Competition News

Hi everyone,
This is my first report of the Chelan XC Open 2010. The reason, why I didn't write any report before is quite simple. We were flying!!!!! Compared to europe, the weather here seems to be more reliable. We had 5 of 6 possible tasks. 3 of them were very good from 84 to 101 km. 2 of them were "green monster" days. Green monster is the name of the launch faced to the south west. And usually this days are difficult. A lot of wind on take off and/or only weak thermals. This combination makes it difficult to get enough altitude for the first crossing over the columbian river, where the flat playground is waiting. So most pilots had to cross low on this two days and couldn't catch the first thermal to acces the flats. So did I...The worst thing on this days, was to know that the lucky (and the real good) pilots who reached the flats, were having a lot of fun, while you're breeding in the sun...

Once in the flats, flying here is pure fun. Even in strong and turbulent thermals you feel more comfortable than in the alps, due to the rescue friendly ground - unless you get low and close to the impressive dust devils! The area around take off and the landings in the flats in the early afternoon were demanding too. The job isn't done until your feet touch the ground...

Now everyone is relaxing and waiting for the PWC and hoping that the PWC weather curse will be stopped in Chelan!