Chelan Paragliding World Cup day 1 task 1

Wow a BIG thanks to Chelan for giving it up big time for all our visiting pilots from around the world.  100 pilots are here racing and the day started out looking windy but the good forecast prevailed and we had a great 94k race to goal. 

Having two full days to recover from my nasty upper respiratory bug was enough and I made it through the day in pretty good shape....  Went through a few cough drops but the energy level is pretty good and I had lots of fun!  The actual start of the race today was set quite a ways from the Chelan butte from which we take off.  I was ready and launched more than an hour and fifteen minutes before the start of the race.  I joined up with a strong gaggle and we were able to get established on the flats pretty well and then made our way up wind so that it would be a down wind start for us when the 2:00 start time arrived.

I don't think I let off the speed bar today hardly once except to climb, and I only let myself climb in the strongest thermal cores.  I did have some excitement while adjusting my in flight relief system.  Probably should have done that before I had to go so was rewarded with a big collapse on one side, and then the other before I was able to regain control.  I was thinking that would be pretty ironic that I've managed my glider so well over the 60+ hours I have on it, and then I end up throwing my reserve messing around with my condom catheter!

Once again, as soon as we started the race, conditions were quite fast and you really had to push it to stay competitive.  I enjoyed flying briefly with one of the GIN 2 liner protos, but managed to get away from him pretty quickly.  Towards the end of the race I ended up with my friend Dean Stratton who flies the same glider as I do.  We were honestly out front in position to go 1/2, and for some reason, don't ask me why, we just slowed down when we totally didn't need to.  Just a few wasted turns in light lift was all it took to bring a huge gaggle of pilots in on top of us.  As soon as I saw this we both took off and began the final leg of the race.  Another US pilot made a great move and used his extra altitude to pass us both, and then Dean, trying hard to catch him took a big whack and by the time he had it sorted out I was able to just edge him to goal.  A very strong pilot from South Africa also managed to sneak in just behind and below me where I couldn't see him and then at the last moment made a move and came in under neath me by 1 second!  I think there were a dozen pilots into goal all with a few minutes of each other - very close and fun racing!  We actually got to land on grass today which was a real treat as well!

When they score a race they have what they call leading points, which rewards pilots for pushing out ahead and finding thermals on their own.  It's ever so much easier to come from behind and have all the lift "marked" for you so they are good about rewarding those pilots who take more risk....   Because of leading points, sometimes just getting to the goal first isn't enough to actually beat the person who comes in right behind you..

I had a great first day, and I'm sure I'm in the top 5 so am very happy with my best world cup task finish yet.  It's just gonna get more competitive each day as pilots get more tuned in and tuned up with their gliders.  You really have to be on your game to stay competitive.

The weather forecast looks stellar, and I hate to speculate, but it looks like the 2010 PWC (paragliding world cup) weather curse may finally be coming to and end!.  Tomorrow it looks like the winds will be manageable again, and the climbs should be to 12,000 feet!  Might even have to get out the hand warmers!

If you want to catch some of the action while it happens, the PWC website has pictures, videos, and a live leaderboard along with some live tracking with those pilots who are using the Spot devices...

http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/

Jack