Competition News

Well this time we didn't even take off or have a task... At launch, the meet director cancelled the day because of stability and possibly increasing wind speeds. Today's the last task day, let's hope we have more luck !

The forecast was for weak winds and pretty good bases... It was very different in the air : No one could climb higher than 1'800 m and the wind was about 30km/h up there, and over 40 at ground level because of a venturi effect. At start, a group was high enough to go but most of the pilots tried to climb again. In the end, we jumped in the lee from 1'600m (the mountain is 1'500m)... So of course it was turbulent. The guys who landed back there and some still in the air called level 3 (landing backwards on small fields) ; so in the end the task was cancelled about 50 minutes after the airstart. Some are criticizing this decision... But it seems like a sensible decision seen as it was raining level 3s. Let's hope we have a task today, but the wind seems strong.

We were starting to think this would be the perfect PWC, with 6 tasks in a row... well it won't happen ! On Larrouco Serra (the mountain above Montalegre), they have launches for every wind direction except north-west ; which was precisely the forecast for today. So we had to move by bus to Chaves (about an hour's drive). It is a very small and flat launch with rocks and spiky trees under it. Needless to say you need the perfect wind to send 120 pilots in the air. Unfortunately, at first there was no wind and then it became strong and gusty from the right side, so after opening the window, the Meet Director decided to cancel the task (seems a good and safe decision...). Let's hope we have 3 more good tasks !

So we now have 3 tasks... sorry, we didn't find time to give you news yesterday ;) We'll make it up to you with good results and nice pics, as you'll see below. Yesterday's task was a 50 km zig zag. Because of the wind, the zigs were pretty easy but the zags not so much... The thermal tops were pretty low (max 2100m), so it was more and more difficult as the evening grew close. Only 14 pilots made goal ! Many landed just before the last turnpoint, Joël and I included. Now for the good news of the day : Joël came second in goal !!!!! Congrats Papa =D The third task was a very nice 97km triangle course. The conditions were pretty versatile : at first we had strong thermals with high tops (around 2'600 at start). Later, around the second turnpoint, we climbed so high that it became difficult to stay under the 2'950 m airspace limit. And finally the thermals became very week, and we were all very low to take the two last turnpoints. We were fighting in sometimes +0,3 thermals to stay in the air !!! That's when the first group, Joël included, managed to fly better than the others... and came earlier in goal. The final results of the day are not yet known, because some pilots were asked to bring their backup GPS in order to confirm airspace infringments. It seems tomorrow will be yet another awesome day ! =

2e de la manche du jour (task 3; 97 km), voilà de quoi se réjouir , et célébrer ça . Malheureusement, le contrôle gps me donne 8 (huit) mètres de trop !!!!! dans le plafond de 2950m. A 10 points le mètre, pas besoin d'avoir fait EPFL pour piger la punition...

In Portugal bereiten sich die Piloten gerade auf Task 2 vor. Das ganze kann man im Livetracking mitverfolgen. Wer das tut stellt sich am besten auf ein X-Alps-mässiges, lang anhaltendes Vergnügen ein, denn der Task heute ist etwas grösser geraten als üblich, mit ein paar zusätzlichen Herausforderungen: Cross-Continent statt Cross-Country, kein geeigneter Landeplatz beim Goal, der Retrieve dürfte auch etwas länger dauern. Einziger Trost für die Piloten: Die letzten 4711 km sind nach der Speed Section, sie brauchen sich also nicht zu beeilen für diesen Streckenabschnitt, solange sie ihn vor der Task Deadline absolvieren.

At launch this morning, everybody was happy to see that the 83km task only had a start and a goal. The forecast was for northerly winds and blue thermals up to 1'600m. After a good start, I pushed alone in front to find my own thermal (it was such a *ç%(*/=)%(* mess in the gaggle)... what had to happen happened : I was overtaken, and then flew as fast in the back. Ended somewhere around 60th in goal (at 12 minutes of the first). For sure the level is higher than in Brazil ! I don't know what Joël did yet... It seems the retrieve was very long for him. The flying is really nice here, with mostly flatlands and a few mountains ; and it seems we could have many tasks this week =) Sorry, I don't have pictures for today (yet).

Hi everybody ! So here we are in Montalegre... Strange, there're only 2 Swiss pilots. Even more strange : Both are Romands ! Joël and I made a nice (even though windy) flight today. The playground looks very nice and tactical (mostly high plateau with small hills). It seems the weather might be good for the whole week !!! That'll teach those who thought it was never flyable here :P Tomorrow is the first task day. Stay tuned !