Task 4 was an eventful one. The weather conditions were the best so far. The task was 133km, with 115 or so downwind. The conditions at the start gate were excellent which meant only thing: It would be fast and furious. And it was.
Tilen Ceglar described how the flight went:
Towards the first turnpoint clouds were forming along the way and it was a game of finding the right lines. In that part Baptiste and I detached a bit from the group in front and led the way. This kind of flying is why we do this sport, sniffing the lines and going from one cloud to the next.
Towards the third turnpoint the gaggle almost caught us up, and then let us go again towards the fourth turnpoint, which turned out to be the critical point in the race. We got caught up in a valley southeast from Pegalajar with windy and turbulent conditions. The gaggle fell apart into a hundred pieces and, for a while, it was every man for himself. Some pilots escaped this area relatively untroubled, and they took the lead.
The rest of us were struggling to get enough altitude to enter the flats on the higher plateau. From my point of view, it was difficult to figure out where the leaders were, so I decided to focus on the weather and was able to catch up quite a bit. Again, it was a game of finding the right lines and thermalling as little as possible.
The final glide was long and downwind which slowed down the first group, as the whole area was in shade, giving the late comers the chance to get back some precious seconds. The race stopped 7km before the line, but the troubles did not, as we entered a strong convergence above the line which took some effort to get down to the fresh fruits in the landing field.
The first 96 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 02:38:12: Francisco Javie REINA LAGOS flying at an average speed of 46.4 km/h 02:38:31: Andy TALLIA
02:38:34: Marcelo SANCHEZ VILCHEZ
Top 3 leading point baggers – those who were in the lead the most 167.4: Julien WIRTZ 165.3: Jonathan MARIN 164.6: Rafael SALADINI
Top 3 in the task 1: Andy TALLIA 2: Marcelo SANCHEZ VILCHEZ (NEWCOMER) 3: Francisco Javie REINA LAGOS
Top 3 ladies in the task 1: Violeta JIMENEZ 2: Alexia FISCHER 3: Sandra ANTONY
Top 3 teams in the task 1: Niviuk 1 2: Çameli Municipality 3: Ozone
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 Jonathan MARIN flying for team Niviuk 1.
