Paragliding World Cup - Portugal - Montalegre - Day 7 - Task 4

Another North-Launch day with more promising conditions than the previous three days.  Another fairly long task was set with the first group of 40 or so completing the 80 odd km in 105 mins.  A little bit of a no-brainer task with only one minor shuffle in the top five where Russel moved into 4th place.  An awesome result for Russel and South Africa.  We can all be proud!

Vario & Task stats:

max 1s climb: 6.5m/s

max 10s climb: 4.5 m/s

Max sink: -5m/s

Max GPS Alititude 2102m ASL 

Total Flight Time: 2:38:16

Task Time: 1:47:27

Task Distance: 82.7km

Task Speed: 46.3km/h

Max ground Speed: 84km/h

Total of climbs for the day: 7,304m

Effective Glide Ratio: 11.3

Winning Time: 1:45 (Yoshiki Kuremoto)

Winning Speed: 47.2 km/h

The stats suggest wind and buoyant air which was exactly the case.  I took the final glide of about 20km with an expected L/D of 13 and pressed the speed bar full all the way and got to goal with plenty of altitude to spare.  My impression on that final sprint was that my IP6 was faster than most of the Enzo's which I suspect was a combination of wing loading and stability because every time they hooked a marlin, I gained fifty meters or more on them passing a good few on the way without ever coming off of the bar or touching the brakes.

I managed to interview three of the top four for you before the last day: