Rieti WGC - Day 9 Flying Report

Written by Administrator

Report by: Andrew

Yesterday was very interesting!!! North wind in this place is very tricky as Dick Bradley pointed out from previous experience.

Conrad and I worked on some strategy and all went according to plan until I lost sight of the leading gaggle after turnpoint 1. The plan was to leave a bit later than the rest and catch up at turn 1 where the critical decision point was and follow them through the tough stuff and then to pass on final glide. I caught up at least 10 minutes into turn 1 and then with the sun in the wrong place I lost sight of the gaggle and was on my own. Got stuck twice but managed to get around.

The problem is with the north wind is you have conflicting weather. Ridge soaring on the cold side of the mountain and having ridges that are not continuous makes this impossible, so the only other option is lee thermals. These trigger behind the ridge and are notoriously unpredictable.

We will see what today holds and I am trying to make up some places without pushing too hard causing an outlanding.”

I think that sort of puts you all in the picture.

This competition has been a difficult one so far. The weather has truly remained mysterious and unreadable, especially for me.