Competition News

Es ist mir eine Ehre, diesen Abschlussbericht zu verfassen und allen CH Teampiloten zu ihrer Leistung zu gratulieren. Der heutige Wettkampftag war aufgrund der unsicheren Wetterlage bis zuletzt fraglich und wurde schliesslich am Startplatz abgesagt. Somit stehen die Gesamtergebnisse fest: Sarah Zimmermann hat sich bei den Damen erfolgreich gegen ihre Konkurrentinnen durchgesetzt. Ihr Debüt mit dem Zeno2 war ein voller Erfolg – herzlichen Glückwunsch zu Deiner konstanten Leistung! Bei den Herren sind wir stolz, gleich dreimal in den Top 20 vertreten zu sein: Overall * Dominik Breitinger auf Platz 9 * Steve Cox auf Platz 14 * Jérôme Kägi auf Platz 17 Die Teamatmosphäre war hervorragend und unterstützend, genau so, wie man es sich wünscht. Vielen Dank für die schöne gemeinsame Zeit. Unserem Freund Cédric Aymon senden wir als Team herzliche Genesungswünsche und hoffen auf eine schnelle Heilung sowie eine gute Heimreise. Bis bald, Roger *********** It's a great honor for me to write this final report and congratulate all the team pilots on their performance. Today's competition day was uncertain until the very end due to unstable weather and was ultimately canceled at the starting point. Therefore, the overall results are final: Sarah Zimmermann successfully asserted herself against her competitors in the women's category. Her debut with the Zeno2 was a complete success – congratulations on her consistent performance! Among the men, we are proud to have three pilots in the Top 20: Dominik Breitinger in 9th place Steve Cox in 14th place Jérôme Kägi in 17th place The team atmosphere was excellent and supportive, exactly as one would wish. Thank you very much for the great time together. We send our warmest recovery wishes to our friend Cédric Aymon and hope for a speedy recovery and a good journey home. See you, Roger

Français plus bas / English below Pictures by Dominik Breitinger ---------- Heute Morgen um 8 Uhr fiel die Entscheidung, zu einem alternativen Startplatz nach Rubbio zu fahren – in der Hoffnung, in der Region um Bassano trotz des schwierigen Wetters einen gültigen Task fliegen zu können. Ein früher Start war geplant. Dieser verzögerte sich jedoch, da ein Car im Stau stecken blieb. Als wäre das nicht schon genug, gab es zusätzlich Navigationsprobleme: Rund 20 Piloten landeten mitten im Wald auf einer schmalen, kurvigen Straße, wo der Car schließlich stecken blieb. Kleinere Vans eilten zur Rettung – und so erreichten auch die letzten Piloten nach dreistündiger Fahrt den Startplatz. Das Briefing verlief zügig, und man durfte direkt bei besten Bedingungen starten. Die Thermik war stark – die schönste der Woche. Leider bildete sich schon bald eine große Gewitterzelle. Etwa 30 Minuten vor dem Airstart wurde der Task daher rechtzeitig gestoppt. Alle Piloten landeten sicher im Goal. Kurz darauf fielen bereits die ersten Regentropfen. Der Car konnte erfolgreich aus seiner misslichen Lage befreit werden, und nach einem wohlverdienten Bier ging es wieder zurück nach Hause. ---------- Ce matin, à 8 heures, la décision a été prise de se rendre sur un site de décollage alternatif à Rubbio - dans l'espoir de pouvoir voler une tâche valable dans la région de Bassano, malgré les conditions météorologiques difficiles. Un décollage précoce était prévu. Celui-ci a toutefois été retardé car un car est resté bloqué dans un embouteillage. Comme si cela ne suffisait pas, il y avait en plus des problèmes de navigation : une vingtaine de pilotes ont atterri au milieu de la forêt sur une route étroite et sinueuse, où le car est finalement resté bloqué. Des vans plus petits se sont précipités à la rescousse - et c'est ainsi que les derniers pilotes ont atteint le lieu de départ après trois heures de route. Le briefing s'est déroulé rapidement et les pilotes ont pu décoller directement dans les meilleures conditions. Les thermiques étaient forts - les plus beaux de la semaine. Malheureusement, une grosse cellule orageuse s'est rapidement formée. Environ 30 minutes avant l'airstart, la tâche a donc été arrêtée à temps. Tous les pilotes ont atterri en toute sécurité dans le goal. Peu après, les premières gouttes de pluie sont tombées. Le car a pu être sorti avec succès de sa fâcheuse position et, après une bière bien méritée, nous sommes rentrés à la maison. Traduit avec DeepL.com (version gratuite) ---------- At 8 o'clock this morning, the decision was made to drive to an alternative launch site in Rubbio - in the hope of being able to fly a valid task in the region around Bassano despite the difficult weather. An early start was planned. However, this was delayed because a car got stuck in a traffic jam. As if that wasn't enough, there were also navigation problems: around 20 pilots landed in the middle of the forest on a narrow, winding road, where the car eventually got stuck. Smaller vans rushed to the rescue - and so even the last pilots reached the starting area after a three-hour drive. The briefing went quickly and they were allowed to take off directly in the best conditions. The thermals were strong - the best of the week. Unfortunately, a large thunderstorm cell soon formed. The task was therefore stopped in good time around 30 minutes before the air launch. All pilots landed safely in the goal. Shortly afterwards, the first drops of rain began to fall. The car was successfully rescued from its awkward position and after a well-earned beer, it was time to return home. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Today a 58km Task was set wich was pretty straight forward on the paper, but at the end, left us with different approaches. For the airstart, we took off in the higher mountains and then had a cylinder in the flats where it was just a short out and return. Next we were heading back in to the mountains in to the North-East part where (at least we were told so) never before a task was set. After the north-easterly waypoint, we were heading back over the take off and further to the west. For the final glide the plan was then to come back to the take off again, gain height, take one more waipoint in the flats and then come back to the landing field. After the airstart and the glide out and returning to the mountain, the first fiew kilometers were really fast and basically only ridge racing. We were all pretty well positioned and kept pushing hard on the ridge. Back at the take off, flying direction the westerly turnpoint, the group was splitting the first time. Most of the pilots took the slightly longer route on the luv side of the hill where me and Jérôme went for the more direct route over through the lee side of the hill, which was kind of sketchy, as we were facing a lot of head wind coming around the hill at some point. The climbs were not that good and we kept pushing low for the next vally crossing, while the other pilots came in around 200m higher over our heads. Unfortunately there was no lift on the westerly waypoint and we had to head straight back direction the takeoff where we were able to get some hight on the lee side of the hill. Steve Cox was pushing hard against the wind and got to the luv side of the take off first of the swiss guys, but unfortunately the thermals were week and the wind was not really helping. Roger Aeschbacher and myself kept catching thermals on the lee side and tried to follow the leading group which was about 2 minutes ahead and around 200m higher, already on the luv side. I was lucky and just catched the important thermal below the leaders, while Roger had to keep on going to the next ridge to find some other thermals. During the final glide through the flats, I was able to catch up to the leaders. We had a good glide but it felt like dead air until we were around 300m over ground and I still needed glide ratio 10.5 to goal. We catched a week 0.5m/s thermal and only the four highest pilots out of our 16 pilots group, kept on going. I started going at glide ratio 9.5 to goal and made it with 100m over the line, 4 minutes behind the first pilots. In the end it could have worked without the last weak thermal, but with a high risk of bombing out. The others of the swiss team came in within the next 15 minutes and it was overall a ok day for the swiss team. Sarah Zimmermann made a really good move and went out to the flats earlier then the others, which was the shorter but riskier route. She was able to overtake a lot of other pilots on the final glide with finding a week convergence line in the flats, which was enough to get directly to goal. Thanks to this move she is now first in the women standings, while only flying on a Zeno! Unfortunately there are also bad news for today. Cédric Aymon had a big collaps while pushing on the ridges, which was ending in a crash below the rocky cliffs. The hight was unfortely not enough in order to open the reserve. He got flown to the hospital in Feltre with the helicopter and was getting surgery on the same evening. He is ok and will be able to leave the hospital in a few days. Fortunately he "only" has several broken bones on the leg, ribs and the connection between femur and hip, but no injuries to his back. Morane Montavon was visiting him before surgery and his dad will arrive today. We wish him a speedy recovery. Pictures by Roger Aeschbacher and Sarah Zimmermann.

Today's 90km task stretched to approximately 120km due to various detours. The start proved as tricky as yesterday! Super stable conditions and a strong crosswind on takeoff made launching difficult. The queue was so long that some pilots, including Alfredo, were too late to reach the mountain base. The first leg was particularly challenging due to a much stronger easterly wind than predicted. We had to fly through significant lee thermals, which were rated at a Level 2+. However, the day gradually improved, turning into a fast ridge race towards the easterly turning point. The Swiss Team once again made some impressive moves, with several pilots finishing among the top 50. Overall today: 5 Roger 15 Steve Cox 17 Dominik Breitinger 29 Jérôme Kägi 57 Cédric Aymon 58 Morane Montavon 77 Sarah Zimmermann 78 Alfredo Studer 94 Davide Licini Overall after 4 Tasks: 10 Steve Cox 12 Dominik Breitinger 18 Jérôme Kägi Congratulations to the team for their consistent performance so far!

After heavy rain and thunderstorms yesterday, we woke up to cool, fresh air. A cloud band hovered over the valley, covering everything, so it took a while for the day to get started. I also counted three inversion layers that gradually burned off. After 12:00, the conditions improved, and the PWCA team decided to allow pilots into the air, setting the air start for 2:00 PM. Roger and I decided to launch early to explore the air and assess our options. He had a big knot on the left side but luckily managed to open it in the air. As for me, I had to top-land and untangle a mess with my risers, so the early start didn’t really work out. I had to return to the launch line and waited another 15 minutes. In the end, nearly all the Swiss pilots were well positioned for the air start—let the race begin. The start was fast as always. In our briefing, we had agreed to stay high and fly conservatively given the conditions, and it paid off. More than half the field essentially raced themselves into the ground, while we stayed high in the mountains, making sure never to get too low. It worked out perfectly—almost all Swiss pilots were in the top 21. The task was stopped after about 65% due to thunderstorms and rain. However, it still counts, and it’s an important one because of the significant point gap between the top 22 and the rest. Tomorrow looks promising—let’s fly smart again. Ranking Today: 4. Jérôme Kägi 8. Dominik Breitinger 10. Steve Cox 11. Morane Montavon 12. Alfredo Studer 14. Roger Aeschbacher 21. Sarah Zimmermann 49. Davide Licini 53. Cédric Aymon Ranking Overall: 6. Steve Cox 9. Dominik Breitinger 12. Jérôme Kägi 21. Alfredo Studer 40. Sarah Zimmermann 77. Davide Licini 83. Roger Aeschbacher 91. Morane Montavon 100. Cédric Aymon Foto credits: - Morane Montavon - Dominik Breitinger

Nebst 35C und sehr warmen Nächten ist diese Abkühlung willommen auch wenn etwas zu füh um ein gültigen Task abzufliegen. Wir nutzen die Zeit um das Material zu optimieren. Auch morgen sieht es feucht aus, die Hoffnung besteht, dass wir nach Bassano starten gehen.

Die Aufregung war gross als wir am Startplatz Aveno ob Feltre ankamen. Viele Einheimische flüchteten an diesem Sonntag der Hitze und besuchten uns Piloten auf der grosse schöne Startwiese, welche die Organisatoren extra ein Tag zuvor mähten und abzäumten. Im Gegensatz zum Trainingstag hingen die Wolken tief. Es sind feucht labile Verhältnisse heute der Basis knapp unter 2000m. Der Task 82km mit Bojen überall in der Talmitte gesetzt, machten es uns sehr schwer zu entscheiden, ob wir über den Ridge mit Umweg oder direkt im Tal fliegen sollten. Deshalb war es wirklich anspruchsvoll die optimale Taktik und Linie zu finden. Die meisten nahmen den Ridge und genau hier verlor Roger und ich den Anschluss als wir die direkte Linie suchten für die zweite Boje im Flachen. Der Anschluss wieder zu finden, war eine Herausforderung, als Dominik am Ridge wieder antraf, war ich froh einigermassen wieder Anschluss gefunden zu haben. Der Rest war wirklich nur noch Ridge - Tal und Ridge - Tal bis wir in Goal waren. Es kamen viele ins Goal, manchmal hauch dünn, sodass man viele glückliche Gesichte sah am Landeplatz. Swiss Team Overall: 19. Steve Cox 21. Dominik Breitinger 32. Jérome Kägi 44. Alfredo Studer 67. Sarah Zimmermann (1. Frau) 78. Davide Licini 95. Cédric Aymon xx. Roger Aeschbacher 109. Morane Montavon Frauenwertung: 1. Sarah Zimmermann