Day 2
An epic 200 km task was flown over immense and remote terrain. No pilot completed the task but many flew 150+km. We used oxygen systems and climbed to altitudes of up to 18,000 ft.
This video is a 3 min condensation of indescribable adventure.
Day 1
An epic 200 km task was flown over immense and remote terrain. No pilot completed the task but many flew 150+km. We used oxygen systems and climbed to altitudes of up to 18,000 ft.
This video is a 3 min condensation of indescribable adventure.
Day 1
The 61 km partial out-and-return was stopped when pilots reported wind, rain, and hail. The task will not be scored.
I was already packing up near town when I heard the news on the safety frequency. The sky just did not look like it would main composure long enough for us to get through the course. It looked like it would hang on just long enough for us to arrive in the middle of it. I drove upwind and landed as close to town as possible. While packing up I watched the situation deteriorate and listened to the pilot reports becoming more anxious.
Despite finding a huge grassy area out in the open, it was full combat all the way to the ground. I was flying backwards in regular gusts and using most of my tricks to keep my glider open.
There seems to be a weakness in our competition paradigm for situations like this. Quite often a stopped task still results in one hundred pilots finding themselves flying in unsafe conditions. Unsafe to be in the air and equally unsafe to be trying to land. I have no idea was a practical solution to this would look like, but it would be a worthy discussion.
