An early start on launch at 07:50 with the sky brightening and the sunshine starting to break through by 08:30.
As I am meet director ( technical director in South American speak) I am not allowed under the rules to fly during the task.
I made my first ever full briefing in Spanish and the pilots all seemed to understand ;-) ...though seeing what happened as the day developed either they understood and chose to ignore or just didn't bother listening! A beating with the naughty stick is required in the next briefing!
The task committee set a 75km race to goal, a Z shape route, using both sides of the valley with goal at Tulua airport.
The whole comp (147 pilots) had launched easily within 1 hour 10minutes. The day saw changing conditions making pilots change gear during the flight. The description of one of the swedish guys was; easy at start, bumpy in the middle and weak at the finish. There were a few incidents the most serious being a pilot who crashed at launch who has been taken to hospital with a suspected fractured pelvis, the others resulted in no injury but plenty of work for the excellent rescue team we have here with us. As often happens one of the most apparently serious incidents though thankfully with no consequences was a free flyer who launched from elsewhere and roman candled out of the sky above the quarry without throwing reserve.
Many pilots landed close to the main Roldanillo road so retrieve was fast and efficient.
The day winner was Jack Brown from Alaska who landed 4km short of goal. Just before the close of goal a large jet of the Policia Nacional taxied in and then launched - that would have focused the minds of a gaggle on final approach! More questions to ask of the organisation....
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