The reality was that there was a serious south wind blowing at Sisteron, which decked many pilots, because we had to get the Gache waypoint. Many, including me, were flushed down in the lee winds.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
2011 Belgian Nationals, Day 1, Task 1
Today looked like the nicest weather to fly in. The forecasts talked about almost no wind, no chance for overdevelopment and nice thermals. We decided to launch from the north take-off on Chabre and set a task flying zig-zag along the edges of the valley. Should have been a task to get many people in goal.
The reality was that there was a serious south wind blowing at Sisteron, which decked many pilots, because we had to get the Gache waypoint. Many, including me, were flushed down in the lee winds.
The reality was that there was a serious south wind blowing at Sisteron, which decked many pilots, because we had to get the Gache waypoint. Many, including me, were flushed down in the lee winds.
Worlds ended, Belgian Nationals now
The World Championships ended with a sad day. Being on a bad launch on what turned out to be a beautiful day. I ended the Worlds in 28th place (143 competitors).
I arrived in Laragne, because the Belgian Nationals are about to start here. We're going to have a minute silence for Ricky who was killed after a failed start on the north launch. Very sad news.
We have good weather forecasts for the whole weak. Hopefully we have a comp with lots of safe and enjoyable flying...
I arrived in Laragne, because the Belgian Nationals are about to start here. We're going to have a minute silence for Ricky who was killed after a failed start on the north launch. Very sad news.
We have good weather forecasts for the whole weak. Hopefully we have a comp with lots of safe and enjoyable flying...
Thursday, July 28, 2011
2011 Worlds, Day 7, Task 2
We finally had another task on day 7 (Tuesday, 26th). It was a very interesting task. We headed off south first in real racing conditions. Fast climbs, fast glides. Then we had to head north past the windmills, where we had a turnpoint. I was a little slow on the return and to make things worse, I flew 2,5 km past the turnpoint at the windmills... I was very upset about making this mistake as I thought it ruined any chances for me that day. But, while flying further to the north, I got an interesting line and I caught up with the second gaggle. I left the gaggle early, pushing for the most north turnpoint, which was covered in shade, hoping that I could glide back before the whole valley shut down. The opposite happened. I would not have been able to glide back, but after some surviving on the Gubbio ridge, a few spots a sun came through and everybody joined in a few very dense, low thermals. At one point, I was climbing faster in the middle of two gaggles and soon both thermals converged, causing both gaggles to collide. That was the most dense, chaotic traffic I have ever flown in.
From then on, about 70 gliders were close together and it ended with a 29 km glide on the edge of the rain, with an 18:1 glide ratio at 65 km/h on average. I even had to burn off some altitude in the end, speeding up to 110 km/h on a day where everything was overcast and rain was coming our way.
The glide into goal was probably one the most dense ever in hang gliding. People like Jonny Durand and Vicky Cain said they had never seen anything like that before. I heard that 40 gliders arrived within a minute of each other. I was in the middle of that pack, placing 28th. Much better than expected after the errors early in the task.
Johan Marien, a Belgian pilot flying his 3rd flight on a Spyder was having his first flight on Monte Cucco. He was 100 m above the landing field when the whole pack zoomed in. He couldn't believe his eyes. When I spotted the Spyder on final glide, I thought "he's in for a surprise" :-) Other pilots flying higher above Cucco also witnessed the arrival and had goose bumps, just like many spectators on the ground. It's a shame a haven't found any good photo or video footage of it. Seems that everybody just watched and nobody recorded it...
From then on, about 70 gliders were close together and it ended with a 29 km glide on the edge of the rain, with an 18:1 glide ratio at 65 km/h on average. I even had to burn off some altitude in the end, speeding up to 110 km/h on a day where everything was overcast and rain was coming our way.
The glide into goal was probably one the most dense ever in hang gliding. People like Jonny Durand and Vicky Cain said they had never seen anything like that before. I heard that 40 gliders arrived within a minute of each other. I was in the middle of that pack, placing 28th. Much better than expected after the errors early in the task.
Johan Marien, a Belgian pilot flying his 3rd flight on a Spyder was having his first flight on Monte Cucco. He was 100 m above the landing field when the whole pack zoomed in. He couldn't believe his eyes. When I spotted the Spyder on final glide, I thought "he's in for a surprise" :-) Other pilots flying higher above Cucco also witnessed the arrival and had goose bumps, just like many spectators on the ground. It's a shame a haven't found any good photo or video footage of it. Seems that everybody just watched and nobody recorded it...
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
28th
28th in the second task and in the general results. My personal target was top 30 (143 pilots present), so I'm not unhappy.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
2011 Worlds, Day 5 & 6
Days 5 & 6 were canceled. And there's not much as miserable as a hang gliding competition without flying...
Although we had some free flying yesterday in the early evening. I first had some fun buzzing the launch, but when I got into a thermal with some strength, I decided to take it and it soon became a solid 4,5 m/s to 2000 m. I decided to go for Gubbio against the 30 km/h wind and Karl Reichegger (I think), seemed to have the same plan. We took a 2 m/s in the middle of the valley and almost drifted back to above launch. But we had made some advance and could glide to the Gubbio ridge now. When I arrived there, the winds were almost NW and I spent 40 min soaring the ridge, but not getting any decent thermals anymore. I couldn't get back, so I landed near Gubbio.
Julia was flying herself, so when she didn't reply to my sms, I decided to walk to Gubbio and have dinner there. Gnocchi with a tomato sauce, bacon, rucola and parmesan. It tasted good and it filled the stomach.
I really hope we fly another task tomorrow! We came here to compete.
Although we had some free flying yesterday in the early evening. I first had some fun buzzing the launch, but when I got into a thermal with some strength, I decided to take it and it soon became a solid 4,5 m/s to 2000 m. I decided to go for Gubbio against the 30 km/h wind and Karl Reichegger (I think), seemed to have the same plan. We took a 2 m/s in the middle of the valley and almost drifted back to above launch. But we had made some advance and could glide to the Gubbio ridge now. When I arrived there, the winds were almost NW and I spent 40 min soaring the ridge, but not getting any decent thermals anymore. I couldn't get back, so I landed near Gubbio.
Julia was flying herself, so when she didn't reply to my sms, I decided to walk to Gubbio and have dinner there. Gnocchi with a tomato sauce, bacon, rucola and parmesan. It tasted good and it filled the stomach.
I really hope we fly another task tomorrow! We came here to compete.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Live tracking
We all have GPS trackers at this comp. And, you can follow us live on the internet. Suddenly people can see the race unfold. And it's fun to get some comments from people who watched you fly online. I didn't realize who much more transparent our sport becomes, when they gave me the tracker.
You can also replay tasks in Google Earth, certainly something to check out!
You can also replay tasks in Google Earth, certainly something to check out!
2011 Worlds, Day 4, Task 1
Yesterday, we had our first task. Due to the high winds, the organization decided to launch from Monte Subasio, above Assisi, which is a 1 hour drive from Monte Cucco. The launch site is huge and there was no problem at all setting up 150 gliders. The sky looked nice, but is was evident that there was a lot of wind.
We got a 120 km task up and down and a bit into the valley of Assisi. We launched and just before the first start gate, almost 150 gliders joined in a single thermal. I've never seen that much traffic. My position was good and I wanted to go early, so I took the first start gate, as did about 100 others I think. It was a fight against the wind and I got a little behind the leaders, almost catching them at the first start point.
But I also had to manage my GPS problems. I had forgotten to enter the first turnpoint twice (once for the start gate and once for the actual turnpoint) and only had the 'optimized distance' in the user fields. So, once I canceled the route, to start a GOTO to the turnpoint, I didn't have a distance because 'Dist to WP' was not on the display and you don't seem to be able to change the user fields in flight... So I went a bit further than others did, to make sure I got the turnpoint... Many also landed at the first turnpoint.
I got a good run back to the start and at 70 km into the task I was back with the leaders. Now, the struggle into the 35 km/h headwind to the turnpoint in the valley started. At first, I was blown backwards in lighter thermals in the shade. Only after a while I got a 2 m/s and I started making progress again. I ended up 200 m below Manfred about 3,5 km before the turnpoint. We flew into a thermal and I saw Manfred go up, but only had 0,5-1 m/s myself. Not enough for a 35 km/h wind. So I pushed for the turnpoint, being quite sure that that was going to be a thermal trigger. Against my expectations, I could not reach it, because we approached it from the lee side and the glide wasn't good enough for that. I had to land and saw many gliders come over...
I'm 33rd in the results which is better than I expected when I saw everybody fly over. But I should have done better. Losing a very possible 10th-15th place 2/3rds into the task is not a nice feeling.
We got a 120 km task up and down and a bit into the valley of Assisi. We launched and just before the first start gate, almost 150 gliders joined in a single thermal. I've never seen that much traffic. My position was good and I wanted to go early, so I took the first start gate, as did about 100 others I think. It was a fight against the wind and I got a little behind the leaders, almost catching them at the first start point.
But I also had to manage my GPS problems. I had forgotten to enter the first turnpoint twice (once for the start gate and once for the actual turnpoint) and only had the 'optimized distance' in the user fields. So, once I canceled the route, to start a GOTO to the turnpoint, I didn't have a distance because 'Dist to WP' was not on the display and you don't seem to be able to change the user fields in flight... So I went a bit further than others did, to make sure I got the turnpoint... Many also landed at the first turnpoint.
I got a good run back to the start and at 70 km into the task I was back with the leaders. Now, the struggle into the 35 km/h headwind to the turnpoint in the valley started. At first, I was blown backwards in lighter thermals in the shade. Only after a while I got a 2 m/s and I started making progress again. I ended up 200 m below Manfred about 3,5 km before the turnpoint. We flew into a thermal and I saw Manfred go up, but only had 0,5-1 m/s myself. Not enough for a 35 km/h wind. So I pushed for the turnpoint, being quite sure that that was going to be a thermal trigger. Against my expectations, I could not reach it, because we approached it from the lee side and the glide wasn't good enough for that. I had to land and saw many gliders come over...
I'm 33rd in the results which is better than I expected when I saw everybody fly over. But I should have done better. Losing a very possible 10th-15th place 2/3rds into the task is not a nice feeling.
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