Day  -1 : 
Tuesday was busy with the inscription, general briefing and all the logistcal hiccups that happen in the T-1 hours.
The local people are so supportive of this event and I think all of the 30000+ population were either in the streets watching or actually taking part in the parade from the stadium to the main Plaza.
We were greeted by huge hats, space alians and all manner of mini-paragliders during the 2 hour spectacle. I managed to run away from my position on the podium after a brief thank you speech and back to the safety of HQ claiming an excess of work. Sometimes the response is so overwhelming that running away is the only option!
All in all, the inscription went pretty smoothly and quickly. A glass of vino with dinner relaxed me enough to avoid stage fright but thankfully I didn't mess up the briefing too much and surprisingly the pilots seemed generally to be listening though as soon as the smell of the welcome BBQ wafted over the exodus was immediate!! :D

Day1 : Task 1
Yesterday we set an 82km race around the central  sector of the valley.
We start so early here (07:30 to launch) that we try to make the majority of the task decisions at breakfast and on the drive up. We decided on our intended task distance and goal and then filled in the dots in between to produce a safe task for the opening day to get pilots used to the area and conditions.
Arnie, Pepe, Russ and myself set off together with much joking as Russ took one look at the Tephigrams & Skews and went straight for the Meteoblue, clouds-sunshine-rain  Noddy-does-meteo forecast! He declared his intention to adopt a 'hands-off' tasking style and left us to refine the proposals into the opening task of SuperFinal 2012.
Launch had few stresses but some of the young-guns decided that the queue system didn't apply to them and weren't the most popular guys on the hill as they pushed to the front. But I have a cunning plan for dealing with that tomorrow! ;)

Crown Control - the launch line was much better behaved! :D

The day became Classic Roldanillo as the sky opened up in the flats and the group spilt into 3 gaggles at the start.
The race was really on from the La Paila turnpoint and I arrived in goal just ahead of the lead group to see the sky filled with a swarm of wings. :)
120 pilots reached goal with Luca Donini arriving first at the end of speed section. Many European pilots were amazed as they cruised over the tarmac runway ( usually totally prohibited in more restrictive countries) - one young guy said he felt like Top Gun as he made a fly-by the control tower! :D

Task1: Goal Cartago Airport

Day 2 : Task cancelled before start.
Today we tried to push the distance out a bit with a 109km task taking in Roldanillo, Toro, Obando and goal at Tuluá airport.
Unfortunately, the weather goddess didn't play nice and I cancelled the task at 11:37 due to conditions on course.  Pilots were relaying info about the deteriorating conditions just prior to the decision to cancel and the level 2's had just escalated to level 3 due to cloud suck and rain.
Just 10 minutes later, we started to get rained on at Los Tanques and the Pacific wind came through making flying in the mountains a bit extreme.
Most pilots flew back to Rolda in the flats, well away from the wet stuff and as I write a big group are landing at the goal field. I wish them luck to get back home again! ;)

Task2 - it looked so promising ... but was not to be! :(