Competition News

Yael Margelisch (Verbier) hat am Gleitschirmweltcup in Ecuador die Damenwertung für sich entschieden und der vierfache Schweizermeister Stefan Wyss (Ringgenberg) wurde zweiter. Newcomer Domink Breitinger (5., Büren a/A) und Michael Sigel (8., Kandersteg) rundeten das ausgezeichnete Resultat der Schweizer Delegation ab. (pd) Nachdem sich Margelisch an den ersten beiden Tagesaufgaben hinter der Japanerin Keiko Hiraki mit dem zweiten Rang begnügen musste, konnte sie die Konkurrenz im dritten und letzten Durchgang über 62 Kilometer mit 6 Minuten hinter sich lassen und damit den Anlass für sich entscheiden. Es ist für die 26 jährige Flug- und Skilehrerin aus Verbier der erste Sieg an einem Top gesetzten Anlass. Margelisch: „Ich bin nur glücklich, dass es nach so vielen Podestplätzen endlich mit einem Sieg geklappt hat!“. Auch der Berner Stefan Wyss kam mit den thermisch schwachen Bedingungen im dunstigen Wetter gut zurecht. Im zweiten Durchgang liefs mit Rang 28 schlecht, der Routinier interpretierte aber aufsteigende Rauchsäulen im letzten Durchgang besser als seine Konkurrenten und konnte den Tagessieg erfliegen, was ihm in der Gesamtwertung den zweiten Rang einbrachte. Wyss: „Schon beim ersten Durchgang wusste ich, wo’s lang geht: ich musste mich gleich nach dem Start aus 150m Höhe retten. Dies zeigte mir, wie schwierig das Fliegen in diesem Fluggebiet ist.“. Der Newcomer Domink Breitinger konnte sich im Verlauf des Wettkampfs vom 23. auf den 5. Rang steigern und erzielte damit sein zweites Top-Resultat an einem Weltcup - am Weltcup in Disentis wurde Breitinger zweiter. Wir dürfen hoffen, dass die Formkurve des 25 jährigen Elektroingenieurs auch in der nächsten Saison weiter nach oben geht! Michael Sigel wurde mit den Tagesrängen 12, 9 und 15 dank Konstanz 8ter. Das Schweizer Team belegte mit diesen hervorragenden Leistungen hinter Frankreich Platz zwei. Gewonnen hat den Anlass Weltmeister Honorin Hamard aus Frankreich. Zum Abschluss der Weltcupsaison treffen sich die Gleitschirmpiloten im Januar zum Superfinale in Kolumbien. Dort werden die Gesamtweltcupsieger 2017 erkoren. Gleitschirmweltcup in Ecuador (Endresultat nach drei Tasks): Herren: 1. Honorin Hamard, Frankreich, 2208 Punkte; 2. Stefan Wyss, Ringgenberg, 2168; 3. Zoran Labovic, NOR, 2140; 4. Maxime Bellemin, FRA, 2117; 5. Dominik Breitinger, Büren a.A., 2112. Ferner: 8. Michael Sigel, Kandersteg, 2746; 15. Yael Margelisch, Verbier, 2039; 33. Tim Bollinger, Nods, 1898; 54. Yanick Lettry, Gommiswald, 1701. Damen: 1. Yael Margelisch, Verbier, 2039 Punkte; 2. Keiko Hiraki, JAP, 2034; 3. Benedicte Saury, FRA, 1659. Nationenwertung: 1. Frankreich, 8523; 2. Schweiz, 8460; 3. England, 8264.

Heute Morgen lösten sich die Wolken endlich auf, aber nur für kurze Zeit. Schon am Mittag war der Himmel wieder komplett bedeckt, was uns um diesen letzten Task bangen liess. Ein Race to Goal über 64 km wurde gestartet, und die Thermik war - bis auf ein paar tückische Aussetzer am Anfang der Strecke - erstaunlich zuverlässig. Tim, und später auch ich, versuchten immer wieder, das relativ lahme Tempo der Spitzengruppe durch Vorausfliegen zu erhöhen, was uns schliesslich in Führung, und mit gut zwei Minuten Vorsprung aufs Feld als Erste ins Ziel brachte: Tim und ich gewinnen den Lauf punktgleich! Yesss Alle Schweizer erreichen heute das Ziel. Yael auch, sehr früh, sie holt sich damit sogar den Sieg in der Damenwertung! Bravo! Overall gewinnt der Franzose Honorin Hamard verdient, und ich bin auf dem 2. Platz! In der Teamwertung gewinnt das Ozone Team (Honorin, Maxime Bellemin, Yael und ich) vor Gin Gliders und Wind. Nationenwertung: 1. Frankreich, 2. Schweiz, 3. Grossbritannien

When we arrived on the take off today, it seemed like the day will be better than the previous days: Even if the sky was over casted, small cumulus clouds could be seen and some free flyers were climbing already. However, until we were ready to run the same task as yesterday, the conditions decreased again and the free flyers bombed out. Again we waited at the take off, but at 13:20 we cancelled the day as we were running out of time. While most of the Swiss team went down with the cars the days before, most of us decided to fly today and get at least some flying in Ecuador. But the conditions were very weak and only a few pilots managed to get over the take off and not bomb out straight away. I was one of lucky 5 pilots who managed to get to the cloud base at 750m. From there I had a nice flight around the area. The highlight was the thermal of the cement plant, which was 3.5m/s average, while all other thermals stayed bellow 0.5m/s. Now everybody is back in the hotel. Again it is holiday here and there is nothing to do, everything is closed. That’s why we will probably enjoy again our nice hotel and pool. Tomorrow is the last day, but there is no reliable weather forecast. Just a short reminder: the PWC has a great App that can be downloaded for IOS and Android. The fee is going 100% to the world cup. Please have a look at it.

Same as yesterday. Conditions were not good enough for a valid task today.

Well, today was almost same as last Monday: we went up to the take off with clouded sky, we waited 3 hours with closed sky and we went back home without sunshine. After we cancelled the day, some pilots were climbing again, but only for a we minutes. Now everybody is looking for alternative activities in the city. Probably the Swiss team will meet in the whirl pool of the hotel for a debriefing.

Compared to yesterday, the sky was a little less covered today and begun to clear up even more after we arrived on take off at 10 o’clock. The task committee set a 67km task: Start was 13km away from the turnpoint B11 in the North. It was an in (0.4km), out (6km) and in (0.4km) turnpoint, which should give many options to the pilots to choose the best route. The goal was 30km later to the Northwest, airstart at 12:45. The sky cleared up even more and many pilots were quite excited as the conditions looked promising. However, the thermals in front of the take off were pumping, which means that some pilots were climbing fast and reliable, while others struggled a lot to get high. While Stefan Wyss had a hard time not to bomb out yesterday, Torsten was scratching half way down the hill today. As the take off is only 300m high, half the height reduces the options a lot. Finally most of the pilots climbed, Torsten included and could take the airstart at 1100m. We had nice clouds on the way to the first turnpoint, but again, the haze made it difficult to see far. When we reached B11, our group decided to go back where we came from. This for some reasons: first, we could safe the 2x400m of the radius (in case we continue on straight line), in addition we hoped that slow pilots will mark our thermals. It was working quite well, but a group that went to the west was slightly faster. But the difference was small and the leading groups met again after 12km and went together for the 30km to the goal. This part was supposed to be the easy part, but strong North wind and sudden weaker thermals surprised many pilots. Tim was a victim of this and had to land, as well as many others. Honorin Hamard from France was pushing a lot during this phase and could get away from the group. Stefan was with him, but finally had to let him go, as Honorin was higher and got a pretty good line. Yael, Nick and I were together in the chaser group, trying to close the gap again. Birds showed us most of the thermals, but it was not possible to catch Honorin anymore. He got to goal with an impressive 7minutes lead, the rest got in almost all together. Steff and Yael lost some time and got in a few minutes after us, Yanick had to land out. As Honorin was leading most of today and won with a big time gap to the group, he got almost 80 points more than the rest of us and is now leading this competition. Steff is on the 4. Place, me on the 7., Nick on the 14 and Yael is in second position!

In the morning the sky was again over casted like we are already used to it. Means the team left the hotels at 8:30 and headed to the take off. To do so we need to drive 15km or 30min to the west of the city where the first small hills emerge. There we change to small 4x4 cars to overcome the 300m to the take off on the dirt road. Pilots were all on take off, a 58km task to the North was set and we just needed to wait until the sun comes out. While the weather got better and better the days before, the clouds did not disappear today. One wind dummy managed to climb some meters in front of the take off, but the conditions were not good enough to start a fair race for 120 pilots. This is why the organization decided to cancel the day at 13:00. You might ask why they cancelled that early. Here is an explanation: - Because of the small take off and poor wind conditions we need at least 1.5 hours to get everybody airborne. Even if the conditions become good at 13:30, means that the earliest time for the airstart is 15:00. Local pilots say that thermals shut down quite early around 16 or 17, which gives only a small chance to the fastest pilots to finish the task, while the slow pilots will bomb out and need to be retrieved after sunset. Anyway, after the day was cancelled, most pilots decided to fly down to the official landing. And to the surprise of everyone some of them could make 200m above launch for some minutes. But for sure it was a correct decision to cancel the day. Now everybody is back in town and pilots are looking for alternative activities like ice cream, gym or pool.

Als Auftakt gabs heute viel Bewölkung und eher schwache Verhältnisse. Gleich nach dem Start vom nur 300 m niedrigen Startplatz soffen einige Piloten beinahe ab und brauchten viel Zeit und Nerven, um doch noch hoch zu kommen, darunter auch ich. Vom Luftstart an lief es besser, auch wenn die Aufwinde teilweise unberechenbar und schwierig zu finden waren. Der Mexikaner Manuel Quintanilla aus Valle de Bravo flog fast vom Start weg voraus, teilweise ganz allein, und erreichte das Ziel mit ein paar Minuten Vorsprung hoch verdient als Erster. Ich bin ca. auf dem 3. Platz, Michi Sigel kam trotz beschädigtem Schirm kurz nach mir, danach folgten Dominik und die restlichen Schweizer. Resultate und Fotos unten

Hello and welcome to the reports for the last PWC in 2017 in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The Swiss team arrived in batches in town: While Stefan, Yael and Yanick arrived from Switzerland, Tim and Domi were already in Ecuador for kitesurfing, Franz Schilter came from Peru and I got here from Brazil. Some information about the city. Guayaquil is the biggest city in Ecuador and is situated almost at the Pacific. In the bigger area of Guayaquil live more than 3 million people, from very rich to extremely poor. The takeoff is in the west of the city, 300m above sea level. Local pilots say that the flying is quite relaxt: usually not a lot of wind and the conditions are smooth. While Thursday seemed to be quite a good day with nice cloud base up to 1200m, yesterday was much less good. Stefan, Yael and I went to the take off at 12, but the sky was completely over casted. However, pilots were slowly climbing in front of the take off. Quite motivated the Swiss team took off to and tried to climb. But the climbs were very weak (+2m/s over a cement plant reported Steff, while most other climbs were less than 1m/s). In addition the thermals usually stopped at 600m. All in all it was not a good day and after 30min we decided to land and go back to the hotel. In the afternoon, Tim and Domi arrived and we went for a great lunch in town. Today (Saturday) is the official training day. But as there is no sun out, Steff and I decided to cancel flying today. The rest of the team went to the take off, but until 12 there was no sun at all. Later the clouds disappeared and pilots reported from great flying conditions. Registration was in the later afternoon, followed by the safety briefing. This competition will be the first one that is supported by the new PWC app. That means You can now keep up with all the action on the new World Cup App which includes the entertaining live commentary, revamped tracking, leaderboard, pilot list and results. You can install it: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pwca.liveapp