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"World Cup Baixo Guandu, Brazil 2022"
Summary written by Ruth Jessop
Despite the rain overnight and much more humid air, an 82 km task was set taking the pilots northwest.
Stéphane POULAIN and Yassen SAVOV took the start much further round to the north than the others, thus shortening their route.
Yassen shared the secret: we had the juicy cumuli, while the big group had to go through a blue hole. So our advantage was two-fold - we had to cover less distance and we had more cumuli on our way. What they had was power in numbers.
I showed Stephane my potential plan on takeoff and we agreed to maybe try it together. Unfortunately, 20 min before the air start we split up and did the start at two different spots, which slowed us down, but then we joined up again at the second turn point, shortly after which the first 5-6 guys from the big group joined us.
It was a day which started off slow and soft and became strong with booming climbs despite the humidity and shade. There were thermals with strong cores, often 5/6ms, giving some of the most beautiful conditions we have had all week.
There were a few drops of rain but not enough to spoil today’s race.
It was a day when it paid to push. The clouds worked really well; even in the shade there were 4m/s climbs. If you got low in the shade, just moving to a sunny spot worked and most pilots got back up without too much difficulty.
From the famous Baixo Guandu crater to the last turn point there was nice cumulus. For the last leg it was time to change gear to get to goal. 107 pilots made the tiny goalfield, along with 30 very excited long horned cows.
There were stunning views of Baixo Guandu’s famous rock domes all the way round today’s race, dotting the route and reminding us that a day in the jungle is always better than a day in the office.
Top 3 speed point winners – the fastest pilots round the course
02:12:40: Julien WIRTZ flying at an average speed of 34.2 km/h
02:12:41: Caio BUZZARELLO
02:12:43: Erwan DIDRICHE
Top 3 leading point baggers – those who were in the lead the most
161.8: Stéphane POULAIN
149.6: Yassen SAVOV
141.6: Caio BUZZARELLO
Top 3 in the task
1: Stéphane POULAIN
1: Caio BUZZARELLO
3: Julien WIRTZ
Best newcomer: Boris PLAMENOV (53)
Top 3 ladies
1: Galen KIRKPATRICK
2: Meryl DELFERRIERE
3: Violeta JIMENEZ
Top 3 teams
1: Nearbirds
2: Ozone
3: Kortel Design
All the results are available here: https://live.pwca.org/scores.php?comp=29
