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
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
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
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
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