With a pessimistic forecast, an 85 km triangle task was set north of take off, using the only area that didn’t have too much wind.
Today started off with 100% cloud cover and a forecast of a strong northwest wind. The pilots went as far as possible round the start cylinder to minimise the into wind component to the first turn point.
It was tricky at the Start and the pilots had to take any climb they could. It was then key to know when to change pace and when to be selective about which thermals to stay in as the conditions began to improve.
As the pilots arrived at turn point two, the cloud almost totally disappeared. The conditions in the afternoon then became much better than forecast.
The thermals became good and they could always find something to climb in.
Birds of prey even came out to join the pilots.
There was less wind than expected but it picked up again as the pilots were approaching goal. At this point they had to really anticipate their arrival in goal as there were no thermals between 20 and 10 km to goal. This part of the race put a large percentage of the pilots on the ground.
Well done to the 62 pilots who made goal. Great task setting, although the into wing last leg to goal was perhaps not to everyone’s liking.
The first 62 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 02:06:30: Petr KOSTRHUN flying at an average speed of 34.6 km/h
02:06:42: Baptiste LAMBERT
02:06:58: Joze MOLEK
Top 3 leading point baggers – those who were in the lead the most 152.9: Luis MARTINEZ ITURBE 151.6: Petr KOSTRHUN 150.9: Jonathan MARIN
Top 3 in the task 1: Petr KOSTRHUN 2: Baptiste LAMBERT 3: Andy TALLIA
Best newcomer: Martin MESA (14th)
Top 3 ladies in the task 1: Violeta JIMENEZ 2: Kari ELLIS 3: Alexia FISCHER
Top 3 teams in the task 1: Cross Country Magazine 2: Çameli Municipality 3: Northwest Paragliding
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 Violeta JIMENEZ flying for team Cross Country Magazine.
