Nepal Open Paragliding Championship, Task 4. March 3rd 2013

Nepal Open Paragliding Cup Task 4

March 3rd 2013

We had another good, long day of flying today.  The task started with the now usual ridge run, then to landing field, then to East Peak of Green Wall, then to a point WSW of the Green Wall, then back to landing field, then a point SW of Korchon, then E of Korchon, then speed section at the tip of the Dumpus ridge, then Korchon, then Matradunga landing, then End Of The Lake landing.  This task had me excited because it was not racing up and down a shallow ridge, but mountain flying, with big glides and strong thermals.  I purposely had the Fleetwood Mac song “Gypsy” stuck in my head (“I have no fear, only love), which allowed me to get into a relaxed joyous headspace.

Climbs before start were toping at about 2200m, so we had a substantial gaggle waiting near the start 20 minutes before open.  The thermal cycles were short, so we would all climb up then have to spread and search again, and repeat.  It was fun, and tricky to stay at the top of the pack.  I had a good start, tagging the cylinder 6 seconds after time.  I was impressed by Jamie Messenger’s ability to time the start perfectly, just as my  FlyMaster indicated start Jamie was turning and heading to the first turn point, I don’t think it could have been calculated any better.  

Gliders low on the SW side to Korchon

Being with the lead gaggle was exciting, and I reminded myself to he highly attentive to what the pilots around me we doing, and learn from them.  We tanked up at Torrie Panni then went on glide for the landing zone turn point.  On the way back myself and a BoomX got a climb that allowed us to skip the Torrie Panni scratch fest.  I knew that the fast move was to glide directly for the East Peak, but I did not feel good about my chances, so I did the typical Green Wall route, watching Jamie glide away from the East Peak just as I was approaching the Wall.  East Peak - SE of Green Wall - Main Peak - Sarangkot.  Some pilots choose to go directly to Sarangkot from SE of the Green Wall, I saw one of them throw their reserve parachute while getting spanked by rotor in the lee of Sarangkot, and a couple others that looked to be bombing out, but Im sure some made it and shaved off time on course.  When I got to Sarangkot the main bowl was shaded and a gaggle were scratching below launch, I was just above the towers and Torrie Panni was still sunny, so I dived over there, and hooked into a nice thermal.  Diving over to Torrie Panni can work great, with bubbles all the way to the main thermal, or it can sink you right down and force 20 minuets of scratching.  I am thankful it worked great this time.  By the time I was gliding to landing  turnpoint, some of the Sarangkot gaggle had gotten up and were tagging it.  Another climb at Torrie Panni, and glide for Korchon.  I set out on glide with Ajay Kumar, he must have gotten stuck somewhere he is usually way faster then me.  Ajay choose to glide straight for the turnpoint SE of Korchon, I played it conservitive and went to fuel up on Korchon.  After refueling I tagged the turnpoint and glided back to Korchon, watching some that had glided straight to the turnpoint struggling below me.  After getting high again I set out with Elli Mota and Denis Kulikov for the turnpoint to the WSW of Korchon.  I choose to use my Peak 2’s top speed to beat them to speed section.  I was able to pass Elli but not Denis on his Nova Factor 2, an impressive glider, and pilot.  

After tagging speed section I breathed a sigh of relief and told myself to just play it super conservative and make goal.  I fueled up again at Korchon,  Ajay and I taking turns cutting each other off in the strong tight low cores. There was very light rain, a drop hitting my face every five seconds.  At that time the rain did not seem dangerous because there was no indication of wind coming off the mountains, or strong cloud suck.  I could also see the clouds above and behind the Green Wall and they were not tall thunderheads.  At base some pilots went straight for the Sarangkot ridge, others went toward the Green Wall.  Since we were no longer racing I went with what I thought was the conservative decision and glided towards the Green Wall.  On this glide my speed system broke, bummer, but at least I had already made SS and just needed to boat my way in.  The green wall was mostly shaded but working and I took a glide from the Main Peak to Sarangkot.  Just when I was getting to Sarangkot the meet director Egor stopped the task because of rain on Korchon.  I had a 7 to 1 glide ratio into goal, but as Egor had explained earlier in the day your glide from a stopped task would be calculated at 5 to 1 glide.  So on paper I did not make goal.  In hindsight I should have kept racing, and flown fast to make goal.  People who made it to the Speed Section later then me and received fewer lead and arrival points scored better on the day.  Well I’m just in the comp to have fun and learn more about flying efficiently, so a few points on a piece of paper should not bother me to much.  I had a fantastic day of flying, with great pilots in great conditions.  Thank you organizers and thank you Nepal.