SAFA Skysailor Magazine

25 September | October 2023 SKY SAILOR The race divided into two groups after TP 1. It wasn’t entirely obvious which route would be fastest. If you worked your way windwards on the zig going with the wind, you didn’t lose much, but if you did it on the zag, you lost a lot of positions. ‘Haze domes’ – little clouds of dust forming on top of the inversion layer – marked the lift on the right of the course line – 96 made goal. Task 6 – 4 August Another blue day, a 94km, four TP task. The route took pilots anti-clockwise round the volcano, with an unusual concentric circles final race to end of speed section. A strong NE wind between TPs 1 and 2 saw pilots get low. Some managed to drift with the thermal and get up to 3000m just after TP 2, others didn’t manage to climb and landed. The leaders spread out after TP 2 due to the strong winds tilting the thermals, making it difficult to find lift. From TP 2 to 3 they went on a long glide following the best lines. Next came the concentric circles finale: Touch the second last TP, back out to the last TP, then cruise into goal. It was very windy at 300-400m and some of the lead gaggle who’d crossed ESS ended up without enough height to make goal. Cristian Deacu went into survival mode. He was a little higher than others and drifted back down the course line, blown by the SE wind, he finally ended up 13.5km from goal. We waited for a full hour and 26 minutes for him to make goal. He finally touched down at 17:40 to claim his second PWC task win – 40 others made it. Final Task 7 – 5 August The forecast was for a strong NW wind, so the 78.4km task going south via two TPs was designed to keep pilots out of the mountains. Lift was weak, making for a slow day with a low base to start. Halfway to TP 2, the race split into three gaggles, from then on there were strong climbs and the race to goal was on with five possible winners in the lead gaggle! Ferdinand Vogel, in second place this morning, arrived two minutes 52 seconds ahead of Stan Radzikowski, leaving us in suspense as to who had won the competition. The race between Ferdinand and Stan was nailbiting to the very end, with Stan deservedly won by 10.2 points after seven fully valid, 1000 point days! A total of 63 pilots made goal. A truly amazing week with seven taskable days and total 59,000km flown, the equivalent of one and a half times round the world! The ladies’ competition was more straight- forward. Alexia Fischer won the day again, bringing her tally to 6 out of 7 tasks, a winner. Jenny O'Neil came second again, placing both almost 900 points ahead of the rest. Photo: Anna Berger, PWCA Social Media Photo: Anna Berger, PWCA Social Media