Competition News

Michael Sigel hat beim Paragliding World Cup im indischen Panchgani den Gesamtsieg über 7 Tasks geholt. Für den 38-Jährigen war es ein Wettkampf ohne grosse Erwartungen und wurde genau deshalb zu einem der stärksten Auftritte seiner Karriere. Gratulation!! ***** Michael Sigel a remporté la victoire finale lors de la Coupe du monde de parapente à Panchgani, en Inde, après 7 épreuves. Pour ce pilote de 38 ans, il s'agissait d'une compétition sans grandes attentes, qui s'est précisément transformée en l'une des plus belles performances de sa carrière. Félicitations!

Today was Task 6, a 77 km race with a strong southerly wind around 25 km/h. The take-off was quite sketchy with the wind strength, making the launch phase a bit tense. The start was set at 14:00, which turned out to be perfect timing — we were already well positioned about 8 minutes before the start opened. The task was designed as a square. The first leg to the north was relatively straightforward, followed by a leg to the east with plenty of cumulus clouds and some very nice lines, allowing good progress. The southern section was much more technical, with strong headwind and higher terrain to cross. Fortunately, we had enough altitude to manage it. At the last turnpoint before ESS we were still around 40 pilots together, so the race was wide open. The final section towards the south was quite decisive, with a 17 km glide into goal. Thermals were weak, giving an average glide ratio of around 7, which made efficiency and decisions even more important. A few pilots from the leading group landed before ESS, which reshuffled the results again. Results — Task 6 1 Davide Sassudelli 2 Haris Lepesis 3 Noé Court 18 Michael Sigel 26 Tim Bollinger 38 Dominik Breitinger 43 Jean Morisetti 55 Mathieu Devaud

Today we used the main take-off again, the same as in the previous tasks, with a relatively strong southerly wind around 20 km/h. The launch conditions were quite manageable despite the wind strength, and the start phase went relatively smoothly. Task 5 was a 77 km race with a maximum cloud base around 2,900 m. The second leg towards the south was quite long, with low speeds in transition due to rather weak thermals. This allowed a large part of the gaggle to regroup around Panchgani, which reset the race dynamics a bit. After that, several gaggles split depending on the chosen lines and who managed to connect the better climbs. In the end, it really came down to timing — whoever found the strongest thermal and left first had the advantage. The last 5 km were flown at full speed, pushing hard on bar all the way to goal. Results — Task 5 1 Noé Court 2 Richard Pethigal 3 Manuel Laly 5 Michael Sigel 10 Jean Morisetti 18 Dominik Breitinger 44 Tim Bollinger 49 Kaj Witzig 52 Mathieu Devaud

Today more south wind was predicted and we went to another takeoff which was better suited for the southerly winds. Unfortunately the burned down the whole hill and everything was covered with ashes. The organization did everything they could to get the takeoff as clean as possible and sent a few helpers a day before in order to get the takeoff ready for us. We arrived to a properly cleaned starting area where they have also tried to cover as much of the area as possible with plastic covers. The wind was strong and the takeoff itself relatively small (only two gliders at the time were able to prepare for taking off). Therefore the starting procedure took quite some time and also because there were many aborted starts. Once in the air, the lifts were much weaker then the days before, and we had to take 3m/s thermals to go up to cloud base. We have never had really nice clouds the days before, but today they were forming quite nicely on the task line. As it is very dusty in the air, it sometimes was hard to tell if you are flying in the dust or already in the clouds. The first TP was set around 10km to the southeast, before turning back, flying over Panchgani and crossing the lake to the north in order to reach TP2. After that, a 40km leg to the south was set, before landing in goal. During the start, there were two groups. Unfortunately almost all the swiss guys, were in the left group, which was the worse decision. Benjamin was on the right side as well together with me. We had a quite good line going in to the south and back direction Panchgani. After tacking the second turnpoint in the Nortch, Michael Sigel, who started on the left side, slowly managed to catch up and eventually made it back in to the leading group together with me, just in time to cross the flats. It was a long glide, where we did not cross one thermal. Fortunately we arrived with a good amount of altitude on the other side and managed to catch a good lift which got us high enough to start the 15km final glide. We were pushing full bar throughout the whole 15km and arrived 20 seconds behind the first pilot (which unfortunately has a slightly faster glider). Benjamin arrived only 1:45 minutes later with a very good result as well. The other swisspilots unfortunately were not able to catch up and started struggeling with weaker climbs behind us and lost a bit of time to the leaders. In the overall ranking it is now very tight with the top three only separated by 5 points. It looks like we are able to fly 7/7 tasks, so there are still 3 tasks to go. Michael Sigel is looking really strong with scoring over 980pts in every task so far and is the only one in the top 3 with no discard. Positions overall after 4 tasks: 1. Dominik Breitinger 2. Austin Cox 3. Michael Sigel 12. Noé Court 25. Jean Morisetti 26. Tim Bollinger

Today it was way windier at the takeoff than yesterday. A 72km Task was set with only two Turnpoints, before heading towards the ESS while around 10kph of SE-Wind was predicted. It was taking us 30km south-east, before we had to cross the flats to the nord and then going direction west on the 20km final glide to the ESS. It was again a very fast task with the fastest pilot going over the 40 kph average speed mark. Again, the conditions were great and we had nice and smooth thermals with around 4m/s taking us to 3’000m above sea level, which was giving us very good working height, as most of the terrain is at 700m over sea level with mountains at around 1200m. So, it is like flying in the Jura mountains and the flats at 2’800m all day long. At the air start the field was split up in to 3 groups. The main gaggle with around 90% of the pilots, which was more towards the ridge, but with a slightly longer way to TP1. Then one group of two pilots where Tim was one of them, which was waiting more north in order to take the most direct line to TP1 and finally a group in between of around 10 Pilots, where me and also Benjamin were in. My group started to struggle just 5 minutes before the air start and had to start the race 150m lower than the other two groups. Tim was having a very good line at the beginning on the left, but unfortunately hit some big sink when flying towards the ridge before TP1 and had to play catch up after around 1/4 of the task. My group was pushing hard at the beginning but came in low, while the leading gaggle was taking a thermal further back, which was good for us as we were able to get some leading points while also climbing. The big gaggle then past us around 100m higher while we were in a nice 4m/s climb and just kept on going as the ridge was working very well. From here on I was always a tiny bit behind (20-30 seconds) and around 100m lower. When crossing the flats to the second and already last Turnpoint I was finally able to close in and hit a beautiful thermal which brought us up to 3000m, ready to go towards the last Turnpoint. Together with Michi and Noé we took the last TP and started pushing towards the ESS. Here we were a tiny bit too conservative and did 4 more turns in a good climb, while two Niviuk Pilots kept on going. Unfortunately, we hit very strong climbs in front of us over a long time and at the end almost all the pilots arrived 600-800m over Goal and we were not able to catch up with the two Niviuk Pilots. Still, it is a very good results with myself getting to the ESS with 40 seconds behind as 4th and Michi Sigel and Noé Court just 10 seconds behind me as 5th and 6th. Also Jean Morisetti had a very strong race and arrived only 2 minutes after the first Niviuk Pilot (the well-known Brazilian Richard Pethigal). Tim unfortunately was not able to catch up completely and arrives 15 minutes late, but again, with his very own approach of flying this task. Overall, we now have 3 Swiss pilots in the Top 4: 1st Dominik Breitinger 2nd Michael Sigel 4th Noé Court Let’s hope we can keep up the good pace.

The PWC in India which is taking place in Panchgani has started off today with a Task of 73km. After we had a ruff flight yesterday with very turbulent conditions, where we had thermals with 7m/s average and peak thermals up to 9m/s, we were looking for a way smoother flight today. The conditions were nice and not as bumpy as the day before with an average of 4-5m/s climbs and top thermals around 7m/s. A 73km Task was set where different options could be taken to reach the fist turnpoint. A small group of around 5-6 pilots including Tim and me were heading more south in the start cylinder in order to take a more direct line to the first turnpoint. We were efficient and reached turnpoint 1 around 3-4 minutes ahead of the other gaggle which was lead by Michael Sigel. Tim was pushing hard, but was getting low. So it was Michael an myself flying high in front towards Turnpoint 2 which was leading us back over the take off area and more south of Panchgani. It was very straight forward and we always found climbs where we needed them. Meanwhile Tim was trying to catch up and took his own approach with the most possible direct line through the flats. At the second last turnpoint he was with us again, but a few 100 meters lower. Noé Court was pushing hard as well and was able to fly towards the last turnpoint together with Michi and me, where Michi was controlling the field very nicely with a good amount of more height. After the last turnpoint we had a final glide of around 15km with a tiny bit of headwind. I was starting around 100m lower than the others, but caught e very good line which allowed me to arrive with the same height at the ESS as Michi Sigel which was one of the highest. Michi arrived first, just 1 second ahead of me, but with the lead I had at the beginning, I won with the leading points. Also Noé Court arrived just 10 seconds after. Also Tim was pushing behind and reached goal with only 7 minutes behind. With an average speed of 40.8km/h it was a very fast and super nice task. All the other swiss guys made it to the ESS as well. Unfortunately Benjamin Fankhauser who arrived only 5 minutes after the first pilots, landed 1km short before the line, after making it to the ESS. The next days are looking great as well and we are looking forward to some epic tasks. Cheers from India Dominik