Seattle, Timezone UTC - 7
Coming into Seattle, we had a fantastic view in clear air of Mt Rainier (on the photo), Mt St Helens and Mt Hood in the distance. The weather was great, just sunny and blue, not too hot, very pleasant. I guess the paragliding World Cup in Chelan must have been a great success and Im curious if Uli Prinz or Torsten Siegel will be flying back to Germany with me today. ´
At the market downtown, I found this pig that very much reminded me of the pigs in Soegestrasse in my home city Bremen, so I let somebody take a photo of me with the "emigrated" pig. Too bad that we already have to return today, a few more days here, and Id be soaring the wonderful Chelan dust devils again... we had the women´s world championships there already two times, and I wouldn´t mind a third time, as it is a great place to fly big cross country distances in a very safe way (unless you dive low into a huge dusty like Guenther Tschurnig did ;))
Task 9: 87km around 2 turnpoints
The day started overcast, low clouds and with some rain. Nevertheless, we went up the hill as the forecast was for sun later in the day. Our optimism paid out - soon it cleared, and cloudbase went up to around 2000m today. The task was out into the flats and then to Calaf goal.
With a wind of about 30 km/h we had to fight a little on the high plain, but the thermals were good.
About 10 km out from goal I nearly landed, but the field I had chosen produced a really strong thermal again, so I could zip up my harness and go to goal. There must have been around 40 in goal today I guess. with Mario probably winning the day, and Gerolf becoming the new European Champion. The Italian team overtood the Austrian team today, it was a really close race between them, and the Pommies might have overtaken the Swiss and got up to 3rd place.
Andre and Oli were first in goal from our team, then Roland and me, Markus and Gerd landed out.
Tonight very late we will have the awards.
Day 11: cancelled
Today was cancelled at nearly 2pm, as the clouds were below take off most of the day and the prediction was for rain. We did not see much rain, but the clouds did not disappear nor rise much. So we went up to the old town centre of Ager to take some team photos. Looks like it might be flyable tomorrow, for a last and interesting day. Might be windy, but definitely sunnier than today too.
Task 8: 76 km around 7 turnpoints
Today Im writing blog from Regina´s computer, as my Mac´s screen froze when I wanted to start Word, I had to shut it down, but now it doesn´t boot anymore. Is there a virus around? Sorry that I can´t upload the photos from today, I have to find a way to do that later.
It didn´t look like a promising day today on launch. Strong wind crossing in, clouds of every kind (cirrus, castellanus, stratus, altocu´s, normal cu´s, lenticular and in the evening looking like cb´s were around. The cu´s base was low, and I was quite nervous and concerned to take off in these conditions. Some launches looked very marginal, Primoz was close to touching the ground, and Julia stalled the glider out and just got out with a lot of luck.
When I decided to try, a push was on, and sure enough, the wind was crossing at a speed of about 35 km/h... but the guys saw that it wasn´t safe and they closed the window for a couple of minutes. After that it slightly calmed down, and I had a good, safe take off and went along the ridge. Barely 15 minutes before the first startgate in the air (there were 3 with 20 minutes apart), I just managed to get up (as base was only a few hundred meters above take off anyway), over to the start circle, and then I went out on course.
I had quite a large crowd with me, and we flew the next 3 turnpoints together. I lost some of them going into the flatlands turnpoint, but then Oli called me over to the mountain ridge again, and we went on final together. Sure, with a crosswind of up to 35 km/h, he was faster in goal than me, but I was happy to score for our team again. The other guys landed at the 5th turnpoint when they got too low and into the strong valley breeze.
Christian Ciech (ITA) won the day a few seconds ahead of Tom Weissenberger, the Austrian and the Italian team are pretty close now. Gerolf arrived 17 minutes after Tom, but will be able to hold his first place overall. Fastest woman today was Kathleen Rigg ahead of me and Julia.
Looks like we might see some rain here the next couple of days, but then you never know. I didn´t really believe in a complete task today, let alone in getting to goal ;)
The rain in Spain...
...falls mainly on the plains, and definitely not here at Montsec. Even the huge storm cloud that looked like it covered half of Catalunya discipated before any drop of rain arrived in Ager. I was surprised to see some rain this morning, it is cooling and cleaning the dusty air, a little relief. Restday today.
Yesterday task 7: Another day with a much better forecast than what we actually found in the air. It was difficult for me to face a headwind of up to 35 km/hr trying to go to the first turnpoint with a cloudbase of only 2200m again (prediction was from 2500 rising to 3900m...) I took several runs to get into the higher ridges, but it was like flying against a wall. Then I decided to try to go around through the flatlands to be more upwind, well it didn´t work either, so I landed out in the flats, wondering how the 19 guys at goal were able to get there. Part of it might be a 25 - 50kg question... it is much easier to punch forward with more weight.
Gerd said, "Eat more, and not just tofu!" - and I answered, "...but the poor pigs everywhere here, it is so sad! And I eat a lot of pasta in the evenings, I just don´t put on weight during comps, but I lose it"
I had landed close to a pig farm and had described the big silos and bad smell to my driver. Then I climbed up a huge pile of stones and realized that there were about 7 pig farms, and each one of them had the silver silos and large concrete buildings. Seems like the pigs are never outside before they are turned into serrano.
Oli made it to goal yesterday, but he said he had been shaking for a long time, as he thought at an early stage of the flight he might have to land in the trees. He got out, but just. Markus also scored for the team, landing just 10 km before goal, he had a good run.
Tom Weissenberger won the task - he had an amazing recovery from having had his shin stitched up on the first day where he flipped over in goal. Second was young French gun Laurent Thevenot, and Czech Dan Vyhnalik in 3rd. Also Gerolf was in goal, which added to his amazing overall lead. If he keeps going like that, he might not have to fly the last day of the comp and still win. With Tom in 2nd, the Austrian team is way ahead of all the other teams.
Task 6: 111 km around 5 turnpoints
To pay my dues: Gerolf wa
s first in today. And now about not so important people, like me, or Daphne, or the two Attilas (actually Attila and his brother, with intriguing similarity). But what would the top guys be without us "gnus", as Gerolf so charmingly calls us, the "following" pilots. What would the leaders be without us losers? They wouldn´t have half as much fun or glory, so maybe they should pay us workers some respect as well.
Daphne really ripped off a tendon in her finger by putting on her shoes, she already had an operation, and now she can´t fly for a while but will crew for her partner Koos from the Dutch national team.
The other flying couple here is more successful - Gordon Rigg keeps finishing in the top ten, and his wife Kathleen nearly made it to goal again today after having had some neck pain problems yesterday. They are probably the most successful flying couple ever, I wonder when their son Tyler starts flying ;)
Survival was my goal today! That was a good option. Day all blue, quite stable, low base, and just too much tiger country to cross. Poor Lars Bo crashed into the hills because he couldn´t reach a decent field to land (well there were none...), luckily he is ok, but his glider is totalled. I was praying for thermals, and the Lord (or Alex Ploner) found some for me. 4 km before the high turnpoint in the end of a never-come-back-valley with quite significant head wind to get out, I decided to quit, turned around and flew straight to goal. I had already asked for quite a lot today, and I want to be able to enjoy the good day tomorrow as well.
Natalia was fast, but she didnt cross the goal line. Yulia was the only woman at goal with the whole course -congratulations, she is also the best Russian pilot of her whole team.
Andre and Gerd were fast today and landed with the top 10, Roland was a bit slower, Oli and Markus had landed not far from take off. I hope for some good weather tomorrow, with a really high base so we don´t have to look down to see what isn´t there.
Task 5: 134 km around 4 turnpoints
Big task today for iffy conditions - the prediction was for cirrus and cu´s, the cirrus disappearing and the cu´s shading up to 90 %, yet light winds and good climbs. Oooops - waaaay wrong! The cirrus took over, the cumulus disappeared, so did the thermals, therefore we had strong wind...
It was difficult to slow down after a day like yesterday, and unfortunately some guys from my team hit the deck too fast. Hard work, we had to cross several passages with no or just very difficult landings and a cloudbase that never got higher than 2200m. After the 3rd turnpoint on top of a ridge, I would have had to fly headwind low into the hills and just decided it is safer to turn around, see if I can get up higher (nope, not at 7pm today) and try again. Instead I landed just in a field next to Ager. I was disappointed that I could not join Andre in goal and score more for our team, but when I found out that even Jonny beat himself up quite a bit with a tough landing at the last turnpoint, I wasnt too unhappy that I didnt dare more. My Red Bull Team mate Jonny is usually Mr Smooth Landings, but today he apparently smashed his intruments, luckily he is sort of ok apart from some scratches and so is the glider. I definitely would have like to see Jonny Durand win this meet, especially for the confusion of an Aussie winning the Euros :) Now he needs a small miracle to still win. But then who knows - magic happens!
Alex won the day ahead of Gerolf and Jamie´s darl Carl, the British guys made quite a lot of points for the team today and will move way up in the rankings. I heard something of around 24 in goal, but as I wasnt there, I still have to confirm that.
I was lucky to be back so early. Oli apparently landed on a field in quite high terrain, while Markus tried the back way and landed at yesterdays goal in vila mitjana. The guys are not back yet, just Andre and Gerd.
