Pre-Worlds Day 9
An awesome task to end the meet...
With the north winds, they have us set up for a north launch just down the ridge. The launch is steep, and much easier than the shallower south launch.
It's more difficult to get everyone set up and sorted, and they're instating an ordered launch for the last day. I'm scheduled fourth or fifth in my line to launch.
Some of the WW pilots in the meet.
They call a zig zagging task 107km to the south with five turnpoints, then goal. We're thinking it'll be technical as usual, with valley crossings and none of the legs directly into the wind. The task might be fast, so picking the right start time is critical.
Due to the change to the ordered launch, there's some tension as launch opens. Gordon Rigg throws a tantrum in our line and gets everyone riled up. A couple minutes later, I'm in the air but the tension will continue to mount. Conditions are light, and it's collision avoidance for the next hour. Pilots are flying very aggressively, and I get particularly pissed at one pilot. He's been consistently cutting me and others off on multiple days. After a couple of rude moves on his part, I fly up close to him and engage in some amused yelling.
The thermals slowly get better as the start approaches. We're not in good position for the first start, and I'm with Davis, Zippy, and Jeff, so we wait for the second start. We all get a good start and are right together with Jeff just below. It's a fast run down the ridge to the west to the first turnpoint. We get great lift at the turnpoint under a cloud that disappears just as fast as it materialized and blazed on.
A portion of the north launch area.
Davis and Zippy head to the next ridge south, and I'm with Balaz and three other pilots running back on the launch ridge. Davis finds 700fpm and we find nothing, so we're forced to blunder out into the valley pretty low. I stay a bit conservative and let the other pilots get out in front of me. They sniff out the lift and we turn in 300fpm. We're loosing time, but we're low, so we have to be content.
Once we top out, we head for a thimble shaped mountain in the valley. I dive into the windward cliffs and find 600fpm. I turn tightly with the others just overhead. We'll all top out together and head for the second turnpoint on the next downwind ridge.
It's hard to capture how crowded the sky was.
Just before the second turnpoint, I see Davis, Zippy, and others coming in from the right. We've kept up with them. Our slower line was more direct. We tick the turnpoint, and start ridge running west toward Sisterone. The NW wind is just enough coupled with the heating on the cliffs to keep us above the top. I'm running 50ft. over the terrain dolphin flying to stay above the ridge. Davis, Zippy and I are all running right together. We try to circle up in some strong shots of lift, but nothing stays good for more than a turn or two.
We run for Sisterone watching lots of other pilots climbing slowly on the surrounding ridges. Things get slow as we stop in a couple of places not finding anything particularly strong. We're in a quartering headwind as well. Davis and Zippy head just upwind to a couple of pilots, and I decide to take my chances downwind on the next foothills. I go diving in over the trees.
There's just enough lift to allow me to get over the treetops and around the shoulder of the mountain. There are some limestone cliffs facing west and I'm hoping the wind and heating of the cliffs will allow me to get back to a comfortable position. It's tenuous for a couple of minutes working very close to the cliffs below the top. Eventually I gain the ridge as Scott Barrett starts ridge running with me. We're able to ride the meandering ridge right up to the turnpoint and start taking turns up. There are a couple of clouds forming above.
I get a good climb to base, and head for the next valley crossing. There's one more cloud in the valley and I find 900fpm into the wisps again. We've got to cross the valley, hit a turnpoint, and get up on a raised plateau before continuing on into the flats.
The flats look suspect, and I sense it's time to shift gears into survival mode. I've got pilots with me, and we slowly make our way over the undulating terrain in light lift. We have a cross wind. I stay patient and we all work our way to the last turnpoint before goal. Attila comes in underneath us. He's taken the last start time and caught up.
We finally get the last turnpoint and turn downwind to goal. I've got 12 to 1, but I want to be conservative as the terrain to goal is rising. I take a climb that gives me 10 to 1, and head out with Hakan Anderson and Attila. With about 7km to goal, I can finally make out the goal field and see the line. I unzip as we're flying fast and the race is on. Attila is pulling on the speed as is Hakan. I can see their trailing edges fluttering, and I pull a knee out and progressively pull the bar in.
As Attila goes faster, Hakan peels off. He can't hold the speed. With my knee out of the harness, it gives me the stability and the leverage to fly full stuff toward the line. I'm getting juiced up and start yelling as I hold on for goal. Attila and I cross the line over 70mph at 100ft. He's just in front. I see a lavender field below as I turn around to land.
Zippy at goal.
Most of the US team makes it in. Zippy and Davis are 9 minutes behind me. Jeff holds on and is one of two pilots in his gaggle to make it in later. Jack has landed by Sisterone and Derrick had a tough day with the light lift and heavy traffic near launch. I decide to have a word with the pilot I'd been having trouble with. Turns out even his teammates don't like his flying and have to tell him to f-off over the radio. (we happened to receive identical scores on the last day.)
We enjoy good music on the 90 minute drive back through the French countryside. There's a party with fancy french finger food and wine as we wait for the awards ceremony.
It turns out that I came in sixth on the day. Taking the second start time was key. It allowed me to slide up one place into the top ten overall, with just 13 points separating 10th from 8th place. Davis flew a great meet placing 17th overall. Zippy and Jeff were a bit less consistent, but showed brilliance at times. I was always stoked to see them on course at times raging along.
Jeff at goal.
Out of the 117 pilots from 24 countries Scott Barrett, held off the competition to retain first place. The win for him is a special one indeed. After the awards, there was a great band back at the campground. I was surprised to see it was after 3am when we retired.
We've got a day to recover here and short pack before driving to Munich tomorrow. We're keen to have one more fly and just enjoy the French sky one more time.
Airtime: 4:05. Flights: 1. Miles: 107km
