On the road again | 1281884580|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
I travelled 1,300 miles by car and ferry to get to Sigillo in Italy for the Pre Worlds & Dutch Open and now the Dutch Open has ended I'm starting to make the drive slowly back towards home.
First stop off last night was Malpasso. Was glad to get away from the rain and wake up to sunshine!
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and today I'm heading towards Laragne where I shall stay until the end of August for the British Nationals
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The Dutch Open was a well run, fun and friendly comp. Thanks to the organisers and also the Babs, Tim and the girls for my lifts up the hill and retrieve.
I finished 13th on Friday the 13th! Congrats to all the winners:
1st Gerolf, the European Champion is on a roll
2nd Vladimir
3rd Jochen
1st Zenya
2nd Monique
3rd Christine
.......all photos pinched from Zenya - hope she doesn't mind.....:-)
Monte Cucco random photos | 1281643860|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Go Go Dancers at the Pre Worlds Party
Zac "Zippy" Majors
Campsite meal for one - it's a hard life
The Langer Report
Wanna see Jonny's Crack? I'm guessing most of you know that Jonny's glider was damaged on the last day - He managed to borrow another from the Spanish team and after a few tweaks flew it successfully around the course. Go Jonny!
Jochan - great bloke & Belgium Champ - the man to watch out for in the future
Ghosts at the Pre Worlds Party
Chilling at the beach
Cloudbase at Cucco
Horses on take-off
Lost! Where's the Lizard?
This morning - I could have got a picture but unfortunately Jochan grabbed the bag and it escaped - I found I had a ‘pet’ Lizard living in my washbag. There is a small hole near the hanger of the bag and it poked its head out whilst I was having a shower. I think I let out a small scream and was pinned against the wall of the shower before I realised what it was because I initially thought it was a snake! It just looked at me, looked around and then went back in its hole. On the way out of the washroom I said to Jochan “look what’s in my washbag” – he thought I said “hold my washbag” which he did (in the wrong place) and the very big Lizard jumped out. Hope he has found somewhere else safe to live.
I also have a Locust living on the camping fridge - wonder if he fancies a trip to France?
Dutch Open Tasks 3 & 4 - Luck, I have none! | 1281643500|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Ok, I know I've a bit of catching up to do - here goes:
Sometimes Hang Gliding is as much about luck as it is about skill – FACT. I had pretty poor luck in the Pre Worlds and again on Task 3 of this comp. Why does the sun come out just as I land? Thankfully Task 4 was better for me.
Monte Cucco has not been kind to me but its all great experience – I’m chilled out, enjoying my flying, pushing out and exploring – no pimping for me. I like to decide where I go and not be persuaded by what others are doing. It’s the only way to learn, for me anyway.
Will we have the Worlds here next year? If nothing can be done about the restrictions I think possibly not – 2 weeks of running up and down the same ridge would be very boring.
Plenty has been said and written about the airspace restrictions we have to fly within – they are an absolute pain in the neck! At the closing ceremony for the pre Worlds the ‘organisers’ said that they hope to overcome some of the problems that we had faced during the comp. I think they will maybe be able to do something about the internet connection problems (?), should definitely be able to improve communications but am not really sure they will be able to do much about the Perugia airspace restrictions. Interestingly Caroline flew home from this airport: only a total of 7 scheduled flights were due in/out that day! (Appreciate there is probably commercial/private activity too but Caroline didn't spot any during her morning spent there).
Task 2 - So you want to know what happened with airspace infringements on Task 2? Mmmmm a secret competition in Airspace you think? Mmmmm there were a few airspace infringements that day but nobody got a zero score, only warnings. Rumour has it that Franco who was the Pre Worlds Meet Director was one who got a warning?
Task 3 was a bugger of a task for me. It was 130km and difficult! I hear that I was not alone trying to find lift.
Task 4 (today) was a short 86km task from the South take off up and down the ridge for a change. Somebody called Gerolf (who is he?) won the day. It was quite fun, quick good climbs, choppy glides but I guess that’s Monte Cucco.
The accumulative results have now been published for the last 3 tasks
Weather is looking pretty bad for the next couple of days – It’s been a booming 35 for the past few days which has made a nice change after all the rain from last week. Looks like the bad weather is coming back to us.
Dutch Open - Monte Cucco | 1281472980|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Because we only had four tasks in the Pre Worlds and not so spectacular flying I decided to say on and do the Dutch Open before heading on to Laragne for the Brit Nationals at the end of the month (22-28 August).
Registration on Sunday was heaving with around 80 pilots possibly thinking the same as me! I think this is the largest Dutch Open ever with pilots from 14 nations (so I’m told). It's like a ‘mini’ worlds.
Task 1 was 95km along the ridge (of course). It was pretty rough at times with good climbs. Task 2 was 120km and we are just waiting for the results – think AIR SPACE will be an issue for many today and I will not be surprised if I get a zero score. It was just difficult to get down!
There is an official site blogging the news and results and in English
Other bloggers
Jamie
Kathryn
‘H’ (if you understand Dutch)
Zenya
Pre Worlds - And the winners are............. | 1281472440|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
First - Manfred
Second - Jonny
Third - Mario
Carl came in 4th
I want a GoPro! Check out this cool video by Matjaz
