perspective

Launching on the last flight of the trip


What an amazing trip. Flying at a comp like the Pre Worlds is a much different animal than most other comps we get to attend each season. The number and overall skill level of the competing pilots are both extremely high.

hooking up with Zippy for an expression session






The flying from Monte Cucco proved to be a venue for some of the best racing I have ever done. The lift and terrain are perfectly suited for technical tasks with a bit of everything from flying peaks, to crossing valleys and working lift in the flats, to "full on" ridge racing in the compression. It's a place where many different skill sets contribute to scoring well on any given task.

Cucco is like a big South Side




Day one saw us running a bit of a basket weave. The last leg involved dodging airspace while jumping across the valley in front of Monte Cucco to the ancient town of Gubbio. I had a good run with Jeff and Zippy, flying together almost the entire day, and made goal with a time I was reasonably satisfied with. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of an Entry cylinder rule that ended up costing me an entire start interval of 20 minutes. I was bummed to lose this time to my actual course time and to be scored a lot lower on the list than I should have been but thankful for the lesson that will be hard to forget.

setting up to top land for lunch



Day two was another great task that had the shape of a "sort of" out and return. The last way point was high on a peak, fairly deep in a canyon that was lean on the landing options to say the least. Again, I flew with Jeff and Zippy all day, taking turns leading out. As we flew toward the last way point, I was around 300' lower than the boys and didn't feel like I could make it out of the canyon if I didn't find lift. I fell out of the sky in the rotor on my way to the front of the range before finding a climb from low that got me high enough to get the t-point and glide to goal. It cost me time but I was OK with my decision. It was a good example of how it would have been a huge help to have known the area well enough to have held on the the climb a little longer before gliding toward that last way point. Of course, that's what the Pre-Worlds is all about.

hooking up with Dustin and others for a run to the wind mills


The third day was one of those days for me. A true character builder. When my entire team was blazing off on course during the first start, I was counting blades of grass below launch. Encouragement from OB helped keep me off the ground as I climbed back out while drifting further and further out of the start cylinder. Gliding back to the start, I lost almost all I had gained and after another long climb, I took the 2nd start about a minute late. Feeling good about not landing was short lived.



When I flew toward the first turn point, my GPS went blank. My back up shows the direction of the point but not the cylinder size so although I had a good idea of where it was, I didn't know where the edges of the cylinder were. Memories of hearing about pilots following others around a course and doing well gave me hope so when the group I was with left on glide, I followed. About 10 k's later, my GPS re-acquired and pointed backward. My heart sank realizing I was screwed.



The wind was way too strong to get back. Demoralized, I hoped and pushed the "next way point" button on the 6030, pointing it down range. Another 5 k's and it went blank again. I flew frustrated down the range until it came back, this time pointing almost 90 degrees to my left, out in the valley. After confirming with Davis that the t-point was indeed in the valley, I tagged it and turned back toward the next. I ended up fighting hard, thermalling backward in strong wind until landing with 14 other pilots in a nice LZ. It was an easy retrieve as Jeff, Davis and Dustin were all within 8-15 k's and we were all stoked to hear that Zippy had won the day! My stoke was short lived though as my fears were confirmed after downloading my backup at headquarters and learning that I was around 100meters out of the first t-point and would be scored almost all of the way back to the beginning of the course. Bummer.

starting to get high


The last day was one of the race days that are hard to forget. We were all worried about over development, even getting rained on 3/4 of the way through the course but it was one of the best race days of the comp. I hooked up with Dustin for a few climbs before he got the jump on the entire field. Even though he landed going for the cheese, it was impressive that at the latter half of the course, he was miles ahead of everyone. It was inspiring to see him going for it.

setting up to land at the main LZ for Monte Cucco


I was racing toward the last t-point with the lead gaggle of about 10 guys when I saw the 4 front runners gliding the other way, just in front of us toward goal. In the lead was the familiar KAVU sticker and I knew that OB had it and would win the day. I was so stoked for him and even laughed out loud knowing that my bro was finishing the comp with class.



Altogether, the comp was another amazing learning experience. Just thinking about each day spent in Segillo makes me excited to go back next year. We will be better prepared, more experienced and a more cohesive team while trying to represent the US and Wills Wing in the best way we can. Personally, I can't wait.

Italian lessons

This place has fantastic flying. The comp is well organized and the task of getting 150 pilots off the hill safely has gone so smooth, sometimes, it's baffling how well they pull it off. Of course, having unlimited set up space and the ability to launch from just about anywhere helps.
There has, however, been some interesting issues to overcome. Some can be categorized as lessons to learn about flying big comps in Europe but others make for a challenging parameter compiled on top of trying to fly a challenging task.
We were warned that there are a few airspace considerations close to the area we are racing in. During the first day, the task would fly us right through this airspace on the way to the last t-point and all the way to goal. We were told that within a limited oversight, we would get one warning and then, the next infraction would result in a zero for the day. At the end of the day, I was on the warning list and Dustin, unfortunately, was zeroed.

Food in Italy has been amazing.


On top of that, I was unaware of a start rule in "Section 7" that says, if you fly into the actual waypoint of the entry cylinder, even if you fly out of the start circle and reenter, your start would have already commenced. I am still confused as to how it happened but this might have been my problem as I left with Jeff and Zipp for the 3rd start but was scored for the 2nd, causing me to lose 20 minutes and more than 20 places in the results for the first day. It stung a little but, it's all about learning and I will try not to make that mistake again. I doubt it will be hard to remember;-) I need to practice my "entry" starts as we most often race "exit" starts in the States. My confusion ended up biting me in the ass. Still, great day and amazing flying. Climbing up under cloud base over the ancient village of Gubbio was memorable, to say the least.



Today, another amazing task. We flew a 100+ k route that had us jumping deep into mountains and occasionally, taking climbs coming out into the flats. The start gaggles were intense and the swarm of pilots were all aggressively attempting to gain position and altitude. At the start, I think it was one of the most intense gaggle days I can remember. It's funny, at home, it can feel like 10-12 pilots in the air is a good group but to fly with 80-100 guys all in the same thermal is a fairly epic experience. It can be madness but engaging and fun at the same time. Maybe others didn't have that experience but I felt it was an "on your toes" kind of start. We had a good run for most of the task and it was great flying all day with Zipp and Jeff after Dustin got the jump on us about half way through. He got a strong climb we missed and was able to skip climbs while we could not, gaining k's quickly. The last t-point was deep on a big face but because of airspace, we weren't able to get high before flying toward it. Jeff and Zippy (and others) went for it but I was a bit lower and pushed a bit too hard. I had to fly through a rotor to clear the front ridge and got extremely low, thinking that I would have to land. Luckily, I found a bullet and climbed out, ran into the turn point and got another solid climb allowing the time loss to be at least controlled. It was the slow point of the day but I must admit, I thought I might have to land so to make it in was satisfying regardless. It's always the same. You spend the entire task making decisions that hopefully gain you little bits of time, but, one mistake can lose it all and more SO QUICKLY!! Fun game we get to play. Enjoying every minute of it.