XC News

Flight report from Paddy:

At 6:05 the first cumulus clouds appeared, but soon the sky turned blue again. Around 6:30 more clouds popped up, and we decided to launch. It was almost too early, as the clouds didn’t work well at first for Sebi. Jérôme also had to test the conditions lower down, but for me it worked fine and I was able to stay high. Flying as a team, we moved efficiently and chased Sebi.

By the time we got closer to Sebi, he had already lost Chrischi. Soon after, the three of us were the only ones still airborne.

Near Quixadá I got very low, and Jérôme had to leave me behind. Shortly afterward, I found a strong lift back to cloud base. From there, fewer clouds appeared, making it harder to find a good line. I still managed to keep a good pace and noticed that I had overtaken Sebi, who was flying a more southerly route. On the plateau I passed the 500-km mark — from that point on, I couldn’t stop smiling.

Already happy with the flight, I took more time to climb in thermals and set Piripiri as a distant goal. But seeing it still 70 km away after 9.5 hours in the air, I didn’t focus on it much. With few landing options ahead, I chose to follow the road as a safe fallback.

I finally landed just before another large field of Schurema opened up. While I was packing my glider, Sebi passed further south and managed to reach Piripiri.