Pre-PWC Santiago: Task 1

The first task of the Pre-PWC in Santiago was a bit of surprise for everyone with the weather playing around and being unpredictable. I’d been lucky enough to be here a few days early and have time to get used to the mountain air after flying in the slow and heavy air of Loma Bola. 

The conditions in Santiago can be really strong but this morning they looked good and a 100km task was set to fly to the North.

As soon as the launch window opened, the wind kicked in and it was unexpectedly strong. 

Some people were worried about this wind as the task was passing a Venturi area and this could be potentially dangerous or too strong for some of the gliders

Following that, the task committee along with the weather experts made a call and ended up cancelling the task. That left all the pilots waiting for a few hours on launch and looking at a pretty overcast sky.

We did a good amount of parawaiting and then the task committee announced a new task but decided to be more modest with a 69km route. This time it was towards the south, which was looking nicer.

When we first took off it was super light with the grey conditions and I started flying a bit behind the lead gaggle, using the people in front to really see how the light conditions were working. This is something I had practised in Loma Bola and really paid off today.

After a few thermals I had caught up to the lead gaggle but the conditions were still light. At this moment the lead gaggle decided to head out to the flats but I stuck to the mountain and observed the conditions out in the flats. The whole lead gaggle sunk out once they made it out the flat lands. There was really nothing to climb in out there, all the lift was back on the mountain. 

The small group I was with stayed back and managed to get a nice climb on the ridge. With that altitude we could go out to the flats, tag the turn point and come back again . 

That first part of the race was really technical and it was unfortunate the lead gaggle sunk out as the level of pilots here is really high. It goes to show the tactics of paragliding competitions can be really complex and it’s more than just following.  The lead gaggle or as it’s also called ‘the brain’ is usually right and today was one of those rare cases where it didn’t work out.

Following that turn point in the flats that wiped out most of the competition, the conditions got really good when the sun finally made an appearance. We were going up in +7m/s and a small group of us managed to make goal.

I was stoked to come into goal first and 10 minutes before the next guy. I had chosen a cloud street to get to goal which wasn’t the optimised line but ended up being a lot faster than the route the other pilots had taken. That choice paid off nicely and the results of the task reflect that.

Unfortunately due to the leaders and a lot of pilots sinking out the task isn’t valid for the maximum amount of points but I’m still really happy with my flying and the choices I made on when to hold back and when to push.