Competition News

The main theme for yesterday was "finally flying a task". Given the wind (Sout-West to South up high, North-West low pushing in as an amplified valley breeze), the options were limited. So we opted for a classic with a twist: Flims and back - but with a few modifications:
- While the pilots were free to choose their line for the leg to Flims (around the Nagens area), we set four turnpoints on the way back, leading them out towards Ilanz, then back towards Crap Masegn, then out to Brigels, back up to the top of the mountain behind Brigels (La Cauma) before the End of Speed Section around Piz Dado to the East of Brigels.
- With the wind coming in over the Lukmanier pass, landing in Disentis was not an option, so we set the goal in Trun, 10 km down the valley.
The total distance was 69 km.

The day started out with good thermals up to about 3300 m, more cumulus clouds than anticipated, and a noticeable drift towards the north up high. After the start it took the fastest pilots less than 45 minutes for the 34 km to the first turnpoint in Flims. But then conditions changed. From the second turnpoint onward, pilots rarely managed to climb above 2700 m, and the closer they got to the last two turnpoints near Brigels, the more difficult climbing became in general.

The leader at that time, Lars Meerstetter, arrived in Brigels below 1800 m, and had to take a detour to Piz Dado to get up again, which took him 17 minutes. The following group arrived 8 minutes later in Brigels, and found a climb between La Cauma and Piz Dado. Nicolas Poncelet was the first at the last turnpoint, and secured the fastest time with a clever move to ESS behind Piz Dado, beating Lars by 2 minutes. Only, this was not enough to overcome Lars' leading point advantage.

Behind the leaders, the pilots who had managed to make more altitude before flying into the Brigels area had an easier time reconnecting and getting to the final turnpoint, but as Lars had demonstrated, with patience and skill, even getting up from quite low worked out. The climbs were quite rough at times, due to the mix of wind directions - due East on the ground in Brigels, South to South-West higher up. In the end 46 pilots made goal, and all but four were already on the ground when the task was stopped due to a shower east of Disentis.

Winners
Overall: Lars Meerstetter (Switzerland)
Women: Lene Spaarwater (Chile, 8th overall)
Sports Class: Frédéric Monnet (Switzerland, 7th overall)
Junior: Jean Morisetti (Switzerland, 3rd overall)

All photos by Martin Scheel.