2010 PWC Superfinal Results and some News

The US team is heading home from Turkey and they can hold their heads up high.  After 7 tasks in 11 days, the US pilots all flew well and brought home 5th place in the Team standings, of which Cross Country Magazine says, "In fifth place was Team USA. The seven pilots flew strongly to show that they are now a true force on the international stage."

Congratulations go to all seven guys:  Nate Scales who was the highest scoring US pilot, at 23rd - Josh Cohn placed 28th - Eric Reed at 49th - Len Szafaryn at 54th - Nick Greece, who was leading after task two, finished at 59th - 2010 US Nat'l Champion, Jack Brown, at 88th and Brad Gunnuscio at 92nd.

Thanks for representing the US Comp pilots and flying well! 

Final Results are HERE

PWC FORMAT TO RETAIN THE SUPERFINAL:

The PWC format, for the foreseeable future, will retain the 'Superfinal' format, with 5 regional tests before selecting the qualifiers for the Superfinal.  This format was overwhelmingly approved and will continue to improve the chances of US pilots to qualify, and participate in, the highest level competitions in our sport.


PMA SAYS "GO SERIAL":

On an interesting note; The PMA has announced:

“The PMA believe that from the material point of view a significant way to improve safety in FAI cat.1 competitions is to restrict them to EN–D gliders. Open Class gliders have their place in competitions but FAI cat.1 is not that place.”

Read the full Cross Country article HERE.

I've gone on record as being in favor of such a move, and I still believe it would help our sport grow and improve the quality and safety of our competitions.  I do believe that there is a place for full-on racing (uncertified) ships for use in the PWC that will provide a venue for the highest performance and R&D for the manufacturers.  Much like Formula One and America's Cup racing, there is a place for the spectacular performance of a "cost is no object" type of class*, but I feel that competing mano-a-mano on whatever performance wing will provide better 'sport' for a larger market.  Admittedly, I am flying an EN-D wing in competitions and this obviously biases my opinion, but my choice of wing is due to my opinion that my EN-D wing provides a increased margin of safety and handling not exhibited by competition wings.

I am not cynical enough to assume that the PMA decision is to boost sales by requiring serious competitors to purchase a Cat 1 comp wing and another to fly in PWC events - I hope they feel it will stimulate the market and expand it.  Am I naive?  I hope not.

Do I think Cross Country Competitions will become safer?  Probably not.  Quite simply, it's the stuff between the ears that, ultimately, provides a safety margin.  You can fly a Cessna 150 into trashy air & the result will be ugly.  Pick your line intelligently and fly safely - THAT's the measure of a good pilot. . .
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* By 'cost is no object' I mean $$ is no object. . . Unfortunately in the sport of paragliding, the cost to compete on the highest performance wings can mean the cost is your personal safety - This I find unacceptable.

Fly Safe,
Tim

2010 PWC Superfinal Task 3

LATE EDIT -
Well today was a tough one for some of our guys -
Jack Brown and Nick Greece were leading out, much of the day and had great times to the ESS (end of speed section) but landed a few hundred meters short of the goal line. This mistake (which was also made by many others in the lead gaggle) cost them 500 points.

For Nick, who's flown quite well, today's score will be discarded when the next task is flown.
Nate, Len, Josh, Brad, and Eric all had a 900+ point day today, so they are still in the running after the discard.
Cumulative results are HERE
Stay tuned.

Tim

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Another task flown today.  Around 100 pilots into goal with (at the time of this post) Jack Brown of the USA crushing the field (in terms of PWC finishes) by almost 3 minutes.  All 7 of the US pilots made goal today and Nick's lead may not be enough to hold first, over Japan's Kurimoto, but it looks like he'll be in the top-2 or 3 after scores are tabulated tonight.  The US Pilots are flying very well and, if enough tasks are flown, the low task score will be dropped - which will help the overall scores of those who had a low task score on the first or second task.

The weather forecast for tomorrow looks OK, but the wind is coming on Saturday so there may be some down days for the guys to rest.

I'm off to the Owens Valley for a three-day end-o-the-season XC Comp.  The turnout will be large and it should be fun.

Tim

Again, for those who are looking for links to stay in touch with the action, here are some links -

- Live LeaderBoard

- Organiser's site 
- World Cup site 
- Pilot list 

Blogs 
in English: Jack Brown : John Ellison : Neil Roberts 

Miscellaneous 
Weather forecast 

2010 PWC Superfinal Task 2

The cumulative results are HERE.  Nick Greece (USA) is leading the Superfinal after two tasks.  Eric Reed is the next US pilot at 23rd.  Len and Nate are in the top-60 but the rest of the US pilots have had one bad day.  Their standings will improve when enough tasks are flown to allow a discard, so noone is out of the running at this time.  Nick's lead is small but impressive considering the stature of the field.  NICE FLYING!

Here's a bit of video, shot by  Phillipe Broers.  You get a good feel for the type of flying a PWC task requires.  Today's task was 63K with an average speed of 41.3 kph! That's fast.


Superfinal Turkey taks 1 from broers philippe on Vimeo.

Tomorrow's weather looks good for another task, but later in the week they can expect some wind.

Go Team America F*#K Yeah!

Tim

2010 Paragliding World Cup Super Final

The PWC Superfinal begins this week.  For those of us, in the US, this year has been a very progressive and successful year for the top pilots.  Much of their success is because of their commitment to fly in PWC events around the world.  2010 was also the first year of the altered PWC format, allowing pilots from the non-alpine nations to compete in more regionally located events.  We also had our first PWC event, held in the U.S. this decade - U.S. PWC event in Chelan, WA in 2010.





The bottom line is that we have 7 pilots in the Superfinal in Turkey this week:
Jack BROWN (95)
Josh COHN (595)
Nicholas GREECE (451)
Brad GUNNUSCIO (744)
Eric REED (717)
Nate SCALES (158)
Len SZAFARYN (164)

Good luck to all!

For the rest of us, this can be a great spectator event.  It is still not evident that the "live-tracking" will be used in this event, but every morning I hope to get some information out.  As always, the information is at the mercy of the web access available to the participants and the meet organization.

Below is a list (put out by Tom Payne with some additions by me) of potential information sources during the event.
There may also be info HERE

Official sites 
- Organiser's site 
- World Cup site 
- Pilot list 

Blogs 
in English: Jack Brown : John Ellison : Neil Roberts 
in French: Charles Cazaux : Ain Team Parapente / Team ABAC : Yann Martail : Julien Wirtz : Maxime Bellemin : Jean-Michel Aro-Somohano 
in German: Swiss League : Helmut Eichholzer 
in Russian: Russian Team 

Miscellaneous 
Weather forecast

PWC Superfinal in Poggio Bustone

Those of us relegated to spectator status have something to watch this week. The PWC (Paragliding World Cup) Superfinal is on in Poggio Bustone, Italy - At least that is where they have tried to run the comp - It appears that the weather has been less than cooperative and the participants have been moved to a site near Norma.

So far, three tasks have been flown and scored. The second task was scored after being stopped, and the scoring of this task has created a bit of an anomaly in the overall scores. To read about the comp see the PG Forum topic.

We have pilots from the US participating in the Superfinal. 2009 US Champ, Brad Gunnuscio, as well as Jack Brown, Pete Schaefer, Jeff Wishney, and Bill Hughes all qualified for this elite event. Jack is blogging, when internet connection is available, HERE. Jack is one of the top-ranked US pilots and a fellow airline pilot & Masters class racer - He's giving me hope that an 'old-guy' can compete in this sport. Luca Donini, an 'over 50' Italian, is leading the Superfinal, so that too is encouraging.

There are some great videos of the tasks, from the cockpit of Philippe Broers (a non-competitor) HERE. You can start with THIS video of task one.

Results are HERE.

Good luck guys - Fly safe -

Tim