Hello, Bonjour (français ci-dessous)

I did post the results of the Willi, there:
http://cf.geocities.com/serge_lamarche/seven_wmxcc.html

The final results are not in yet because of a technical difficulty (called "week end" probably) but
the overall ranking is quite accurate. I will do the update as soon as possible. It was fun and too bad the sun left us before the end.

bye, Serge.
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J'ai affiché les résultats du Willi, là: http://cf.geocities.com/serge_lamarche/seven_wmxcc.html

Les résultats ne sont pas encore finals à cause d'une difficulté technique (appellée "fin de semaine" probablement) mais le classement est pas mal correct. Je vais mettre à jour aussi tôt que possible. C'était bien et dommage que le soleil nous ait laissé avant la fin.

"And so it ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper." That was written about something else, but it could apply to the Willi Week XC Challenge as well. The past two days have seen torrential rains in Golden. I bailed out yesterday and came down to Invermere, pausing to fly Eric Oddy's training hill at Brisco on my paraglider between storms.

Today, there was a good patch of sun in Invermere (along with
towering cus on all sides), so Jon Orders took off and tried to log
one more flight in the contest. He needed to fly 12 km out and 12 km

Yesterday we called a task, but nobody got out of bombout distance (7 km) so it wasn't scored (invalid task). The sky looked spectacular, but the instability was up higher we figured, and there was a stable layer we couldn't get through. So that meant we had an early evening, and no scoring necessary by Bill, so he had the night off too (we watched Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, for Sink Out Cinema).

Today it was overdeveloping and forecast to start raining, so we set an early task to Harrogate (44 km). When we launched it wasn't very good-looking, and the only reason we launched was because it didn't look like it was going to get any better. Scratched our way around the corner to the gap between Mt. 7 and Pagliaro, and 6 of us made the crossing even lower than the first day (below cliff height!). Good thing it was cloudy since I don't think we would have dared fly that close to those rocks in sunnier conditions.

Another day with high winds - this seems to be the norm at Golden this year. Two pilots on early-morning sledders reported being on speed-bar all the way to the LZ.

A similar day to yesterday, with us waiting until late in the day to fly. It was very strong in the afternoon, south winds, so when it became lighter we were once again using the south launch. It was stronger though, and swirly winds, so it was a bit of a gong show to watch the launches. Many duffs and aborted launches, some excitement too. Ryan gashed his knee on the sharp rocks during an abort, and had to go to the hospital for stitches. Jeff had some punctures to his leading edge of his glider, and while he was fixing the holes on launch, undid his legstraps. He forgot to re-strap them when he launched afterwards, and as he flew away from the hill, sensed he wasn't strapped in and opted to right away slide out of his harness, to fall to the slope below. Fortunately the slope is super-steep, and he fell and rolled, no injuries other than a fast-beating heart. But the rest of us just about had heart attacks watching him fall from his harness from the air. But he got himself sorted out again, and successfully launched later on.

Up on launch it was sunny but south wind. Normally we'd set a task north in this wind, but it looked a bit stable for that (crossing to table mountain with no LZs), so we opted for a 40 km "fishbowl" task, from launch to the Pagliaro gap, to the gravel pits, again for another round, and to the Nicholson LZ in time for the Sunday party and dinner planned.

We ended up waiting all day, opening the window, closing it, extending it, once again closing it, etc. We could see it getting better as the day went on, so we finally decided on a 6:30pm start of the race.

It was really south, so we all launched from the south launch. The locals have been working to fix the south launch so it's not as steep and clifflike, and it's a bit sloped now (still being worked on though), but still not the most comfortable of launches. There were a few hairy launches, but most people got off (some decided to stand down).

A beautiful day, foggy and cold in the morning, but as soon as the sun came up enough over the mountains it warmed right up. Task for the Race Willi competitors was a race to Spillimacheen (60 km); we wanted the first day to be “easy” with lots of people in goal to start the meet off positively. When launch came it was hard to stay up, very scratchy and difficult to get above launch height. While thermalling in front of launch, I watched Dave Underwood have a nice episode, asymmetric to cravatte to spiral dive, to another asymmetric etc. He eventually fixed it but not before losing a bunch of height, and likely scaring a bunch of people about to launch.

Couple of updates for the Willi that starts tomorrow...

- The weather looks awesome.

- There will be beer at the Muller party tomorrow. I'm getting two pony kegs from Revelstoke. Enough registrations and we'll do it again on Sunday. (Why do I always start with the beer - hmmmmm?)

- Breakfast will run from 8 to 10 each morning. Racers may need to be up the hill and we want to get out of there at a reasonable time so we'll cut things off at 10 - get up or go hungry will be our motto. Breakfast Saturday is ham and eggs.

- Pilot meeting each morning after breakfast at 10:00. We'll have a simple agenda for these meetings to keep them brisk and informative, and to keep us focused given all that will be going on: 1) Review of Yesterday (good flights, incidents, launch issues, scoring problems, etc.); 2) Flying Tips Discussion (what worked, what didn't, a little Q&A - get the experienced pilots talking so the newbies can hear what they are thinking and doing); 3) Weather Review; 4) Task Briefing; 5) Ride Arrangements.

The 10th annual Willi is just 3 weeks away. This is without a doubt going to be the biggest gathering of PG and HG XC competitors in Canada this year. You will have fun and learn, and if the weather cooperates, do some of the best flying you can imagine.

3 great meets will be happening over the week. For anyone who might be confused about what is going on, here are more
details...

1) The Willi, as you have come to know and love it, will go on as usual from Aug 5 to 11, including...

- Classes for all level of pilot, PG and HG.
- 3 best flights count (same basic rules as last year for O&R, landing bonuses, etc.).

Thanks Randy Rauck and the Lumby Air Force for a great time at the Air Races. The flying was fun, and the after hours activities worth the trip alone. I'll be going again next year, whatever the weather forecast.

But now the problem. Once again I've won money flying, and anybody who has seen me fly knows that just isn't fair. So I'm putting up $200 (my wife says she needs the rest) to be given to the first PG pilot to complete a designated challenge at the Willi. Last time we did this two years ago, Will Gadd completed the 150 km O&R task for my money on the first day he had a chance.

I need a tougher challenge - maybe a longer O&R, a triangle, or some place special to fly. If you have a suggestion, something realistic but challenging that anyone on a paraglider could take a shot at, let me know at randy@keyinc.com. I'll sort through the options suggested and let everyone know what the designated challenge is prior to the Willi.