Advance paragliders in the West Country

I finished off my last post by praying to whichever god it is that’s in charge of the weather to give us some great flying in St André. Well, my prayers were answered! We had five great tasks, plus a day in St Vincent-les-Forts before the comp, and a great day’s mountain biking from St André to Castellane, and just to finish it off, a sweet little hike and fly before the rain came in on the cancelled last day 🙂

Task 1 (3rd Sept) – 77km race to goal at Laragne

Well, so much for the forecast strongish southerly winds – we ended up flying most of the way in a headwind! Add to that high cloud coming in from the south later in the day and it added up to only nine people in goal! I got most of the way round and I think got to within 7kms of goal after 5.5 hours in the air and absolutely loved it! It was a flight of contrasts – small hills and weak climbs at turnpoint 1, strong climbs and big mountains at turn point 2, buttock-clenching into-wind sink followed by a booming climb on the final leg, then some of the minciest flying I’ve done all year trying to get up from low down near the Sisteron Gliding Club. Oh yes, and power lines too 😄 I ended up gliding towards Sisteron for a beer and easy retrieve, but despite that I didn’t get back to St André until 2130. Great day!!

Summary: 9 in goal, I came 33rd. Mark Watts won the task, and Frazer Wilson took the prize for today’s reserve ride

 

Task 2 (4th Sept) – 68km cat’s cradle

Fast and furious with some rowdy climbs over the “Cheese”… St André built its reputation on days like this 😂. I think Kirsty was the only reserve toss today, minutes before the start, but I’m pretty sure Frazer had a big cascade, not to mention Yuki’s incident above the “Cheese”, followed shortly afterwards by Tom Cole’s very impressive frontal on full speed bar 😂😂.

Summary: 70 in goal, I came 33rd again, 33 mins behind the winner, Idris Birch

 

Task 3 (6th Sept) – 47km race to goal at Col de Bleyne

Despite an unpromising forecast François from Aerogliss insisted we should be bussed up the hill, and luckily for us we did – we were rewarded with a cracking task down to Col de Bleyne. Unfortunately it was all over too quickly – three minutes and thirty places separated Grant Oseland and me on our Omega X-Alpses (first three-liners in) from the winners who did it in 1hr 9mins. Unfortunately it was also a cracking flight (literally) for Rupert Hone who crashed near the third turnpoint and had to be helicoptered to Digne then Marseille Hospital with a fractured pelvis 😦 Get well soon Rupert!!

Summary: 100 people in goal today, I was 30th, 3 minutes behind the winner, Mark Watts

 

Task 4 (7th Sept) – a 100km epic!

The task of the comp! Lots of big names went down trying to get onto the Coupe on the way to TP1, but past that crux, and once past TP 1, the field split as there were three distinct routes to TP 2, some 20kms north of Digne. I took the west route along with seven or eight others in our gaggle, and once past the small hills just north of Digne it was into some spectacular scenery as we finally made it up to 2000m+ for the first time since the start! Having bagged TP 2 I headed to the Cheval Blanc and the Cheese and Shark’s Fin before crossing the valley and heading to TP 3. The house thermal there worked as advertised and from there it was an easy and fast run past Castellane and over the southern end of the lake to TP 4. I couldn’t resist topping up here, which cost me a place – the lifty line back to goal meaning I could have gone on glide at least 300m lower. Still, I wasn’t too disappointed with 13th place and first three-liner 😄 I think it was this task the Frazer had his third incident, resulting in a stay in Digne hospital whilst his shoulder, broken ribs and punctured lung were taken care of… a very tough comp for him for sure. I wish you all the best for a speedy recovery Frazer…

Summary: 39 in goal today, I was 13th, 18 minutes behind the winner, Russel Ogden

 

Task 5 (8th Sept) – 67km cat’s cradle

With light winds and a high base forecast, this was a doddle for many, and would have been for me too had I not had a brain malfunction on the way to TP 2. I was following gliders ahead and above me (not much above me) and they were pitching back in evidently strong lift, but I never found it… and the three of us (I’ll let you remain nameless) pushed on too low to our inevitable doom! Crazy! The retrieve was super-efficient and it didn’t take long to get back to HQ, where we we greeted with the sight of every man and his dog arriving over goal with tons of height… oh well, thank goodness for discards 😂😂

 

Summary: 88 in goal today with Mark Watts winning it again. The less said about my position the better! No reserve rides, just Mal Davies falling through his lines!!!

 

So there we have it – five tasks (the first time in 13 years I think Calvo said) and lots of great flying (for some). For others it was quite an eye-opener in the rough, strong very dry conditions. I was super-happy with my Omega X-Alps, barely a collapse all week, and most of the time well able to keep up with the hoards of Zenos! Decision making and good lines are so much more important than an extra couple of kms speed in my opinion, and I was more than happy with 27th place overall and first three-liner.

Results – Overall

Marks Watts
Seb Ospina
Russell Ogden

Women

Kirsty Cameron
Jess Cox
Nanda Walliser

Reynolds

Jack Pimblett
Lauren Martins
Alex Colbeck

Sports

Mike Miller
Dave Smart
Fons de Leeuw