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"World Cup Castelo, Brazil 2023"
Summary written by Ruth Jessop
Today was another astonishingly beautiful day in Castelo, with sapphire skies and abundant pearly clouds. With a high cloud base, a 101 km, three turn point task was set taking the pilots on a grand tour of Castelo’s finest scenery.
The pilots reached the first turn point north of Castelo with just one thermal after the start.
They then split into several groups across the flatlands and the hills. They struggled in this crosswind leg towards Cachoeiro do Itapemirim. A quarry and a beautiful snowy falcon helped one group climb to cloudbase!
After turn point 2 the key was deciding when to be patient and when to be impatient. Line choices also mattered a great deal as everyone pinballed between monoliths and fields full of hot Brazilian cows.
A lot of pilots got low just after the third turn point and lost time searching for thermals which weren’t very strong anymore, losing time climbing whilst the lead gaggle pulled away from them.
There was a good thermal just before Castelo which helped pilots climb to 1300m helping them on the final glide to goal. 104 happy pilots touched down in goal.
A perfect racing day, no storms to avoid. The only thing to slow the pilots down were the magnificent views.
Violeta Jimenez summed up today’s task: Thanks Castelo for showing us how beautiful you are once again!
The first 104 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
03:05:30: Baptiste LAMBERT flying at an average speed of 30.9 km/h
03:05:49: Honorin HAMARD
03:06:17: Erico OLIVEIRA
Top 3 leading point baggers – those who were in the lead the most
167.8: Honorin HAMARD
162.0: Baptiste LAMBERT
158.1: Donizete LEMOS
Top 3 in the task
1: Honorin HAMARD
2: Baptiste LAMBERT
3: Caio BUZZARELLO
Best newcomer: Antoine DUBOIS-MERCÉ (7)
Top 3 ladies in the task
1: Galen KIRKPATRICK
2: Meryl DELFERRIERE
3: Violeta JIMENEZ
Top 3 teams in the task
1: Ozone
2: Air'G Products
3: Fly Turkey
Top 3 overall
1: Yassen SAVOV
2: Pal TAKATS
3: Antoine DUBOIS-MERCÉ (NEWCOMER)
Top 3 ladies overall
1: Meryl DELFERRIERE
2: Nanda WALLISER
3: Violeta JIMENEZ
Top 3 teams overall
1: Northwest Paragliding
2: Cross Country Magazine
3: Gin Gliders
3: Ozone
