Last day and made goal in a hectic task with four loops in in the valley in perfect Woodrat conditions. The Sprint also did a course with multiple loops, meaning that there were gliders on every peak and flying in almost every direction for over three hours
Finally a task that was set both for flat out racing for the competition class gliders, but also much more achievable for Sport class. We did a four loops around the valley with a complex 15 total turnpoints. It made for meticoulous GPS programming, and a spectacular event for spectators, who could sit on the ground at Longsword winery and see 100 gliders in the air for over 2 yrs in all directions.
This is the sort of task setting I could imagine being popular for media and spectators if paragliding ever becomes an Olympic sport.
I flew conservatively, determined to no mess up by ending too low if it got windy. It was great race with people all around me for most of the many transitions. At the end Jeff Williams and I took at strong thermal together over Burnt to get high for the final full bar push into the landing field at Longsword.
The conditions were perfect, with less wind than yesterday, and Rabies, Burnt and Woodrat providing predictable thermals to heights that were more than enough to complete each transition. I only had one quite low moment on Burnt after the second loop.
Lots of happy pilots in goal with no retrieve makes for happy pilots and it was the perfect choice of task for the end of eight consecutive days of flying. The goal field was full with glasses of Longsword's beautiful chardonnay adding to the happy mood.
I ended up 30th today, 12th in Race Sport overall, and 44th overall. Given that the field was significantly smaller than last year, my result was comparable with two years ago, and confirmed where my flying is at.
I probably ever won't do much better than this in paragliding competitions unless I start flying much more than I do now, which is limited by family and job commitments. A good realization to make, in order to decide whether paragliding competitions are a good use of my flying days, or whether I should focus on less stressful and longer cross country flights with more downwind flying.
Click the image below for tracklog on Leonardo
A lot of happy pilots in goal after an amazing competition flying every day for eight days.
Waiting for the Prizegiving
Mike Haley final gets to relax after another successful Rat Race event
Name to watch: Emily Mistick - up and coming womens Sprint winner
Hard Fought Sprint Class - Probably tougher competition than the Sport Class pilots in the Race
Super Clinic
