Spectator Sports

This week has been very rich in stimulus for those of us relegated to spectator status.  Watching the XAlps pilot/athletes endure extreme hardship in the form of extreme cold, high altitude trekking, and flying in extreme conditions, while we sit comfortably at home, is both exciting and a bit frustrating.   Meanwhile. the PWC has started in Turkey and the first leg of the U.S. Nationals in Utah started Sunday.

The sheer domination by Chrigel Maurer in the XAlps has been amazing to watch.  Even with a 24 hour "time-out" penalty, on day 6, for a minor airspace infringement he is crushing the field.   It looks likely that he will land on the raft in Monaco on Tuesday and that Toma Coconea may be the only other competitor to make it to Monaco before the 48 hour clock expires.   Here is a 2 minute recap of the last 10 days -

XAlps Days 1-10 from Tim O'Neill on Vimeo
 Check out the finish via Live Tracking at http://www.redbullxalps.com/live-tracking.html

Meanwhile the US Nats are being held in Utah.  Day 1 had the pilots flying a 121K task to goal with 16 pilots in goal.  Nick Greece won the day by over 8 minutes.  Results are at http://www.flyxc.org/redrock.html.  Day 2 was not tasked due to inclement weather.

The PWC in Turkey results can be found at http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/node/2016

Meanwhile, I'm going flying.

Fly Safe,
Tim