Challenges

On Thursday we pilots were welcomed by promising weather and complex task around 6 turnpoints was set, for a total of 70 km. At 13:30 the window opened and soon the sky was full of gliders. However the conditions turned out to be very weak, which required patience and very careful flying. Many pilots, including myself, "bombed out" (landed in a very early stage), however often after at least an hour of struggling low. The others flew a tight race, one could easily follow the gaggles (groups pf gliders) floating around the Piedrahita valley. Near every turnpoint the gaggles became smaller and near the end many pilots were flying alone, which is even more difficult.
After almost 4 hours nine pilots including Jouni made the goal, excellent flying! The results can be downloaded from the Nordics web site.
As for myself, it is time to get into the right spirit and fly to goal! To get in the mood I flew an early evening flight, as training exercise set myself a task to fly straight to the goal field. With some good flying and thermalling I managed to get there in 45 minutes which was a good, and much needed, boost to my self-confidence! Moreover the goal area is now familiar...

The Finns placed:
4 Jouni
20 Antti
28 Kari
33 Ari
44 Javis
63 Make
80 Mladen
106 Kasperi
108 Jari
114 Robert
121 Taina
121 Esa