Summary written by Ruth Jessop
After 3 days of rain, today dawned with blue skies and sunshine. So, task 1 of the Castelo 2023 World Cup launched in front of a very excited crowd of spectators and their pets.
Today’s 3 turn point, 71km, task took the pilots on a circuit in front of launch followed by a long leg southwest.
The start of the race was threatened by a wall of rain coming from substantial overdevelopment a few kilometres behind launch. Thankfully it held off long enough, and everyone charged off to the first turnpoint west of Castelo. Most opted to connect with the ridge on the opposite side of the valley. A few did well starting there.
A mixture of weak and the occasional strong climbs meant the pilots started spreading out quite quickly. When everyone had to turn back around for the second turnpoint near launch they encountered the first crux of the race - a large area of shade cast by the spreading cloud of the cumulonimbus nearby. The pace slowed here as everyone sought to conserve height to tag the turnpoint and hopefully make it back to the sun.
They were then back under blue skies for the long leg to the final turnpoint in the southwest. Good climbs and long glides with a tail wind sped things up noticeably.
Unfortunately for some, this was another crux of the race. Those pushing low to goal encountered a substantial sea breeze headwind putting them on the ground short of goal. Those higher up, and above the sea breeze, did well, finding it quite lifty all the way to end of speed.
A great start to what should hopefully be a fantastic week of racing here in Brazil!
With 94 pilots in goal, what a well called task, keeping the race track away from the numerous rainstorms in the local area. Well done to the task committee: Richard Pethigal, Michael Sigel and Idris Birch.
The first 94 pilots made goal, and thus all flew the same distance, and gained the same distance points. Today’s winner is therefore the one with a combination of the best speed points and lead out points.
Top 3 speed point winners – the fastest pilots round the course
02:02:07: Filipe MARQUES flying at an average speed of 32.1 km/h
02:02:45: Pal TAKATS
02:02:50: Yassen SAVOV
Top 3 leading point baggers – those who were in the lead the most
166.3: Honorin HAMARD
161.7: Caio BUZZARELLO
157.0: Soheil BARIKANI
Top 3 in the task
1: Filipe MARQUES
2: Yassen SAVOV
3: Pal TAKATS
Best newcomer: Antoine DUBOIS-MERCé (4th)
Top 3 ladies in the task
1: Meryl DELFERRIERE
2: Nanda WALLISER
3: Marcella UCHOA
Top 3 teams in the task
1: Gin Gliders
2: Northwest Paragliding
3: Çameli Municipality
In the team competition the top two pilots in each team are scored and the second one gives the ranking. The highest placed second team pilot was Manuel QUINTANILLA flying for team Gin.
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https://pwca.org and our live app
https://live.pwca.org.
Flymaster live tracking:
https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=4974Photo Gallery (click on the comment icon for a description of the photo and pilot's names):
https://photos.app.goo.gl/iPXD5YNVMZ5McHmV8Instagram: officialparaglidingworldcup
