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Flooding in Forbes »

Mon, Nov 7 2022, 4:28:03 am GMT

Close to the all time record

climate|Peter "Pebo" Bolton|weather

«Peter Bolton» sends:

Forbes is now flooding (again) and forecast to peak tonight – the worst for 70 years!

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/gallery/2022/nov/04/blue-sky-flooding-in-forbes-nsw-the-rains-stopped-but-the-water-is-still-rising

Forbes flood water level peaked last night at 10.66m (just below the all-time record of 10.8m from 1952). Large areas around town still inundated

Several pics here - https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/floods-waters-rise-in-forbes-20221105-h27nhz.html

Forbes water levels are starting to recede, but a body has been discovered downstream. Peak level of 10.7m was just below the record from 1952, but the worst since 1990. Triggered by the 3rd year of “La Nina” weather patterns over the Pacific.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/flood-hit-nsw-towns-begin-clean-up-as-the-body-of-another-missing-man-is-found/9crkrddca

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The 2022 Highland Challenge, aka The Charlie Mini-Comp

Fri, Jun 17 2022, 8:49:44 pm MDT

DelMarVa peninsula

altitude|beer|Charles "Charlie" Baughman|Charles Allen|cloud|collision|competition|equipment|harness|Highland Challenge 2022|Jim Messina|John Simon|Knut Ryerson|landing|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|meteorology|Moyes RX|radio|Richard "Ric" Caylor|Robert "Rob" Dallas|software|sport|towing|triangle|weather

Pete Lehmann writes:

Demonstrating both the vitality and decline of hang gliding, Charlie Allen has once again put together a small competition on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. This is the area that for years was host to the much larger aero-towed East Coast Championship at nearby Ridgely, MD. When Highland Aerosports closed their doors, and the airport changed hands, the sport lost an important focal point. Nonetheless, aerotowing has quietly continued on a private basis on the Eastern Shore, and a couple of years ago Charlie decided to put on a small, un-sanctioned meet to encourage competition and xc flying in what is a meteorologically interesting place to fly. The original objective was to hold the competition with ten pilots, but as is too often the case in hang gliding nowadays, he could induce only six pilots to participate. Shame on those who passed on the opportunity for some wonderful flying.

The DelMarVa peninsula over which we are flying is essentially flat, and at this time of year, enjoys ample, enormous landing fields. What distinguishes the flying is, however, the peninsula’s location between three bodies of water, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. The presence of the water bodies greatly influences the meteorology of the land, and consequently the flying conditions experienced. The interaction of the solar heated land with the onshore breezes originating from the three bodies of water creates a marvelously complex variety of convergences that both create and limit soaring opportunities. Flying near the cooler waters can be either terribly difficult, or fabulous if a convergence line sets above the collision of cold and warm air. It’s a place that puts a premium on pilot knowledge of cloud formations, and pilot skill in working crap conditions until getting into the better lift marked by the clouds. Added to that is the caveat that the conditions are dynamic. Conditions vary greatly over the course of the day as winds shift direction and strength with the heating of the land mass.

We are towing from Ben’s, a private farm airstrip near Chestertown, MD. Its location adds to the difficulty by being just 15 miles east of the Chesapeake, while also being much nearer one of its major estuaries. It’s wet nearby. This makes it often necessary to scratch very hard for the first ten miles when while heading inland to the better conditions. Indeed, it is sometimes necessary for the tugs to pull us up towards the inland east in order to contact workable lift. All of this is by way of saying that flying around here is complicated. A pilot has to juggle a number of decision-making balls, keeping a weather eye on the clouds, and using three-dimensional visualization software to imagine how the land and water will interact as one flies the course. It’s fun.

Day One was an epically good day for this region. We under-called the 44-mile dog leg task to the southeast. Conditions were so good that the vastly experienced local pilot Jim Messina experienced his best ever local altitude, getting to 8,100 feet, while Charlie got to 8,300msl. Five of the six competitors made goal including John Simon who won the day, and Knut Ryerson who made goal on his first flight with his new Moyes RX.

Ric / Knut: https://ayvri.com/scene/gdkz603ojz/cl44bjt7m00013b61xozernl6

John / Charlie / Jim: https://ayvri.com/scene/z15yrzn1jx/cl477ukq400032a6m4avh96mj

Day Two’s much weaker forecast had a short 23-mile dogleg task to the north that proved tricky despite its short length. A convergence line set up around the turn point, but it was very hard to climb under it. Two pilots landed while Jim and John fairly easily made goal, with John once again winning. They then turned around and nearly made it back to the field, coming up just short of Ben's. I royally screwed the pooch by loading the wrong task into my instrument. Eventually acknowledging the impossibility of flying the incorrect task, I bagged it and succumbed to beer suck. I scratched back to Ben’s flying an absurd dogleg that included an 850 ft. save with three bald eagles.

Ric / Knut: https://ayvri.com/scene/gdkz603ojz/cl44c4ziz00023b6127x19syj

Charlie / John / Jim: https://ayvri.com/scene/z15yrzn1jx/cl4781sbe00032a6muikfxxl7

Day Three had a low, blue forecast which again proved partially incorrect. Climbs were good, and we climbed to six grand in the blue, much higher than forecast. However, the winds were sufficiently strong that the triangle task proved impossible, and in frustration two of us gave up on the task and flew back to Ben’s. Beer suck is real. Of those who persisted, Jim Messina won the day, with Ric Niehaus in second, but they were still well short of the forty-mile task. In fact, the wind really won the day.

Ric / Knut / Pete: https://ayvri.com/scene/gdkz603ojz/cl44c8o3n00013b61xjcehat3

Charlie / John / Jim: https://ayvri.com/scene/z15yrzn1jx/cl4789fii00032a6mqmhtlzue

Day Four was blown out and we spent it fixing broken stuff. In fact, it seems that every day of the comp has involved one or the other of us trying to sort out equipment problems: blown out harness zippers, broken vario mounts, inaudible varios, and all manner of radio problems. We need a day off. The flying has been great fun, but somewhat stressful. We needed a day off.

Day Five: Task Four

Today’s task was a 40-mile triangle with the final turn being Ridgely’s airport, scene of the past East Coast Championships. It was, as Jim Messina said, good to be flying back in the ‘hood. Five out of six of us made goal, with John Simon and Jim once again being fastest, while we laggards experienced varying degrees of low saves along the way. Once again, the forecast conditions proved to have been pessimistic, and we were grateful to be getting more than a thousand feet higher than the predicted 3,500 feet agl.

The goal was not Ben’s Farm, our starting airstrip. Rather it was nearby at Ben’s Palatial Estate. The place is vast and has the feel of visiting the South Fork Ranch of the old Dallas tv series. Ben wasn’t home, so we made ourselves comfortable drinking beer at his poolside, telling lies, and enjoying life. Hang gliding is hell, but someone’s gotta do it.

Pete / Charlie / Jim: https://ayvri.com/scene/z15yrzn1jx/cl47566i000082a6m7buuitil

John / Knut / Ric: https://ayvri.com/scene/z15yrzn1jx/cl478h4nd00032a6mxsoi3xqv

Day Six: Blown out, but we should be able to fly again on Friday.

Day Seven: Task 5

By Charles Allen

We opted for a 90.5km dog leg task to Indian Beach. However, we had an 8km turn point at goal so as not to force pilots to race low to the beach as there are limited suitable landing fields for about 4 miles prior to beach and we were concerned about an onshore sea breeze. The day was epic with climbs to almost 6,500 with great looking clouds. I ended up taking the 1:45pm start clock and heading off early. I was ahead until about half way into course when I got down to about 900ft and had to slow down. Jim and Pete who were close behind ended up passed me at this point as I was left of course line by about 5k. I arrived at the beach 12min after them. John took the 2:15pm start clock and arrived at the beach ~20min after me. Knut and Tom made goal but did not make the beach. The day ended with drinks and dinner at a Tiki bar a few minutes from the beach.

Pete / Charlie / Jim: https://ayvri.com/scene/z15yrzn1jx/cl4cv8cyx00032a6mtqv6l34o

John / Knut / Tom (guest): https://ayvri.com/scene/z15yrzn1jx/cl4cvfxt200032a6mcn22xtqw


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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Tue, May 31 2022, 7:04:47 pm MDT

Poor weather

Canadian Nationals 2022|weather

Day 3, weather not good for flying. Tomorrow looks sunny.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Fri, Apr 8 2022, 6:36:53 pm MDT

Only two days of flying?

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022|weather

We only flew on Sunday and Monday due to weather/rain/wind issues. Likely will not fly Saturday. On Sunday the flyable weather returns and it looks like a good week ahead.

Pilots had great learning opportunities to try to make up for the lack of flying.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Tue, Apr 5 2022, 5:28:27 pm MDT

Day 3

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022|weather|Wilotree Park

Here is the forecast for Tuesday:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Tuesday, April 5th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

A slight chance of showers between 11am and 2pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 89. South-southwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Hourly afternoon forecast: south surface wind 14 mph gusting to 18 mph trending toward southwest, cloud cover 27% increasing to 37%, 30% chance of rain after 2 PM. No front nearby.

RAP (this model comes the closest to the NWS surface temperature at 1 pm, NAM 12 closest at 5 PM), 1 PM:

Surface wind: south 14 mph (22 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity:440 fpm (NAM 12: 660 fpm)
TOL: 3,300' (NAM 12: 4,100')
CU: 0' (NAM 12: 3,800')
B/S: 1.9 (NAM 12: 3.8)

RAP, 4 PM:

Surface wind: southwest 15 mph (23 mph 2,000') (NAM 12: 15 mph south-southwest, 20 at 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 500 fpm (NAM 12: 660 fpm)
TOL: 4,300' (NAM 12: 6,700')
Cu: 0' (NAM 12: 4,900')
B/S: 2.5 (NAM 12: 5.5)

Here is what it looked like at 2:30 PM:

Here at 6:06 PM:

Yes, there was rain northeast of Gainesville and Ocala with an approaching front in Georgia and the Florida panhandle at 5:10 through 6:05 PM with strong southwest winds.

Leesburg airport showed south 13 mph winds from 1 PM to 2 PM, which would have been our launch time. We were measuring earlier 10 mph gusting to 15 mph, south. It would have been possible to launch pilots and have them be reasonably safe, but this is a Sport Class mentored competition and the safety director was not willing to take that chance. A couple of mph less wind and it not trending south-southwest and all would have been fine.

Unfortunately, we expect even worse conditions for the next two days, at least.

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Top Meteo Update

Fri, Apr 1 2022, 10:47:16 am MDT

Soaring forecasting mostly for sailplanes

weather

https://newsletter.topmeteo.eu/mailing/9/5152747/9841105/20585/f26e5397e8/index.html

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A quiet two weeks

Sun, Mar 20 2022, 8:18:44 am MDT

After so much good flying weather

Florida|weather

The weather turned wet and windy in Florida after great flying conditions in January, Febuary, and early March. It hasn't improved much, but it should later this week. That's why no flying stories.

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Don't get too bothered by the forecast

Sun, Feb 27 2022, 7:27:39 pm MST

The winds stay calm and there is no sea breeze from the west

Derrick Turner|Florida|TV|weather|Wilotree Park|XC|XContest.org

Here is the forecast which proves to be incorrect about the wind direction and speed;

Morning Soaring Forecast for Sunday, February 27th, 2022 at Wilotree Park

NWS, Today:

Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 85. Light and variable wind becoming west northwest 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon.
Hourly forecast: west southwest wind 3 mph at noon rising to 8 mph west northwest by 4 PM, cloud cover 20%, no chance of rain.

RAP, noon

Surface wind: south southwest 6 mph (8 mph, 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 620 fpm
TOL: 4,800'
CU: 4,100'
B/S: 8.5

RAP, 3 PM:

Surface wind: west 7 mph (11 mph, 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 660 fpm
TOL: 7,100'
Cu: 5,900'
B/S: 10.0
Temperature at CB: 50°F

Task:

Quest 3 km
Baron 3 km
Quest 400 m

56 km
Launch at noon

West winds increase all afternoon with surface winds west at 11 mph at 4 pm according to RAP. NWS and RAP disagree on the direction of the winds at noon.

Because of the forecast for stronger west winds in the afternoon we avoided both going around the Green Swamp as well as shortening the task as we wanted to land before the sea breeze came in. The TV weather said that the sea breeze would stop to our west at I75, but RAP showed it getting to us.

Instead the winds stayed calm until almost sundown.

I launched right after Larry at 12:20 PM. Wilotree Park had over a dozen hang glider pilots ready to get into the air. Derrick Turner and Thasio were just behind me, so that four of us would be doing the task.

The sky started filling up with cu's as I launched after Larry. It took about 20 minutes in the 3 km start cylinder before I climbed up to cloud base at 4,400' and headed north.

With plenty of cu's I was following Larry to some extent getting 100 - 250 fpm average lift until I got just past the Florida Turnpike. Down to 2,400' I ran smack dab into 700 fpm and it was not a friendly 700 fpm. I put the glider up on a tip in order to try to stay inside the tiny core, still there were plenty of opportunities to find the edges. I was only 2 km from the edge of the turnpoint cylinder.

I could see Larry, Derrick and Thasio nearby so it looked like we could fly together on the way south. The task was just back to Wilotree, but there was an alternate turnpoint about 16 km further south if you wanted to extend the flight.

Heading south there were plenty of cu's and I found 300 fpm and 500 fpm to 5,200'. Down to 2,200' just east of the chicken coops in Mascotte I saw either Derrick or Thasio climbing nearby and we all joined up with Larry further west. 300 fpm to 5,400'.

When Derrick and Thasio headed south I found 500 fpm at the edge of the cu so I stopped and climbed to cloud base as they dove south and got lost to me against the visual ground clutter.

Larry was headed south toward the turnpoint at the intersection of highway 33 and 474 and was just ahead of us. I stopped for 200 fpm over some pilots flying near Wilotree Park while Derrick raced ahead to get under Larry 2 km further south. Thasio slowed up as both he and Derrick had missed the lift that I was climbing in.

Derrick got down to 1,200' under Larry but couldn't climb up much and was forced to go land about 5 km south of Wilotree Park.

I flew over to where Larry had climbed out, but didn't find anything. Thasio was watching and when he saw me turn north to go back to Wilotree he followed. The lift was light but steady all the way back and with a light north wind it was easy to land back at the LZ.

Larry continued on another 11 km, made the turnpoint, took a cloud street to the west and then came back in to the Park.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/27.2.2022/17:19

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/3016722

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2022/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

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2021 Florida Nationals Series Comps

Wed, Nov 17 2021, 11:37:57 pm MST

airspace|Airtribune|Florida|food|sport|Sport Class|Stephan Mentler|tow|weather|Wilotree Park

Trying to get them published on Airtribune

Stephan Mentler ‹team@Icaro2000usa.com›> writes:

While we are working to get things going on the registration side, here are some details for both comps.

The entry fee is $375 (includes Wilotree Park Fee, $475 after March 10th). NOTE that entry fees do not include tow fees. Aerotowing fee is $375 - this includes a tow on check-in day. Some of the things that we will have:

• Daily Prizes
• Event T-shirt
• Food and beverages the night of check-in (I plan to get he same ice-cream truck for us)
• Prizes for the first three places in the Open and Sport Class
• Awards ceremony dinner
• On-line Turn point Coordinates
• On-line airspace files
• Weather Briefing on Pilots’ Phones via WhatsApp
• Task Sent to Pilots’ Phones via WhatsApp
• Wilotree Park (includes free WIFI, access to clubhouse and amenities [swimming pool, kitchen, pool table, etc.

Our cancellation policy is as follows - receive full refund minus $12 (USD) for withdrawal up to March 1st 2022. Receive 50% refund for withdrawal after March 2nd till April 1st. Refunds for withdrawals after April 1st are at the discretion of the Organizer and Wilotree Park, but not likely as we will have secured aircraft, the grounds, and other tangibles.

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Polar Vortices

Fri, Nov 12 2021, 1:01:22 pm MST

Winter is coming

climate|weather

https://www.severe-weather.eu/global-weather/early-stratospheric-warming-polar-vortex-forecast-cold-season-fa/

Unusually early Stratospheric Warming event is starting, with more to follow, having a yet unknown effect on the Polar Vortex this upcoming cold season.

The Polar Vortex has just returned for the cold season 2021/2022, yet it is already facing its first stratospheric warming event. An unusually early warming event is starting over the Polar regions, with more warming forecast to follow into the late month.

The Polar Vortex is without a doubt one of the key factors for the weather during the cold season. It is strongly connected all the way from the ground up into the stratosphere. Every strong change or disruption of the Polar Vortex can have a profound effect on the weather development, so we take great notice of the activity high above in the stratosphere.

Before explaining what is coming for the Polar Vortex and our weather, we will quickly learn what exactly is the Polar Vortex and this stratospheric warming. We try to explain this in most of our winter articles, as knowledge is essential and powerful, so why not learn something new in just mere seconds.

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And then the rains came

Tue, Oct 5 2021, 8:29:54 pm MDT

After September flights in the Dolomites

climate|weather

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/10/05/italy-record-rainfall-/

An intense complex of thunderstorms stalled over northwestern Italy on Monday, unleashing a 12-hour torrent unrivaled in the history of European weather observations.

It’s the latest extreme rain event supercharged by climate change that follows a summer of historic deluges in the Northern Hemisphere.

In just 12 hours, 29.2 inches of rain fell in Rossiglione in Italy’s Genoa province, roughly 65 miles south-southwest of Milan and 10 miles north of the Mediterranean coastline. It marked the greatest 12-hour rainfall on record in Europe, according to Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist who specializes in world weather extremes.

See the rainfall map here.

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Skew-T explained

Fri, Oct 1 2021, 10:29:19 am MDT

Easy to follow

Skew-T|weather|video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STrCGN5TLoA

https://youtu.be/STrCGN5TLoA

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Fri, Sep 24 2021, 11:37:52 am MDT

Gust front in the morning on Friday

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|weather

Five of us were out by the launch area standing by our gliders as the gust front came through. Lasted probably fifteen minutes.

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Encampment in Cotulla, Texas

July 22, 2021, 9:55:07 MDT

Not a great weather forecast

weather

https://loctome.com/live

https://lt.flymaster.net/

Thursday forecast:

A 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 93. South southeast wind 7 to 13 mph.

A good wind direction.

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Encampment in Cotulla, Texas

Mon, Jul 19 2021, 6:09:46 pm MDT

Not a great weather outlook for record flights to the north

Cotulla, Texas|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|record|triangle|weather

Encampment in Cotulla, Texas

Light southeast winds today. A triangle task was called.

https://loctome.com/live

https://lt.flymaster.net/

Tuesday

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 10am. Partly sunny, with a high near 91. Calm wind becoming north northeast 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Wednesday

A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. Calm wind becoming east 5 to 8 mph in the morning.

Thursday

A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 92. Light east southeast wind becoming south southeast 5 to 9 mph in the morning.

Friday

A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 97. South southeast wind 7 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Maybe Friday

Larry writes:

Today in Cotulla the winds were predicted to be light from the surface to the top of the lift. We set two aggressive tasks for the ten pilots to choose from. The first was a 100 mile triangle to the NW then east to Pearsall and back to Cotulla. The second was a 100km record attempt. Nine of us went for the 100 miler and Robin went for the 100km attempt. None of us made it but the flying was fun and we were all safe.

Gregg Ludwig sends:

Flying the Dry Line

Thu, Jul 15 2021, 5:57:19 pm MDT

It's almost like flying from Zapata

Makbule Baldik Le Fay|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Ken Millard|Larry Bunner|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Makbule Baldik Le Fay|Matt McCleskey|Mick Howard|Nathan Wreyford|Pete Lehmann|record|Ric Caylor|Richard Milla|Rich Reinauer|Robin Hamilton|weather|X Flight 2019

The Texas crew is making a very smart move (if hang gliding and weather history is any guide). Here is what Larry Bunner writes:

We begin our south Texas encampment next Monday. Ten pilots, one super tug and some good weather should put produce some epic miles!

Most of the X Flight crew that flew from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada in 2019 are back together again to fly in an cross country encampment starting July 19. Robin Hamilton and Larry Bunner have put together this event that will be based out of Cotulla, TX for the week. They will be joined by X Flight member Pete Lehmann who has vast experience in the area having flown out of Zapata for many years (which is the site of many world record hang glider flights).

Venerable tow pilot Gregg (Kim) Ludwig will provide the “mountain” that we need on his super trike to get us high over the west Texas plains. Also joining us will be the multi aviation skilled Mick Howard, Rich Reinauer, and Nathan Wreyford all veterans of previous encampments out of Refugio and Falfurrias, TX.

Rounding out our group will be Texas pilots Makbule LeFay, Richard Milla and Matt McCleskey and relative newcomers Ric Caylor and Ken Millard.

Our intentions for the week are to take advantage of the early morning soaring conditions that start over the coastal plains and fly north through The Hill Country of west Texas onto the Edwards Plateau and beyond.

Looks to me like they will be launching out of the Cotulla-La Salle County Airport. This is just slightly north east of our preferred route out of Zapata. It is along interstate 35 which heads from Laredo to San Antonio. It is about 170 km (105 miles) north of Zapata and 110 km north northeast of Laredo.

They won't have to worry about Laredo airspace and they won't have to worry about less than optimal retrieval options between Zapata and Laredo.

From this venue they will have the option of traveling up along highway 83 toward Uvalde, and then along highway 55 toward Rock Springs and beyond into the panhandle.

The issue is will they have the early morning cloud streets (the over running) that you get in Zapata that allows for you to go far and fast while not getting high but always under a very visible set of cloud streets. Of course, this is very dependent on the location of the high pressure, hopefully south of New Orleans.

Larry writes:

The terrain to the north is much friendlier than Zapata. We'll see how well the morning streeting is. All of us will be flying with GPS and linking them to Loctome. This app provides location and altitude among other parameters for our drivers and also allows Loctome subscribers from around the world to watch our flights (ie. all of us in one group). It's like Life360 with altitude, climb rate and distance.

Doesn't look to me that you need to subscribe to follow along: https://loctome.com/live

They have a great opportunity to go far if we look at the long term conditions. Here is the soil moisture:

It looks pretty dry in west Texas all along their route.

https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/Soilmst_Monitoring/US/Soilmst/Soilmst.shtml

You can follow the local weather at launch here: https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=28.454&lon=-99.2185#.YO9s90xMGcw Looks to be generally southeast for the next few days, which is what you want. Looked good on Wednesday as I write this.

I'll be following the weather forecasts on https://www.xcskies.com/map.

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Flight Planning Tool

July 14, 2021, 8:38:45 MDT

TopMeteo

weather

Flight Planning Tool

https://newsletter.topmeteo.eu/c/9/4225235/1408/0/4456983/255/237947/4855e2b5b7.html

"TopMeteo Newsletter" «info» sends:

We are continuously working to improve the efficiency and the accuracy of our model. But our latest development is about our front end, with a new task planning tool. We are now finally offering this tool in the US.

There are two modes. An FAI mode, which is aimed at glider pilots. And a normal mode, which is intended for free flights or for motor pilots. And of course the service also works very well on the smartphone.

We are already in the process of further improving the flight planning. More functions will follow shortly.

It is now your time to use it and we hope you will like it as much as we do. We wish you a lot of great flights, good adventures and always happy landings!

‘Quadruple’ Microburst »

June 3, 2021, 4:56:11 pm MDT

In Texas

“This was one of those cases where you couldn’t get it more perfect,” Olbinski said. “The road curved southeast out of the south side of the storm. We could see downbursts and microbursts starting to happen. The left edge was just crazy sharp.”

“The sunset colors had started coming in on the left, and there was rain foot after rain foot,” Olbinski recalled. “You realized there’s a second downburst happening … I thought, ‘Nobody’s going to believe these colors.’”

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Windy Goes Thermally

Thu, May 27 2021, 3:18:58 pm MDT

Beginning of a transformation

internet|weather

https://www.windy.com/articles/windy-com-introduces-soaring-forecast-16458?ccl,50.233,5.889,4,i:pressure

As some members of our team are pilots themselves, we decided to enrich Windy.com with a new soaring forecast layer for (but not only) glider and paraglider pilots!

The new feature is called Thermals and is a part of the Clouds group. To access it, open --> "More layers.." and add Thermals to your main layer selection:.

The color scale indicates thermal height (meters or feet AMSL) and is overlayed with cloud type icons (small/large cumulus, overcast, lightnings). Soaring forecast is available for all the global models (ECMWF, GFS, ICON) as well as for the local model ICON-EU.

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Jeez it was horrible

March 24, 2021, 11:53:03 pm EDT

Jeez it was horrible

But we lived through it and it got better

PG|weather|Wilotree Park|XC

This was the forecast for Wednesday, March 24th at Wilotree Park:

NWS:

Wednesday

Patchy fog before 11am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 86. Calm wind becoming south southeast around 5 mph in the morning.

Hourly in the afternoon: South southeast surface wind 6 mph, 56% cloud cover decreasing to 20% in the afternoon

HRRR 3:

South southwest surface wind at 1 PM: 4 mph, same at 2000' and 4000'

TOL at 1 PM: 4,800'

Updraft Velocity at 1 pm: 600 fpm

CB at 1 PM: 0'

B/S at 1 PM: 10

No cu's to entice us into the air?

Task:

A blue day? Contradictions in the wind direction?

Later in the morning the task was set:

Task:

Quest 3 km
Kokee 3 km
Baron 3 km
Quest 400 m

87 km

All the forecasts indicated that there wouldn't be any cu's. But, they did show up about noon, hung around for a while and then disappeared. Larry took off at 12:30 PM with a few small cu's off to the east and experienced rock and roll conditions on tow up to 1,600' and then totally smooth. He held on to 3,000' then descended to 1,600' before he found any lift.

We heard his reports on the radio and put our gliders back under the tree (in the magic circle where no cars are allowed and no camping - just for hang gliders) to see if he would get up. He was able to maintain in light lift, but wasn't going any where.

Fifty minutes latter I took off the first one after him. He was still nearby and while things had improved they still weren't that great. I quickly lost 300' after pining off and going back over the field to find weak lift. After a couple of attempts being blown north northwest in the 8 mph south southeast wind, I was finally able to hook into 200 fpm to 3,300'.

I wanted to head out to the west northwest but Larry was low so I went back to just north of the field and worked weak lift again to 2,400' over Groveland and then had to go back south again to find lift at 1,300' just northwest of the field and took that 200 fpm to 3,800' over Groveland. That's what it took and we headed west out on the task toward Kokee.

I'd been in the air almost fifty minutes. Larry had been trying to get up near Wilotree Park for an hour and forty minutes. We were finally on our way and not all that high. We were flying cross wind with a 7 mph south southeast wind (169 degrees) and working weak lift as we went along.

We found 300 fpm in the third thermal out on the course and that got us to 3,900' southwest of Mascotte which made it possible to get to the northeast corner of the Green Swamp. There I found a little bit of lift and started working it. That encouraged Larry to dive deeper over the pastures into the Green Swamp to search for and find better lift. He got us 180 fpm that we used to get up to 3,800'. You might notice that we aren't getting that high.

For the most part the air totally sucked. We were being banged around in thermals and it was not the slightest bit pleasant. I thought that we did this for fun.

We had to stop for lift every two or three kilometers working 30 fpm, 75 fpm, 150 fpm anything to keep flying. The wind turned south southwest west of Webster so it was pushing us back and to the north in thermals, and they were weak thermals.

We were heading for a 3 km radius waypoint cylinder around Kokee, a small private airfield and in the direction of Croom-A-coochee. We climbed at 100 fpm to 3,700' and then dashed for the edge of the cylinder before turning around and within a couple of kilometers we found the first sweet thermal of the day at 165 fpm to 2,800'. Now we were having fun.

We had been looking to the north east toward our next turnpoint at Baron north of the Turnpike. It was not looking good. A ridge of high clouds. From the satellite it looked like this:

Instead of going downwind to the turnpoint we decided to go back cross wind to Wilotree. It was already almost 4 o'clock and we were not moving very fast.

We were able to climb at often less than 100 fpm to 3,900' around Webster and found similar lift (but very pleasant lift) near the sand mine just west of highway 469. The wind had died down to 3 mph out of the south.

Larry and I separated a little bit as I pressed on from 3,600' heading southeast across highway 50 getting down to 1,200' after a 7 km glide. Larry stayed back and found lift to 4,000' over the fields on the northeast corner of the Green Swamp where we got up on the way out.

I worked 250 fpm to 3,700' and that was plenty to get back to Wilotree Park from 9 km out as the shade came over us. The clouds from the north soon covered all the sky.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/24.3.2021/17:22

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-open/

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2743280

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2021/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20210313&gliderclass=hg1

It turned out to be a bunch of work

March 20, 2021, 8:39:08 EDT

It turned out to be a bunch of work

Southwest winds

PG|weather|Wilotree Park|XC

We were concerned about the forecasted conditions. The winds would turn southwest north of us in the afternoon. It also wasn't clear what the winds would be doing at launch. Still there was a forecast for cumulus cloud base at 6,000'. We kept discussing what task we should attempt.

NWS:

Tuesday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. South wind 5 to 10 mph.

Hourly in the afternoon: South surface wind 8 mph, turning southwest later in the afternoon, 40% decreasing to 24% cloud cover.

HRRR 3:

South southwest surface wind at noon: 10 mph, 2000' 14 mph, 4,000' 13 mph.

TOL at noon: 4,900'

Updraft Velocity at noon: 520 fpm

CB at noon: 4,800'

B/S at noon 5.2 (later it turned out to be 3.5)

The winds turn southwest during the afternoon and further to the north and get stronger to the north.

At 4 PM the TOL is 7,200' and the CB is 6,900' with updraft velocity at 600 fpm.

The major issue was the southwest winds. They would be 16 - 18 mph at 4,000'

We thought about heading northeast toward the coast landing before getting near any airspaces (while going north around Orlando airspace as we have previously) but finally decided to head straight north and just deal with the west wind component. That was not a good idea.

I launched at 1 PM into a 16 mph south wind finding lift on almost the whole tow. Pinned off in 300 fpm and climbed right to cloud base at 3,800'. Then headed south to get over Larry who was climbing slowly.

Larry and I struggled in weak lift, zero to 25 fpm until we found 300 fpm east of Groveland and climbed to 4,200'. The wind was straight south as forecasted for Wilotree Park in the update in the morning for 1 PM.

We moved west to get lined up for our task to Keystone Heights 143 km to the north. I was down to 2,000' north of Mascotte and the chicken coops before Larry found 400 fpm to 4,300' to the north. The wind was 13 mph out of the south southwest.

The winds were strong enough that they were breaking up the thermals and making some of the climbs unpleasant. It had been an hour and we were still south of the Turnpike and pushing continually to the north northwest.

The climbs got rattier as we got over the Villages with a greater west component in the winds. We worked 100 fpm from 2,100' as we drifted toward Lake Weir climbing to 3,900' at the northern edge of the Villages.

We pushed hard northwest to get back on the course line and down to 2,600' found 200 fpm to 4,600'. We then pushed west again to get under the nearest clouds. As we passed south of Leeward I said that I felt that we should land there. Larry was all for that and we came down quickly in a field that we used many times.

We were much happier on the ground.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/16.3.2021/17:01

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-open/

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2738633

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2021/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20210313&gliderclass=hg1

Santa Anas at Andy Jackson Flight Park

Wed, Oct 28 2020, 8:32:44 am MDT

They are looking for donations to rebuild it

weather|Andy Jackson Flight Park

https://crestlinesoaring.org/ajx-shade-structure-destroyed/

Total Donations Received: $5880

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Getting Closer

July 31, 2020, 9:53:45 pm MDT

Getting Closer

Tomorrow (Saturday) we'll know

weather

Australian Temperatures and Rainfall

Tue, Jan 21 2020, 8:07:06 am EST

A more comprehensive view

weather

Australia has been adversely affected by global warming. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology publishes posters than give one a broad overview of how things have changed down under. The web pages are interactive and you can drill down for a better view or download the large scale PDF.

This is a very small version of the temperature poster. Click on it to go to the interactive version and there you can download the PDF.:


http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/history/temperature/poster-tmean-anom.pdf

Same with the rainfall poster:


http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/history/rainfall/poster-rain-decile.pdf

Discuss "Australian Temperatures and Rainfall" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2020 Forbes Flatlands »

January 7, 2020, 8:45:02 EST

2020 Forbes Flatlands

Day 4 results

Andrey Solomykin|Evgeniya "Zhenya" Laritskaya|Facebook|Filippo Oppici|Forbes Flatlands 2020|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Trent Brown|weather

Evgeniya Laritskaya writes at noon:

Our task and safety committees chose to believe the most optimistic of the weather forecasts, so here is the task we hope open class pilots can fly today: a straight line 167 km (157 km optimized distance, I think) with a quartering tailwind. Right now it is still a little too windy.

Evgeniya Laritskaya writes at 3 PM:

Launch delayed. Still waiting. Pilots are ready.

At 3:30 PM pilots are in the air.

https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=3171

Looks like Jonny landed 41.6 km from goal and he was the furthest according to Live Tracking.

Here are the Results:

http://www.forbesflatlands.com/results-show?id_results=3&db=results2020&class=results_open

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Trent Brown Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 119.15 671
2 Josh Woods Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 117.30 664
3 Pedro L. Garcia WW T3 144 116.78 662
4 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 104.75 603
5 Vic Hare Wills Wing T2C 136 94.95 567
6 Filippo Oppici WW T2C 144 94.46 565
7 Andrey Solomykin 91.32 550
8 Olav Opsanger Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 86.94 526
9 Marcin Gil 77.95 483
10 Rich Reinauer Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 72.21 461
10 Steven Blackler 72.29 461

2020 Forbes Flatlands »

January 4, 2020, 11:36:35 EST

2020 Forbes Flatlands

Extreme weather

Facebook|Forbes Flatlands 2020|Rohan Taylor|weather

Vicki writes:

The first day of the Forbes Flatlands 2020 has been cancelled due to extreme weather conditions with strong winds and temperatures in the mid 40's. We were able to get some late practice day flights in yesterday when the winds eased late afternoon about 30 pilots braved the heat and flew.

We finalized registration last night before our welcome party at the Vandenberg Hotel. We have 52 pilots from 16 countries, 7 Sport Class pilots and 45 Open Class pilots. A big welcome to the 20 new pilots to Forbes this year.

Rohan Taylor kindly got us started on the local farmers help appeal where we can donate food/clothes/money via Nel's Pantry. Our very generous pilots raised over $800 in a matter of minutes after the briefing. Thank you all so much. We have set up a shopping trolley in head quarters for further donations during the week.

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Forbes Flatlands starts this weekend

January 3, 2020, 8:09:51 EST

Forbes Flatlands starts this weekend

Fire weather

Facebook|photo|weather

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/01/02/amid-bush-fire-crisis-this-weekend-may-bring-australia-its-most-dangerous-fire-weather-conditions-yet/

Weather during the next few days will be similar to what led to the bush fire crisis in the first place: building heat in the southwestern reaches of the country leading to “catastrophic” fire danger in some regions Thursday and at least “extreme” fire weather danger in South Australia on Friday. Even the city of Adelaide is expected to top 104 degrees (40 Celsius), with temperatures inland climbing even higher, with high winds.

The combination of the heat and strong winds associated with a frontal system will create explosive conditions for supporting extreme fire behavior, including their rapid and unpredictable spread. Similar conditions have already proved fatal to residents and firefighters, with the death toll as of Thursday standing at 17 for the season.

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Cowboy Up in Valle de Bravo

January 2, 2020, 8:08:09 EST

Cowboy Up in Valle de Bravo

Living the good life

Facebook|Tiki Mashy|weather

Tiki Mashy writes:

We have two beautiful villas and a come cooks great breakfast for us at the villa and cleans.

Wonderful day - 70-75 degrees. Jeff schooled us on the site. Fantastic weather. It was a wonderful flying day. I got to 10,800 and flew for 3 hours. Beautiful puffy clouds formed in the afternoon. This is a fabulous site!! We ended the evening with a lovely New Years Eve dinner.

There are 12 of us here and what a great group.

2019 Corryong Cup »

December 29, 2019, 10:19:16 EST

2019 Corryong Cup

Day 2 and 3 results

Andrey Solomykin|Blue Sky|Corryong Cup 2019|Evgeniya "Zhenya" Laritskaya|Facebook|Konstantin Lukyanov|weather

Evgeniya Laritskaya writes:

The sky was overcast from the morning on, and the weather forecast wasn’t optimistic at all. Still, pilots decided to go up and give it a try. And they were so right to do so!

The task committee set a 51 km task around Mount Mitta Mitta, a little mountain range up to 950 meters high. Right on the east side of this range there is the Murray river, dividing the Australian states of Victoria and New South Wales.

The only problem was the overcast, but now and then the blue sky holes were coming and going, providing rare thermals. That made the task challenging and requiring luck. Flying from sunny spot to sunny spot, hanging in zero sink when there was no sun, almost landing, and then happily finding something which would let a pilot “survive” until the next sunny cycle.

Konstantin wasn’t lucky and landed after struggling for almost half the distance. Aleksey had the opposite experience. He had a really fast run to the goal. We are very happy for him. Andrey almost landed after the first turnpoint, spent forever trying to get back up and was finally rewarded by getting enough sun to get to the goal, too.

Rob de Groot was first in goal today.

Results: http://wow.asn.au/comps/?q=node/100

Task 2:

# Name Nat Glider Time Distance Total
1 Konstantin Lukyanov RUS Litespeed RX 3.5 01:26:33 48.07 990
2 Andrey Solomykin RUS Litespeed RX 3 02:12:55 48.07 744
3 Mark Russell AUS Litespeed RS4 40.40 621
4 Michael Free AUS Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 35.95 576
5 John Harriott AUS Litespeed RX Pro 30.76 508
6 Peter Burkitt AUS Litespeed RX4 Pro 24.35 413
7 Aleksei Labzin RUS Litespeed RX 3.5 19.72 347
8 Jay Kubeil AUS Sting 3 - 154 12.24 242
9 Todd Wisewould AUS Wills Wing T2C 10.03 209
10 Peter Garone AUS Gecko 155 5.92 145

Task 3:

# Name Nat Glider Time Distance Total
1 Rob de Groot AUS Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 01:43:31 50.67 907
2 Aleksei Labzin RUS Litespeed RX 3.5 01:47:41 50.67 858
3 Andrey Solomykin RUS Litespeed RX 3 02:53:29 50.67 604
4 Gary Wright AUS Litespeed RX 3.5 21.35 397
5 Konstantin Lukyanov RUS Litespeed RX 3.5 20.70 392
6 David Drabble AUS Gecko 170 12.85 301
7 John Harriott AUS Litespeed RX Pro 12.21 291
8 Michael Free AUS Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 8.54 227
9 Todd Wisewould AUS Wills Wing T2C 5.00 167
9 Jay Kubeil AUS Sting 3 - 154 5.00 167

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Konstantin Lukyanov RUS Litespeed RX 3.5 2382
2 Andrey Solomykin RUS Litespeed RX 3 2096
3 Michael Free AUS Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 1607
4 Aleksei Labzin RUS Litespeed RX 3.5 1519
5 Rob de Groot AUS Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 1314
6 John Harriott AUS Litespeed RX Pro 1263
7 Todd Wisewould AUS Wills Wing T2C 1186
8 Gary Wright AUS Litespeed RX 3.5 1164
9 Peter Burkitt AUS Litespeed RX4 Pro 829
10 David Drabble AUS Gecko 170 765

Corryong Cup

December 28, 2019, 9:04:10 EST

Corryong Cup

Day 1 Results

Andrey Solomykin|Evgeniya "Zhenya" Laritskaya|Facebook|Konstantin Lukyanov|weather

Evgeniya Laritskaya writes:

The results of the first day were announced in the morning: Konstantin was first. Andrey was fourth, there were 17 participants (there are also quite a few free-flyers), and the Russian team is in first place. The results can be found online, here is the link: http://wow.asn.au/comps/?q=node/101.

The weather forecast today promised more complicated conditions than yesterday: a stronger wind and a greater chance of overdevelopment. The pilots were not even sure if they would have enough time to complete the task. But they did The task was the same as yesterday with one minor difference: it was not an elapsed time format, but race, in order to lure the pilots into the air earlier.

At some point during the task it even rained lightly above the third waypoint, but in general the weather allowed the guys to fly the route. Kostya and Andrey made goal again. You can see their tracklogs at the Xcontest:
Konstantin - https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/pilots/detail:Caustic
Andrey - https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/pilots/detail:An.Petrovich
Aleksey - https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/pilots/detail:4aleksei2

http://wow.asn.au/comps/?q=node%2F101

Task 1 those at goal:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Konstantin Lukyanov RUS Litespeed RX 3.5 01:21:30 1000
2 Todd Wisewould AUS Wills Wing T2C 01:36:18 810
3 Michael Free AUS Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 01:36:57 804
4 Andrey Solomykin RUS Litespeed RX 3 01:44:06 748
5 Gary Wright AUS Litespeed RX 3.5 02:00:31 637
6 John Harriott AUS Litespeed RX Pro 02:39:29 464
6 David Drabble AUS Gecko 170 02:50:50 464

Australia's Hottest Day

December 19, 2019, 5:51:56 pm EST

Australia's Hottest Day

For 24 hours

record|weather

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/12/18/australia-has-its-hottest-day-record-sydney-residents-brace-heat-fires-smoke/

Australia had its hottest day on record Dec. 17, with a nationally averaged temperature of 105.6 degrees (40.9), according to the country’s Bureau of Meteorology. This beats the old record of 104.5 degrees (40.3 Celsius) on Jan. 7, 2013.

However, it’s a record that may not stand for long — perhaps for just 24 hours, as forecasters anticipate it could be broken both Wednesday and Thursday eastern time, as a searing, early-season heat wave roasts the country.

“This hot air mass is so extensive that preliminary figures show that yesterday was the hottest day on record in Australia,” said BOM meteorologist Diana Eadie.

It’s highly unusual for a national temperature record to be broken, but to be broken on two to three straight days is even more rare.

The heat is combining with drought conditions and burning wildfires to lead to severe to “extreme” fire danger in parts of Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales on Thursday local time. The extreme fire danger warning includes metropolitan Sydney, where the heat is ramping up.

The heat is forecast to peak Friday in Adelaide, where the forecast high temperature is 113 degrees (45 Celsius), as well as Melbourne, which is predicted to reach 109 degrees (43 Celsius).

The BOM is also forecasting that many locations will break monthly records for the hottest temperatures in December. In fact, some places in New South Wales could see their hottest temperature on record for any time of the year, particularly Saturday, according to BOM meteorologist Blair Trewin.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-australia-experiences-hottest-day-on-record-as-heat-wave-conditions/

The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) declared its second state of emergency in two months on Thursday as temperatures were set to soar above 40C and nearly 100 bushfires were burning throughout the state, with authorities concerned about fires surrounding Sydney.

The state of emergency will last seven days, running past Christmas, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

“The biggest concern over the next few days is the unpredictability, with extreme wind conditions, extremely hot temperatures,” Ms. Berejiklian told a news conference.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/12/19/australia-has-its-hottest-day-second-straight-day-areas-face-catastrophic-fire-conditions/

Australia is in the throes of one of its most extreme heat events, having broken a national record for the hottest nationally averaged high temperature on two straight days. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) reports preliminary data shows that for Dec. 18, the nationally averaged maximum temperature was 107.4 degrees Fahrenheit (41.9 Celsius).

This beat the old record of 105.6 degrees (40.9 Celsius), which had been set just the day before. Before this heat event, the country’s hottest day was Jan. 7, 2013, which had an average high temperature of 104.5 degrees (40.3 Celsius).

The combination of fires, a severe drought and the two record-hottest days has created a sense that an environmental disaster is taking place in a country that is one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases based on the size of its population.

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Early Snow

December 13, 2019, 8:05:29 EST

Early Snow

Over the top of it

Facebook|weather

Foehn, Chinook, Santa Annas

December 2, 2019, 8:43:49 PST

Foehn, Chinook, Santa Annas

Compression

Facebook|weather

Foehn winds are a warm, dry wind on the lee side (lee side is the direction downwind, the lee side of mountains generally remains dry) of a mountain range with he warmth & dryness of the air being due to adiabatic compression (in adiabatic compression, as the volume of the air decreases, pressure and temperature increases) as the air descends the mountain slopes.

In the U.S, the term Chinook is used for Foehn winds in the Rocky & Sierra Mountains. Do these type of winds occur around the mid state? Generally not, but they can sometimes occur in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Extremely high winds of 90 to 110 mph were reported across the western foothills of the southern Appalachian Mountains on December 22-23 2004, October 17 2006, February 24-25 February 2007, & March 1 2007. The first diagram depicts a weak Foehn wind event (light pink) & the second diagram depicts a strong Foehn wind event (darker pink).

Spring Meeting - Friuli Venezia Giulia Trophy 2020

Tue, Nov 26 2019, 7:28:57 am PST

25 Apr, 2020 - 01 May, 2020, Travesio/Meduno, Italy

Friuli Venezia Giulia Trophy 2019|weather

https://airtribune.com/springmeeting-2020/info/details__info

The Spring Meeting - Friuli Venezia Giulia Trophy, at its 4th edition, is a FAI 2 competition (Hang Gliding class 1, class 5, Sport class) which takes place in a flight zone well known by European pilots. It is also part of the big flying area which have hosted the XXII Hang Gliding World Championship.

The flight area is mainly in the foothill but, depending on weather conditions, it is possible to fly also in the Alps and in the flatland. There are different takeoffs; two of them are in Slovenia and can be chosen in case of changeable weather.

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Soaring Weather Forecasts

November 25, 2019, 9:02:52 PST

Soaring Weather Forecasts

We use XCSkies

weather

https://www.xcskies.com/map

XCSkies uses the forecasts produced by seven different weather models as input to its soaring forecast algorithms. Task planning inside of XCSkies.

$39.95/year

$29.95/6 months

$4.95/month

SkySight:

https://skysight.io/

Uses its own weather model. Integrated with SeeYou for forecasting tasks. Its forecasts for convergence are praised.

$79/year.

Top Meteo:

https://usa.topmeteo.eu/en/usa/start/

Also integrated with SeeYou for task planning.

$99/year.

$24.90/2 weeks

$6.90/3 days

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Fallstreak Hole Clouds

November 23, 2019, 3:54:14 pm PST

Fallstreak Hole Clouds

Supercooled

weather

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/11/23/florida-cloud-becomes-fallstreak-hole-after-encounter-with-airplane-friday/

Natalie Keller Reinert looked up to an unusual sight Friday morning in the Central Florida sky. The clouds above her appeared to have holes in them.

What were the bizarre disappearing clouds? They’re known as “fallstreak holes,” or more commonly “hole punch clouds.”

They typically form on stable days, when a blanket of altocumulus or cirrocumulus clouds stretches miles overhead. These are generally fair-weather clouds. But the secret to producing a fallstreak hole comes from what the clouds are made out of — not ice, as would be expected, but water.

The clouds are high enough that temperatures are well below freezing. But there’s nothing for the water droplets to freeze onto. So they remain supercooled, suspended in the atmosphere with no place to go.

Until a plane flies through them, that is.

It’s believed that commercial aircraft — which eject water vapor, aerosols and soot — can play a role in “seeding” the clouds. The newly introduced nuclei give the supercooled a surface to freeze to.

The result? The cloud “disappears” into a trail of newly minted ice crystals. Once in a while, a rainbow-like patch of color can appear in the diaphanous, wispy tail.

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5G and the Weather Forecasts

November 23, 2019, 12:18:17 pm PST

5G and the Weather Forecasts

Degrading

weather

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/11/22/global-g-deal-poses-significant-threat-weather-forecast-accuracy-experts-warn/

A long-awaited international deal governing how the world’s technology companies should roll out 5G technology poses serious risks to weather forecast accuracy, according to data from federal agencies and the World Meteorological Organization.

Studies completed before the negotiations by U.S. government agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA and the Navy had warned that 5G equipment operating in the 24-gigahertz frequency band could interfere with transmissions from polar-orbiting satellites used to gather weather data. This could make forecasts much less reliable, the reports found.

Specifically, these highly technical analyses concluded that if deployed widely and without adequate constraints, telecommunications equipment operating in the 24 GHz frequency band would bleed into the frequencies that NOAA and NASA satellite sensors also use to sense the presence and properties of water vapor in the atmosphere, significantly interfering with the collection and transmission of critical weather data.

The NOAA report, for example, warned of a potential loss of 77.4 percent of data coming from microwave sounders mounted on the agency’s polar-orbiting satellites.

Going into the negotiations in Egypt, the United States took a negotiating position that was extremely concerning to scientists at NOAA and NASA, because it called for a limit of up to -20 decibel watts of interference (the lower the limit, the more buffer room there is). European regulators and the World Meteorological Organization, a U.N. agency, took a stricter line, arguing for stricter interference limits of up to -55 decibel watts.

The newly agreed standard represents a middle ground and will be introduced in two stages. The first stage, which will be in effect until Sept. 1, 2027, will be -33 decibel watts, and this will tighten to -39 decibel watts after that.

If you've ever used a 2 meter radio, you know what this is about.

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A Hot Year

November 23, 2019, 11:35:21 PST

A Hot Year

A little cooler in October here in the West

calendar|record|weather

We hang glider pilot are always interested in the weather, the soaring weather, and therefore the big picture, climate change. October is not a big hang gliding month for most Northern Hemisphere pilots, except in Florida and Texas. We just missed the worst of the colder October weather in Boise leaving for California near the end of the month.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/11/19/were-living-through-earths-second-hottest-year-noaa-finds/

This year is increasingly likely to be the planet’s second- or third-warmest calendar year on record since modern temperature data collection began in 1880, according to data released this week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

This reflects the growing influence of long-term, human-caused global warming and is especially noteworthy, as there was an absence of a strong El Niño in the tropical Pacific Ocean this year. Such events are typically associated with the hottest years, since they boost global ocean temperatures and add large amounts of heat to the atmosphere across the Pacific Ocean, the world’s largest.

According to a new report released Monday, there’s about an 85 percent chance that the year will wind up ranking as the second-warmest in NOAA’s data set, with a possibility that it slips to No. 3. Overall, though, it’s virtually certain (greater than a 99 percent chance) that 2019 will wind up being a top-five-warmest year for the globe.

NOAA found the average global land and ocean surface temperature for October was 1.76 degrees (0.98 degrees Celsius) above the 20th-century average, 0.11 of a degree shy of the record warm October set in 2015.

Remarkably, the 10 warmest Octobers have occurred since 2003, and the top-five warmest such months have taken place since 2015.

October 2019 was the 43rd-straight October to be warmer than the 20th-century average, and the 418th straight warmer-than-average month. This means anyone younger than 34 has not lived through a cooler-than-average year from a global standpoint.

The only region of record cold for the month was in the Western United States, where much of the Rockies were at record cold for the month. Interestingly, despite the absence of a declared El Niño in the tropical Pacific, global average sea-surface temperatures ranked second-warmest on record for the month, running less than a tenth of a degree behind the record year of 2016, when there was an intense El Niño event.

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Accuweather is BS

November 8, 2019, 10:57:18 PST

Accuweather is BS

Their long range forecasts have no scientific validity

weather

https://wapo.st/2NOwSKX

They are peddling precise predictions that have no accuracy.

Discuss "Accuweather is BS" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Morning Glory Photo

Fri, Nov 8 2019, 8:31:47 am PST

Michael Zupanc

calendar|Michael "Zupy" Zupanc|weather

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/that-s-the-story-morning-glory-how-cloud-surfing-snapper-took-shot-20191106-p537we.html

A photographer cloud-surfing in a glider has captured an incredible image of "morning glory cloud" over north-west Queensland.

Michael Zupanc's shot is so good he earned himself a spot in the Bureau of Meteorology's official 2020 calendar and his picture, On Cloud Nine, will feature for the month of June.

The picture was taken in September 2018, but after months of open entries and judging, it was unveiled on Wednesday as one of 13 images selected for the national weather calendar.

The phenomenon consistently occurs above Burketown, an isolated town and locality in far north-western Queensland and 660 kilometres west of Cairns.

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Atmospheric waves

November 7, 2019, 7:58:31 PST

Atmospheric waves

In Australia

video|weather

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/24/australia/gravity-wave-australia-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

Atmospheric gravity waves can be seen in satellite images taken by Australian weather forecast service Weatherzone on Monday and Tuesday. The images show the waves spreading out from the coast of Western Australia, sending ripples through clouds over the Indian Ocean. The gravity waves were triggered by thunderstorms, with cold air flowing out from the squalls resulting in a disturbance in the atmosphere.

Discuss "Atmospheric waves" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Fly Mexico »

November 6, 2019, 8:27:36 PST

Fly Mexico

It's that time of year

Jeff Hunt|weather

Jeff Hunt <<Jeff>> writes:

Hope everyone is well and had a happy Halloween and successful above the tropics flying season. We send out a note about this time, letting folks know latest news and views for FlyMexico.
 
Several fronts and cold weather have come in. We've seen monarch butterflies in Texas heading south. Soon we are off that way too, hoping for fair weather and north winds to push us down to flying in Mexico for season number 27!
 
More lodging options are in store. Houses are popular and spots nearer to the lakeside lz have some advantages. The famous Posada Berta is super close to town center and is still going and popular. Berta is like a grandmother to folks at her place. The Projects out by the piano lz have glamping!
 
We have larger, more diverse groups coming than ever before, more non flying companions, more repeat clients. More hang gliders coming, bringing a Sport 3 down. Looking forward to more flying every stinkin day!
 
Folks who want to saturate themselves in learning are picking up in numbers. A week down in Mexico is worth a year of chasing training elsewhere. The weather being so consistent really is an advantage. Getting after it daily helps to keep the progression fast.
 
Our experienced guides, instructors, and top drivers are with us again and the saying is imitation is a sincere form of flattery. We are flattered indeed at FlyMexico.

www.flymexico.com

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TopMeteo

November 5, 2019, 9:45:08 PST

TopMeteo

Weather integrated with Tasks

Facebook|photo|weather

https://www.facebook.com/naviter.seeyou/photos/a.10150465617365348/10158638161945348/?type=3&theater

https://www.schempp-hirth.com/fileadmin/Minimoa/Minimoa_Sn5_November_2019.pdf

Top-Meteo was one of the first services to make online “friendly” weather prediction for the dumb pilots we all are, without any knowledge about weather science, in just one click.

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2020 Pan-American Championships

November 1, 2019, 8:12:39 PDT

2020 Pan-American Championships

Registration is now open (a day early)

CIVL|record|USHPA|weather|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

https://airtribune.com/2020-pan-american-championships/info/details__info

The 1st FAI Pan-American Championships and 2020 Pan-Americans, site of the 2007 World Hang Gliding Championship, the finest cross country hang gliding competition site in the World. Big Tasks (world records), smooth thermals, unrestricted landing areas, easy retrieval on multiple roads, consistent cumulus development at 1 PM, air conditioned head quarters, hanger for setup, free water and ice cream, welcome dinner, live tracking, many drivers available, strong safety record, highest pilot satisfaction rating.

Also easy airport access to Midland-Odessa airport, inexpensive accommodations, plentiful infrastructure (restaurants), great community support, superb meet director.

Check-in and unofficial practice on Sunday, August 2nd.

Live tracking with Flymaster trackers provided.

The Pan-American Championships are Category 1 sanctioned and the Pan-Americans are Category 2 sanctioned so, of course, USHPA NTSS and CIVL WPRS points will be awarded.

Maximum 125 pilots.

Helpful Instructions: http://ozreport.com/2020PanAmericanhelpful.php

Entry fees (excluding aerotow fees) are $550 per pilot and $300 per team leader. Team leaders who are also pilots in the competition will pay only the pilot entry fee. Aerotow fees are set at $900 per pilot (12 days).

• Daily Prizes
• Color map of task area showing take-off, turnpoints, landing fields and restricted airspace and areas, with clearly visible grid matching the GPS coordinates used for the competition
• Contrasting stickers for the pilot's leading edges.
• ID card and safety/contact information.
• Event Tee-shirt
• Medical Emergency Service
• Food and drink for Competition Opening/Ceremony
• Brunch During Prize-giving Ceremony
• Separate mobile sized web page with organizer contact information
• Weaklinks
• Flymaster Tracker
• Live Tracking
• On-line Turnpoint Coordinates
• On-line airspace file
• On-line task maps
• Free Wi-Fi
• Weather Briefing on Pilots’ Phones
• Task Sent to Pilots’ Phones
• Access to Professional Retrieval Coordinators (Retrieval Goddess’s Retrieval Service)
• Hangar space for setup
• Free ice cream
• Free bottled water
• Use of an air-conditioned terminal/headquarters
• Port-a-potties
• Lunch concession
• Pilot goody bags
• Help with finding accommodations

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2019 Canungra Classic »

October 7, 2019, 9:59:59 pm MDT

2019 Canungra Classic

Rest day

Canungra Classic 2019|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|weather

Vicki writes:

Weather forecast for today shows similar stable conditions as yesterday but with a lot stronger winds up high, to again compliment a lovely 39 degrees Celsius on the ground. The safety committee has agreed to give pilots a rest day with tomorrow’s conditions looking very good off Beechmont. With 20-time champion Jonny Durand out, the race is wide open with not much separating the top 10 or so.

Going 200 miles

October 2, 2019, 9:23:49 MDT

Going 200 miles

Remembering the big flight in Texas

weather|XC

http://thermalcowboy.com/2019/09/11/the-big-200-all-in/

The whole push to fly on Sunday came from Robin maybe last Tuesday only a day after our excellent soaring flights to the South. During the week Robin and I are texting back and forth about drivers and getting everything sorted for Sunday. Robin had the day picked from a week out, and 8 times out of 10 Robin is right about the weather. I made sure to charge my Flymaster Tracker and top off the radio batteries. Rich made the right call and came down from Dallas to get in on the XC action.

Aging Infrastructure at the National Weather Service

September 20, 2019, 7:03:24 MST

Aging Infrastructure at the National Weather Service

Cloud Computing?

weather

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/09/19/this-is-not-rocket-science-years-after-promising-fix-national-weather-service-website-still-proves-unreliable/

‘This is not rocket science.’ Years after a fix was promised, National Weather Service website still unreliable.

Sept. 10 was the peak of hurricane season in the Atlantic. If you checked the forecast on Sept. 11, you probably found parts of the National Weather Service’s website down. Then, on Tuesday, the website suffered another outage — the latest of many dating back years.

Users trying to access National Weather Service “point and click” forecasts, discussions, watch and warning information, interactive maps and a slew of other resources encountered “page not found” notices. Some were accompanied by a string of numbers that had nothing to do with the weather. If you had an urgent need for critical weather information, you were out of luck.

The National Weather Service released a statement, saying it was “aware of recent intermittent slowness and temporary outages of some web services.” It also tweeted an update.

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2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 19, 2019, 12:38:18 pm MST

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day canceled due to high winds and high gust factor

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2019|weather

The safety committee canceled the day because the forecasted gust factor at launch time (1 PM - 2 PM) was greater than 5 mph.

The National Weather Service forecast:

Sunny, with a high near 101. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

The four models on XCSkies were forecasting 20 - 25 mph gusting winds at 1 PM with a surface wind of 14 - 16 mph.

The surface winds at 5 PM to the northeast, a likely area for landing, were forecasted to be 19 mph.

Wind speed at Casa Grande Airport (very close to our launch)  at 2:56 PM, 20 mph, gusting to 25 mph.

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Splish Splash

September 17, 2019, 6:53:15 MST

Splish Splash

I was taking a bath

Facebook|weather

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The updated GFS weather model

September 16, 2019, 6:42:22 MST

The updated GFS weather model

A new core.

weather

https://wasatchweatherweenies.blogspot.com/2019/09/how-good-is-new-gfs.html

The GFS was upgraded in June and the changes were substantial.  The so-called "dynamical core" of the model, the guts of a numerical modeling system that are responsible for solving the equations that govern atmospheric motions, is all new and based on the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) Finite-Volume Cubed-Sphere dynamical core known as the FV3.

The equations that govern atmospheric motions are well known and based on physical principles such as the conservation of mass, conservation of momentum, ideal gas law, etc.  Solving these equations efficiently for a sphere (i.e., Earth) on a massively parallel computer, however, isn't straightforward.  The old dynamical core of the GFS was dated, not optimal for modern computer infrastructure, and problematic as model grid spacings continued to decrease.  Thus, a change was needed.

Numerical modeling systems also need "physics" to account for things like radiation, cloud, land-surface, and other processes that affect the atmosphere.  These are more difficult since we either don't know or can't define the physical equations that govern these processes, or they occur on scales that are smaller than can be simulated directly on current computers.  Cloud processes provide a good example.  We simply cannot simulate directly the formation of every cloud droplet, rain drop, drizzle drop, and ice particle in a cloud.  Shortcuts must be made.  This is called parameterization.

The new GFS is based primarily on the old GFS parameterizations, except for replacement of the old cloud parameterization with a new one developed at GFDL and a few tweaks to the land surface and ozone/water vapor photochemistry parameterizations.

Overall, the results above indicate that the new GFS should perform about as well or slightly better than the old over the western United States, with relatively similar biases. It does not appear to perform as well as the previous operational version of the HRES. This is especially true if one performs some bias correction. Nevertheless, the differences are not huge, so the new GFS warrants consideration in the forecast process and is going to outperform the HRES in some events. Knowledge of the general lowland and mountain biases described here should be helpful, but be aware that those biases do and will vary on a station by station basis, which could be important for point specific forecasts.

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Swarming Dragonflies

September 16, 2019, 6:42:00 MST

Swarming Dragonflies

Picked up on weather radar

video|weather

A glance at weather radar in the Midwest on Tuesday might have had you reaching for the umbrella. The only problem? It was a clear, sunny day.

The likely culprit couldn’t have been rain. It probably wasn’t even meteorological. There’s a strong chance that these signatures came from dragonflies.

Social media video emerged showing swarms of dragonflies descending across the eastern third of the nation. From Ohio and Indiana to New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia, witnesses have reported the migrating dragonflies. And Doppler weather radar probably has detected the bugs, as well.

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Blowing Dust as Forecast

September 14, 2019, 5:00:46 pm MST

Blowing Dust as Forecast

Nice all day but we were aware of the forecast for 4:30 PM

weather

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=32.8795&lon=-111.7506&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical

The view from the seventh floor.

We are at the Santa Cruz Flats Race in Casa Grande, Arizona. This is the practice day on Saturday afternoon. We're waiting for the rain.

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Forecasting

September 5, 2019, 9:56:16 MDT

Forecasting

The US models VS. the European models

weather

August 29th. Here are the forecasts:

Group of simulations from American (blue) and European (red) computer models from Thursday afternoon for Hurricane Dorian. Each color strand represents a different model simulation with slightly altered input data. Note that the strands are clustered together where the forecast track is most confident but diverge where the course of the storm is less certain. The bold red line is the average of all of the European model simulations, while the bold blue one is the average of all the American model simulations. (https://StormVistaWxModels.com)

Note that the European models were much more predictive of what Dorian would later do. The US models a few days later moved east to match the European models.

Discuss "Forecasting" at the Oz Report forum   link»

E-glide

September 3, 2019, 8:59:43 MDT

E-glide

Electric motor assist allowed during the competition

weather

https://www.naviter.com/2019/09/history-being-made-at-pavullo

Did you know that e-Glide contest is happening alongside 13.5 meter World Championships in Pavullo, Italy? e-Glide is very special. It allows pilots to use their electric FES engine on task. It even gives them free allowance. Each day pilots can use 2 kWh of energy on task without any penalty. It is a game changing development under careful leadership of Brian Spreckley where rules are being developed and modified while experience is gathered.

https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/iii-fai-135-m-world-gliding-championship-pavullo-2019/

2 sett – Day 2. Task only for e-Glide

Today’s weather forecast announced thunderstorms and lightning around. However, a task was given to both classes. In WGC 7 gliders out of 10 couldn’t find thermal climb at he start due to weak conditions, so the daily race is not valid, task cancelled. For e-Glide class the race is valid (not still done the ranking at the moment because every day the scorer sends the files to LX-Nav and they do the ranking but today they are busy in other things): they have the opportunity to use their electric engine with allowance of 2 kWh!

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Moyes Team Challenge 2019

August 22, 2019, 7:32:30 MDT

Moyes Team Challenge 2019

November

Bill Moyes|weather

http://www.forbesflatlands.com/team-challenge

Come and join the Moyes Team Challenge Get a taste of cross country flying in the Spring conditions of Forbes with the help of an experienced team leader.

It's loads of fun, designed as an introduction to cross country and competition flying in a very relaxed and friendly format.

Learn about the weather, task briefings, using your GPS, flying a course and downloading.

Fly with experienced pilots and talk about the days events over a BBQ cooked by the Moyes girls!

Mission: The home of Australia's flat-land hang gliding and one of the world's greatest flat-land hang gliding locations invites you to experience the thrill of competitive hang gliding, to enhance your flying skills and to further enjoy the great camaraderie of hang gliding.

When:
Saturday 2nd November - Tuesday 5th November, 2019
Welcome BBQ Friday night 1st November, 2019
Competition days Saturday, Sunday, Monday
Presentation Monday 4th November, 2019
Free Fly day Tuesday 5th November, 2019

Where: Bill Moyes' Paddock, North of the Forbes Airport, Forbes, NSW.

Who: Open to all pilots with a floater glider.

Entry Fee: $150

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2019 Big Spring Nationals

August 15, 2019, 7:46:27 pm CDT

2019 Big Spring Nationals

Setting the best task that the weather forecast allows

Chris Zimmerman|competition|Davis Straub|dust devil|Erick Salgado|Flytec 6030|Gary Anderson|Kevin Carter|Roger Irby|US Nationals 2019|weather|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo

Today's task and flight:

https://airtribune.com/2019-big-spring-nationals/results

Task 5:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 01:55:47 960
2 Rodolfo Gotes Wills Wing T3 144 01:55:57 882
3 Erick Salgado Moyes RX 5 Pro 02:13:02 841
4 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 02:00:22 821
5 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T2C 136 02:08:10 746
6 Nathan Wreyford Wills Wing T2C 144 02:24:56 667
7 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing T2C 144 02:47:42 589
8 Vic Hare Wills Wing T3 144 02:34:51 559
9 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 144 02:37:59 544
10 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T2C 144 02:44:33 533

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 3904
2 Rodolfo Gotes Wills Wing T3 144 3772
3 Erick Salgado Moyes RX 5 Pro 3761
4 Vic Hare Wills Wing T3 144 2967
5 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T2C 136 2909
6 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 2858
7 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 2748
8 Nathan Wreyford Wills Wing T2C 144 2617
9 Roger Irby Wills Wing T2C 154 2041
10 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T2C 144 1882

Sport Class:

Five pilots made it back to Big Spring with Peter Wall winning the day. Jose Sandoval is in the lead over all.

Swift Class:

They made a task to the south. Chris Zimmerman won the day and leads overall.

The weather forecast was for over development in all directions after 4 PM. So we decided on short tasks with early starts.

There were cu's to the west and east of the airport very early and there were too many cu's to the north with cu-nimbs to the west and north at Lamesa which almost stopped the task at 12:30PM (we launched at 12:15). Mitch was on the radio to the safety committee and we said level 2 and 2.5. We were south of the airfield and in good conditions climbing to 7,400', so we said it was level 1 where we were. We were just concerned about the conditions to the north.

As we were six or seven kilometers from the top of the five kilometer start cylinder I flew up to the north at four minutes before the first start time but found weak lift down to 4,500'. I hung in it with a couple of other pilots trying just to stay up.

We stayed in the poor lift for almost half an hour until, just before the last (third) start time, the lift we were in finally turned on and we were able to climb up to 6,000' before going on glide and finding a good thermal to 7.400', nine kilometers to the north. There were no cu's near us.

The winds were light which is why we called a triangle task for the open class and an out and return task for the sport class. The towering cu's to the north dissipated and there was plenty of sun shine on the ground. It no longer was a level 2.

I was leading out in front of the other two pilots which seemed easy to do. We found 200 - 300 fpm average climbs and hooked up with Rudy for a few climbs south the the first turnpoint. The lift was improving as the day went on. We had taken the last clock at 1:45 PM.

I found a nice dust devil just before the first turnpoint where I had seen Rudy turning a bit earlier under a cu and I climbed to 7,700'. There was a much bigger dusty to the east by the second turnpoint which Rudy got into. Before I got to that dust devil I found a thermal under a small cu that averaged 425 fpm so I took it to almost 9,000'.

As I headed south on my own I could see the over development further to the west. The rest of the sky was inviting. I found a forming cu out in the blue and climbed at 380 fpm average to 9,300'. The 6030 said I had goal but it was 12:1 to get there from twenty five kilometers out so I didn't exactly believe that.

The outflow from the top of the over development was partially shading the ground between me and goal. I could see a nice little cu about half way to goal, but off the course line a couple of kilometers. I felt that there was a good chance of finding lift just going down the course line in spite of the partially shaded ground.

At thirteen kilometers from goal I found 440 fpm and took it to 7,500' with an 8:1 required glide.

I came into goal with 600' AGL and landed. The wind was light out of the west toward the over development.

The over development continued to grow and come toward us but all the pilots who made goal made it in with incident. It was just shaded and there were no thunderstorms near us.

2019 Russian Cup »

August 7, 2019, 7:13:58 MDT

2019 Russian Cup

Too windy so far

Alexandra "Sasha" Serebrennikova|Facebook|Russian Cup 2019|weather

Alexandra Serebrennikova writes:

Flatlands impressions.

The first three days of Russian Cup 2019 have proven to be too windy and therefore were cancelled to stay on the safe side. Good moment to use for making some pictures of these fascinating iconic sceneries of the endless Russian steppe connecting the Black and Caspian Seas.

Now looking into a week of the great weather starting from tomorrow on.

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2019 Worlds »

July 26, 2019, 12:13:01 pm MDT

2019 Worlds

Results from the last task on Friday

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|competition|Facebook|Filippo Oppici|Flavio Tebaldi|Gary Wirdnam|John Simon|Manfred Ruhmer|Moyes Litespeed RX|Suan Selenati|weather|Wills Wing T3|Worlds 2019

Live broadcasts: https://www.facebook.com/hangglidingworldchamp2019/

Live tracking and replays: https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=2941

Also live tracking: https://www.livetrack360.com/livetracking/split/2941

Results: http://www.italy2019.com/news/

Results: https://airtribune.com/22nd-fai-world-hg-championship/results

Last task:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Primoz Gricar GER 02:55:12 925
2 Peter Neuenschwander SUI 02:50:17 911
3 Christian Ciech ITA 02:52:04 883
4 Gerd Doenhuber GER 03:05:26 866
5 Gary Wirdnam GBR 03:10:29 833
6 Manfred Ruhmer AUT 03:16:45 785
7 Filippo Oppici ITA 03:16:03 781
8 Glauco Pinto BRA 03:16:40 775
9 Alessandro Ploner ITA 03:16:58 771
10 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli BRA 03:17:13 765

Final Results:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Alessandro Ploner ITA 8156
2 Christian Ciech ITA 8073
3 Primoz Gricar GER 7951
4 Peter Neuenschwander SUI 7635
5 Mario Alonzi FRA 7586
6 Manfred Ruhmer AUT 7463
7 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli BRA 7351
8 Grant Crossingham GBR 7219
9 Filippo Oppici ITA 7150
10 Gerd Doenhuber GER 7134

http://www.italy2019.com/2019/07/26/trionfo-azzurro-ai-mondiali-di-deltaplano-doppietta-nellindividuale-con-ploner-e-ciech-vittoria-nella-classifica-a-squadre-la-sesta-consecutiva/

The last task of the XXII Hang Gliding World Championships, which saw the triumph of the Azzurra expedition led by team leader Flavio Tebaldi both in the individual and team rankings, has just ended.

On the eve of the last task, Italy came from a "control" day, as explained by Tebaldi himself: "We are excited about the result achieved, it was not at all easy to place this one-two - it was our team leader. National - The first few days went just fine and we confiscated important points in view of the final rush that we knew to be dangerous because the opponents would have become familiar with the skies of Friuli Venezia Giulia and consequently they would have given us a hard time. With the advantage accumulated, on Wednesday we preferred to stay in the group in order not to risk, considering also the weather conditions and so we managed to impose ourselves with Ploner and Ciech in general, while in the fundamental team ranking was the contribution of everyone, including the boys that did not bring points but gave us an immense hand in terms of communication: victory is also due to them. I allow myself to make the media aware, because this is an amazing team, perhaps the most medal in the Italian scene, with ten world titles and six consecutive teams, eight individuals (if we count the four earned in the rigid wings) and five Europeans: I believe that these numbers and these guys deserve more respect and consideration".

Today's last scheduled task saw the riders travel 101 km, launching from Mount Cuarnan and then landing at the San Mauro airfield in Premariacco, a town near the enchanting Cividale del Friuli. For statistics lovers, the organizers in this world have succeeded in proposing three different take-offs and landings, thus being able to prepare days of competition with the highest competitiveness, with a weather that has almost always kissed Friuli Venezia Giulia and with a virtually unanimous consensus regarding the quality of the work performed.

Considering the serious risk of thunderstorms that were spreading from Cadore towards Carnia with possible involvement of the high Friuli plain even before evening (among other things with winds coming from different directions), the day's buoys were placed towards Spilimbergo, Cividale del Friuli and Osoppo, with a final landing as mentioned in Premariacco. Immediately after the start, a group of pilots preferred to go into the mountains to avoid being in trouble then; a second one instead, has taken the shortest and fastest way on the plain, going however in difficulty after a few kilometers. Finally, a handful of deltaplanists have decided to take advantage of the second start gate and we talk about the Italians Selenati and Ciech, Majors (USA) and Oliveira (BRA): risky decision considering the day but by real bold, hoping to be able to repeat what happened in task 5 with the victory of John Simon (USA), which took place using this tactic.

After just over 30' of the race, the task immediately made it clear to everyone that it would not be a final catwalk, with several pilots closing their world prematurely and among them also the Colombian fort Velez, landed while he was in sixth position. The leaders of the day, flying at a very good altitude above 1600m on average, was formed among others by Smith, Ruhmer, Peter Neuenschwander, Doenhuber and Gricar (with Germany therefore in full fight for the podium), with the Swiss who in short he managed to amplify his advantage over his pursuers proceeding at a rapid pace. Ruhmer found himself in difficulty at an altitude of 400m, finding a thermal not easy to turn and being thus forced to a rather long stop. For Italy, Ciech and Ploner preferred the risk share in the early stages, unlike Kato who found himself in great difficulty. Good race also for Brazil with Rocha, Sandoli and Pinto, present in the top ten and decided to take home the silver in the team standings.

With more than thirty drivers out of goal, the remainder took the leap to shift their trajectory from the plains to the mountains and someone has even trespassed into Slovenia desperately searching for thermals near the buoy near Cividale: Throssell and Mckay have so quickly climbed over all the drivers further south of them, proceeding more than 70km/h towards Osoppo, with the leading group led by Neuenschwander (in front practically throughout the race), Gricar, Doenhuber and Wirdnam. In the meantime, our Ciech and Ploner have come to light and especially for the Folgaria athlete (among his other victories we remember eight times Italian champion), the possibility of climbing over to General Ploner, having exploited the second start window.

At 20km from the finish, Neuenschwander stopped to regain altitude, aware of the fact that a stop would probably have allowed him to close the goal in first position and quickly gaining altitude and speed; Gricar tried to close the gap, thus re-proposing the challenge already experienced at the end of task 9, but finding Doenhuber with breath on his neck. At 5km from the goal, the Swiss had to beat around having too low a altitude, with Gricar at his heels with more than 800m of difference, ready to anticipate him right on top. Neuenschwander continued undaunted but lowered to 150m at 1.8km from San Mauro, hitting the last cylinder but landing incredibly: it was the first big error in the evaluation of the champion that didn't stop him from finishing second anyway. The task was won by the German Gricar, delayed by a few kilometers, who succeeded in bringing home heavy points for Germany together with his teammate Doenhuber. Third is our Ciech, who, starting with the second window, flew very well, but was unable to overtake his fellow countryman Alessandro Ploner, who thus took home the third individual world title after those of 2009 and 2011, with Italy manages to place also the strong Filippo Oppici in the top ten.

The Italian team:

John Simon loves the Worlds

July 25, 2019, 12:32:44 pm MDT

John Simon loves the Worlds

Bravery or local knowledge required

video|weather

John Simon|video|weather

John Simon|video|weather

John Simon writes:

Finally a day off and some time to relax with one possible flying day Friday to end it (good chance of rain though). It's been busy and sometimes exhausting, all this flying! The flying here has been amazing, with absolutely stunning views and tasks and plenty of great weather and valid tasks.

I was not here for the pre-worlds so I can't say, but I've been told the winds are somewhat lighter. They also narrowed the number of launch sites down to three and the tasks seem to be quite reasonable, although for me, a primarily flat land / small mountain pilot, it's been quite a learning process.

Turbulence has been moderate on only two tasks and nothing very scary, just more work than you'd like and an occasional quick little wire slap to keep you focused. I stay well clear of the lee-side when I'm not super high, not sure all pilots have been so cautious so results may vary. I've not flown very well overall but the experience is invaluable.

The one or 2 flat land tasks treated me a little better but this is mountain country, pilots traveled here from all over the world to get big air under big hills and they are dominating as expected. Those that are comfortable getting low and not turning and who are willing to fly very close to the granite walls have an advantage, local pilots more so as they know there is an "LZ around the corner" or just know they'll get up on a certain outcropping.

The US team has been working well together but our results have not been the best. (Macedonia!)

The comp has been very well run, with great communication and good information for the pilots plus a sandwich and fruit at launch everyday for each pilot. Downtown Tolmezzo has been virtually handed over to the comp organizers it seems, with banners and super size TV's playing hang gliding videos and big tents and a stage in place for our use. They had a nice dinner and great party for us the other night with a fun brass band and much dancing and revelry.

Each day we are up at 6:45 to 7:30 depending on the site and off for the long drive to launch (with a stop to get our team leader or fuel or food, it's about 2 hours to Meduno, our main site and even the Gemona launch is 1:30 or so. Then it's haul your gear up the mountain for those unlucky enough to have launch 3 and setup.

Glider repair has been part of my day (thanks Zippy, and Sergey and Marcos), and on 2 occasions I thought I would not be able to fly but I can't say enough about the US team helping me out on one day and Aeros simply saving the day on another.

By about 11 or noon, it's a quick pilot briefing and early bird launches are 15 minutes later, so it goes fast. Flights are 2-6 hours and then retrieve dinner/beer and a drive back to Sutrio where we stay. Usually get back home by about 9 or 10 pm, so the days are long and full and fun.

Overall it's been just incredible, the flying, the weather, the views, the people, all awesome. I highly recommend this area.

During practice we flew Bassano (awesome) and then Gemona and Meduno twice each (awesome and awesome). The last two being the main comp launch sites each with 3 different launches available. The other day we flew Valsecca and it was even more amazing, launching at 6000 feet into the Alps is not to be missed. In the comp along with 5 practice flights we've flown to both Austria and Slovenia as well as many lovely sites in Italy. The team has been focused even if our results are not what we'd like and you can't help but love all the flying here.

One more day.

Discuss "John Simon loves the Worlds" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2019 Worlds »

July 23, 2019, 7:09:09 pm MDT

2019 Worlds

Results from the seventh task, day nine

Akiko Suzuki|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|Christian Pollet|competition|Daniel Vé|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Facebook|Filippo Oppici|Manfred Ruhmer|Marco Laurenzi|Moyes Litespeed RX|Petr Polach|photo|record|Suan Selenati|weather|Wills Wing T3|Worlds 2019|Zac Majors

Live broadcasts: https://www.facebook.com/hangglidingworldchamp2019/

Live tracking and replays: https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=2941

Also live tracking: https://www.livetrack360.com/livetracking/split/2941

Results: http://www.italy2019.com/news/

Results: https://airtribune.com/22nd-fai-world-hg-championship/results

Malcolm Brown writes:

Goal field at the Hang Gliding World Championships in northern Italy. I'm feeling tired after 5 hours flying and a 201km flight to goal. This probably ranks as one of my most memorable flights in 30 years of flying hang gliders. The mountains we flew over today are absolutely stunning. I had my doubts about coming here but I was so wrong.

Matjaz Klemencic writes:

Big task was called today at 200 km taking us from Cercivento north to Austria, over Greifenburg, then to Sillian and back to a bit further from Hermagor. I got to the takeoff where at briefing I noticed my Oudie didn't charge yesterday. I must have mistakenly put the cable in and it was 50% battery was ready for 200km. I managed to charge it a bit with power bank from Evan, thank you so much for that.

Since I was running around making this all happen I somehow managed to make a bigger start cylinder which put me back already at start. I flew quite good after and was with Manfred and rest of the gang after Greifenburg. Here the decision of the day was made as we flew over the valley into shitty area with slow speed and horrifying place to fly over so low. I lost the group and had scratched the ridge to get to the Sillian turnpoint.

Then I flew back to Lienz where I got to 3000m and the direct line was tempting again. I crossed the ridge at about 20 m and found out the landing areas are quite further out then expected. Quite some struggle but I made it out of the trap and went ridge racing towards Hermagor. I was too happy with the nice lift on the way and flew to easily only to find that last part is in complete shade and without any lift. I decked in at about 10k short.

Pilots took other lines that were far better today so I am once again not really happy with my performance. Every day I start good, fly a part with good gaggle but somehow I lose the tempo and get myself somewhere in some shitty place. At least I got my wing to climb well today finally, did some strange settings on my wing with turning things the opposite way it should be. Cost me quite some climbing during the race. Now resting time as tomorrow is yet another task.

Task 7:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Eduardo Oliveira BRA 04:17:20 986
2 Grant Crossingham GBR 04:20:13 956
3 Primoz Gricar GER 04:21:40 938
4 Alessandro Ploner ITA 04:36:04 868
5 Filippo Oppici ITA 04:36:15 864
6 Genki Tanaka JPN 04:36:57 854
7 Peter Neuenschwander SUI 04:35:52 846
8 Mario Alonzi FRA 04:37:38 845
9 Christian Ciech ITA 04:39:46 842
10 Gerd Doenhuber GER 04:40:12 836

Eduardo, Grant and Primoz got way ahead of everyone else. Manfred landed out, or so the scoring says so. U have him landing at goal. Maybe he missed a turnpoint?

http://www.italy2019.com/2019/07/23/il-brasile-nella-task-piu-lunga-del-mondiale-suona-la-carica-con-oliveira-secondo-in-goal-crossingham-terzo-gricar/

"When the going gets tough the tough begin to play." In the aftermath of the extraordinary feat of the Italian Alex Ploner, who in fact dominated task 7 with a masterpiece of wit and tactical wisdom seasoned with a clear knowledge of the Friulian skies, the race direction opted for a task not only incredibly long (well over 200km) but even with a landing outside the Italian borders, in neighboring Austria. The dress rehearsals had already been staged a few days ago, with the turning point of task 4 - won from the Alto Cassino di San Cassiano - in the area of Caporetto, in Slovenia. The pilots unanimously asked to be able to engage in even more demanding flights and, once the weather allowed safety on all fronts, they were satisfied with a real mission to the limit of the impossible.

Before moving on to the story of the day, one can not but spend words of praise for Flyve, AeroClub Italia and AeroClub Lega Piloti, who with so many efforts have succeeded in giving to protagonists and enthusiasts something never experienced before even in the maximum expression of this sport , or the world championship competition. Absolute novelty also that concerning the take-off: the nearly 120 remaining in the race have "tasted" today another characteristic mountain of Carnia and precisely the Monte Crostis, Valsecca, in the municipality of Ravascletto, taking flight already from a very high altitude at 1900m . Another wonderful place from which they were able to admire a breathtaking panorama, an appetizer of an epic challenge that surely wrote a page about the history of hang gliding.

The Czech Dan Vyhnalik was among the first to come out in the direction of the first mark; the Dutch Tanzer together with the American Zac Majors, opted instead for a different trajectory. Selenati, after about twenty minutes of the race, took the reins of the flight with speeds that reached almost 90km/h and over, taking advantage of the positive effects of the mountain ranges of the district, trying to imitate yesterday's exploits of compatriot Ploner.

The Colombian Daniel Velez together with the Czech Peter Polach (who delighted the public during the daily live broadcast with live images from his hang glider), closed the gap in a short time, as Selenati was forced to stop to gain overtaken share from the big group positioned higher than him. Having left to make the difference and seek redemption, the strong Friulian had to surrender after a few kilometers, landing unfortunately out of goal. At the turning point in the area of Emberg, where practically everyone arrived following the optimized line, the first to turn was the Swiss Neuenschwander, followed by the Japanese Nagusa, Velez, Smith, Polach and also by our Christian Ciech, second in general individual at 168 points from compatriot Ploner.

Another Japanese person came to light shortly after and we talk about Minoru Kato: taking advantage of one of the classic flying styles of gliders called in technical jargon "a dolphin" (which allows not having to search for thermals flying in fact directed towards the goal at variable speed), was the first to gain the third buoy, followed by Polach, Klemencic, Gricar, Ruhmer, Ploner and the young but enterprising Manuel Revelli, later forced to abandon hostilities even before so many others, a clear sign of the great difficulties today. On the long journey to the cylinder including the area of Sillian, a municipality in the Upper Val Pusteria in East Tyrol, the group fragmented and Neuenschwander also opted for a very different line than the head line which instead preferred the trajectory more short.

Ciech, Ruhmer, Klemencic, Ploner, Oppici and the German Gerd Doenhuber composed the head of the race, advancing more than 90 km/h along the crest of the mountains. The Swiss, with great intuition, has accumulated more than 1000m of difference compared to the others, flying sent to over 105km/h and soon rejoining at the head of the race. As happened to Revelli, in the vicinity of this buoy even the strong Brazilian Glauco Pinto had to land, as did Selenati (see above) and Tanzer who had to say goodbye practically at the same time to dreams of glory.

Meanwhile, the splendid day allowed Markel Neiderman of Sweden to reach 4049m of altitude on his Combat GT, practically a record in this World Championship. A few dozen kilometers from the finish, the head of the race - who chose the optimized trajectory - was formed by the Japanese Kato and among others by the Brazilian Oliveira, by the English Crossingham, by the Germans Woehrle and Gricar, by the French Pollet and Alonzi and from our Oppici and Ploner.

Before the final sprint, at Hermagor (minus 25km on arrival), Gricar and Oliviera opted for full altitude (with thermals of even 6m/s); Minoru Kato together with Pollet, authors of a superlative performance up to that point, instead found themselves in great difficulty losing altitude and for the Japanese there was nothing to do but land before their due, when there was very little to the goal. The Brazilian has thus concluded in first goal after more than four hours of flight (entirely covered by the live broadcast on the official FB page), followed by Crossingham and Gricar. First of the Italians in goal Ploner (fifth) followed by Oppici: Brazil plays the charge and warns our National team, called to defend the 1825 points that separated it from the South Americans at the end of yesterday's task. There will be fun and the last two days of competition (we remind you that from tomorrow to tomorrow the final day of rest will take place and for this reason we invite you to follow the updates on the official FB page) will announce themselves not suitable for the faint of heart.

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Total
1 Alessandro Ploner ITA 6554
2 Christian Ciech ITA 6360
3 Primoz Gricar GER 6058
4 Mario Alonzi FRA 5977
5 Grant Crossingham GBR 5827
6 Peter Neuenschwander SUI 5807
7 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli BRA 5785
8 Manfred Ruhmer AUT 5701
9 Marco Laurenzi ITA 5673
10 Yuji Suzuki JPN 5553

2019 Worlds »

July 22, 2019, 10:39:20 MDT

2019 Worlds

Results from the sixth task, day eight

Akiko Suzuki|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|competition|Daniel Vé|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Facebook|Filippo Oppici|John Smith|Manfred Ruhmer|Marco Laurenzi|Moyes Litespeed RX|Petr Polach|Primoz Gricar|Suan Selenati|Tullio Gervasoni|weather|Wills Wing T3|Worlds 2019

Live broadcasts: https://www.facebook.com/hangglidingworldchamp2019/

Live tracking and replays: https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=2941

Also live tracking: https://www.livetrack360.com/livetracking/split/2941

Results: http://www.italy2019.com/news/

Results: https://airtribune.com/22nd-fai-world-hg-championship/results

Task 6:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Alessandro Ploner ITA 02:41:51 982
2 Manfred Ruhmer AUT 02:45:14 942
3 Filippo Oppici ITA 02:51:42 887
4 Primoz Gricar GER 02:52:15 886
5 Christian Ciech ITA 02:52:51 876
6 Mario Alonzi FRA 02:54:19 873
7 Glauco Pinto BRA 02:54:22 860
8 Dan Vyhnalik CZE 02:56:45 857
9 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli BRA 02:54:55 854
10 Daniel Velez COL 02:58:16 853

Alex hung with Christian and Manfred but always 1000' or so higher as they approached the second to last turnpoint. When the three of them out in front of all the other pilots headed toward goal (and the last little turnpoint) Christian was a bit too low as was Manfred. Alex with his extra altitude just kept going and was able to get there three to 1 minutes earlier. Extra altitude helps.

http://www.italy2019.com/2019/07/22/imprendibile-ploner-solo-laustriaco-ruhmer-limita-i-danni-terzo-in-goal-un-ottimo-filippo-oppici/

Start from Mount Cuarnan and after a few kilometers, all the pilots have opted for the full altitude on the nearby and well-known Chiampon, an area that usually always gives very good thermals.

At the "ready to go" Peter Polach (Czech Republic), Mario Alonzi (Brazil), Daniel Velez (Colombia), Yuji Suzuki (Japan) and an Australian athlete, at important speeds already over 80 km/h. Selenati, as has often happened in these days from deep knowledge of the Friulian skies, has almost immediately set a different trajectory, followed also by other pilots.

Proceeding towards the first two buoys located in the area of Treppo Carnico and in that of Rigolato, a group including the Polish Przezdziak has managed to gain altitude, seizing a thermal with values higher than 7m/s able to lead them to almost 2800m of quote.

At the first turn point Arne Tanzer (the Dutch fort once again came to light) showed up; behind him, among others, Daniel Velez, John Smith (New Zealand), Galovec, Peternel and Klemencic for Slovenia and Gervasoni for Italy. Velez was able to immediately dig a discreet groove, taking the reins of the task in the direction of Rigolato, also flying over the "Kaiser" or the Monte Zoncolan, climbed yesterday by many indomitable cyclists participating in the Gran Fondo "Carnia Classic Fuji - Zoncolan".

In a real alpine flight, most of the pilots immediately understood how fundamental it was to continue to gain altitude: to confirm this, before flying over the Fella, several stopped to look for "breath" and at the top of the race the Austrian Ruhmer is brought along with Alonzi and Velez, with Ploner to lead the blue patrol.

In order to avoid unpleasant surprises, at Gemona, most have abandoned the shorter trajectory above the plain, thus flying over the Regional Natural Park of the Julian Prealps, following the ridge that develops for about 50km and that in favorable weather conditions such as those of today, allowed everyone to maintain a safety quota up to the cylinder placed near Slovenia. However, some of the men of the standings have tried to follow the low profile: among them the Slovenian Matjaz Klemencic, the Czech Peter Polach and the Polish Przezdziak, making it very difficult to continue.

In the skies between Nimis and Attimis, while some pilots were forced to land out of goal considering the very selective task (including Przezdziak himself), Italy took command of the flight thanks to Ciech and Ploner. The meteorological situation was fully captured by the leading group, which turned the last buoy a little further away than the optimized line but with stronger thermal guarantees and greater altitude. On the way back to Bordano, when there were only 20km to go, Ploner managed to get Ruhmer and Ciech off the ground by scoring first with a spectacular tack that sent shivers down the ground. Only the Austrian, detached by about 4 'resisted, because from the third onwards the detachments became heavy beyond 10', demonstrating the superlative task carried out by the South Tyrolean. Another Italian, Filippo Oppici, completed the podium with an excellent performance and the German Primoz Gricar came fourth, with Ciech delayed by the lack of "fuel" on the most beautiful but author of a splendid fifth place.

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Alessandro Ploner ITA 5686
2 Christian Ciech ITA 5518
3 Manfred Ruhmer AUT 5511
4 Mario Alonzi FRA 5132
5 Primoz Gricar GER 5120
6 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli BRA 5034
7 Peter Neuenschwander SUI 4961
8 Suan Selenati ITA 4941
9 Grant Crossingham GBR 4871
10 Marco Laurenzi ITA 4837

2019 Worlds »

July 20, 2019, 10:34:21 MDT

2019 Worlds

A flatland task for the fifth task on the sixth day

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|Daniel Vé|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Facebook|John Simon|Manfred Ruhmer|Marco Laurenzi|Moyes Litespeed RX|photo|Suan Selenati|weather|Wills Wing T3|Worlds 2019

The task:

But most pilots used the hills to find lift then scoot across the flats and back to the hills, showing that the "optimized" course is not necessarily the best course.

Task 5:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 John Simon USA 02:12:57 885
2 Arne Tanzer NED 02:25:32 880
3 Gerd Doenhuber GER 02:25:53 859
4 Marco Laurenzi ITA 02:25:31 851
5 Alessandro Ploner ITA 02:25:38 848
6 Daniel Velez COL 02:25:44 845
7 Minoru Kato JPN 02:27:28 835
8 Manfred Ruhmer AUT 02:27:12 831
9 Primoz Gricar GER 02:26:27 828
9 Christian Ciech ITA 02:27:18 828

John Simon took the second clock twenty five minutes after the 1:45 PM clock. He was 21st into goal.

Nene and Georg Schweier landed in the river bed just outside the goal cylinder getting within 90 and 40 meters respectively. They both made the end of speed section. Their distance points were very slightly less than those who made goal, but their speed points were reduced by 20 percent.

http://www.italy2019.com/2019/07/20/cambia-lintruso-ma-non-la-sostanza-italia-ancora-protagonista-con-laurenzi-e-ploner-ottimo-lolandese-tanzer/

After the grueling day yesterday (much appreciated by all the pilots also for the encroachment in Slovenia that gave them unique scenarios), today's task has developed from the Valinis mountain to the by now tested Bordano landing, with a covered length of almost 100km, practically all on the plain.

Three buoys are planned, with a sort of "zig zag": after taking off from Valinis, the pilots headed towards the area between Povoletto and Cividale del Friuli (a very large cylinder) and then headed towards Rivoli di Osoppo, Tarcento and finally return to Bordano at the landing field.

The start of today's task has been of fundamental importance since it causes a very different weather situation from yesterday (damp air in the lower layers has led to a reduction in the cumulative base altitude of 1500-1700m against even 2300m yesterday, not allowing pilots to develop immediately a lot of altitude as pointed out by Damiano Zanocco weather manager), the pilots immediately had to choose between the way of the plain (faster but very risky today) and the one that skirted the hills (longer but more likely to find thermal).

A group of about ten pilots opted for the "low street", but the choice was rather risky because after a few kilometers more than someone, including the New Zealander Matthew Barlow, they were forced to land early in the Buja area. The most correct intuition turned out to be that of the group of the best in the standings, with - among others - the Austrian Ruhmer (yesterday penalized for an early start), the Italians Ploner, Laurenzi and Ciech, the Slovenian Klemencic, who proceeded towards the first target at about 1000m altitude with a speed of 55 km/h. Among them were the two Japanese Tanaka and Sunama and the Brazilian top pilot Glauco Pinto, who went on to form the leading group together with the German Woehrle and Ruhmer himself.

In the return to Rivoli di Osoppo, the Dutchman Arne Tanzer, who in a previous task had given a hard time to his opponents, who has opted to fly over the flat area not without risks, forced to stop before reach the second buoy in a desperate search for altitude to continue his adventure. Even the Italian Suan Selenati chose this strategy, managing to maintain an altitude of 500m but still struggling to find altitude.

Pinto, Woehrle and Selenati have won it by turning around the second turn with the best time and continuing the race, or rather the flight, towards Tarcento after about an hour and forty minutes.

In fact, a situation has emerged with three groups: the one farther north that managed to make a great deal, the central one that touched the second mark in the first position and the one further south, which instead took longer to tack towards the last turn point. On the way to Tarcento, once it has gained enough altitude, the small group of Ciech, Ruhmer, Tanzer and Laurenzi veered towards the route chosen by Pinto, Woehrle and Selenati, in the hope of being able to proceed without the last obstacle. Further stops towards Bordano. Between Artegna and Magnano many pilots have benefited from the so-called "service pump", that is a very strong thermal that usually develops in these areas and that allowed the Colombian Daniel Velez to take the lead allatask towards the final part of the race, followed by Tanzer and the Italian Marco Laurenzi, once again among the leaders albeit at his second experience in a world championship, a high hopeful driver for our national team. The Austrian Ruhmer, the Italian Ploner, the Germans Gricar and Doenhuber and the same Laurenzi have embarked on a thrilling pursuit of Velez, with Ruhmer who hired a great duel with the Colombian at around 15km from the finish overtaking and counter-passing, managing to win and quickly gaining precious seconds.

The most beautiful surprise for the public was the group that presented itself above Bordano fighting for the success of the day, made up of more than ten hang gliders that at speeds greater than 100 km/h gave great excitement to the fans: the Dutch Tanzer and the Italians Laurenzi and Ploner were the first three pilots to touch the ground, under the watchful eyes of the team leader Flavio Tebaldi who thus demonstrated, once again if there was any need, the great technical skills capable of getting the off to the Azzurri in the various rankings.

Cumulative:

Name Nat Glider Total
1 Alessandro Ploner ITA 4704
2 Christian Ciech ITA 4642
3 Manfred Ruhmer AUT 4569
4 Marco Laurenzi ITA 4411
5 Mario Alonzi FRA 4259
6 Primoz Gricar GER 4234
7 Suan Selenati ITA 4191
8 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli BRA 4180
9 Peter Neuenschwander SUI 4123
10 Grant Crossingham GBR 4075

2019 Worlds »

July 19, 2019, 11:19:34 MDT

2019 Worlds

Results from the fourth task

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|competition|Facebook|Manfred Ruhmer|Marco Laurenzi|Moyes Litespeed RX|Petr Polach|photo|Primoz Gricar|Suan Selenati|video|weather|Wills Wing T3|Worlds 2019

Live broadcasts: https://www.facebook.com/hangglidingworldchamp2019/

Live tracking and replays: https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=2941

Also live tracking: https://www.livetrack360.com/livetracking/split/2941

Results: http://www.italy2019.com/news/

Results: https://airtribune.com/22nd-fai-world-hg-championship/results

Task 4:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Alessandro Ploner ITA 02:45:45 995
2 Christian Ciech ITA 02:47:56 964
3 Primoz Gricar GER 02:48:47 952
4 Manfred Ruhmer AUT 02:48:14 944
5 Glauco Pinto BRA 02:49:19 939
6 Mario Alonzi FRA 02:50:39 920
7 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli BRA 02:52:40 903
8 Genki Tanaka JPN 03:02:04 847
9 Marco Laurenzi ITA 03:02:06 846
10 Grant Crossingham GBR 03:02:14 842

http://www.italy2019.com/2019/07/19/manfred-ruhmer-ancora-stoico-ma-deve-cedere-al-nostro-alex-ploner-terzo-ciech-che-cosi-completa-la-splendida-doppietta-azzurra/

Tolmezzo, 19th July 2019

In the longest task of this world championship to date, Italy is still a team to beat. Great is the Brazilian Pinto who redeems the landing out of the third day.

After the stop imposed yesterday due to adverse weather that has actually anticipated the rest day (required by regulation after six consecutive tasks), the XXII World Championship of hang-gliding organized among others by Flyve, Aec Lega Piloti and AeroClub Italia is resumed today with the fourth task, which in the usual morning briefing saw the change of take-off location on Mount Cuarnan near Gemona del Friuli. For the landing instead, once again the Bordano airfield was confirmed, one of the many countries (together with Gemona of course) that on the evening of 6 May 1976 it was razed to the ground by the terrible earthquake, but like all Friuli knew be reborn in a short time and leave again.

Today's task was very demanding, at the moment the longest of the World Championship with almost 143km to go all in one go, with Italy called to defend first place in the team general with 8503 points (according to Brazil with 7746 and third Germany with 7367), as well as the individual where in the order Ploner, Ciech, Selenati and Laurenzi find themselves in the top five positions with a single “intruder” the never-Austrian Austrian Ruhmer, ninth in the FAI ranking and holder of ten world titles.

After the splendid departure from Cuarnan (admired by many people with the "upturned nose" from Gemona del Friuli), the first buoy a few kilometers away was that of Artegna, where our Ciech passed first and left behind the Slovenian Franc Peternel, the compatriot Ploner (second in the flight of debut and in that of the day before yesterday) and two other insidious pilots, like the German Gricar (winner of the second task) and the Swiss Neuenschwander (second Tuesday). The hang gliders continued to the turn point in Slovenia, near Kobarid: for the first time in the history of the World Championships, the race was partially carried out in a different state than the host one, surely due to the organization which it was well spent in order to reach this historic goal.

Polach (Czech Republic), Smith (New Zealand), Majors (USA) and another group managed to find an important thermal just a few kilometers from the turn point across the border; Cantesanu, the only Romanian in the race, has lost altitude instead by landing off goal. Behind this group, the excellent Italian (and Friulian) Suan Selenati quickly arrived; the choice of the group was instead to follow the mountain slope, a fitting decision because in a short time they were re-attached to the fugitives at an altitude of about 2000m of height and over 70km/h of speed.

In the return to Trasaghis, where the third buoy was placed, the leading trio was composed of Gricar, Ciech and Ploner, with Pinto, Ruhmer and Neuenschwander (very fast in the stretch in question) to chase. Most of the group even in this phase, preferred to follow the profile of the mountain, which guaranteed their quotas and speeds always worthy of respect.

Ruhmer first touched the third turn point; unlike the stretch carried out up to that moment along the mountain (continuous line with very high average speed), the path towards the last buoy located at 9km from Cividale del Friuli, flying over a hilly area, required an important mental strategy, where fundamental it was the evaluation of the lines: the development of the heaps and also the flight of the birds, were important references - as underlined by the "meteoman" Damiano Zanocco - transforming the competitive challenge into a real chess game.

Ruhmer continued taking altitude following a line able to make him bypass the plain, flying east and also Ciech, Ploner and Gricar, along with the Brazilian Pinto, opted for this choice. Neuenschwander instead chose the trajectory from Cuarnan (today's take-off site) towards the south, about 3 km from the other pilots, climbing well but not quickly and soon being overtaken by the first group just mentioned that in the meantime had reached almost more than 2000m.

Ciech, Ruhmer and Ploner once again composed the leading group flying at 2200m at about 85km/h "at full throttle" towards Cividale; in the Nimis area they found a thermal with good values (more than 4m/s) and took advantage of the full altitude. In the equally fast return to Bordano, Alex Ploner - thanks to a wonderful tactical choice that guaranteed him a stable speed towards landing more than 70 km/h without ever having to stop to resume altitude - he managed to take a good margin of advantage over Ciech and Ruhmer scoring first with a time of 02.45.46 anticipating the Austrian and his teammate, thus putting another important seal on both the individual journey and the Azzurri towards the final goal.

Petr Polach: https://www.facebook.com/polachp/videos/2582778105113987/

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Alessandro Ploner ITA 3856
2 Christian Ciech ITA 3814
3 Manfred Ruhmer AUT 3738
4 Marco Laurenzi ITA 3560
5 Mario Alonzi FRA 3487
6 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli BRA 3473
7 Suan Selenati ITA 3448
8 Primoz Gricar GER 3406
9 Peter Neuenschwander SUI 3318
10 Grant Crossingham GBR 3260

2019 Worlds »

July 18, 2019, 8:09:35 MDT

2019 Worlds

The German version

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|Conrad Loten|Manfred Ruhmer|Marco Laurenzi|PG|record|Suan Selenati|weather|Worlds 2019

https://www.dhv.de/piloteninfos/wettbewerb-sport/drachen-szene/live-berichte/weltmeisterschaften-tolmezzoita-2019/

Thursday, July 18, 2019 - rest day The weather forecast is against a flight day, so the day was already canceled on Wednesday evening!

Wednesday, July 17, 2019 - 3rd passage - 76 km with destination Bordano

Kajo reports: Flying is the best medicine This morning, no cock woke me, but my back pain. Damn, and I was hoping they would go away overnight. As the youngest member of the team, I feel very old now. But thanks to the loving care of Anna and Regina and with the support of various tablets, it has at least a little better.

Today the organizers wanted to see us on the mountain even earlier. After a surprisingly uneventful, already boring ride, we arrived more than punctual at the start. After the comfortable building a few umbrellas lulled low over the start. Well that did not look so outstanding. And why did we leave earlier? Over time, the conditions improved and it was a small 78 km task tender. You could either fly on direct route through the lowlands or took the detour via the supposedly faster mountains. Like almost everyone else, I opted for the direct route. The day got better with time and we were able to finish quickly.

After Primoz and Roland I came as the third German pilot to the finish and was thus able to make my contribution to the team ranking. To the delight of our driver, a short time later, the other three arrived. Every minute, almost 100 pilots flew to the finish and provided plenty of exciting landing approaches. Fortunately, the Landewiese is so big that you always find a gap between the other dragons.

Much to my relief, my back was much better after the flight. The mix of adrenaline and happiness hormones has probably worked wonders. At dinner (the Uli has conjured a delicious curry) we learn that tomorrow will not be flown. It is bad weather approaching and the organizers canceled the day tomorrow. So let's end the day with a glass of wine quite comfortably and make plans for our first rest day. Greetings from Tolmezzo Kajo.

All pilots are in the air. The time has been running since 14:15. We are just on a cappuccino to look at the live tracking, then go full throttle into the finish to Bordano. Yes, the distances to the starting place and back to the finish are not without!

Exciting finish: Alex Ploner ahead of Manfred Ruhmer and Marco Laurenzi. From us Primoz, Roland, Kajo, Jörg, Semo and Gerd are (in this order) in the finish. Today we were not among the fastest, but we'll see what's on the bottom of the list. Regina.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019 - Primoz wins the day's victory

Primoz reports: After the first task, I was not completely satisfied with my performance. It was clear, more determination was needed. Task 2 has brought better weather, base up to 2200m and good climbs. The route went back and forth along the hills, with a jump to the north and the goal in Bordano near Gemona.

My start this time was with the first group, although not the highest - homework !! With sparkling decisions, faster gliding and a little luck, I was able to gradually settle from the main pulp, but finally after the Gemona valley crossing. From there we had the lead with Christian. The turnaround behind Tolmezzo has proven to be quite complicated. But Christian seemed to know what he was doing, and in fact we were able to dig ourselves out of the vegetables. In addition, there was the Peter and has shown a great trail back. Straight to the lee of a rocky mountain.

The expected rodeo arrived, which I had survived best and was able to turn up with Peter. Christian stayed a bit deeper while searching for the thermals. At the penultimate turn, 15 km from the finish we met the Manfred, he flew his own route and has overtaken all. When he sees us, he is deep in the direction of the last turn, Peter and I have turned up at the point up to 1900 m, until the final approach calculator 8: 1 has shown. From there, gas was the best tactic. Greetings at home and keep your fingers crossed! Primoz.

3rd place in the team ranking, that's the result of today - yeahh! And thanks to Primoz, who won today's victory of the day ahead of Peter Neuenschwander and Manfred Ruhmer. Gerd flew in 9th place and Roland on rank 27. Kajo and Semo many at the end of the Talwind victim. Now the boys are going to eat pizza, they deserve it. Roland needs his daily Italian ice cream and kajo and I hold the position here at home. Kajo has to treat his lumbago, but he'll get it back tomorrow. I still have a lot to prepare for tomorrow.

Monday, July 15, 2019 - 86 km from Meduno to Bordano

Gerd reports: Airy Travel Day 1 Today the cock crowed early. The competition begins! Getting up at dawn and eating the meal so that we would not get hounded right at the beginning - at least that was the plan. Then we should make a little wrong decision regarding the route, we decided on the way over the highway. Already the driveway cost us the first minutes because of technical problems. This should have been against the time we wanted to leave the highway again, nor the lesser evil. After 25 minutes of waiting time and lane change in the back of our coach, the pilots were slowly nervous and showed, each in his own individual way, signs of mild restlessness. Our estimated time of arrival shifted noticeably in the direction of the planned race start. Arrived at the toll booth, this was then attached to his telephone set and not willing to grant us early passage. But this angered the driver of our coach a lot and he threw him unkind words to his ear. Since the latter was not able to speak the same language, luckily there were no further delays, and we were then able to continue our journey unmolested. The timetable should not turn out to be as strict as announced - despite globalization, Italy has fortunately been preserved. So we could start our intended hang glider flight as hoped with all others.

The weather conditions were not optimal, but despite shadows were updrafts available and you could work out with some initial effort a nice height, from which we began our breezy journey over 87km. The thermal conditions improved and our pack was on the journey at a considerable speed. That this should be better was clear in the further daily routine, as more and more showers poured in the area. Many dragons were able to master the way to the finish. Among them were Kajo, Semo (Georg), Roland, Primoz and myself from our German troupe. Brother Jörg, however, the rain played badly. The showers spread around him and prevented his further journey to the finish. Not only that, when folding his glider, the rain should anticipate the shower that was actually planned in our accommodation. Now that we have finished our supper and have taken our supper, we will lay down and wait for tomorrow's new day. Good night's sleep on all sides, Gerd.

Again we started this morning. First at 8:30 am Teamleaderbriefing, then briefly stopped by our landlady to pick up a modem and then quickly from the direction of Meduno. Our boys left before me, so I had to accelerate. Finally, we wanted to complete the sticker campaign for the leading edges today.

The organizers want to send us out early this morning, because it should overdevelop soon. Anna, Roland's partner drove me. Direct way is announced, which is 5 minutes faster than the highway, says the Navi. I hope I did not miss a speed camera and sometimes I looked aside to see if Anna still had color on her face. But she was brave. I gave gas. After 1:15 minutes arrived at the launch site, everyone was already there, but not our boys. Oh dear, which way have you taken the well? An hour later - finally, the bus turns the corner. It was probably an odyssey. The tolls on the highway did not work at all. Already at the ticket rent went nothing, then when paying at the toll booth… our so quiet driver Uli has probably been a little irritated and accused the quiet calling Mautstellenkassier as Grattler… Thank God he did not understand Bavarian Language, otherwise he would have kept the boys waiting longer.

But luckily the already started paragliders could only sink into the valley and the competition organizers were still waiting with the briefing. Everything in the time frame. At some point, the Meet Director finally called for the briefing: 86 km towards Aviano then the finish to Bordano. Everything was ratzfatz, our boys were fast in the air. This time I could not drive fast enough to get to the finish in time, then there were already about 30 pilots. Including Gerd, Roland, Semo and Primoz. Kajo hit hard and came soon afterwards and that with fancy Vario half way. Thankfully, there are the trackers that still record the track. Jörgi had to land in front of the finish. He took another involuntary shower in the pouring rain. Three Italians won the day today: Christian Ciech ahead of Alex Ploner and Suan Selenati. Greetings from Tolmezzo Regina.

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2019 Worlds »

July 17, 2019, 10:23:51 MDT

2019 Worlds

Day three results

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|competition|Daniel Vé|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Facebook|Flavio Tebaldi|Manfred Ruhmer|Marco Laurenzi|Moyes Litespeed RX|Petr Polach|Primoz Gricar|record|Suan Selenati|Tyler Borradaile|video|weather|Wills Wing T3|Worlds 2019

Live broadcasts: https://www.facebook.com/hangglidingworldchamp2019/

Live tracking and replays: https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=2941

Also live tracking: https://www.livetrack360.com/livetracking/split/2941

Results: http://www.italy2019.com/news/

Results: https://airtribune.com/22nd-fai-world-hg-championship/results

Petr Polach: https://www.facebook.com/polachp/videos/2579299812128483/

https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/live4gopro?source=feed_text&epa=HASHTAG

Task 3:

# Name Nat Glider Time km/h Total
1 Manfred Ruhmer AUT 01:45:52 39.3 993
2 Alessandro Ploner ITA 01:45:46 39.3 987
3 Marco Laurenzi ITA 01:46:46 38.9 953
4 Christian Ciech ITA 01:47:56 38.5 948
5 Suan Selenati ITA 01:48:14 38.4 942
6 Daniel Velez COL 01:48:45 38.2 928
7 David Brito Filho BRA 01:48:37 38.3 923
8 Marcelo Andrei Gomes Da Rocha BRA 01:48:38 38.3 921
9 Arne Tanzer NED 01:50:29 37.6 898
10 Pedro L. Garcia USA 01:51:26 37.3 892

Italy, led by Flavio Tebaldi, is still confirmed as a team to beat, with four drivers scoring in the top five. Only the stainless Austrian Ruhmer resists.

Third task, particularly short, not easy due to the variable weather conditions that have caused difficulties for all the national teams, which have adopted various strategies to try to get by. A very different situation from yesterday, typical "pre frontal" with destabilization in the low strata and a cold disturbance coming from the Veneto region - as explained by the "meteoman" of the organization Damiano Zanocco - has meant that the plain is "awakened", allowing pilots at least partially to be able to risk even the fastest but also risky line.

Selenati immediately took altitude, moving after a few km from the start to more than 1000m, together with team-mate Ciech, Klemenich (SLO), Ruhmer (AUT), Garcia (ESP) and Polach (CZ), trying to exploit the plain towards the first of the two turning points of the day, located in the specific case near Cividale del Friuli, the splendid town founded by Giulio Cesare who became Lombard capital of Friuli in his time. The route then included the return flying over the hilly area of ??the middle Friuli also touching Mount Bernadia near Nimis (another place well known by local flight enthusiasts), before "touching" the second buoy near Gemona and landing as always in Bordano.

Few pilots chose the longest trajectory near the ridge, which allowed them to gain altitude faster but having to complete more kilometers to reach the first buoy in Cividale; only the Slovenian Stanislav Galovec dared to start from the third window made available by the organization, but found itself flying by itself without any reference.

At the first turning point came in the order Ruhmer (AUT), Ciech (ITA) and Sandoli (BRA), who anticipated Laurenzi (ITA), Glauco Pinto (the very strong reigning Brazilian champion with many records also on distance) and the Slovenian Matjaz Klemencic. Given the difficult weather conditions, some drivers had to "raise the white flag" landing well before reaching the goal: even Pinto himself had to surrender shortly after Cividale and this was the real coup of the day.

Misfortune also for the only woman in the race, the Japanese Sato, who suffered an accident "piercing" out of goal: immediate rescue operations taken from the operations center in Tolmezzo, where three people are constantly on the monitors and follow the pilots' tracks. In close collaboration with the Alpine Rescue Service, the athlete was reached and transported to the hospital for the necessary ritual checks; his condition does not cause concern and a good "good luck" prompt recovery has come from the whole movement.

Tanzer, class of '89, Dutch, then tried to escape while losing a bit of altitude; the "sail" was pursued by Ploner, Laurenzi, Ruhmer, Ciech and Selenati, who tried to fly as fast as possible to the second and final turning point, maintaining an average altitude of 1000 m which actually allowed them to reach Bordano in a short time. Not having to stop in search of thermals, on the landing field our Ploner champion, the Austrian Ruhmer, the excellent young promise of the flight (Flyve branded) Marco Laurenzi, Christian Ciech and the Suan Selenati from Friuli arrived which thus completed the masterpiece "made in Italy".

This is the ranking of the first drivers in goal. Once the scoring system has been developed that takes into account different variables, the final one will be published on this site: https://airtribune.com/22nd-fai-world-hg-championship/results. On the official FB page of the event and on the website www.italy2019.com, the same will be done and specifically the evening will be published the provisional ranking of the day and the following morning instead, the general official one.

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Alessandro Ploner ITA 2861
2 Christian Ciech ITA 2850
3 Manfred Ruhmer AUT 2794
4 Suan Selenati ITA 2781
5 Marco Laurenzi ITA 2714
6 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli BRA 2570
7 Mario Alonzi FRA 2567
8 Tyler Borradaile CAN 2548
9 Peter Neuenschwander SUI 2522
10 Primoz Gricar GER 2454

2019 Worlds »

July 15, 2019, 8:03:50 MDT

2019 Worlds

Live action

Facebook|photo|weather|Worlds 2019

https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=2941>

https://www.livetrack360.com/livetracking/split/2941

Sunday, training day task cancelled due to poor weather. The training day is for training the organization.

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X Flight »

July 10, 2019, 6:42:43 MDT

X Flight

King Mountain

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With a twelve hour drive required to get from Kadoka, South Dakota to Arco, Idaho, only Robin was willing to go all the way to fly from King Mountain. No one flew on Monday as the gusts were too strong. Only Robin flew on Tuesday.

Robin flew from the regular King Mountain launch to south of Ellis, in the next valley east of the Lost River Range (King Mountain) and about even with Challis. He flew north to the east side of Challis then hopped over the range.

Larry is in Dillon, Glen is in Butte.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2379942232235288

Robin writes:

On flying progress, you may have seen we have been pushed around by some challenging weather in the northern states these past few days making it difficult to find areas where we can get a day or two of supporting winds and soaring conditions. Monday we tried going east to South Dakota but found overly strong surface winds and later extreme thunderstorms. Monday evening we made a move west to get out of the bad weather and had a memorable overnight journey through northern Wyoming and Montana under some apocalyptic storm cells - rain, hail, lightening, 60 mph wind gusts - it was special. It left our group spread across four states (SD, WY, MT, ID) Tuesday morning.

I got to King Mountain for a foot launch on Tuesday and after some battling with the recently repaired track up, got on to take off for an afternoon launch. A big shout out to my son and driver Sasha, who was stoic at the wheel all through the overnight weather and again going up the dirt track (backwards...) in the morning.

Standing on launch at King was eerie - it is a majestic, humbling site anyways and I'd also known it as windy and active at take off. On Tuesday it was almost zero wind and only occasional weak cycles up the front. I got off around 3pm and quickly climbed out above the (still snowy) peaks. The lift was strong, fat and relatively smooth.

Winds aloft were less favorable being out of the north west, offering no assistance to progress to the north. I ran down the main valley out in front of King at cruising levels of 12,000-14,000'. It was an almost religious experience - breathtakingly beautiful and the solitude of making the run by myself - just the mountain and me. I stopped around 6.30 to prep for the next day and landed at the head of the adjacent valley (~75 miles from take off), to be back in time for Wednesday activity.

Overall we are now some 260 miles from Canada and have a forecast of good soaring conditions and tail wind on Wednesday for a launch from southern Montana.

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X Flight »

July 8, 2019, 11:22:54 MDT

X Flight

Wet

Facebook|Jim Lamb|Larry Bunner|Mike Degtoff|record|weather

Larry Bunner writes:

On Sunday we flew out of Casper, WY. Initially we were going to launch from the Harford County Airport just north of town. I was able to contact Kevin Christopherson to get a read on the weather conditions for the day and he mentioned that he had a runway on his property and invited us to fly from there.

I met Kevin over 30 years ago when my buddies from Wisconsin (Matt Thoreson, Dale Maas) and Iowa (Jim Lamb, Gary Newt) flew at Kevin's primary mountain site, Whiskey Peak from which he set the previous world distance record in 1989. It was good to see Kevin again at his beautiful place nestled in the foothills of the mountains. He and his family greeted and treated us very warmly.

We launched around 1:00pm and early on we climbed up over 15000' in WSW winds upward of 20mph. I had one climb in ridiculously smooth air at over 1000fpm but alas only one. The top of the lift slowly descended to 13000' further to the east as the converging air masses from the west and east collided. We were able to climb up the side of the clouds at one point which offered a unique perspective. Three of us managed to fly to Wright, CO before a persistent thunderstorm off to the north migrated across our flight path and shut us down.

Photo by Mike Degtoff.

Again, eastern Wyoming is very wet, many small lakes dot the landscape as the rainfall there has been abnormally high. After flying for almost two weeks in good conditions, we hoped the rest of the trip would be more of the same. It just hasn't been the case.

On our original predicted flight path the ground moisture levels are very high which reduces the surface heating and resultant altitudes we can thermal up to. In addition the atmosphere is quite explosive throughout the upper west and thunderstorms have been around us each day. We study the forecast models to pick the best location to fly and Monday may take us in a different location to find the southerly winds and the high top of lift that we need to continue north.

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X Flight »

July 4, 2019, 11:54:28 pm MDT

X Flight

A tough day in eastern Colorado

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Facebook|Robin Hamilton|weather

Robin Hamilton writes:

Today we launched from Kit Carson Municipal airport in Burlington, Colorado out in the eastern plains about halfway up the state. Forecasts looked good with strong south easterly tailwinds, strong lift and high cloud bases. What we got was moderate-strong wind but with fairly weak lift and a cloud base 3,000' - 4,000' above the ground. We had an early full cloud cover similar to the early conditions in South Texas and gradually by midday it started to break into discrete clouds and even some good looking street segments.

Kit Carson airport is a beautiful facility and our airport manager host Daniel was absolutely accommodating and also shot some incredible launch and tow footage that we will post soon. It is spectacular.

The actual flying was a little tough with all four of us (Larry, Pete, Glen and I) landing within 40 miles of take-off. Conditions were just not good enough to allow easy cross country progress. Larry, who got furthest, needed four tows to get away from the airport. It was a difficult day...

This evening we are back in Burlington contemplating out next move. It seems the conditions will if anything get worse here over the next couple of days whilst there not yet any clear, better options in the adjacent States to allow us to progress. We are awaiting an update of the weather data tomorrow early am to better make that decision on where to start.

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X Flight »

July 3, 2019, 8:02:57 MDT

X Flight

Storms to the west

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Facebook|Robin Hamilton|weather

Robin Hamilton writes:

We traveled east to Buffalo, Oklahoma on Tuesday to try to get out of the weather overdevelopment areas to the west and to get a better chance of a tail wind. Whilst we did get a 10-12 mph tailwind we didn't quite escape the influence and complexities of the cu-nimbs. We planned a route of some 140 miles to the NNW from Buffalo and had a fairly late start at around 2pm but even then conditions were not strong enough to make it easily out of the start area. Within some 10-15 miles conditions had improved and all four of us, Larry, Glen, Pete Lehman and I were happily bumping along with moderate climbs now getting us up to cloud base at around 6,500' (4,700' above the ground).

As we flew over the State line into Kansas, the cu-nimbs started to build as a line to the West and North, with isolated cells now also appearing on our course line. At that point it was pointless to consider our original goal destination as it was lying directly below the area of strong storm activity. I started flying to the NE in the hope of out-flanking the storms and this worked for some 50 miles but as the storm activity to the west increased, the high tops of the cu-nimbs popped off and shaded all of the area, pretty much killing the lift. I continued as far as I could whilst staying safe and dry and finally landed in a crop sprayer's air field some 85 miles out. Sasha, the master millennial retrieve driver, was in my landing field even before I landed. We quickly broke down the glider and had it on the roof of the car before the gust front came through and the rain started.

It was a little frustrating to have the flight cut short by cu-nimb activity again - its the third time its happened on our journey here. Wednesday we will head to the other side of the dry line back in Colorado to try to get into some better weather.

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X Flight »

July 2, 2019, 11:58:41 MDT

X Flight

Buffalo

Facebook|Mike Degtoff|weather

Last night I recommended based on the weather models that they move east to Buffalo, Oklahoma. Well here they are:

Photo by Mike Degtoff.

Photo by Mike Degtoff.

Let's hope the sky cooperates today. Looks like it might.

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X Flight »

July 2, 2019, 6:55:27 MDT

X Flight

Oklahoma!

Facebook|Mike Degtoff|weather

Facebook|Mike Degtoff|Robin Hamilton|weather

Monday, a day unlike the day before. Even with strong southeast winds it was hard going.

With over development to the west at 6:25 PM, CDT:

Photo by Mike Degtoff.

They were about at the blue dot and landed in the shade from the western over development.

At 4 PM on Monday, Highway 287 out of Amarillo:

Photo by Mike Degtoff.

Larry and Robin landed just across the border in Oklahoma a little north of Stratford, Texas. Oklahoma is very skinny there so it is likely if they have reasonable flying conditions that they will flying into Kansas or Colorado on Tuesday. They may launch from Guymon, Oklahoma.

Robin Hamilton writes:

With the forecast of weather overdevelopment in the west on Monday, we moved laterally to launch from Hereford "the beef capital of the world". Another very well appointed regional airport with friendly airport manager happy to accommodate our needs on the journey. We had a fairly fresh SSW breeze at the field but with thermals blustering through from around late morning. We got ready with additional attention to extra layers of clothes for everyone after yesterday's ice box experience. We set a notional destination point at Guymon, some 205 km to the NNE (~120miles closer to Canada).

Larry was off first, followed by myself and then Glen. Larry got off clean and climbed out easily but I popped a weak link when we hit a thermal low on my first tow but got off clean on the second tow. Thx Rick.

Glen also bust a weak link in the rowdy conditions but at around 600' agl and away from the field - from where he heroically worked his way back up. We had good lift conditions and clouds through the first part of the course with cloud base only a balmy 12,000'. Whilst it was possible to make good progress for the first 20-30 miles up north of Amarillo but as we entered the badlands area with multiple canyons and river valleys. The lift if anything seemed patchy despite having some good cloud development. The 12-14mph southerly tailwind still made for good progress,

Passing northwards, the badlands gave way to the broad swathe of cultivated agricultural area, that forms an interesting tapestry of various crop circles. Here our progress slowed some due to what felt like a change in air mass with fewer and weaker thermals to maintain our height. This low and slower transit was in stark comparison to the almost frenetic extreme lift conditions of the previous day in NM but the change felt good for some tired shoulders.

With the weaker conditions and switching wind directions later in the day we did not push ourselves to make the Guymon goal, instead drifting north in the weak lift in the wind. In the end we made it across the state border into Oklahoma, landing some 120 miles out under the shadow of the blow-up on the dry line to the west.

We are now around halfway to Canada.

More complex weather is forecast over next couple of days so we will need to see an update in the morning in order to choose the best flying area and airport options.

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200 criminals

June 28, 2019, 8:34:31 MDT

200 criminals

All covered up, many with masks

Facebook|PG|photo|record|weather

David Williamson|Facebook|PG|photo|record|weather

Williamson David <<postmanexpat>> writes:

But there may be a question of legality. Authorities have said that it's a €300,000 fine and 3 years inside.

https://www.ledauphine.com/haute-savoie/2019/06/27/mont-blanc-des-gendarmes-vont-faire-de-la-prevention-aupres-des-parapentistes

This Thursday and Friday, the soldiers of the Chamonix Brigade will go to the Planpraz paragliding take-off area between 11 am and 2 pm in order to make the paragliders aware of the prohibition by joint municipal decree of the town halls of Chamonix and Saint -Gervais to land at the top of Mont Blanc. This device is put in place because of the over-frequentation and the lack of equipment adapted to the high mountain. The amateur public will be more targeted.

Hot weather continues in Europe: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/06/26/european-heat-wave-france-germany-poland-czech-republic-set-june-records-worst-is-still-come/

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X Flight »

June 27, 2019, 10:16:37 pm MDT

X Flight

A challenging day

Mike Degtoff|weather

Mike Degtoff|Robin Hamilton|weather

Robin Hamilton writes:

Today we flew out of Dilley, Texas located on Interstate 35 SW of San Antonio. We are still managing around weather challenges. Big Cu-numbs were clearing the start area, but still lurking en route in the morning. We took off around 1:30 PM into fairly overcast but active skies. Lift was not strong nor cloud base very high at around 4,000’ but the lift was at least consistent below each cloud.

The 12-15 mph tail wind helped us make ok progress towards a goal up in the Hill country north of Uvalde. Indeed Larry and I looked likely to reach the Hill Country but hit a strong outflow from a large storm cell off to the NE and went quickly from cruising at cloud base to landing out level with Uvalde. We spent a lot of the flight over the Eagle Ford Oil field with many fresh active well drilling pads scattered below.

There were landing / retrieval stories - Larry landed out in mesquite country and took quite a bit of time to get out whereas Glen landed in some wet muddy area and his driver, Mike Degtoff, had a mud bath retrieve and was then savaged (or at least nipped on the ankle) by a tenacious and apparently sneaky small farm dog. Some Texas challenges in the air and on the ground here.

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We're cool here

June 25, 2019, 7:01:55 MDT

We're cool here

The wavy jet stream

weather

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/06/24/colorados-snowpack-is-over-percent-normal-after-rare-summer-solstice-dump/?utm_term=.250584e922c2

At Arapahoe Basin, so much snow has fallen since the winter that it has stayed opened for skiing on weekends through the month. It declared Saturday a powder day after a fresh coating of two inches. The resort plans to open again next weekend and possibly over the July 4 weekend, its blog says.

The snow was triggered by an unusually cold pool of air at high altitudes over the western United States combined with a vigorous weather disturbance that ejected out of the Southwest.

While the snow may have some in the Colorado high country craving warmer temperatures, the onslaught of precipitation since January has ended a costly drought in the state, and the elevated snowpack and runoff are expected to lower Colorado’s wildfire risk through the summer.

It's been cool here in Boise all June with high temperatures for the most part in the seventies and eighties even sixties.

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Early Heat Wave Coming to Europe

June 25, 2019, 7:00:57 MDT

Early Heat Wave Coming to Europe

Climate change continues its relentless assault

record|weather

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/06/24/potentially-historic-deadly-early-summer-heat-wave-roast-europe-peaking-midweek/?utm_term=.77c989f28905

An intense heat wave is set to bake Europe in coming days, and it could be historic, potentially shattering records across a large portion of the continent.

The heat wave is expected to peak in the middle part of this week, when a swath from Spain to Poland is expected to see temperatures at least 20 to 30 degrees (11 to 17 degrees Celsius) above normal. Actual temperatures should surge to at least 95 to 105 degrees (35 to 40 degrees Celsius) over a sprawling area, with some spots hotter.

Weather Underground’s Bob Henson notes that this projected heat wave is “unusually strong for so early in the summer.”

It was hot and stable on Monday in the Alps at the Red Bull X-Alps.

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The New GFS weather model

June 17, 2019, 7:41:18 MDT

The New GFS weather model

What does it mean for us?

weather

https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/NOAAs-New-Global-Model-How-Does-It-Handle-Tropical-Cyclones?cm_ven=cat6-widget

Papin notes that the way that FV3 handles convection and cumulus clouds (cumulus parameterization) is unchanged from the previous GFS. He says this is one reason why an unrealistically large number of early-season hurricanes tend to appear in long-range GFS output for the Caribbean, where a predominant large-scale gyre may include pockets of spin (vorticity) that the model erroneously develops.

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The new GFS »

June 13, 2019, 7:19:48 MDT

The new GFS

It's a model that we almost never used

weather

https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/noaa-upgrades-us-global-weather-forecast-model

June 12, 2019 NOAA’s flagship weather model — the Global Forecast System (GFS) — is undergoing a significant upgrade today to include a new dynamical core called the Finite-Volume Cubed-Sphere (FV3). This upgrade will drive global numerical weather prediction into the future with improved forecasts of severe weather, winter storms, and tropical cyclone intensity and track.

We use the NAM 3 and 12, RAP and more recently the HRRR at https://www.xcskies.com/map. According to them it looks like an excellent day in Big Spring, Texas.

NAM - https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/model-data/model-datasets/north-american-mesoscale-forecast-system-nam

RAP - https://rapidrefresh.noaa.gov/

HRRR - https://rapidrefresh.noaa.gov/hrrr/

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Competition in China

June 10, 2019, 6:42:05 MDT

Competition in China

Vicki and Moyes are back for year two

Facebook|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Vicki Cain|weather

Vicki Cain writes:

We’re back in China for the 2nd annual Moyes China Comp 2019. Saturday, the practice day was blown out and today we have waited for the winds to ease with everyone in the air for afternoon flights. We have three Aussies, Jonny Durand, Richard Hughes, and Scott Ireland , two pilots from Korea, Jungdae Lee and Jonhwan Kim and Pete Lehman from the USA along with fifteen local pilots. The weather is shaping up for a fantastic week ahead.

https://www.facebook.com/vicki.cain.1/posts/10216762549670564

Haboob in Big Spring

June 7, 2019, 8:18:15 MDT

Haboob in Big Spring

Dust Storm

weather

On Wednesday.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/06/06/massive-haboob-engulfed-lubbock-texas-dust-wednesday-this-is-what-it-was-like/?utm_term=.28397d7808e7

Erzgebirge Cup 2019

June 6, 2019, 8:04:28 MDT

Erzgebirge Cup 2019

Starts Friday

weather

http://www.erster-drachenfliegerclub-sachsen.de/joomla/index.php/2-uncategorised/54-erzgebirge-cup-2019

It starts - the Erzgebirge Cup 2019 officially starts today on our airfield. The first pilots have already arrived. Whether it is still enough for a training flight is questionable in the thunderstorm weather. For the coming days, the weather looks great and so we are optimistic that tomorrow, the first official round can start.

As usual, the DHV again offers a live coverage on its website. Thus, everyone can follow the individual tasks on the home computer or on the road.

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The cu's in Idaho are in the mountains

June 4, 2019, 6:54:41 MDT

The cu's in Idaho are in the mountains

The snake river plain runs through it

weather

We're in Boise, Idaho. The weather here has been unstable since we arrived on May 12th. We love watching the sky and seeing the cu's, towering cu's and cu-nimbs develop. Sometimes it rains, sometimes just to our east and northeast. Lots of water in the Boise river from the snow melt and the need to bring down the depth of the water in the Lucky Peak Reservoir.

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Europe, water logged? »

May 29, 2019, 7:33:25 MDT

Europe, water logged?

Come to Texas in August for fantastic flying weather

weather

Brett Janaway writes:

Six weeks rain so far and comps cancelled all over Europe. My forecast shows at least two more weeks of rain yet!

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Highland Challenge 2019

May 6, 2019, 7:33:11 EDT

HC2019

Four day Race-to-Goal Hang Gliding fly-in

weather

https://sites.google.com/site/highlandchallenge2019/

The HC 2019 is a four day Race-to-Goal Hang Gliding fly-in based out of Liverpool PA and held in memory of the Highland Challenge. The purpose is for friends to gather, fly competitive tasks and learn from each other. It's located within a 1 to 1.5 hour drive of 5 mountain sites facing all directions. Weather permitting goal will typically be my back yard as there is ample room to land. There is also a 500ft AGL ridge above the my property which we may be able to launch from. Note this is not an open event and therefore not all who register will necessarily be able to attend.

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What's a site?

May 3, 2019, 7:47:06 pm EDT

What's a site?

As far as PASA and the RRRG are concerned.

Risk Retention Group|Steven "Steve" Pearson|weather

Steven Pearson <<Steve>> asks:

I’ve been looking through the PASA website looking for the definition of a site. For example, in the case of our home site at Andy Jackson we launch from at least 4 regular launches depending on wind and weather conditions with a destination of the Andy Jackson landing area. My understanding is that you are allowed 2 sites with the basic application and additional designated sites are extra cost. In my example, how many sites would that be?

Randy Leggett <<randy.leggett>> responds:

The algorithm we use is different for Small Business Flight Schools and Large Business Schools. What is your plan? Looking forward to working with you,

Steven Pearson <<Steve>> replies:

The question is pretty simple—if I was operating a small school at Andy Jackson, how many sites would I have to designate and pay for to allow for operations from the training hill, 400, the 750, the Regionals, Marshall peak, Crestline and Pine Flats. All of the launches and more are associated with the ALX landing field routinely used depending on wind and weather conditions.

Randy Leggett,  RRRG Customer Service Officer, <<randy.leggett>> answers:

Thank you for the clarification that you are considering a Small Business Flight School. The simple answer is (2). That would be the two included in base dues. On the PASA Dues chart you also have the column for (2) additional insureds @ $1,000,000 aggregate. Please let me know if I can help,

The conversation took a turn this morning which I get to below, but to finish up, Steven Pearson <<Steve>> writes:

My email to you yesterday was to help address and diffuse a high degree of anger from a local instructor who said that Tim required him to pay for an additional site (3 in total) to use our local landing area. As I said to you, there are at least 6 take-offs that I routinely use at Crestline and it’s crazy that would require me designating 4 addition sites as a small school application.

Spring Meeting - Friuli Venezia Giulia Trophy 2019

Wed, May 1 2019, 8:29:58 am EDT

The weather turns

competition|Friuli Venezia Giulia Trophy 2019|weather

https://airtribune.com/springmeeting-2019/blog__day_5

Pilots are already on takeoff. Weather seems perfect today, so we expect to go in the air early in the afternoon for a consistent task.

Because pilots weren't assigned Flymaster trackers through Airtribune, live tracking on Airtribune doesn't work for this competition. Follow the pilots on the Flymaster web site.

The task has started: https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=2636

You can see the Replay from yesterday here: https://airtribune.com/play/4032/2d at the two times faster speed (compared to the Flymaster web site). The Airtribune replay uses the IGC files found here: https://airtribune.com/springmeeting-2019/results. The Airtribune Replay user interface is vastly superior to the Flymaster Playback user interface. It does have a problem with screen clutter on cell phones.

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Spring Meeting - Friuli Venezia Giulia Trophy 2019

Tue, Apr 30 2019, 9:33:12 am EDT

Mostly canceled tasks

Facebook|Friuli Venezia Giulia Trophy 2019|video|weather

https://airtribune.com/springmeeting-2019/blog__day_4

Wednesday is a possible recovery day due to all the bad weather.

Pilots are on the takeoff, we had rain during the morning but we plan a late task in the afternoon, when weather should improve enough for a go.

Pilots will have a briefing at 13:00

The first flying day: https://youtu.be/VPP3_Cdnou0

The task has started: https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=2636

Task has started for all classes. It's a 40 km task for class 1 and 5, and 15 km for Sport class.

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2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 28, 2019, 3:23:51 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

The last day

Jeff Chipman|PG|US Nationals 2019|weather|Wilotree Park

The forecast:

https://ozreport.com/seweather.php

Saturday

Sunny, with a high near 85. North wind 5 to 10 mph becoming east in the afternoon.
Surface winds 8 mph decreasing to 5 mph east northeast.

HRRR 3, 2 PM:

Updraft velocity: 600 fpm
TOL: 5,000’
Wind TOUL: 8 mph, east northeast
B/S: 9.8
Surface winds 5 mph east northeast
Cu’s unlikely.

The task:

No Leg Dist. Id Radius
1 0.0 km QUEST 400 m
2 SS 4.6 km QUEST 5000 m
3 35.1 km GROSS 3000 m
4 53.4 km CENTER 400 m
5 68.1 km CENTER 15000 m
6 82.7 km CENTER 400 m
7 ES 101.9 km QUEST 400 m

A 15 kilometer exit circle around Center Hill.

The flight on-line: https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/27.4.2019/17:30

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2257915

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20190428&gliderclass=hg1

The narrative:

The idea is that we would fly west to get away from the lake effect with the northeast wind to the 3 km turnpoint around the Gross airfield. Then back east to Center Hill against the east wind. There is a 15 km exit cylinder around Center Hill so you have to get anywhere outside it to get this next waypoint, then back to Center Hill before heading back to Wilotree Park.

Again pilots were reluctant to launch until they saw a few pilots in the air, and some of the pilots did launch in their original order. When the launch organizer when around again calling upon us to launch, we all launched in our order.

The lift was indeed suppressed by the lake effect and I didn't find anything at first. Then I drifted down wind to the Mickey Mouse lake and with the help of the "locals" skimming over the lake, I found 200 fpm that took me to over 4,300'. And then after every one joined me we went over and found another thermal to 4,300', but this was 8 minutes before the start window opened and with a 7 mph east southeast wind.

Unfortunately I lost a bunch of altitude when this thermal gave out and was down to 2,800' at the start which put me in a bit of a deficit. Others had managed to stay near 4,000'.

Managed to find 200 fpm over Mascotte and was soon back to 4,200'. I could see the lead gaggle ahead and we found reasonable lift going west toward the Gross airfield, at one point averaging over 300 fpm, and getting to over 4,000' so even though I was behind things looked good.

Three kilometers from the Gross turnpoint I came over the lead gaggle. I found the better lift and they all came in under me. I was back in the game.

As I was on top I lead out to the turnpoint, but instead of heading to the east north east headed back toward where we were previously climbing. This turned out to be an error as the guys that were below me were now above me climbing up over a small fire that was now to my north. I quickly got over there but now I was on the bottom instead of on the top. It took a while to center the smoke thermal from 1,800' but I was finally in the 300 fpm core to 3,900'.

South of Bushnell I climbed to 3,800' but only at a little over 200 fpm. I hadn't caught up with the lead guys yet. I saw a few pilots further north higher and turning but didn't go to them thinking that I would find lift to the east toward Center Hill That was my second mistake.

The lift along the east/west highway going to Center Hill was very weak. The first three thermals: 140 fpm, then 50 fpm, then minus 22 fpm. Leaving the last non-lift at 1,600' I thought for sure that we were going down. At 600' AGL as I looked at fields to the north for landing opportunities as we were over intensively farmed nurseries, we found 225 fpm that took us to 3,800' drifting back at 5 mph.

This made it possible to find lift to 3,100' at 284 fpm just before Center Hill. I headed northeast and found 100 fpm then 180 fpm over a very small fire which got me to 3,600' over the forested area on its southeast corner. A kilometer further north Jeff Chipman and I had the help of two bald eagles as we climbed to 4,300' at 250 fpm.

I went further north past the Florida Turnpike to get past the edge of the 15 kilometer exit cylinder. The wind was 5 mph due east. Coming back from outside the cylinder around Center Hill I started at 2,400'.

Down to 1,700' I found 240 fpm just east of the prison. As I drifted over the prison I climbed to 3,900'. I hoped that they didn't think that I was going to drop anything.

Heading south directly across the center of the forest I found a couple of thermals to get me to the south side, north of Center Hill. There I found 190 fpm to 3,900' at 5:49 PM. After that it was a 12:1 glide for 11 kilometers into a 6 mph head wind to one of the most beautiful and friendly landing fields near us, but 4 kilometers short of the chicken coops where I hoped to get back up.

Raul would land at goal about 5 minutes after as the last one to make goal.

Violent weather

April 26, 2019, 10:10:56 EDT

Violent weather

The earth fights back

weather

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/national/mapping-disasters/?utm_term=.b3f8e6b99c67

Tornadoes and Hurricanes

Hurricanes and tornadoes are woven into the fabric of life in certain parts of the country. Storm cellars and tornado drills are common in the Midwest. On the gulf and east coasts, hurricane evacuation route signs line major streets and highways. These areas are home to some of the most violent storms in the world.

“Tornado Alley” stretches from the Dakotas south to Texas. Warm, moist air from the Gulf travels north and collides with cold, dry air from Canada and the Rockies. But the deadliest tornado outbreak in decades — meteorologists called it a “Super Outbreak” — took place in “Dixie Alley” in Alabama in 2011. More than 350 tornadoes were confirmed, and 324 people died.

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2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 25, 2019, 11:07:51 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

We don't go down wind

Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|PG|US Nationals 2019|weather

The forecast:

https://ozreport.com/seweather.php

Thursday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the morning.
Surface wind 5 mph, southeast

HRRR 3, 2 PM:

Updraft velocity: 680 fpm
TOL: 6,000’
Wind TOUL: 10 mph, south southwest
B/S: 10
Surface winds 3 mph south southeast
A good chance of cu’s.

The task:

No Leg Dist. Id Radius
1 0.0 km QUEST 400 m
2 SS 4.6 km QUEST 5000 m
3 10.7 km GATORS 400 m
4 31.7 km BARON 4000 m
5 47.5 km PANOLK 3000 m
6 63.4 km KOKEE 3000 m
7 ES 91.5 km QUEST 400 m

The flight on-line: https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/25.4.2019/17:27

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2255949

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20190426&gliderclass=hg1

The narrative:

There are no cu's in the nearby area so the first pilots (including me at number 3) naturally decline to launch and go to the end of the queue. About half the pilots do this, so we quickly start the second round. We find plenty of lift and climb out slowly while drifting to the north toward the first turnpoint at Gator field.

Our drift in the 12 mph south wind and climb rate (weak) are perfectly timed so that we reach the edge of the start cylinder at our highest altitude (4,500') just as the window opens for the first start at 2PM. Jonny and Jon Simon start with us, but go back later. Kevin Dutt is with us. Nine pilots take the first clock.

Gator field is a short distance away so we quickly get there then head northwest up the Florida Turnpike. I get south of the Turnpike to get to the wispy cu's and climb out at over 200 fpm to 4,800'. I saw Kevin, Patrick and Konstantin higher and in front of me further down wind to the north (the wind is now 13 mph out of the south), but I feel that I can catch them by getting to the cu's and climbing faster.

I keep finding good lift under the cu's along the turnpike and sure enough I run into those pilots ahead of me at the turnpoint at Baron and we climb out fast to cloudbase at 5,800'. We let Chippy and Kevin go out in front.

I wanted to get as high as possible because the next leg looks difficult. It's a straight cross wind leg. It's unclear where we are going to find the lift despite the presence of cu's. Sure enough I get down to 1,900' before I find a little something west of the prisons.

Patrick goes a bit further west and finds better lift. I come over him and climb out to 4,300' while he loses the lift for a while. He fortunately comes back down wind to find it again but I leave him low by the turnpike. The 7 mph wind out of the south southwest pushes us way to the north.

The pilots who took the second clock have almost caught up with us and they are further upwind having found lift near the prisons, which we did not find.

It's an up and back struggle to take the next turnpoint at the grass air strip southwest of Lake Panasofkee and to get away from it to head south southwest to the turnpoint at Kokee. There are plenty of cu's ahead and as soon as I get away from the lake I find strong lift, at one point averaging almost 500 fpm to 5,000'.

That height gets me to 2,500' 3 kilometers north northeast of he turnpoint. I circle there a few times with Jonny in negative 110 and then leave as I can't figure out why we are doing this. I head for the turnpoint while Glen turns back upwind to get up at Bushnell.

I get lucky. Down to 1,100' AGL I tag the turnpoint and then find a thermal which at 250 fpm takes me to 4,400'. This puts me ahead of all the nearby pilots. I head out with Larry Bunner, who took the second clock, nearby.

After an 8 kilometer glide and down to 2,100' I decide to turn back to get under a better looking cu. Larry comes in under me. I climb to 3,800' at almost 200 fpm with Larry right below me. Five or six pilots who were just behind us come in under us as we climb up.

We lead out and find three more thermals for the following pilots, being their guiding lights ahead. The last one just south of the nursery on highway 50 takes me to 3,600'with a 9.5 kilometer glide to goal. With a 4 mph cross wind it is an easy final glide as I lead them all into goal.

Red Spirits in the sky

April 25, 2019, 9:55:10 EDT

Red Spirits in the sky

A sky full of heat

Ron Gleason|weather

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/photographer-captures-breathtaking-images-of-rare-and-elusive-weather-phenomenon/70008073

Thanks to Ron Gleason.

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2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 25, 2019, 0:20:37 EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

Counter clockwise around the Green Swamp

Belinda Boulter|Bruce Barmakian|PG|Steven "Steve" Pearson|US Nationals 2019|weather|Wilotree Park|Zac Majors

The forecast:

https://ozreport.com/seweather.php

Wednesday

Sunny, with a high near 87. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Surface wind 5 mph, southeast

HRRR 3, 2 PM:

Updraft velocity: 660 fpm
TOL: 5,600’
Wind TOUL: 6 mph, east
B/S: 10
Surface winds 2 mph south
A chance of cu’s.

The task:

No Leg Dist. Id Radius
1 0.0 km QUEST 400 m
2 SS 4.6 km QUEST 5000 m
3 11.7 km T50469 1000 m
4 28.2 km KOKEE 3000 m
5 45.7 km DIARIA 5000 m
6 67.3 km T98471 1000 m
7 78.6 km FAMISH 2000 m
8 93.5 km T47433 1000 m
9 ES 110.1 km QUEST 400 m

The replay: https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=2696#

The flight on-line: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2255169

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20190417&gliderclass=hg1

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/24.4.2019/17:39

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

The narrative:

Steve Pearson, Zac Majors and Wolfgang Seiss let me borrow the Wills Wing TIII that is here at Wilotree Park and in Wills inventory. So I'm back on the TIII.

After the pilot meeting I go over across the runway to setup the glider. This keeps me from hearing that the task has changed slightly. A waypoint is added at Famish. The meet director, Belinda, forgets to call another pilot meeting at the launch site, forgets to tell the volunteers working the line to mention the task change to pilots, and doesn't have the safety committee review the task change that was made because of pilot input for safety reasons (which were bogus).

She does call a pilot meeting at the normal location but at least three of us are far away near launch and don't hear the whistle. She brings over the amended task board to the launch, but we don't see it. She doesn't even mention it to me. The small blank task board is not used to highlight the task change in the line.

Many of the pilots skip their launch spot given what happened the day before with so many relaunches. There are no cu's in the sky, but Larry thinks that they will show up (he's right).

We go through the list again and with evidence of good lift we all get pulled up. Numerous gaggles form with the lift working and soon a bunch of us head to the edge of the start cylinder as it's only a few minutes before the first start time. We hang in weak lift near the top of the lift at 4,000'.

Ten or so of us head out but don't go very far before turning in more weak lift. I can tell right away that this group is going to turn back and take the next start gate. We come back from 2 km out with 5 minutes to spare and take the 2:20 PM clock.

We're racing west along the north edge of the Green Swamp. The lift varies from 85 fpm to 300 fpm. Mostly it is less than 200 fpm. Pilots are jumping from gaggle to gaggle.

We've got a 3 km turnpoint cylinder at the northwestern edge of the Green Swamp. After finding 300 fpm on the northeastern edge we again find 300 fpm on the northwestern side and climb to 4,400'. It's after 3 PM. We find the first cu's, which then populate the western edge of the Green Swamp.

The lift gets good. We head south and find 300 fpm, 300 fpm, 400 fpm, 300 fpm and 450 fpm in the next thermals to over 5,500', not quite cloudbase. Larry Bunner and I are working with each other to make sure that we find the best lift.

Larry and I head south to the cu's west of the turnpoint at the bottom of the Green Swamp. Those pilots who took the more direct route are down below us as we get nearer the turnpoint at 471 and 98.

Larry and I climb out at 350 fpm to 5,400' under the sweet looking cu's that we come to expect when we do the Green Swamp task. There are more in front of us and we are able to take advantage of them.

I'm cruising along at 5,500' over the Green Swamp when Larry comes back at me from the south and asks if I got the turnpoint at Famish. This is the first I've hear of it. He had just gone to the south to get the turnpoint. I'm quickly fiddling with my instruments to see how far away the two kilometer cylinder around Famish is. I get within less than a kilometer of Famish itself before turning back to parallel the course line.

I head out over the pasture lands, not the forest land toward little wisps. Down to 2,600' I work 190 fpm to 4,400' and then scoot back over the forest to get to 5,000' under some wisps. Based on the latest transmission from Larry who is near the turnpoint 8 kilometers away I should be able to find lift there and can leave at 5,000' to get to it.

Sure enough there is plenty of lift just north the 474 to 5,000' and that makes the glide into goal easy.

Controversy erupts when Belinda comes up with a way to score the day with a bonus for those pilots who made the Famish turnpoint. Only Bruce Barmakian and Kevin Dutt didn't.

2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 23, 2019, 10:49:16 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

A funny shaped task at 90 km

Flytec 6030|PG|Rob Clarkson|US Nationals 2019|Volirium P1|weather|Wilotree Park

The forecast:

https://ozreport.com/seweather.php

Tuesday

Sunny, with a high near 87. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph in the morning.
Surface wind 6 – 8 mph, east

HRRR 3, 2 PM:
Updraft velocity: 640 fpm
TOL: 5,000’
Wind TOUL: 11 mph, northeast
B/S: 7.2
Surface winds 5 mph east
A slight chance of cu’s.

The task:

  Leg Dist. Id Radius
1 0.0 km QUEST 400 m
2 SS 4.6 km QUEST 5000 m
3 17.0 km T47433 400 m
4 31.5 km WALABY 5000 m
5 53.5 km DSROK 400 m
6 71.5 km T47433 400 m
7 ES 88.4 km QUEST 400 m

The Replay: https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=2696

The flight on-line: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2254486

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20190417&gliderclass=hg1

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/23.4.2019/19:09

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

The narrative:

The wind is out of the east and we're back in the slot at the west end. There are no cu's and with the brisk enough we are probably getting some suppression of the lift from Lake Apopka. But we are not aware of it at first.

I'm 17th to launch and we've already had one pilot land. Tim takes me to the south of the field and I find strong lift, 400 fpm to 4,300'. When it peters out I head north east then east looking for the next thermal.  I don't find anything even in the smoke from the fire to the east. Kevin Dutt is right below me and he turns to go back to Wilotree Park for a landing just as I do.

Unfortunately I take out a down tube on landing, but fortunately David Lopez and Alex Skyride operate as a pit crew and get me back in line for another tow. It's probably been three years since I took out a down tube.

I get back in line but it's time for the sport class launch. Everyone has to wait for them. There is a fifteen minute interval after the end of the open class launch for relights, then pilots have to wait for the sport class to launch. The top three pilots have to wait as they all had to relaunch. There were many relaunches.

It's a long wait, but when we get up we find good lift to the southwest away from Wilotree Park. I climb to 3,800' at 240 fpm and take the fourth clock (out of four) at 3:24 PM (last clock is at 3:15 PM), more than an hour after the first clock. No one is able to take the first clock at 2:15 PM.

I glide 8 kilometers from the edge of the start cylinder down to 900' AGL just north of the Seminole Glider Port where I spot hang glider pilots turning. I climb out at 240 fpm to 4,900'. This makes it easy to get the first turnpoint at the intersection of highway 474 and highway 33.

There are a few pilots around and it is five thermals to get to the Wallaby 5 km turnpoint to the southeast. The first thermal is reasonable strong at 340 fpm to 4,300', but the rest of them are weak, under 300 fpm.

I turn around at the turnpoint to head west to the intersection of Dean Still and Rockridge and find 364 fpm to 4,300' drifting to the west. I can see pilots climbing in the distance and after a 10 kilometer glide get under them and it's 250 fpm to 3,500'.  A little over a kilometer further west I find 280 fpm to 4,500'.

I've got two flight instruments the Flytec 6030 and the Volirium P1. I'm noticing a significant different in the indicated distance to the turnpoint. Finally I figure out that I've put the turnpoint at the intersection of Rockridge and highway 98 in the 6030, but the P1 has DSROK. I know that that is the right  turnpoint and this hasn't caused any delays in my flight. I take the turnpoint at DSROK and manually select the next turnpoint on the 6030.

As I make the turnpoint I head into the headwind. The first thermal averages minus 35 fpm. After eight minutes of waiting to see if it will turn on I head out toward public roads to the east so that I can land with a manageable retrieve.

Down to 600' AGL I spot a pilot turning at just above my altitude a short distance to the north. I come in under him and climb out at 134 fpm drifting back to the west. I top out at 2,400'.

I spot Peter Kelley and Rob Clarkson to my north over edge of the Green Swamp. I race toward them and find lift before I get there. It's 180 fpm to 3,200'. They join me.

We move to the east a couple of kilometers to find 190 fpm to 4,400'. Leaving this lift it's a nine kilometer glide to the turnpoint at 474 and 33. My 6030 user fields go blank so I can't see my glide ratio over the ground among other bits information. It states that the wind direction is south west which is a bit confusing. The actual wind is about 5 mph out of the east.

There was a forecast for a sea breeze from the west late and it is definitely late, eight minutes after 6 PM. The user fields return as I get to the turnpoint. They show a north wind component of 3 mph.

I'm down to 1,400' at the turnpoint and head north along highway 33. There are plenty of open field to land in if needed and it appears to be needed. Peter and Rob are just behind me.

I pick out a huge field that I am familiar with just east of the Seminole glider port. I look around and there appears to be no wind in the field. I come in low at the north end assuming a southwest wind, but I am mistaken. It is in fact north east if light. Suddenly I realize that I'm going to eat up the whole field.

Just before I smack into the fence at the southwest corner I turn but hit the fence on the western side. I'm unhurt but there is enough damage to the glider that I won't be flying that one on Wednesday. First time in over 5,000 flights that I've hit a fence.

2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 22, 2019, 10:19:28 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

100 km, FAI triangle

James-Donald "Don" "Plummet" Carslaw|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|PG|US Nationals 2019|weather|Wilotree Park

The forecast:

https://ozreport.com/seweather.php

Monday

Sunny, with a high near 84. Calm wind becoming northeast around 5 mph in the morning.
Surface wind 6 mph, northeast

HRRR 3, 2 PM:

Updraft velocity: 640 fpm
TOL: 5,600’
Wind TOUL: 9 mph, north
B/S: 10
Surface winds 6 mph east
No cu’s.

The task:

No Leg Dist. Id Radius
1 0.0 km QUEST 400 m
2 SS 4.6 km QUEST 5000 m
3 41.9 km CHIN 10000 m
4 77.4 km BARON 3000 m
5 ES 105.7 km QUEST 400 m

The Replay:

https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=2696

The flight on-line: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2253551

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20190423&gliderclass=hg1

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/22.4.2019/17:56

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

The narrative:

We move the launch from the northeast facing direction to an east facing direction further west in the east/west slot runway and delay the task half an hour to start at 2:30 PM. There are no cu's as forecast. The wind is light out of the east.

I launch 24th and find light lift to the south of Wilotree and climb slowly to 3,600' with a couple of other pilots. Pilots who left this thermal early before getting as high as we did and head to the northwest have to land back at Wilotree Park.

We head northwest toward the first turnpoint, a ten kilometer cylinder around the Chinese airfield. It's still six minutes before the first start gate. We find 200 fpm and then 300 fpm. I leave the start cylinder four minutes after the window opens as I climb to 4,400'. There are about eight guys higher and in front of a few of us behind.

We are doing a bit better behind finding better lift and keeping an eye on the gaggle in front. The lift is poor, less than 200 fpm, and the lead gaggle is getting lower and lower with each thermal.

I veer off to the south a bit just northwest of the lumber yard and south of some greenhouses to find much better lift at 300 fpm and climb to 4,700'. The lead gaggle is far below and soon out of site to the north.

I take over the lead as the lead gaggle struggles and head out on my own toward the turnpoint. I've been out here before so I have some idea of what to look for in order to get back up as I come down from my commanding height.

It's a nine kilometer glide before I find 170 fpm by the Kokee turnpoint and I can climb back to 3,000'. A six kilometer glide and I come over apparently from the smell, some chicken coops just east of a prison (so many of them in Florida). I'm down to 1,400' and looking at a possible landing field just past the prison, but I find little bits of lift and hang with them.

I average a little over 100 fpm to 2,000' which gets me past the prison and the field next to it. I'm familiar with the fields ahead having climbed out of them on a previous flight. They are the last fields before the river which is surrounded by trees. Our optimized turnpoint is just on the other side of the river. I'm too low to cross it.

I see a small bit of smoke in the trees next to an open field and get to it at 600' AGL. I take the 254 fpm to 4,500' where we all get together at the turnpoint. I relinquish my lead at this point.

Now it's sixteen guys racing toward the three kilometer cylinder around the Baron turnpoint to the east northeast with seven guys in front. We race ahead and stop for 200 to 300 fpm about every five kilometers. Five or so guys at the top of each thermal.

As we pass south of the prisons, Phil Bloom goes out in front, with Pedro, Nene and me just behind him getting higher. I lead out to get over Phil who has lost a lot of altitude as we approach the turnpoint. I lead out again with Raul and Bruno just behind racing for the turnpoint. We get the turnpoint and head south.

Those behind us see us plummeting and take a line further to the east also heading south. Bruno moves to the south east to get in the lead with Jonny and Kevin Dutt behind him as they work weak lift from low. Bruno lands.

Raul and I work 25 fpm for twelve minutes to climb from 2,200 to 2,700' as we drift in an eight mph north wind toward Wilotree Park and goal. I lead out as I'm familiar with the area. We work 100 fpm and 55 fpm climbing to 2,800' and drifting south.

I come over the nursery on the north side of highway 50 west of Mascotte but I don't find much. Raul spots a vulture climbing and climbs with him when I turn east to head for the chicken coops and possible landing area. Down to 600' AGL I find a little bit of zero sink and start working and searching for the better core.

The guys to our east are finding better lift. Kevin Dutt gets out ahead and continues on a long glide into goal. The pilots who took the second clock are able to come in fifteen minutes later and score well despite poor leading and arrival points.

It's almost 6 PM. I find the area of better lift over the possible landing field and slowly climb out drifting slowly to the south. I climb at 120 fpm to 3,700' topping out at 6:22 PM with a 6:1 glide to goal. I'm not in the mood for landing short. It's an easy seven kilometer glide into goal for the last guy to make it to goal at 6:28.

2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 21, 2019, 10:42:08 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

We stick together

John Simon|PG|US Nationals 2019|weather

https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=2696#

The forecast:

http://ozreport.com/seweather.php

Sunday

Sunny, with a high near 78. Light northwest wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Surface wind 8 mph, northwest

HRRR 3, 2 PM:

Updraft velocity: 700 fpm
TOL: 5,600’
Wind TOUL: 11 mph, northwest
B/S: 8.8
Surface winds 10 mph northwest
Chance of cu’s.

There is a strong inversion and no chance of cu's.

The task:

No Leg Dist. Id Radius
1 0.0 km QUEST 400 m
2 SS 4.6 km QUEST 5000 m
3 40.1 km Fantasy of Flight 1000 m
4 87.6 km Avon Park 22000 m
5 ES 100.0 km Lake Wales 400 m

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2252178

At one o'clock, there are no cu's and a pretty brisk wind out of the west. I'm scheduled to launch ninth, but will all the help I'm giving to the meet director I'm not ready, so opt to launch at the end of the line. John Simon has already told me that he is launching last so as to not have to wait around for an hour in the start cylinder, so that helps me make my decision to wait.

The pilots that we pulled up before us stick and we get towed up at 40 minutes after the launch window opens and twenty minutes before the start window opens. At almost 300 fpm we climb to 5,000' a few minutes before the start window opens and take it high at 4,800'. I'm not the highest pilot but high enough to not be disadvantaged by launching so late. Almost everyone takes the first start clock.

With no cu's everyone relies on everyone else. We jump from group to group and climb up in a friendly fashion not cutting each other off. We climb to 5,600' before the Fantasy of Flight our first turnpoint with lift averaging 300 and 400 fpm in the last thermals before we cross interstate 4.

We've got twenty to thirty pilots sticking together and using each other to find lift as we move over Winter Haven. The distance between thermals is less than 5 km. We are flying over built up areas with just a few landing areas but with plenty of lift we don't consider the ground below.

Lots of lakes below, of course, but not many indicators of lift with the light winds. Just south of Winter Haven we climb at 300 fpm to 5,100'. I'm near the top of the gaggle now after playing catch up the whole flight. I head off with Bruno Sandoli and one other pilot. We are soon in the lead overall.

There are mostly open fields ahead and we are 23 kilometers from the edge of the 22 km turnpoint cylinder around Avon Park to the south. We expect to find lift quickly and perhaps get away from the rest of the gaggle.

This doesn't work out. We glide for twelve kilometers without finding a bump. I see Sandoli turning to the west and down to 1,600' I go under him, but find only sink. I head further south as I don't see him head north and start rising and down to 800' AGL find 50 fpm to 1,600'. I stick with this for 15 minutes then it improves to almost 300 fpm climbing for the next ten minutes to 4,300' over possible landing areas.

I go from being in front to being behind. But it is quite exciting to be so close to landing and being able to climb in weak lift for so long.

There are a couple of gaggles just ahead hovering around the turnpoint at the cylinder edge. I'll have to work some lift to be able to get high enough to come in to goal behind them.

Thirty pilots in goal.

2019 Nationals (pre-Worlds)

April 20, 2019, 1:40:42 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (pre-Worlds)

Too windy on Saturday

US Nationals 2019|weather

At Leesburg Airport to our north:

Time
(edt)
Wind
(mph)
12:53 W 20 G 28
11:53 W 16 G 29
10:53 W 22 G 33
09:53 W 18 G 28
08:53 SW 10

The local rules state:

Wind direction and velocity determine the launch area and launch direction. South-southeast wind speeds up to 15 - 20 mph can be accommodated from the north-northwest launch area. Westerly winds up to 10 - 15 mph can be accommodated from the east and southeast launch. East winds up to 10 - 15 mph can be accommodated out of the west launch. Northerly winds 10 - 15 mph can be accommodated out of the south launch.

Variations in wind direction and gust factors below 5 mph will be evaluated to determine launch safety. For winds above 10 mph, gusting above 5 mph will keep the launch suspended or closed.

The day was cancelled by the Safety Committee and Director.

The second week starts on Sunday. The forecast is for good weather with light winds.

2019 Nationals (pre-Worlds)

April 19, 2019, 3:48:34 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (pre-Worlds)

Georgia

Bobby Bailey|Christian Ciech|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|PG|Richard Lovelace|Suan Selenati|Tullio Gervasoni|US Nationals 2019|weather

The flight:

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/18.4.2019/16:37

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2247267

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20190419&gliderclass=hg1

The Thursday forecast:

https://ozreport.com/seweather.php

Thursday

Sunny, with a high near 89. East southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Surface wind 10 mph, south southeast

RAP 13, noon:

Updraft velocity: 600 fpm
TOL: 4,300’
Wind TOUL: 19 mph, south southeast
B/S: 3.8
Surface winds 9 mph south southeast
A good chance of cu’s.

HRRR 3, 2 PM:

Updraft velocity: 700 fpm
TOL: 6,000’
Wind TOUL: 20 mph, south
B/S: 5.3
Surface winds 10 mph south
A good chance of cu’s.
Strong upper level winds. Convergence over highway 301 to Vidalia, Georgia

The earlier winds make for a few timid pilots at first. David Fynn, the Safety Director measures 7 - 11 gusting to 14 mph. The report from the Leesburg Airport to the north is consistent with that with the wind decreasing from 14 mph to 10 mph by 1 PM.

The local rules state:

Wind direction and velocity determine the launch area and launch direction. South-southeast wind speeds up to 15 - 20 mph can be accommodated from the north-northwest launch area. Westerly winds up to 10 - 15 mph can be accommodated from the east and southeast launch. East winds up to 10 - 15 mph can be accommodated out of the west launch. Northerly winds 10 - 15 mph can be accommodated out of the south launch.

Variations in wind direction and gust factors below 5 mph will be evaluated to determine launch safety. For winds above 10 mph, gusting above 5 mph will keep the launch suspended or closed.

Despite the earlier whining, the pilots get in line and start to launch. It is a little rough coming out of the field, but I've launched here to the south southeast in 22 mph winds and it was fine.

Bobby Bailey takes me south to 2,000' AGL in a 14 mph south wind. He drops me in lift and I climb at 160 fpm to 4,100' and cloud base. We climbed again to cloud base just to the northwest of Groveland within the 10 kilometer start cylinder. As we get near cloudbase we head out. It's Tullio, Larry Bunner, Andrew Hollidge, Guilherme Sandoli, and I. Larry gets low by Grass Roots trying to get his radio working.

Andrew and I do a bunch of the pulling as we head northwest along the Turnpike toward the 5km turnpoint cylinder around Coleman. I keep leaving when the lift gets weak. None of the thermals average over 200 fpm until we get north of the Turnpike next to the turnpoint where we climb back to cloud base.

Northeast of Wildwood I find 300 fpm to 4,800'. Always leaving well below cloud base as the lift peters out. Tullio gets out in front and leads us up highway 301 to the north toward the next turnpoint at the state prison northwest of Starke.

I can't spot Tullio as he is too low on the west side of the Villages quite a ways east of highway 301. I leave Guilherme and Andrew and lead out on my own. I can see them, turning 5 km behind me. The lift is between 200 and 300 fpm.

I pass Tullio and head for a dark cu southeast of Leeward airfield. The thermal is almost 300 fpm as is the next one at the Leeward airfield. I climb to 4,600'. Tullio is back out in front along 301 over east Ocala, a tricky spot with few landing options. We've left everyone else behind.

Tullio gets too low in this poor area and lands.

I fly over the Ocala National Forest and the Silver Springs Conservation area east of 301 toward good looking cu's. I keep heading north northeast off the course line to stay under cu's. I've never gone this far east before on this course. I'm nine kilometers to the east of the course line but it's blue a long the course line.

Suan, Kevin Carter, and Rudy are about 10 km to 20 km behind as I come up east of Orange Lake and far from the paved highway.

Southeast of Hawthorne and ten kilometers east of Lochloosa Lake and at 5,200' I change direction heading north west toward more cu's that are now conveniently closer to the course line. I need to get around the west side of Keystone airfield to stay out of restricted airspace to the north of it.

Northeast of Hawthorne I find a thermal at almost 300 fpm and leave that at 4,800' still climbing but slowly. Southwest of Lake Santa Fe I find over 300 fpm to 4,500'. Suan has caught me from behind and is just over me. He heads out in front and I follow.

He marks strong lift 12 kilometers south of Stark next to 301. We are well west of the restricted airspace. I climb at a little over 300 fpm to 4,500'. Suan is way out in front but goes down by the turnpoint at the prison just before a huge expanse of forested lands. I work the cu's northwest of Starke and climb to 5,500' before turning north northwest toward the 2 km turnpoint cylinder around the prison.

Guilherne and Andrew are about 5 km behind near Starke. Kevin Carter, Rudy, Richard Lovelace and Christian Ciech are just behind them another 5 to 10 km.

I make the turnpoint and find 240 fpm right away to 4,800'. It's 4:45 pm. Every where I look to the north northeast I see forested lands, with patches of clear cuts and sand roads. The cu's are to the west of the course line and I head for them. There is only lift under the cu's and it is blue to the northeast. I have every desire to stay up and not land out in the middle of nowhere with bad road access.

I climb at 210 fpm southwest of Macclenney over open fields three kilometers west of the course line. To get under the next cu's I have to turn further to the north northwest to climb at 180 fpm to 4,700'. I'm now 6 km west of the course line. Guilherme comes in 2,000' below me.

Andrew has made a turn to go to the east to get back on the course line and is flying over the Saint Mary river heading north toward the turnpoint at Saint George while I follow the clouds. I wonder if he found a cu out there.

Rudy and Kevin are west of Macclenny and turning to the northeast to get toward the course line. Guilherme and I have crossed the river and are well into into Georgia and he is flying low over clear cuts and forests. I'm staying as high as possible.

I climb to 5,300' drifting a bit with the 16 mph south southwest wind, somewhat closer to the course line. Reasonable landing fields are 12 kilometers to the east. I can't really see them even when I'm at 5,300'. The only other options to my east are rough cut clear cuts.

As I get down to 2,500' I head toward pasture lands to the northwest just in case and find 200 fpm to 4,800' Guilherme is low under me and over the clear cuts. I turn northeast to leave the cu's behind but head toward the turnpoint as I'm about to be blown past it. It seems to me that I will not find any lift in that direction. I see Guilherme land in a clear cut by highway 94.

Behind me Rudy and Kevin with Jonny Durand behind them have made the leap to the northeast. I can see cu's in that direction but they seem far too far away. Maybe not. Andrew has landed after ticking the turnpoint at Saint George. I don't like the landing prospects on highway 94 (that's a mistake) and head for what looks like a farm to the east northeast.

It turns out to be nothing and I, like Guilherme, have to land in a clear cut off a sand road just slightly northwest of the turnpoint a little after 6 PM. My driver does a heroic job as we communicate over the phone navigating six miles in over slippery sand roads.

Nene, Jonny and Olav land a little to the south of me. Rudy and Kevin find lift and able able to make it into goal on a final glide from about 20 kilometers out. They are the only ones to make it.

2019 Nationals (pre-Worlds)

April 16, 2019, 10:03:09 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (pre-Worlds)

Another blue day with a little more wind than forecasted

Bobby Bailey|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|PG|US Nationals 2019|weather

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2245839

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20190417&gliderclass=hg1

https://ozreport.com/seweather.php

Tuesday

Sunny, with a high near 84. North wind 5 to 10 mph becoming east in the afternoon.
Surface wind 9 decreasing to 7 mph, east, northeast

HRRR 3, 2 PM:

Updraft velocity: 560 fpm
TOL: 4,300’
Wind TOUL: 6 mph, northeast
B/S: 10.0
Surface winds 5 mph northeast
Looks like a great day with light winds and a high TOL later in the day. No cu’s.

The task committee calls a box task to the northwest. The radii of the turnpoints are chosen very carefully to make it pilot friendly with available landing areas. For example, a three kilometer cylinder around Baron:

We don't have to fly over the swamp to the east and north.

I launch nineteenth just after Larry behind Bobby Bailey. He wraps it up tight low in lift to make his little tug climb, but I hold on any way until he takes me over to the forming gaggle to the north. It's 124 fpm to 3,400'. As I top out it's a little over half an hour before the window opens.

The 5 mph east wind is pushing us toward the edge of the start cylinder, but it's too early to go over there and get trapped against the western side. We hold back in light lift biding out time. I'm on the radio with Larry.

At 1:45 we are near the edge of the cylinder and working up to 3,700'. With the light wind we are able to stay close and take the first start gate at 1PM at 3,400'. A few pilots like Jonny and Zac will take the second gate twenty minutes later.

The thermals are very crowded and we hope to get away from other than a few pilots who we want to work as bird dogs. But for a while everyone sticks together and you are just lucky the out of control pilots, or the rude ones, don't hit you.

We are not going to get high, so it's game of of dare as we head out to the west to see if we can find the next thermal from 2,000'. It takes eight thermals to get to Kokee with a quartering tail wind from the northeast at 7 mph. We find between 100 fpm and 300 fpm climbing to 3,600'. The thermals are still full. Larry and I are working together.

The turnpoint after Kokee is off to the northeast which gives us a bit of a headwind at 6 mph. We're following about four pilots heading toward the town of Bushnell and getting lower and lower without a sign of lift. My neck is sore from all the craning around I'm doing to keep out of everyone's way.

Down to 1,400' AGL I look back to see pilots climbing a little over a kilometer behind me. Larry reports lift ahead but I'm feeling a little too low to make it there in the head wind. This is where we lose contact with each other (other than on the radio). I climb from 1,000' AGL to 3,500' along with half a dozen other pilots.

Pushing ahead I'm back down to 1,100' AGL after 7 kilometers but there are spotters out ahead finding the lift and I climb out at 300 fpm to 3,200'. The head wind continues to be a problem and it is a back and forth fight in weak lift by the landfill trying to make the next waypoint around Coleman north of the mines and west of the prisons. It takes 45 minutes to go 11 kilometers.

I tag the turnpoint at 1,500' and leave it at 2,800'. There are lots of houses in this new development to fly over but fortunately there is also a mine to the south of them. I find good lift over the mines and climbing in a 9 mph east northeast wind get to 4,200' at 250 fpm.

The next optimized turnpoint is due east. I've got some altitude to use. I'm by myself as Larry and his gaggle are ten kilometers ahead and moving slowly.

As I make it to the optimized point on the Baron cylinder five or six gliders come over me about 200 feet higher. Great, now I'll have some help. We tick the turnpoint and head south southeast. I haven't found much lift since leaving the good thermal that got me over 4,000'. We get lower and lower.

Crossing the turnpike to the southeast I see the lowest guy in front of me take one turn then head off with the others to get in a thermal on the north side of the turnpike. I'm down to 800 AGL and don't see any landing areas in that direction. I take a turn in the area where the previous pilot turned, but find just sink. But less sink than I was experiencing. I drift back and find 100 fpm at 700' AGL. I'm over huge open fields.

There is a good paved east/west road just half a kilometer to my north. I'm drifting at 10 mph to the west. There are open fields for 5 kilometers. If I stay up I know that I can get out fairly easily. I hang tight at 97 fpm.

Corinna flies right at my altitude right next to me but doesn't stop and thermal with me. She continues east and quickly lands. After a few minutes two gliders chase back to me from the group that had gone to the north of the turnpike and come in under me. I think it is Olav on a Moyes Litespeed and Hugo Rodriguez on a Combat. I get to hang with them just above them as we drift quickly west.

In twenty seven minutes we climb  to 4,000'. It's 5:15 PM. I follow Olav to the southeast where he finds a little lift. I move over to the small fire to the west but that gives only 50 fpm. I lose track of Olav and stick with Hugo as we head to the next fire. That one provides negative lift.

We head down the road that goes to Center Hill from Mascotte but soon run out of altitude and land in big fields. It looks like Olav got within one kilometer of goal.

2019 Nationals (pre-Worlds)

April 15, 2019, 10:19:36 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (pre-Worlds)

Day 2, task 1

Bruce Barmakian|competition|Davis Straub|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|PG|Richard Lovelace|US Nationals 2019|weather|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/15.4.2019/18:13

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2245019

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20190416&gliderclass=hg1

https://ozreport.com/seweather.php

Monday

Partly sunny, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 80. Northwest wind around 10 mph.
Surface wind 10 mph northwest.

HRRR 3, 2 PM:

Updraft velocity: 500 fpm
TOL: 3,300’
Wind TOUL: 20 mph, northwest
B/S: 2.2
Surface winds:11 mph northwest

That forecast was brutal. We wouldn't get high, the winds would be strong, the lift wouldn't be that good.

We felt that it just would not be a good day. Blue, no cu's in the forecast, often difficult launch conditions with the westerly component.

Still the task committee called a couple of tasks for the sport class and for the open class, and the safety committee and safety director felt that the launch conditions were good, even with the wind almost directly west.

I'm sixth to launch in the right line at 2:13 PM. April takes me up and waves me off at 2,000' AGL. I search around and find 24 fpm then 45 fpm drifting east southeast at 10 mph and climbing to 2,300', slightly above the altitude that I pinned off at. This is progress.

Push up wind with other pilots to pilots circling and from 1,100' AGL, climb back again to pin off altitude at 113 fpm. Do this a couple more times not getting quite so low and then down to 1,400' AGL hook into a reasonable thermal at 230 fpm and climb to 3,200' drifting downwind outside the start cylinder to the east southeast at 3:00 PM, so over 45 minutes in the start cylinder basically just trying to stay up. The day has fulfilled the prognosis.

I climb a little more to 3,500' and then head out to the south southwest with others. Today is a day to stay with your friends. No cu's to mark lift. You've got to be careful and use other pilots to indicate where the lift is. Also hold on to any lift. Weak lift is better than no lift or worse.

The wind is pushing us hard to the east but we are slowly working our way west toward the course line. Pilots are pretty scattered but there are a few to hang with. The next four thermals: 150 fpm, 2,800' top, 83 fpm, 2,300' top, 44 fpm, 2,400' top, 106 fpm, 2500' top. These get us to highway 474. Not getting high reduces the chances of finding the next lift, but we seem to get lucky and there is lift out there.

I hook up with Richard Lovelace, Andrew Hollidge, and Malcolm Brown, the UK contingent. We work 101 fpm, 2,600', 123 fpm, 2,200', 166 fpm, 2,800', 176 fpm, 2,800'. That's 13 kilometers from 474 to Dean Still Road. The lift is getting better. We approach the left side of the 5 km cylinder around the Fantasy of Flight and find 196 fpm to 3,000' in a 14 mph cross wind breeze.

We split up and cross Interstate 4. I follow Andrew Hollidge toward some nice looking open fields after flying over lots of forested areas. He's getting lower and lower and I'm getting skeptical. I spot buzzard heading to the northwest (as I head southeast) and turn to follow him. He looks like he's on a mission and indeed he is. He finds the lift and I find it with him.

It's 265 fpm to 3,700', the highest point of the day, the best lift of the day, and only 30 kilometers from goal.

Now the trick is to stay high enough to be able to get to one of the few landing areas as I'm now alone and over built up housing areas. Thankfully there are a few open fields that allow for a reasonable search for thermals. The best lift seems to be downwind of the small lakes. You can see all the wind on the lakes and all the thermals that interrupt the smooth flow of the wind across the lakes.

About twenty kilometers out from goal I'm joined by Bruce Barmakian and Andrew Hollidge coming in at my altitude. We work broken lift often less than 100 fpm to stay between 2,600' and 2,900'. We're right on the course line in spite of the cross wind.

Twelve kilometers out we find 196 fpm and go on glide from 2,900'. It's good all the way into goal.

This day seems totally impossible. How could we get to Lake Wales in a strong cross wind with no cu's and rarely getting over 3,000? I just can't believe that we did it. We were obviously very lucky. Andrew said it was because we were willing to hang on to the lightest lift, like they do in England.

I certainly never ventured out in front and only went off on my own when the leader looked like he was in trouble and I saw a sign of good lift.

Five of the pilots making goal were flying the new Wills Wing T3's.

https://airtribune.com/2019-quest-air-nationals-week-1/results

Task 1:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 01:55:40 682
2 Olav Opsanger Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 01:56:32 674
3 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 02:13:26 616
4 Andrew Hollidge Wills Wing T3 144 02:14:38 613
5 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 02:18:51 603
6 Richard Lovelace Wills Wing T3 144 02:19:24 602
7 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 02:19:32 601
8 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 02:26:00 587

2019 Nationals (pre-Worlds)

April 14, 2019, 6:09:26 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (pre-Worlds)

No task on the first day of week 1

record|US Nationals 2019|weather

https://ozreport.com/seweather.php

Today

A slight chance of showers between 11am and 1pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 89. Windy, with a south southeast wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Surface wind 15 - 18 mph south southwest gusting to 20 – 24 mph.

At 8 am wind is 8 mph, as per forecasted

HRRR 3, 2 PM:

Updraft velocity: 600 fpm
TOL: 5,300’
Wind TOUL: 35 mph, south
B/S: 2.5
Surface winds: 18 mph south
Cloud base at 4,600’.

It rained a couple of times and there was some wind, but not as much as forecasted (the record from Leesburg airport):

Time
(edt)
Wind
(mph)
17:53 SW 13 G 21
16:53 S 10
15:53 S 10 G 21
14:53 S 13
13:53 S 10
12:53 S 17 G 23
11:53 S 14
10:53 S 12 G 21
09:53 S 14 G 22

The task was cancelled.