World Championships Cancelled and Comp Gliders Outlawed

In a dispatch from one of the US Team Pilots:

"The FAI, ... has instituted an immediate ban on competition class paragliders in Cat 1 events, and has strongly recommended that this ban be followed in future Cat 2 events.


Due to this FAI rule making, the organizers have ended the competition. The competition is valid under the rules, and prize giving will be tomorrow afternoon."

And here is the official announcement from the Competition Organization:

As a result of the tragic events in the second task of this FAI event, and after due consideration of all the information available, the CIVL Bureau has decided, under its executive powers, and with the full support of the FAI Executive Board, to suspend the certification of Competition Class Paragliders, with immediate effect. As a result, the organisers have decided that it is not possible to continue with further tasks that meet the aims of World and Continental championships, as set out in the FAI Sporting Code. The two tasks flown to date are both valid under the rules and are therefore sufficient to meet the minimum requirements set out in Section 7B. The 12th FAI World Paragliding Championship is therefore considered to have been validated. The closing ceremony and prize-giving will be held tomorrow, Saturday, 8th July at 1pm in the main square. The CIVL President has thanked the safety working group formed by the pilots and team leaders, for all their work on developing ideas to improve safety. He believes there are some very useful ideas there that we hope the relevant CIVL subcommittees will follow up. The Jury President, Vitor Pinto, and other CIVL Officials present have stated that, the organising team has made every effort to comply with the FAI Sporting Code which covers all aspects of competition rules and safety considerations for FAI 1st Category events. These include the new and complex rules introduced this year for Competition Class paragliders. “We greatly appreciate the excellent work of the organisers and we are all deeply disappointed that, through no fault of the organising team, that this competition has resulted in such a sad outcome, ”Mr Pinto commented. Competition Director, Steve Ham, also announced that the organising team is preparing a bid to run the first FAI World Paragliding XC Championship in Serial Class , here in Piedrahita at this time next year, “The CIVL President has told us that he welcomes the proposed bid and that the CIVL Bureau will be favourably disposed towards it,” he said.

Jose Luis Diaz Iraeta – Event Director Steve Ham – Competition Director

Wow - Seminal moment indeed.  I hope this disappointing decision (at the moment) has an overall positive effect on our sport.

Congratulations to the US team for representing the US with skill and professionalism.

Fly Safe -
Tim

Shut Up and FLY

Those are words that Xavier used, on occasion. Sometimes he was less polite. But he always had an infectuous smile and a good humor. From the look of the social networking sites and the mainstream PG info outlets, Xavier's loss in Peru has stirred a lot of emotions. I only know him from the Chelan PWC, but I had looked forward to attending another competition that he was running. . . This, unfortunately, will not be possible. Xavier's wing has been spotted at around 4800 meters in the Peruvian Andes and his remains will no doubt be recovered soon.






It's been a sad week for our community. In Spain, the loss of life has resulted in two days of down time and the Competition Organizers are working to modify the tasks to minimize pilot exposure to high risk conditions. They are also considering modifying the emphasis on speed and elapsed time in scoring. The hope is that less pilots will use full speed if elapsed time isn't an important factor in scoring.

My reactions to this is (deep sigh) a bit frustrated. But I imagine it is not as much as the frustration of those who worked hard to make the teams and flew across oceans to compete on the world stage - only to have the rules changed and the advantages of the modern wings neutered by the new format and restrictions.

I'm going flying with the NorCal league this weekend. I'm not going to comment on the current state of open class paragliding any more, for now, because I've already gone on record with my opinions. I just hope my friends at the Worlds come home safe.

Tim

2011 FAI PG World Championships - Piedrahita, Spain - No Fly Day

The mood in Piedrahita is a somber one.  At 10AM an open pilot meeting was held with pilots and Team Leaders to discuss their feelings about whether or not this competition should continue after the 2 fatalities and numerous reserve rides yesterday.  Conditions during the second task of the competition have been described as "level 1" (no hazards due to wind or turbulence) - in fact, the organizers, in a follow-up message called them "mild."  They went on to describe the incidents in a bit more detail -

In the first incident, the pilot was flying low along the ridge. The glider was seen to suffer a frontal collapse, horseshoe and fall in a stable parachutal stall. Close to the ground, the wing spun and the pilot impacted the ground. No reserve parachute was deployed.
In the second incident, the pilot was flying towards goal at altitude. The glider was seen to suffer a frontal collapse, immediately followed by a large cravat and high velocity spin. The reserve parachute was not deployed before the pilot impacted the ground.

The consensus expressed by the teams, even the Chilean and Argentine teams, was to continue to fly the comp. The Competition organizers and FAI officials, although refraining from making their decision until later this evening, must be very concerned that any additional events would be very detrimental to the sport and to the sportsmen and women participants. If a day with benign flying conditions can result in more than 6 situations requiring the use of the reserve parachute, how can the organizers contemplate tasking a day with more challenging weather? It's not an easy situation to evaluate due to the emotions of the moment and the liabilities of a less than conservative decision. Final decision should be made by Thursday noon PST.

In what I view as an interim band aid, there are considerations being made to "throttle back" the speed systems of the 2-liners to minimize the potential of collapse while on speed. Since yesterday's events occurred on more than one brand of wing, the problems appear, at first blush, to be systemic to the 2-liner design - A design that feels rock-solid until the wing goes away, but is unstable and unpredictable during attempts to recover to normal flight. It's been my observation that the pilots, with skills and experience on comp ships of the past, have the 'old-school' mindset that collapses can be flown away from, even at mid to low altitude - the way it was on prior wings. The evidence indicates that present-day 2-liner wings necessitate a willingness - a necessity even - to throw the reserve before the ineffective wrestling match.

Mads Sydergaard's comments are heartfelt and his explanation for leaving the comp but still fly the 2-liners shows the raw dichotomy of the situation. Things WILL change after this - it is a seminal moment. Maybe some good will come from this tragedy.

It's been a very sad week for Paragliding as a sport. Xavier Murillo is still missing in Peru and the loss of life in Spain necessitates consideration of the cancelling the World Championships.

I love this sport. It has allowed my eyes to view panoramas and experience joys that no other activity could. But this is a sad time.

Fly Safe,

2011 FAI PG World Championships - Task 2

Click for larger graphic

Task Two at the PG World Championships was a 77Km task to Avila.  Conditions were forecast to be a bit lower top-of-lift than yesterday.   This will come as a relief to those pilots who were buoyed over the 10000' ceiling during yesterday's task and received a "0" score for their efforts.

Here are two graphics showing the airspace issues that the task setters and pilots are working around.


The LIVE LEADER BOARD shows the provisional ranking as scoring is tabulated.  Scores for Task 2 will be posted at http://www.piedrahita2011.com/piedrahita2011/taskReports. . . 

At this moment (1400 PDT) the Competition website has been taken down.  A request to the PG Forum was made to lock the world championship thread.  This was done (and has since been relaxed) due to the extremely unfortunate occurrence of two separate accidents (separated by 70K and 2 hours) that resulted in the death of pilots from Argentina and Chile.  In a release put out by the Piedrahita Staff they wrote:  

2011, Piedrahita

It is with great regret that the organisers have to announce that there were
two serious accidents during the competition task today. The first accident
occurred at approximately 14.00. Argentinian pilot, Francisco Vargas
crashed into the hillside a few kilometres from launch. Emergency services
were called to the site, but the pilot died at the scene.

The second accident occurred at approximately 16.00 in the Avila area.
Chilean pilot Eitel von Muhlenbrock lost control of his paraglider and crashed.
Emergency Services arrived swiftly, but the pilot died from his injuries.

Next of kin of both pilots have been informed.

We do not yet know the cause of either of the accidents, but an investigation
to determine the sequence of events is already underway by the event
organisers, together with Safety representatives of the FAI and the local
police. As soon as we have further information, we will issue another
statement.

There were three further minor incidents today, involving the deployment of
reserve parachutes. All three pilots landed safely and were uninjured.

The organisers wish to extend their deepest sympathies to the families and
friends of both Francisco Vargas and Eitel von Muhlenbrock.

Jose Luiz – Event Director
Steve Ham – Competition Director

My heart goes out to those who are left behind by these great pilots. Tomorrow will surely be a day of mourning on the hill in Piedrahita.

Rumor has it that there may have been many more than the "three" reserves thrown in what the Piedrahita note called "minor incidents" today. This will undoubtedly rekindle the simmering debate about 2-liner wings that are rock-solid until they stop flying, but become unrecoverable. This necessitates the use of the reserve which is a "last-chance" option. If the rumored number of reserves were actually used during today's task, it would indicate that we had about a 5-7% usage of this last chance option, on this day alone. No details about the accidents/incidents today are available, and it would be irresponsible to speculate on the causes at this time.

Provisional results indicate Josh Cohn was the top US pilot at 13th, and Jack Brown was next at 41st. Brad was 58th. Melanie landed at 34K for 12th in the women's class.

Fly Safe -

Tim

2011 FAI PG World Championships - Task 1

It sounds like the first task was a doozy - 153Km! The conditions provided for some fast XC with final glides over 110KPH and average speeds over 45 KPH. Airspace bit more than 30 pilots who either clipped some of the airspace protecting arrival and departure paths to airports, or exceeded the 3048M ceiling.

Josh Cohn tied for third place (and racked up the highest leading points for the day) while Brad Gunnuscio scored 902 points for 28th place. Jack and Melanie had disappointing flights, landing before goal.

Read the play-by-play at http://usaparagliding.blogspot.com/

Scores are at:
Day 1 Task Provisional Results

• Open Provisional
• Team
• Women

I'm looking forward to some great flying by the US team - they are in 3rd place.

Tim

Xavier Murillo still missing in the Andes

Click on image to go to Donation site.

For those who know Xavier, there is no hesitation to get involved in his SAR effort. His personality and character have an infectious knack of making PWC events more fun than they would otherwise be. His antics at pilot meetings, punctuated with bawdy T-shirts, attract the attention of distracted pilots and there is no doubt who is running the show. A PWC event just isn't the same if Xavier isn't there.

On July 1st he flew at Caraz in Peru and was last seen near cloudbase. No one has heard from him since and aerial searches are ongoing. Cash rules in South America and the French embassy has been forthcoming in the initial efforts, but a fund is now being used to collect monies to apply to Xavier's Search and Rescue costs.

Please consider that it's been 5 days now, with no sign. We need to find Xavier soon. You can contribute on this page: http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/node/1974

Best of luck to him.

Tim

Practice Day in Piedrahita

Brad Gunniuscio has passed along this bit of video.  You can see the terrain and conditions are looking excellent for the first week of the comp.

2011 FAI PG World Championships - Piedrahita, Spain

 The 12th Paragliding World Championships begin on Tuesday the 5th of July in Piedrahita Spain.  The weather forecasts look good and you can expect some long tasks.  147 pilots from all over the world are registered.  For those who are keeping track, the newest 2-liner offerings will be well represented.  In an obvious display that Ozone is producing the most well rounded competition wing, there are 71 Ozone Mantras (9 R10s and 62 R11s) registered.  In addition there are 24 Gin Boomerang 8s - 10 Niviuk Icepeak 5s - 7 SOL Tracer TR2s -  5 Axis Mercurys - 3 UP Edge XRs and a hand full of Serial Class wings like my Gradient Avax XC3 (3).

The U.S. Worlds Team consists of Team Leaders Jeff Huey and Rob Sporrer


Our Team Pilots are Brad Gunnuscio, Josh Cohn, Jack Brown, and Melanie Pfister



Good luck guys!  Fly hard & fly safe -

The U.S. Team Blog can be viewed at http://usaparagliding.blogspot.com/

You can still donate to the team at http://www.usparaglidingteam.org/donate.html

You can keep an eye on the proceedings using the links below.  Thanks to Tom Payne for making these links readily available.

Official sites
Home page
Live tracking
Pilot list

Blogs
in English: Steve Ham (Organisation) : Team Australia : Jack Brown (USA) : Andre Rainsford (RSA) : Mads Syndergaard (DEN) / Bob Drury (XC Mag)  Brett Hazlett (CAN)
in French: Elisa Houdry (FRA) : Charles Cazaux (FRA) : Jean-Marc Caron (FRA)
in German: German Team : Swiss Team
in Spanish: Raul Penso (VEN)

Rat Race Awards

Mike and Gail Haley with Roger Brock

The last Rat Race task was a great day of flying and I think all who flew this week were treated to some great weather and great tasks.
Here are some podium shots, generously passed along to me by Andrew Zoechbauer  http://foxyvoxel.com/ratrace .

Congratulations to all who hit the podium, especially to Nick Greece who got dunked.





If you haven't donated to the US Paragliding World Team please consider doing so now!  The World Championships begin next week and our team needs your support!  To donate to the US World Team Fund please visit http://usparaglidingteam.org/

Tim

Jeff Huey- World Team Leader

All Winners

Women's RR Winners

RR Open Class Winners

RR Serial Class Winners

RR Sport Class Winners

Sportsmanship Award to Luke Boscovitch

Sprint Women Winners

Sprint Open Class Winners

Sprint Sport Class Winners

2011 Rat Race - Day 7 - Final Task

Today was a day similar to yesterday.  The Rat treated us well and the valley winds didn't kick in until shortly before most made it to goal.  The Rat Race had just less than 30 pilots into goal at Longsword Winery.   The Rat Race task was from Burnt Ridge to Prospect Ridge to Burnt to John's Peak the back into the valley to Longsword Winery - about 73km. 

Race Task

I launched as soon as the window opened and had an easy climb over Woodrat Peak and made the early transition to Burnt to scope out the lift in the area of the start cylinder.   Soon the air got crowded over Burnt as we mapped out the convergence for the start.  About 10 minutes before the start I blundered away from the rather fragmented gaggles just long enough to find a massive sinkhole and put myself in a low position during an obvious down cycle.  Many good pilots were struggling to stay in the air.  I found myself a bubble at about 200' below mid launch and worked it patiently until it bloomed into a 450'/min. elevator back into the start gaggle.  I was very fortunate to make a reasonably decent start into Rabies for the leg to Prospect Peak.  The thermals were good sized and strong as we proceeded North.   I had vowed to get to goal today so my progress was deliberate and I remained high for the most part.  For those who were high the lifty lines were easy to see while watching the pilots ahead and below.

Sprint Task

The high cirrus clouds that had been approaching from the North West shaded the Prospect Peak area as I approached so it was very important to take a good climb before heading out to tag the cylinder and allow for the return to the ridge.  At this point I joined Jug and Szilard and we worked together.  Soon small areas of sun appeared on the terrain and we found booming climbs that made the return leg to Rabies fairly quick.

The leg from Burnt to John's Pk. was a slow tip-toe until we found a nice climb with a helpful hawk that calmly showed us the best core.  I headed into the turnpoint at John's and returned the 3km. to find the same climb.  When I got to the area of the climb the same hawk was still orbiting to show us the climb.

After that climb I rolled out with a 6:1 glide to goal and saw Jug and Szilard below and slightly ahead so I pushed full bar and chose a very lifty line to get to goal.  Every core I flew through gave me a lift, even while holding full bar, and I was getting around 10:1 glide.  I had such a lifty line that I was at least 2000' too high at the end of speed section.  I placed 15th (tied with Szilard because he beat me by 8 seconds, but I had more leading points) and this was my best showing of the week.

The day was won by Nate Scales, followed closely by Josh Cohn, Matt Beechinor, Matt Senior and Nick Greece. 
The Rat Race had 26 in goal and the Sprint race had 42 in goal today - Many happy pilots at the Longsword Winery!

Rat Race Scores can be found at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRace.html

Sprint Scores can be found at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRaceSprint.html


I just got in, after a 10 hour drive so that's it for now.  Here's a great video of the Rat Race this year.






Below is a photo of the festivities at RRHQ just prior to the awards ceremony. 

2011 Rat Race - Day 6 - Task 6

The weather in Ruch is treating us well this week.  Today was fun.  The task was well built for the conditions and the pacing of the day.  I didn't get a useable photo of the task board but the task was:

• Exit start from Burnt 
• Bald Mtn.
• Burnt
• John's Pk
• Jacksonville
• Donato - Total distance 65km

I had a very good start and the first leg to Bald was lots of fun with some ballistic climbs and nice lines along the convergence.  Those who mapped out the best lines had significantly better transitions than those who allowed themselves to get low in the cascading backside of the convergent shear.

I was running well, watching Jimmy and Hayden duke it out for the Serial Class title.  My climbs were good and made fast time until I got to Burnt.  At this point I lost Hayden and Jimmy and had to change gears for the transition to John's.  The Jacksonville area and Medford Valley were producing thermals, but they were more fragmented and much weaker than those we'd flown in for the first two legs of the flight.  I felt that I had set an appropriate pace for the conditions, but left one very unproductive bit of lift to search for better - only to watch in vain as the glider in the bit-o-lift started to climb well, behind me.  I tried to return to the climb but the bubble wasn't found and I was soon setting up to land 8km from goal.

Some of the R-11/R10/Boom8/UP Edge armada rolled into John's with sufficient altitude to make a balsy glide to goal and squeak over/around the hill just prior to Donato's field.

Today's Top- 5

1. Josh Cohn
2. Nick Greece
3. Nate Scales
4. Farmer
5. Eric Reed

The photo is at Donato's LZ.  33 pilots made goal today.  It's Saturday morning now, and the day looks similar to Friday, so I'm looking forward to a great final task.

Results are at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRace.html 

Tim

2011 Rat Race - Day 5 - Task 5

The skies were overcast, the hills were obscured, and the temperatures were chilly when we awoke this morning. All the forecasts were indicating an improvement could be expected so the collective headed up the hill. As forecast the day was a good Woodrat day with convergences to be exploited and winds to contend with.

The task committee called an task that had the race group start at Mt. Isabella and then to just past Squires to Burnt - repeat. . . 4 times. The sprint group also did some similar laps. The task made for some amazing views to the spectators at Longsword Winery which served as goal for both races. I had a good start, getting high above Rabies Pk. and making the first turnpoint at Buncom in good time. The rest of the flight was enjoyable, but uninteresting because I took myself out of the race to fly without the distraction and hazards of flying with the extremely packed gaggles in the valley. The pilots that flew the course had good flights and some very exciting racing.

One of the great features of the Rat Race is the generous mentoring going on during the days and evenings. Nick Greece held daily impromptu Q&A sessions on the hill and the group grew from 6-8 a few days ago to 20-30 today.  Shown is Eric Reed offering some hints.

Volunteer appreciation

Another amazing feature of the Rat Race is the number of helpful volunteers at the race.  Without these folks the race just wouldn't work.  

I found a glass of wine and a good seat at Longsword for the race finish and watched as Dean Stratton won the day followed by Josh Cohn, Matt (farmer) Beechinor, Nick Greece, and Nate Scales.

A live news feed on Channel 10 in Medford for the 6PM news was broadcast from the launch and is available at http://www.ktvl.com/

Results are at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRace.html

Tim

2011 Rat Race - Day 4 - Task 4

Today looked like another good day at Woodrat Mountain. The forecast for the day indicated that lift would be to 6000’ and winds wouldn’t be too much of a factor until late in the afternoon. The task committee went with a suggestion that a “do-over” was a good idea. The task was yesterday’s task modified to include Grant’s Peak, then to Williams Overlook, to Donato (South in the Medford Valley).

I launched shortly after the launch window opened and climbed up above Woodrat Peak to the inversion, which was fairly low. It was also obvious that there was considerably more wind than on previous days and than forecast. The progression across the valley to the start cylinder at Rabies Ridge was not a simple one climb transition for many, since the headwinds were strong and the climbs were low. I managed to cross with a few friends and we soon found a nice thermal - nice, only because it was better than the alternative. The truth is that the climbs today were weird, one-sided, meandering, shards of lift punctuated with areas that can only be described as ‘holes’ where the wing wasn’t really flying but rather, quivering and hovering in the white-water like conditions.

Once the start-time arrived, it was on to Billys to work our way to Grant’s Peak as we did yesterday. The into the wind performance of the 2011 2-liners is amazing. I’ve not seen a time when the performance of the latest comp ships was so noticeable when compared to last year’s model or the latest hot Serial Class wings. What this meant today was that a few of the 2-liners were able to make a transition past Humbug canyon that the rest of us found to be quite a slug-fest.

In this part of Oregon the afternoon winds arrive like a swift moving tide - sliding down the valleys rapidly and relentlessly. At the Humbug area we hit the wall of wind that turned the thermals into nasty rides that you hesitated to turn in. But turn we did. Over and over we tried to climb through the inversion. At the top-of-climb I’d try to penetrate forward, towards goal, only to take a necessary climb and frisbee back to the same position and altitude. I was at 8.4 miles from Grant’s Pk. at least 4 times with very little progress. It was pretty obvious that the winds were getting stronger than one should sensibly fly in, so I headed to the main valley and the road. I wasn’t alone - many pilots also chose to land before the option of landing carried more risk than acceptable. There were 8 of us in the same big field and after roughly 1:30 in the air we had only flown about 15 Km. Shortly after I landed the Task was “stopped” which allows the scored to be based on progress to the point

The task winners got 98 points - those of us who flew and fought the fight to Humbug only to decide to land in the valley next to the Applegate Store got 55 points. The Sprint race was cancelled before the start.
Results are at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRace.html

It's cloudy this morning (thursday) but forecasts indicate that it may be a day.


Tim

2011 Rat Race - Day 3 - Task 3

Today's task was a great use of the day - Conditions improved as we headed North to Grants Peak allowing climbs to 6500-7000'.  The lead gaggle was playing it cagey - conservatively working towards Grants Pk. at a pace that allowed me to make up for my 8 minute late start.  I joined a couple perfect thermals that put me into Grants in touch with the lead gaggle.

After Grants Pk the leg to  Wellington Overlook was the crux for most of us.  The lead gaggle headed across to Prospect Peak with dismal results.  They were just far enough ahead that I and a few friends bent South and slid into the Williams valley with few options.  We all eventually landed in the valley, at 30-35 Km.  Those who stuck to the high ground on the East side of the valley, or even headed directly to the Wel-ol turnpoint had better success.

The top 10 included at least 6 Serial class wings because the line the lead gaggle took was much slower.  Congrats to Peter Warren for winning the task on his Ozone Mantra M4!

The China Gulch field that I landed in yesterday had three wings in it today. It was confirmed to be a tight fit, but all pulled it off. We had one injury that involved a tree landing somewhere on the Rabies Ridge.

Running short on time this morning so that's it for now. It looks like a nice day again so we are heading up the hill.

Results are at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRace.html
Tim

2011 Rat Race - Day 2 - Task 2

Today’s Rat Race task was a 62Km task with 2 crossings of the Ruch valley and then a beat upwind to John’s Peak (North of Jacksonville) then a downwind leg to Immigrant Lake via Donato.  A restriction of 6000’ in the area of the Medford final approach corridor.

Many of us got into the cue early and got up at Woodrat Peak and were bouncing off a rather snotty inversion at 5200’.  Rather than bounce around at the top-of-lift and wait for another 50 wings to form under us, a group headed across the valley to the start cylinder at Rabies Peak.  We had 45 minutes or so to kill so pre-positioning seemed like a smart move.  The conditions, upon arrival at Rabies Ridge were dismal.  I found myself low on the ridge and fought for 15 minutes as I slowly worked my way down to a height that required an approach to landing.

Here’s the short list of absolutely stupid things I did and how I feel my decisions should have been changed.

• I tried to make an early transition while flying with R11s.  They will always have more time and options upon arrival at the ridge.  

  Try to make tricky transitions with wings that have similar performance, so you have friends at your altitude.

•  I put myself in a committed position that slowly (insidiously) put me on the leeward side of the ridge, with limited landing options and dismal flying conditions.

   I had never been low in this area (China Gulch) before, and really didn’t want to be there - but I put myself there.  Dumb, Dumb, Dumb.

•   Once it became obvious that I was loosing ground (altitude) and facing a glide into a shallow ‘gulch’ with a couple of useable LZs, I allowed myself to fight until only one, marginal LZ remained available to me.  As I got closer to landing, it was obvious that the LZ was short, downhill, had wires at the end.  None of these things were unknown to me, but the combination was much tighter than I expected. The approach was over trees and very critical - overshooting wasn’t and option.

  In retrospect, this LZ was unusable. The consequences of a low hit, a pop of lift, or any rotor, while maneuvering as close to the obstacles and stall point were not pretty.

• Once the ‘gravity’ of the situation was fully realized (what had I been thinking?)  I managed to fly around one oak tree, through a narrow gap (not a wingspan wide) and then used the ‘butterfly’ method to make the wing draggy enough to get down in the remaining *downhill* field.  Fortunately I know this wing (Avax XC3) well,  it’s an honest wing that allows tickling the edge of stall. 

If this plan hadn’t got well - The options were a tree, wires, or parachutage from 15 feet.   Fortunately everything went well and I walked away with an intact body and kit. 

Shortly after moving my gear to the shade of a tree the landowner, Judy, came by and offered a ride.  I hopped in her car and she told me I was always welcome to land in her field.  I responded, “Judy, there is no way I’ll EVER land in that field again, but thanks much.”

Meanwhile, those that made the start, were working their way to John’s Peak and found that the entire complexion of the air had changed in the Medford Valley.  All dirted on the way to Immigrant Lake.  No one made goal today.

There were some fun stories told around the HQ this evening.  A couple of the top pilots had incorrect radii on the Rabies Pk.  Another forgot to tag Woodra before heading to John’s Peak.  And another had to go back to tag the missed Donato point. 

I got minimum distance (I believe this is a first for me) and decided that I would reflect on my mistakes rather than rush up the hill to relaunch among the sprint crowd.  I had made enough mistakes for the day -




Winner for the day was Nick Greece, who made it 50Km.  2nd was Farmer, 3rd was Nate Scales, 4th Hayden Glatte on a Serial GTO, 5th was Josh Cohn.  No one made goal in the Rat Race task.

Results are at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRace.html



The Sprint race was a 27 Km task that stayed close to Woodrat and ended at the same goal field as yesterday. 


It's a new day and I'm looking forward to flying again -

Tim




 

2011 Rar Race - Day 1 - Task 1

The weather improved today and it was a fun day of flying.  Classic Woodrat convergence and occasional snotty air, but the afternoon valley winds that everyone was waiting for, never materialized. 

This year the Rat Race has two races running concurrently - The SPRINT race and the RAT RACE.  The SPRINT task was 19K and the Rat Race was 59K.  I am flying the longer tasks.   The start cylinder was across the valley and an early start was important.  The launch cue was very slow for quite a while and I got a late launch and paid for it with a start at least 10-15 minutes behind the lead gaggle.  No worries - Lots of company.  The first 30km of the flight went well and I was able to make up a bit of time without getting myself into a hole or too alone.  The lift was dependable and strong with the occasional slapping around in the convergence. 

After crossing back from Woodrat Mtn. to Rabies for the last push into Sugarloaf Mtn. I was hoping that I was early enough to avoid the strong North or West that had a chance of developing.  No strong winds were encountered, but there were some seriously sinking areas the went of for an eternity.  Sink of 2000 to 2400'/min. were not uncommon and put me in the position of not wanting to push bar because the wing was fluttering in the trash, but needing to push it just to escape the sink.

I came across the valley on a direct line to goal 12 miles away, and I had some company.  We all had plans that varied enough that we got a good sampling of the air, but unfortunately none of us were finding lift.  On the West side of the valley I found some minor lift while surfing closer to the trees that I like and ended in the flats at the mouth of the final valley to goal.   I joined Hayden and we worked slowly towards goal - he with about 400' more to work with.  I eventually needed to cross one finger while I had the altitude to make it and Hayden was able to contact a nice climb, behind me, just after I left him.  He made it to goal.  I made it to goal, but it was the SPRINT race goal - 5 miles short of my intended destination.  At least there was beer at my LZ ;-)

I placed 22nd overall and 9th in Serial class.  Not a great start but I'm having fun.  Monday looks good, so we can expect another good one.  Results are online at http://flyxc.org/2011RatRace.html - here's the top 5:

1. Farmer
2. Kansas
3. Eric Reed
4. Nick Greece
5. Josh Cohn

More later -
Tim

Exhibit A

For many who view paragliders, they seem like big, slow jellyfish - unable to do precise and exciting things.  But for those who have the skills and cajones to do acro, these little buggers can do a lot.

Exhibit A -

Showtime from francois ragoski on Vimeo.


Fly Safe  -

Tim

Good flying going on in Dunlap -

A number of NorCal folks headed to Dunlap this weekend and conditions were reasonably good compared to Woodrat, OR and here on the coast, where the winds were howling. I was unable to get to Dunlap due to work commitments.

On Saturday Josh Cohn, on his new Ozone R11, flew South well beyond the distance anyone prior had flown - almost to Bakersfield.

Monday, a day with only 4000-5000' top of lift in the valley, was the day everyone was heading back to the Bay Area after flying.

Josh decided to fly.   He launched around 11AM and flew for almost 7 hours and covered around 85 miles. 

Two great flights - setting site records.   Nice flying Josh!  His Track on Leonardo can be viewed here: http://paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/458312




The California distance record is held by Dean Stratton - 147 miles from Walt's Point in the Owens, North into Nevada.

Tim

PWC Korea

Big Congratulations go out to Jack Brown, who won the PWC last week in Korea. His consistency allowed him to top the results in the two-task event.

Jack has really put a lot of effort and time into his flying in the last two years and the results speak for themselves. Jack(USA #3) joins USA #1 Brad Gunnuscio, #2 Josh Cohn, and U.S. Female pilot Melanie Pfister to make up the US World Team. Unfortunately #4 Nick Greece, won't make it since only 3 + 1 spots were available this year.

The above was edited after the straight scoop was provided by Nick Greece

Here's a great video about the Korean PWC event -

To donate to the US World Team Fund please visit http://usparaglidingteam.org/

Here's another great video showing the views and experience of high-performance paragliding -

Vol test Cam Annecy avril from Jean-Mi ARA on Vimeo.

Fly Safe -
Tim

Serial v. Open Class Revisited

The annual discussion flurry about "Serial V. Open Class Competitions" has flared up this month. . . The ignition point was a letter of resignation from Mark Hayman to Brit team leader Kitt Rudd. In it Mark criticized CIVL for making banal rule changes that essentially did little to improve safety.

Mark writes: “I know, living in the real world, that every time I attach an uncertified two-line glider to my body I am increasing my risk substantially of having an accident over flying a certified wing.”

Mark was participating in Valle de Bravo in 2009 when he watched Stefan Schmoker wrestle with a low collapse and make a fatal impact.  Mark also had a brush with mortality when he had a major event on his R10.2 that included lines wrapping around his neck as he descended under his reserve.

His message has been loud and clear. . . and, as many times happens when one raises the flag of caution, his message seems at times, to be somewhat overstated -  Perhaps so his voice is heard by the resistant masses of enthusiastic pilots who enjoy the sport as it is.

R10.2 line plan

Marks' main point seems to be that the new crop of 2-liner wings are being accepted by CIVL, and being flown by every wanna-be comp pilot, with only a superficial examination of the flying characteristics of these wings.  The prevailing views seem to be that the current crop of 2-liners (essentially a row of A-lines at approximately 25-30% chord - and B-lines at 60% chord) are very collapse resistant when flown well.  The problems become apparent after the wing goes away - the recovery characteristics are just plain bad.  Where as an EN-D (certified) glider is required to recover with proper pilot input, the 'open-class' uncertified wings aren't required to demonstrate recovery.   It's not uncommon to hear of 2000'+ cascades before the wing recovers or the excitement is terminated in a reserve toss.  Mark is simply asking, as am I, IS THIS REALLY THE KIND OF AIRCRAFT BEHAVIOR THAT WE WANT TO PROMOTE?

I've been flying a long time.  I've flown all kinds of aircraft.  But I've always known that if the aircraft departed from "normal flight attitudes" that I could recover without the need to bail-out.  Even the homebuilts - the early fiberglass competition sailplanes that had marginal stability - the 2nd generation swept-wing jets that required 'skills' - they all displayed a required, predictable level of safety and handling.  Mark's primary message is that this is not the case when flying the open-class wings of the last 2 years.

The argument to Mark's point, is that the "good" pilots have no problem on the new wings.  I agree that with the right set of skill, judgment, and luck a good pilot can successfully fly the new wings without incident.  But is that a healthy attitude when considering the sport as a whole?  Let's look at US pylon racing in the 1930s - Speed and performance ruled - The good pilots lived the longest, but even they couldn't fly aircraft that had negative stability and couldn't survive minor equipment failures without fatal consequences.  To compete with the fastest "good" pilots, many other pilots flew similar *dangerous* aircraft and died trying.  Was that the fault of the pilots, or the system that allowed dangerous machines in the air and required others to compete on that "level" playing field?


Pylon races, in spite of their popularity, didn't survive the carnage of 1933 - 1940 and the interuption of a couple of world wars.  Now the few races that are staged in the US are very highly regulated and safety is highly regarded.

So the question becomes one of scale and philosophy.  How many accidents/incidents are to occur before Mark's cautionary message becomes valid?  In my case, he's preaching to the choir. 

In a parallel logic path, the DHV in Germany is making some important moves that may get the parade moving in the right direction. Jorge Ewald translates -

From a post on the German Forum by Ulrich Prinz:

* DHV recognizes the harmonic community of Serial and Open Class pilots in Germany as a good model that may be applicable for FAI-1 events as well: Introduce a Serial class in parallel, crown a Serial Class World Champion. This would prevent pilots from lower qualification countries from giving in to the temptation to fly in the Open class, just to remain competitive. Hence the DHV will now work on the international level to introduce the Serial Class in parallel, rather than to get rid of the Open class. [which is a complete paradigm change, as far as I can see. Great, Mark Hayman - given he stays away from bikes and stairwells long enough to heal - may have a glorious come-back. Mads and other PWC old-timers may feel like after an involuntary ride in a De Lorean, though...]

* DHV (especially Charlie Jöst, their president) will task the DHV technical department with finding new test criteria for competition wings (in collaboration with the other testing houses). This because it is now understood that today's testing criteria are not applicable to competition wings, which were built for actively piloting pilots

It's great to see a European entity, with an official acronym, working in a reasonable fashion to actually make some positive changes in the way Serial class is viewed.  Stay Tuned!

Tim