SAFA Skysailor Magazine

8 SKY SAILOR July | August 2023 The wind was stronger than on previous days, but thermals were weaker. It was im- portant to gain a lot of altitude before the start as finding the next decent thermal proved difficult. Choosing the right line was primordi- al. It was a speedy task with a soft landing in a ploughed field and shady olive trees and 108 pilots made goal. After three tasks, Baptiste Lambert is a mere 1.2 points behind overall race leader, Andy Tallia. Task 4 Task 4 was an eventful one. Weather con- ditions were the best so far and a task of 133km was set. Conditions at the start gate were excellent which meant it would be fast and furious! Tilen Ceglar described the flight: “Towards the first TP clouds were forming along the way and it was a game of finding the right lines. In that part Baptiste and I detached from the group in front and led the way. Towards TP 3 the gaggle almost caught us up, then let us go again towards TP 4, which turned out to be the critical point of the race. We got caught up in a valley SE of Pegalajar with windy and turbulent conditions. The gaggle fell apart and for a while it was everyone for themselves. Some pilots escaped this area relatively untrou- bled and took the lead. The rest of us struggled to get enough altitude to enter the flats on the higher plateau. From my point of view, it was difficult to figure out where the leaders were, so I decided to focus on the weather and was able to catch up quite a bit. It was a game of finding the right lines and thermalling as little as possible. PWC Pegalajar, Spain 2023