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