It all started in Brazil in March, where I spent 2 weeks in Castelo, Espirito Santo for the PWC. The scenery from above is like being in a different world and racing over it is even more fantastic. We had 3 valid tasks featuring weak to normal conditions. See pictures and the World Cup event page. Overall winner was France’s Yann Martail, who also won the PWC Superfinal in Turkey in 2010. Experiencing Brazil in itself is fantastic. The flying, the camaradie, the Brazilian women, the food, the Caprinhas (and so forth)…
Next up was the Norwegian Cup, Round 1 in Hjartdal, Telemark in the end of April. We had 2 wonderful tasks above the beautiful Hjartdal / Seljord area of which the 2nd task (which I won) proved to be invalid because of too few pilots reaching minimum distance. Overall winner was Gunnar Sæbu.
Then came Norwegian Cup Round 2 in Hallingdal which saw 3 cancelled tasks because of bad weather.
Annecy, France also saw bad weather for the World Cup 12-19 May. We only got 1 valid task, an impressive 103 km race to goal in strong northernly wind and punching leeside thermals. I will never forget racing downwind, 30 meters over a cliff for 10 km with an armada of 100 gliders in formation. It was spectacular. The task was stopped after several pilots reported level 3 (dangerous) conditions. Interview with the Norwegian Team and a must see documentary from the competition. Overall winner was Alfredo Studer (Switzerland).
Norwegian Cup Round 3 was held in Hvittingfoss. We had 2 great tasks, the first one a zig-zag in the local area and the 2nd one a 67 km race to goal up valley to Veggli in Numedal. Overall winner was yours truly. It’s always a good feeling. I won a fly-fishing set and wonder if it was a hint… 😉
Norwegian Cup Round 4 was held in Vågå. A 49 km race to exit (in either direction) was set, with an added competition on top of that featuring open distance. This means that you could continue the flight after reaching goal in order to maximize open distance. Winner of the Norwegian Cup was Jan Richard Hansen and winner of the Open Distance competition was Gunnar Sæbu.
Next up is the Portugal World Cup in Montalegre. I will report soon, and more often.