Competition News

Too much wind from the W this time. The take off was technical or almost dangerous...we could see some interesting actions! After the air start time (most of the pilot where still waiting to take off) the meet director closed the take off and cancelled the task. Results: After a good fight with Seiko, Yael became second! Congratulations. R.Achterberg won the PWC showing us amazing skills. Ranking Women: 1. Seiko FUKUOKA NAVILLE (FRA) 2. Yael MARGELISCH (CHE) 3. Daria KRASNOVA (RUS) Ranking Overall: 1. Russell ACHTERBERG (ZAF) 2. Yassen SAVOV (BGR) 3. Stéphane POULAIN (FRA) 33. Yael MARGELISCH 65. Yanick LETTRY 77. Philipp BETHGE

Today the SW wind was strong in altitude and also on the take off (tailwind). We waited all the day, but the wind conditions never improved and as a consequence no task was possible... Fortunately we where able with Philipp to start almost at the bottom of D02 (a small volcano on the flats) and had a very nice soaring/thermal flight with great sunset light. That saved the day...

Top 3 overall 1st = Mitch RILEY 1st = Charles CAZAUX 3rd Yassen SAVOV Top 3 ladies 1st = Yael MARGELISCH 1st = Seiko FUKUOKA NAVILLE 3rd Daria KRASNOVA Yael hat nun zwei von drei Task gewonnen, Yael liegt Overall immer noch auf Rang 2 hinter Seiko.

Less cumulus on the take off than yesterday, it looked more stable and more windy... The task comitee sent us on an 114km optimisitic task, with 2 turnpoints, and more than 60 km between them... When we took off, it was working quite well, but 15min before start, the whole area started to sink... It was really hard to know what to do because the flats looked inactive and on the volcano side it was notclimbing anymore... So we started low, in the flats, hoping not to land directly... Then we found some thermals in the flats, not so strong but good enough. We took the first turnpoint and then I could replace myself above the group and stop following from lower. As i was in a good position, i kept pushing forward, until i got low again. Luckily, a good thermal saved me, and again i could be back in a comfortable position. Going headwind in this flats with no clouds was a hassle, we kept fighting until we arrived in a big shadow, just before the big cylinder. Then turning in 1m thermal with the wind was almost like doing nothing, as it was drifting us away... During the whole task Russel Achterberg was leading, above us and about 10 km in front more less. Don't askme how he could make this gap, i have absolutely no idea. But it was nice to see that he kept going all the time, not waiting around. Unfortunately he could not reach goal, the day was over and landed atkm 108. Yannick and I landed about at the same place, 91km Hoping for better conditions for the next ones

This morning we were greeted with an impressive dark cloud over the takeoff mountain ‘Hasan Dagi’ which led to a conservative estimate of todays task probability. Nevertheless a 68km task was set and pilots rushed to launch in the little time given. We were able to climb to a low cloudbase of approx. 2800m with rain approaching from the east. The gaggle therefore took a start position more towards the west which kept us in a save distance. Unfortunatly I was sucked into the white room the minute the start gate opened so I had to spiral down to egalise any advantage. Yannick was in a really good position at the start but missed a thermal at TP1. In contrast, I was able to find a ripper next to the lead gaggle which allowed me to close the distance. Once we left the dark clouds, we raced in a magnificant sky with beautiful cummulus and strong climbs, allowing the leaders to score an average of approx. 39 kmh. The ESS was located right after a downwind hill for which we unnecessarily took extra height so that most pilots arrived with an surplus altitude of roughly 400m. With many pilots having 900+ points, all options remain and we look forward to more flatland racing. I was placed 46th (940 pts), Yael 52nd (937 pts) and Yannick 70th (899 pts). Congrats to Yael who won the womens ranking today!

Today looked like a nice day for a 70 km task. Some rain was forecasted but should not have extended on the flats, the cloudbase turned out to be 3500 m. The start cylinder allowed for a lot of strategies. Some pilots entered it from the NE (in order to fly downwind to the first TP), SE (near from the volcano) and also from the NW! Unfortunately, we encountered rain on the courseline on the way to the 3rd TP and the task was cancelled 2 min before the task would have been valid, therefore no points for anybody. Two storms aorund our area created a gust front which made the landing challenging, windspeeds of up to 40kmh were recorded. Nevertheless, Philipp enjoyed his first PWC task very much! Yanick and Philipp

The take off is now crowded from all the PWC pilots. A 70 km zigzag task was set on the flats between the volcano and Aksaray. Today the base reached 3600 m and more. Before the start it was possible to overfly the volcano and some pilots top landed there or touch and go. Very nice. After the second waypoint the first gaggle took the direct line which was not so nice. Second group head lightly off curse to the right and found a very good line below the clouds. Then blue sky to the next waypoint ..and back to the last turn point with cross wind. The height necessary for the final glide against the wind was not easy to evaluate and some pilots landed earlier as expected at ESS or before.(like me). Yanick

PWC Aksaray - first flight Very small Swiss Team for this PWC: yesterday Philipp and Yanick arrived, Yael will come later. This morning 12 pilots were transported to take off. We found cross-wind and good thermals. After struggling low on the volcano slope, having a good look at the volcanic rock, we pushed out into the flats where the wind was northwest so we could climb to base and head to Aksaray. Interestingly, the cloud cycles are very fast so it will be important the next couple days to head to the right clouds at the right time. Picking good lines will be of utmost important for the race as lifty lines and strong sink are close by. We discovered a beautiful desert like landscape. Yanick and Philipp