorms are continuing here in Feltre and today the Task Committee sent us on an 83km task via 6 turn-points.

The task started today on the high ground behind launch. We floated around enjoying the views in the clouds for 30 minutes and then despite the lower level stability and slow conditions, blasted off down courseline on full bar as usual. For the vast majority of the field, today's task was a one-glide wonder across a valley and along a fully shaded out ridge and back, as the gaggle refused to stop for any climbs. (If this collective decision making sounds non-sensical, it was.)

Gareth and I tagged the first turn-point together and turned to fly back down the shaded out ridge. The air felt like a warm bath - buoyant, but with nothing actually going up. The gliders in front were already in low save mode and had pushed out over a small village in the bottom of the valley. I dumped my water ballast and hugged the contour of the ridge for as long as possible before pushing out to join a gaggle of about 15 pilots just maintaining in zeroes.

Over the next 30 minutes, approximately 120 pilots ended up landing in the valley. Pilots were shooting this way and that looking for any skerrick of lift. I held on grimly to the zeroes with about 7 other pilots and drifted back over town and a rise in the valley floor. Little bit by little bit the zeroes turned into 0.1s, then 0.2s and so on. Until finally we had a messy 1m/s climb to 1000m and we lobbed back onto higher ground at about half ridge height. We surfed our way up the ridge and escaped the valley and were finally back on task.

This small triumph was short lived. As we popped back out of the valley floor and went on glide we could see the afternoon thunderstorms brewing back in the mountains. It was going to be touch and go to finish the task and as we glided into the next trigger the task was stopped.

Felipe was the best placed Aussie for the day coming in 15th, I was 18th, Gareth was 51st, Steve was 58th and Pete was 107th.

All in all, poor conditions today for tasking, but our Aussie team worked hard and our results saw us jump from 16th to 6th in the team Championships. We are pretty stoked with this 🇦🇺😊

Results are at: https://airtribune.com/worlds2017/results/task2663/day/overall

Worlds Task 4 - Another half task, stopped for rain and thunderstorms, stupid start with 150 pilots sandwiched between the clouds and the cliffs, one midair and one pilot forced to land on the grass above the cliffs at 2200m (relaunched). 80% of the field bombed into the same village, milled around aimlessly and then landed at about 20km. Some scratchenators got out of the valley and made another 20km, well done Kari and Felipe. Australia into 6th place overall, whoopa!

Kari reports again: Paragliding World Championships: Task 3

Today the forecast was for a more stable airmass, with light winds, higher cloud base and possible thunderstorms in the afternoon. The Task Committee sent us on a longer task of 118km.

The first 70km leg was an out and back in the mountains. The low cloud base and stable airmass made the jump back into the mountains at the start a bit of a scramble. When the start gate opened I was just high enough to go on glide with the main gaggle, but not in a good position.

I glided with my lower gaggle into the next peak and we came tearing around the corner to find high tension power lines between us and our nearest landing options. There's nothing quite like the feeling of desperation that comes from being in the midst of a sea of gliders in a slow stable airmass above powerlines with dodgy landing options. We seethed around and yelled at each other for about 15 minutes, until finally we surfed above the inversion and gained some altitude. This allowed us to move down to the windward end of the peak where we finally found a strong thermal above one of those amazing, enormous wooden crosses (how the heck they get those things up there is a mystery) and the climb boomed us up to cloud base.

We were already more than a thermal behind the higher gaggle who had come in above the inversion, skied out quickly and charged on. Gareth had also gotten slow somewhere and I caught up with him just before the first turn-point. We tagged it on different lines and turned for the 35km leg back towards launch.

The "possible thunderstorms" in the forecast were becoming a reality. Huge clouds with black bottoms (CuNims) were going nuclear and threatening to converge into super cells above the peaks on our route back. This was probably a logical point to consider quitting the race, instead I thought mostly about whether we still had time to weave our way back through before the sky fell out and charged on with my gaggle. I think I may have racing fever.

We stomped into the peaks under the massive clouds and all of a sudden the slow, shitty thermals were gone and strong lift was abundant. So were long, fabulously buoyant glides at cloudbase. As we approached the next peaks it started to rain and there was a hint of thunder. That brought us to our senses and we made a 90' turn to the right to sprint out from under the cloud. A couple of gliders were climbing out in the lee of a mountain out in the valley and we dived in, just in time to see a pilot hang himself up in the trees halfway up the hill....

That was task over for us - Gareth radioed the accident in and we spiralled down to help local emergency services with the rescue. The pilot turned out to be fine, which we found out after Gareth half killed himself running up the hill to find him. And the pilot managed to climb down from his 50m tree by himself, which was lucky because the local emergency services had no idea how to go about rescuing someone out of a tree.

The task was stopped in the end. Will post scores later. Let's hope Steve,Felipe and Pete had a better run today than we did!

Paragliding World Champs 2017: Task 2 By Kari Feltre delivered a second fantastic racing day for task 2 of the Worlds today. The forecast promised more low and fast flying - light winds, 1500m cloud base and decent climbs (mostly on the high ground). The Task Committee set a technical 94km task around 7 turn-points, incorporating ridge runs, long legs across the valley flats and a particularly evil final turn-point with a small radius on top of a hill (just to make sure we were all paying attention). After the usual mess at the start we headed off on a 25km leg out to the the town of Belluno. The gaggle was faced with an early decision to take a more roundabout route following the main ridge (the safer option) or a more direct route over the flats in the valley. I had been planning to run the ridge, however had dropped back into the second gaggle early and needed to make up time, so I made a new plan 😂 and dived out into the valley with a small gaggle, including Steve. Initially this worked well and we were making good time against the main gaggle still on the ridge. However, the deeper we flew into the flats, the lower we got and flying back from the turn-point the main gaggle flew overhead about 1000m higher. A strong climb put me back in the game and I reconnected with the gaggle, including Gareth, Pete and Felipe. We flew the next 20km across the valley to the next turn-point low and fast, gaggle hoping our way back to the front to tag the point and sprint back to the ridge line, which was now in full shade. Getting established back on the shaded out ridge in the chaos of the gaggle was not fun. People were getting boxed in on the cliffs as we skimmed along searching for a climb and flying in all directions trying to squeak out in any small pockets of lift that wafted up from the forest below. After a couple of close calls I decided I valued my safety more than my position in the comp and dropped back into the second gaggle. We pushed on for the final leg of the race - a fast run across another valley for a turn-point deep on a another ridge above a lake, with minimal landing options. I pinged out as high as possible before committing to tag the point, which also gave me a nice direct, fast line into end of speed. The racing was over and I took a little light climb to tag a final bonus turn-point on top of a nearby hill, before gliding into goal. Results are in, with Gareth top Aussie for the day coming in 33rd, I was 52nd and Pete came in 58th. After stomping it with the lead gaggle all day Felipe was caught out by the final turn-point (seriously whose idea was it to put it on a hill?) and was 2km short of goal, at 88th for the day. Steve had a bit of a short day (he'll be well rested for tomorrow) and was 117th. There were 85 in goal today, with a bit more of a spread in the field. Task 2 results: https://airtribune.com/worlds2017/results/task2650/…/overall Overall results: https://airtribune.com/worlds2017/results/task2650/…/overall

Task 1 - 80km

Started overcast and involved lots of dodging clouds in the start gate, mix of good climbs in the hills and slightly petered out in the flats for the last 20km. The lead gaggle got stuck and slowed down, the gaggle then went from 20ish to 100ish pilots. 100 pilots inside 10minutes from the leader. All the Aussies in goal in good shape, Gareth, Kari, Felipe, Steve then Pete, all scoring good points in the 900's.

Official practice day. 80 k race up and down the valley.

Rego And practise day.