PWC Superfinal Task 3

Valle de Bravo has been producing the consistent strong conditions that it is known for.  This will require the pilots to maintain a high level of airmanship while fighting the insidious effects of fatigue.  It appears that the major shift from uncertified gliders to EN-D gliders (the latest and greatest of which are effectively comp wings with less speed authority) has had little effect on the number of reserve tosses.  Whether safety has actually been improved will be debated extensively following this comp.

Task 3 - Click on photo for larger view

The task was a 103 Km. task with 7 legs and finished at the lake.  The ESS was close, and in the lee of Cerro Gordo - a dubious decision that put all finishing pilots only a 7Km. downwind glide to goal.  Many pilots hit the ESS point at low altitutde, on speed and this was Nick Greece's undoing.  He had led the pack for 2 1/2 hours only to blow-up big at Cerro Gordo and come down under reserve. 

Jack Brown had some problems also in task 3.  It appears, from interpreting the score sheet, that Jack jumped the start.  He flew a great race, but was only rewarded with 35 points since he only got credit for the first segment to the start cylinder.  Both Nick and Jack have flown well, and will drop 1 task in 4, so the day won't end their hopes to score well in the comp.

Josh Cohn and Eric Reed flew very well, placing 7th and 12th respectively.   Brett Z placed 72nd. Overall Josh is 9th, Eric is 18th, Jack and Nick are 47th and 48th - But a much more accurate standing (due to the discard rule) will be seen after the 4th task.

Great flying by all!

Here is a great compilation of informational sources compiled by Otto Schultz:

Official sites
3D Tracking 
Official PWC site
Organiser's website
Paragliding World Cup TV
Pilot list
Live tracking
Taskboards
Live Leaderboard
Retrieve map
Results: Task 1 | Task 2 | Task 3 | Overall
Task Tracklogs: Task 1 | Task 2 | Task 3
Task Animations: Task 1 | Task 2 | Task 3


Blogs:
in English: Nicole McLearn | Brett Hazlett | Nicky Moss | Andre Rainsford | Gin Team Blog
in French: Gin Team France | Team ABAC | Elisa Houdry & Ludovic Sivignon | Maxime Bellemin | Charles Cazeau
in German: Swiss Team | German Team | Pepe Malecki
in Russian: Russian Team
in Portuguese: Claudio Virgilio
in Slovenian: SFFA news
in Czech: PGweb.cz/Renata Kuhnova
in Italian: Italian Team

Tim