It has been an emotional return to Piedrahita 1 year after I left here in a big yellow helicopter after crashing in the pass. The bar owners all greated me like some long lost sister ( perhaps due to the amount of liquid anesthetic I was indulging in last time!) Senora Mathilde who owns the house we usually rent was beside herself with hugs and kisses.
My first flight here crossing the pass was as emotionally draining as anything I have ever done. At the corrals I climbed out with Klaudia and we crossed towards my nemesis at Casas del Puerto. After stupidly looking down from 2400m to the place I piled in, I had to run away. Fortunately I had the prescence of mind to cross the pass instaed of leaving that particular demon for another day. Once through and over Villatorro the adrenalin faded away and I was so mentally and physically exhausted from flying so tense that I chose a field and tried to land. About 10 km later I actually managed to get down... it was really going off and in hindsight I missed a good day but I'd done what I needed to do and was relatively (!!) happy with the decision.
The second day was a true Piedrahita classic, scrappy early on but developing into one of those skies that dreams are made of. I just didn't have anything left in me to keep my in the sky.. after deciding at 2000m wasn't enough height to cross the pass I went to land. I'm still not sure why I did that instead of hanging in for more height at the quarry but the sight of gliders throwing them over at crazy low altitude really stressed me out. Again I missed a great day, with distances over 200km flown.
Since then the wind has been blowing so the usual Piedrahita 'up we go - sit in the howling wind - down we go' malarky has taken over. The forecast isn't looking good for the next couple of days either so that may be all there is for this competition.
For some reason during this competition the good characteristics of the XCO have been lost. The freedom to fly where you want, when you want and the full day to do it has been lumbered with turnpoints, launch windows and dubious rules enforcement.
Rules are taking over and then once introduced, broken. Last launch time has restricted many pilots flights, meaning that it has become a 1 launch competition instead of giving the opportunity to improve your flight by relaunching later in the day after a short flight;until an arbitrary decision by the meet director allowed a number of pilots to launch after the window closed and still score. Not signing to fly was announced as a zero score until for some unknown reason it wasn't. Airspace infringements now appear to be 'negotiable'.. bring on Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck & the rest of his mates, the credibility of the competition has disappeared in a Disneyland-esque fantasy.
It is a real shame because the concept of the XCO was a good one but perhaps 'free-flying' competitions don't have a place in the 'normal' competition circuit. The OLC and XC contest provide a free, effective and very well subscribed way of scoring xc flights.. when it comes down to it after the costs of entry, retrieve teams, accommodation etc have been added up the XCO is probably the most expensive free-flying you will ever do anywhere!
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