Australian PG Team: 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.