PROVISIONAL - many pilots still outstanding and on long retrieves

Swiss
Martin Muller - Gin Boomerang 7 - 171.6km

Frenchman
Maxime Bellemin - Niviuk Icepeak 3 - 168km

The Swedish Team 
Tobias Hinas - Ozone Mantra R10 - 127km
Magnus Oesterberg - UP Edge      - 123km
Hakan Lindqvist - Ozone Mantra2  - 117km

Luca Veronesi - Ozone Mantra R10 - 119km
Renato Pastorini - Gradient Avax XC2 - 106km (My Team Mate, everybody!!!)
Thomas Blatter   - Swing Astral 6         - 90km  (Best Sport glider so far)

Looking at Reynald Mumenthaler's SPOT track, we could expect him to score close to 170km.  Paul Tomassi was following.

For the second time in this competition a pilot has landed near the only nuclear power station in the area.  We were all warned after the first incident. Today the pilot in question, landed in the restricted area wearing a helmet camera.  Police are very upset. Naturally.  Major headache and paperwork ahead for Steve Ham, the Organiser. 

The women:

Day 5 Cancelled due to lightening, big black clouds and rain. So it was off sight seeing for most of us.

There are 3 more days to go, but here are the final results thus far:

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Task 4

Competition Results after Task 4 can be seen here:  www.xc-open.org

205 points separate me and our leading lady Petra Zellweger, but  Maura Bonizzoni is looking dangerous and could overtake us all.  Our four best task count, so from today we start dropping our weakest scoring day.  Lydia and I will be very happy to see the last of those minimum distance days and Maura has everything to gain after being absent for the first three days. I predict this will be a tight finish amongst the women- all five are evenly matched.

Here are the Overall XC Open World Series points so far 

The winner of the series will be determined after this competition.  Petra is hungry for the podium :-) so I am going to have to fly well to keep ahead of her!

Unusual day. Very light thermals, thick cirrus clouds (the white sheet stuff).  But...if you were patient some pilots climbed to 3600m and flew past Avila.  The Villatoro Pass claimed many, me included.  I was going so well...rubbing shoulders with Hans Bausenwein on his Ozone R10 .... and then I went on a glide to the ground at the quarry.  Later Hans told me he landed before the Pass as well so I am slightly mollified at the horrendous difference in glide between the Ozone Addict 1 and the Ozone Mantra R10.

Jenny and Petra all landed in the same area, Lydia landed earlier, but today it was Maura's day - the Italian girl scored 61.6km :-).

Swiss and French Teams got back from retrieve at 23h12.  Where in Spain did they fly to???

Another day in heaven.  The air is just amazing here in Piedrahita, Spain.  Sigh....flying, sunshine, friendly people and a steady stream of Mojitos courtesy of Tony, the lovely owner of La Panera Bar which is HQ and my internet link to the world.  Yes, it is a heady mix!

The reason no score downloading this afternoon is because my 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs team mate', Dietmar Lambrecht from Germany broke his heel on take off when he hit the road below in sink, seconds after launching.  He was wearing running shoes, not flying boots.  The car that took him to hospital has the scorers laptop in it so I guess we are going to be downloading late into the night and the next morning. Poor Lampies!!!!

Some big flights by the looks of SPOT. Except for Lampies, I reckon most people had a very enjoyable time in the sky.  I know I did :-) Almost three hours of great flying.  I was never low and had no stress for the whole flight.  I would like to have been brave enough to go over the Cherry Valley Pass, but not today.  One day, when there is someone to hold my hand and tell me it is going to be 'OK' I will find the courage. Yes, I am being a girl! Until then, well I had a really great day and I am satisfied.

Provisional scores - there are still about 20 pilots to download

Pure bliss......

Like Porterville in high summer.  2hrs18mins of amazing air.  The thermals were so big and full of vigor, it was spectacular! Wind direction was directly onto the ridge, so pilots went right to Avila, left to Plasencia, over the plateau and the big mountains into the flatlands and for those who could penetrate, they flew forward over the N110 road.

Jenny and Petra found penetration off the ridge very difficult, with Jenny caught in a venturi and having to land in a small valley and have a little hike out.  Being the overweight Sheila I am, I had no such issues.

33kms later I landed - not a big distance, but one very happy Flygirl.

Task 2 Top 10 Provisional Positions:

1. Paul Tomassi - Ozone R10  - 155.9km
2. Philippe Riboni - Ozone R10 - 149.5km
3. Maxime Bellemin - Niviuk Icepeak - 142.2km
4. Francis Carminati - Ozone R10 - 131.2km
5. Reynald Mumenthaler Ozone R10 - 113.4km
6. Simon Campiche - Advance Omega 8 - 108km
7. Luca Veronesi - Ozone Mantra R10 - 93.9km
8. Thomas Blatter -  Swing Astral 6 - 92.7km
9. Hans Bausenwein - Ozone R10 - 92.7km
10.Rainer Buerger - Advance Omega 8 - 92km

Paul Tomassi's flight report:

First day of the XC Open World Series in Spain .

Difficult day for me.  I lived up to my borrowed Schlechtflieger branded glider name - scoring a minimum distance 5km after two efforts.Officially, of those who flew, I came stone last.  My poor performance is following me from Australia.  It has been eight months of flying frustration so far. How am I going to turn this around?

UPDATE:

Provisional Results

1. Maxime Bellemin 118.8km
2. Luca Veronesi 104.7 km
3. Magnus Oesterberg  94.9
4. Simon Campiche 92.6
5. Oddvar Kvalsvik  81.4km (my Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs team mate!)

Petra Zellweger did well on her Swing Astral 6, scoring 43.1km.

Many of the pilots landed around El Barco which is about 20km. Those who did a  leg towards Villatoro first, then El Barco and back will pick up higher scores using the 3 optimised waypoints system - as much as 40 - 70kms.  According to reports, El Barco dished out some rough air.

My club, the Overberg Paragliding Club in Cape Town, South Africa is hosting its annual Overberg Gatskop event which will take place on 22-24 October at Pampoenfontein in Porterville. This is the one paragliding event of the year that draws more paragliding pilots out of the wood work than any other paragliding event in South Africa - and that includes the serious competitions.

The Gatskop is a fun inter-club event, attracting pilots from the Wilderness, Gauteng, Northern Cape, the Free State and greater Western Cape.  Occasionally we even get to enjoy the company of international pilots holidaying or working in South Africa.

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'XCComps.net is proud to announce that we have received Pre World Cup status from the Paragliding World Cup Association for the SA Winelands 2010 Competition.

SA Winelands Pre World Cup will officially take place from the 11th December until the 18th December 2010.