Day 1.
Weather conditions on the first comp day looked considerably hazier than the epic last practice day. A 124km flat triangle to the north was set. Conditions early on gave us a low ceiling - relative to the mountain peaks that is, which vary between 5,000 and 8,000ft asl in the local area. Pilots that persisted and got past the Cheval Blanc experienced much better conditions, with reports of much fast straight-lining around the sunny slopes and returning back to the St. Andre landing area in some 2.5 hours+. Gordon Rigg, Gary Wirdnam and Grant Crossingham were the first three Brits in the flexwing class, with the first four places of the Open comp being taken by French and Danish pilots. Graham Phipps and Steve Green had their scores normalised to a reasonable average after landing prematurely to assist Spanish pilot Pedro Garcia Morelle who threw his parachute after being turned upside down. Thankfully Pedro was fine. Jacques Bott won the day in the rigid class. Unfortunately Mike Stephens' score didn't count as he didn't have medical cover in place (a comp prerequisite), and Justin Needham, Craig Dolwin, Richard Lovelace and Geoff Adams each lost big points after a missed turnpoint. Geoff completed the 124km task and only missed one turnpoint by 0.8km, a remarkable feat as he didn't know how to use his new GPS and was relying on other pilots to lead him into the turnpoint cylinders!