Jonny's video on task 2

Jonny has made a really nice video on yesterday's task. Make sure you have a look at the final glide and landing!

2010 Europeans, task 2

Driving up the mountain yesterday, we saw a thick inversion layer and we feared it would really be difficult to get up from the ridge. The task committee clearly also feared the stability and set a 90 km task. Rather short for a European championship, but I really had my doubts whether it was possible on such a stable day.

We all knew the start was gowing to be crowded. Pretty weak, sometimes broken thermals and 90 pilots fighting to get up. I started when about 50 pilots were in the air. Quite a view to see almost all of them circle in the same thermal. I took me quite a while before I found a decent thermal which took me high enough to start. I didn't want to wait another 22 mins until the next starting gate, so I started the race with an 8 minute 'penalty'. But it was good enough to be able to get away.
The first part of the course went well. I was catching up people because I could see them thermal ahead of me. Blay showed me a very nice 3.5 m/s thermal and thermalling up with him at the same altitude was really, really synchronized. And hey, I didn't climb slower than one of the best :-)
After the first turnpoint, I made the wrong decision of trying to follow ridges to speed up the pace. I left Blay and Wolfgang 'Wolfi' Siess because I thought they were taking too much risks trying to go fast and probably low later on. 2 mins later I saw them climbing very fast, but I didn't want to take the risk to leave my thermal at that moment to join them. Crucial mistake, they went up to 3050m and basically glided into goal from there. I got low on the other hand and survived on the ridge I followed but lost more than half an hour on them.
Wolfi got 3rd place into goal, I got 56th position. Damn... But it was a really good feeling to be on goal on a day where I had my doubts whether I would get anywhere. Spain is definitely different from Belgium ;-)
BTW, check out Wolfi's videos. They're pretty spectacular!

2010 Europeans, task 1

Yesterday was a difficult day. Stable air and weak thermals are not what Ager is known for. They set a 130 km task with 3 start gates. People were clearly reluctant to start because of the weak conditions. I planned to be in the air for the second start gate and I started at the right time for that, but I just couldn't get enough height to make the first crossing over a few unlandable kms. It took me an hour to get the first somewhat consistent thermal. I didn't look at the start time at all at that moment and just started the race.
I got quite low before the first turnpoint and flew low and alone after that. When I finally got some height again, I was joined by a gaggle and immediately after made a crucial mistake when I didn't trust the route they were taking. Soon after I was on the ground and I saw them passing by on the other side of the valley.
The flight delivered me 61st place out of 90 pilots. I hope to improve on that today.

Preparing for the Europeans

On thursday, I'll drive to Ager to participate in the European Championships. And I'm nervous about it. Not about flying together with the best. I have confidence in my hang glider handling and I like the busy 3D thermalling-in-traffic-game. But what will my performance be? In the German and Austrian comps I flew close to Julia and Tiefi's performance, two other young pilots (6 and 4? years experience, but many more flights/comps). And they are flying really well in the Spanish Open at this moment. But what will happen when the top 5 of every national competition is present? I'd hate to be low down in the results. But I fear it will happen... and that's why I'm nervous about it.
I shouldn't expect it any other way. I only fly for three years, it's now not yet 2 years since my first cross country flight. And I fly in Belgium, where conditions aren't optimal, but maybe that's good for training?
Anyway, the waiting has lasted for long enough now. Let's just go and fly. And hope it will at least be a good training for the Belgian nationals, immediately after. I want to be on the podium there!

201st

It's now July 2010 and I'm 201st in the world rankings, exactly 3 years after my first flight. 2 Months ago I was 501st. It's just a matter of flipping the 5 :-)
Time to get nostalgic. This is how it looked like 3 years ago. I was all pumped up and just couldn't wait for my first flight. I barely managed a smile for the camera. Come on, let me run off the mountain!

Nowadays things look way more aerodynamic and I absolutely love my sport!

Some other nice pictures from Austria

Zenya also posted some nice pictures from the Austrian Open. Especially this one.

Two nice pictures

Artem, a Russian artist/comedian/photographer made these 2 pictures of me launching in Bassano. For me, the second picture really captures the energy/intensity of a launch. I love it :-)