Barberton Open - World Championship Team Training

Everyone knows about Porterville our local world class summer flying site near Cape Town.  Very few international pilots know about our winter flying site, Barberton, situtated near the Swaziland border in Mpumahlanga or the 'low veld'.  It is as popular with the local pilots and possibly even has a longer tradition of attendance.  It is certainly the family friendly comp and many SA pilots' first comp site given the gentle and safe flying conditions.  Barberton is a small town tourist town nestled in a bowl of ancient hills:

Wikipedia:   The mountains around Barberton are the oldest in the world dating back 3.5 Billion years, and these mountains include some of the oldest exposed rocks on the planet (only rocks from the Isua greenstone belt in Western Greenland are older). These volcanic rocks, which scientists call the Barberton Greenstone Belt, have given up direct evidence of conditions of life on the surface of the very early earth.

The first form of life on earth, a bacterial micro fossil Archaeospheroides barbertonis was discovered here and has been identified as being 3.2 billion years old.

It is no small thing to experience flying over this area.  The tasks may be modest by most standards, but what they lack in grandeur they more than compensate for in technical subtlety and picturesque appeal.

With a month to go we decided to make this a team preparation event as well as a fund raiser.

In this respect we had a very well attended auction and spit braai.  It is humbling to experience the broad generosity of our flying community considering how few people ever get to go to the worlds. 

Day1 Task 1

It was looking like a great day, so we were given a spider web of back-and-forth racing with multiple start points and routes.

I unpacked my brand new Boom Boom and launched early taking a 5 m/s freight train straight to cloudbase @ 2,200m ASL within minutes.

The temptation to wax lyrical about my GIN B9 colour 'apple' is almost too much to resist, but I will simply refer you to an earlier post http://andre-comps.blogspot.com/2013/03/porterville-world-cup-thank-you-thank.html (The (long, skinny, sexy, awesome) Glider)

The apple carried me around the course in just over an hour without interference from any competitor until the very end where Anton snuck by while I was site-seeing on half bar.  Forgive the pompous tone of this last paragraph, but sometimes, once in a rare while, you just get the lines exactly right and flying feels effortless.  My family spoiled me for fathers day and my glider played along too.

Weight Shift

Who would have thought that the there would be a positive spin-off of the EN-D comp-debacle?

 

Around the globe we find a bunch of extra large men munching on carrot sticks, sipping Perrier and nibbling on calorie deficient foodstuffs as though a metro-sexual revolution has swept the global paragliding ranks.

 

The reason is simple:  If you want to be competitive at the upcoming world championships in Bulgaria, then you have a choice of glider and size.  Order anything you like as long as it is a medium GIN Boomerang 9. 

 

I was deciding how to go about trimming down for this season, so I asked my son, Sebastian, for advice. 

It went something like this:

 

Dad: I need to lose, weight.  What do you suggest?

 

Son: Why do people get fat dad?

 

Dad: If they are not sick, it is probably because they eat too much or don't get enough exercise.

 

Son: Is aunty Dorothy sick?

 

Dad: Not as far as I know, why?

 

Son: Are you sick dad?

 

Dad: Never mind.

 

...And thus, armed with the wisdom of a seven year old, I cut out beer and carbs and voila!  My target of 13 pounds shed in six weeks with four weeks to go .. I may even have the luxury of ballast this time.

 

I thought I was the only one with this problem, but it turns out there are several big lads out there turning lean.  The difference this time is that it looks like none of the manufacturers are having much success certifying anything other than medium size gliders so it has to be a lifestyle change rather than a crash course.  Time to stop weight training and start swimming again I guess...

 

Come to think of it, there are probably a whole group out there with the opposite problem.  What are they doing?  Sumo-style feasts, steroids and heavy weight training maybe?

Porterville World Cup - Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!

Win One!?

What a rush, and what a relief! After the Sun Valley experience, I wrote that a podium finish at a world cup event was something on my bucket list. Right at the top of that list for paragliding was a world cup win, and on the list that 'no-one mentions' is the wish to win a world cup at home. It took ten years of preparation, a seriously awesome glider and two ounces of luck, but a win is a win and I am relieved. The thing about a world cup career is that most could be satisfied with a top ten finish, or maybe a task win or even a podium. Once you have achieved those you wonder if it will ever happen and how would it be to look back and be ok with never having won an event outright. After my pitiful performance in Colombia I was suffering some serious doubts staring down the barrel of 'not-good-enough'.

photo: Sergio Kawakami

Stress
I now understand the stress I observed among the US pilots in Sun Valley last year. It seems that all the whining and moaning is amplified when you are involved in hosting the event. You become aware of the abuse that is absorbed by the organisation along with interference from the association. Couple this with unreliable forecasts and dodgy flying conditions and a helicopter evac on the first day and you have some real tension.

I was on the task committee with Andrew Smith and Chris van Noord. We were up at 7am every morning trying to decipher the met reports in preparation for the day. Cold fronts do their own thing, so the second and third day we tried to set tasks for twenty knot winds from three directions. The task committee was bizarrely instructed NOT to use the ridge after the first day crash which saw us on the ridge in the mildest conditions we have ever had! We were totally like WHAT!!?? we have been sending our novice pilots romping down the ridge regularly in local competitions over twenty years! It turns out that one or two competitors were agitating strongly to fly the flats exclusively and were lavishly dishing out septic doses of negativity to all who would listen. Perhaps they were upset at not being selected for the task committee and thought they could do a better job although I have serious reservations about sending pilots into the Citrusdal valley in strong westerlies as happenned the week before.

In the end the association backed out of the ridge ban after the pilots signed a petition complaining (believe it or not). Even then we flew flat lands mostly. Imagine telling us to 'use the ridge, but not for racing'. It's Porterville for heaven’s sake! There is a sixty kilometre ridge designed for racing!!!!

In the end we flew seven out of seven with one cancellation and a hugely controversial stopped task.

While we're highlighting the negative: I was left with a bitter taste after conspiracy theories and accusations of cheating by some. I was officially weighed with threats of being weighed every day simply because a gaul refused to believe that my towering bulk could fit a medium wing at 115kg.

I was second by eight points behind my old Porterville rival, Pepe Malecki, going into the last day. There was a whole pack of hungry wolves chasing. In my estimation, any one of the top ten were in range of the podium. I recused myself from the task committee and we were given Clan William with a couple of twists. This was a hundred kilometre race with multiple options at the start, at the crossing and for the finish. You could not ask for more variety in one day in a world cup. This translates into huge stress for the podium hopefuls because it was impossible to manage the gaggle as would normally be the case in a world cup. All you could do was to be efficient and hope your line was good. In the end we all met up in the same place for the twenty kilometre finish but split into three groups on different lines. The western group took the day by five minutes from my group on the easterly line. It was so close that no-one knew what the probable overall result was and I was convinced I had not done enough. Imagine my delight at prize giving.

The (long, skinny, sexy, awesome) Glider
I was fortunate enough to get a Boom 9 on loan and found out later that it belongs to Adrian Thomas which he so very graciously agreed to let me use. Now this is no small thing given that he had not yet flown it. Many thanks to Gin, Petra, Adrian & Cal for getting this machine to me in time.

Precisely contructed, beautifully finished and perfectly balanced, the Boom 9 felt familiar which should not have been surprising given that I have enjoyed many firsts on Gin gliders: first comp wing (Boom I); first cascade (Boom II); first comp win (Boom II); first 100 & 150km flights (Boom I). My Boom 4 gave me at least one comp victory after a layoff of several months when I trashed my knee in France. That was a prototype which was glued together at the span wise colour interface on the top surface. The late great Norman Lausch used it at the world championships in Brazil in 2003 and I begged Gin to sell it to me after the comp. It is tucked away in a cupboard somewhere.

The superiority of the Boomerang 9 is subtle in the sense that the cliché holds true: the whole is so much more than sum of the parts. You get the sense that you can climb marginally better than most. You discover you have an almost imaginary better glide and you sense you are slightly faster during the sprint. Even more subtle are the apparent height gains in choppy air. There is nothing dramatic, just a constant sense of well-being as you end up on top of the gaggle and arrive highest after glides.

The performance is amplified into wind which is where you confirm your suspicions.

 

It was almost strange to be in a tight gaggle with four or five Boomerangs every day which is notable given that there were only six of them flying. How exactly they managed to get such a high aspect ratio glider stable is beyond the understanding of my amateur status, but I suffered no serious malfunctions save one asymmetric collapse at half speed that required little input and a voluntary 360 degree re-inflation turn.

You do feel the aspect ratio in comparison to the IP6 which is expected, but one thing I realised is how much less of the speed system I used during the competition. The speed system was 100% on or off on the IP6 as opposed to incremental on the Boom 9 reminiscent of my R11. All in all a highly pleasurable experience on the Boom 9 and I have serious doubts that anyone is going to be able to improve on this blade anytime soon unless there is some way to certify an R11! I see the test pilots are in revolt again which doesn't help the Boom 9 competition http://www.xcmag.com/2013/03/air-turquoise-refuse-to-test-en-d-competition-wings/.

In closing we should thank Waldo and everyone who assisted for putting on a fantastic comp.

 

 

Joerg for Prez and the problem with statistics...

Holy Crap! The agony of embarrassment for the CIVL leadership!  For those of you not following the CIVL comp class survey thread on

(http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=54050&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30)

you’re missing some real soap action.  Shortly after the results were published, the paragliding subcommittee chair declared it unsanctioned and “useless” claiming that CIVL were never consulted.  It turns out the CIVL president was totally involved and in favour which forced a public withdrawal and apology of sorts from the sub comm chair.  Joerg kept his cool suggesting that CIVL suffers from split-brain syndrome.  It is not nice to laugh at sincere people so forgive me.  All these guys have their hearts in the right place, I just wish some would not wear them on their sleeves.  If ever you wanted a first-hand demonstration of the divisions within focus groups and the effect of opinion on opposing fronts coupled to bureaucratic bumbling then this has to be an absolute classic! 

 

My ‘dude of the month’ award (which I just invented) goes to Joerg Ewald who facilitated the latest paragliding comp class shit storm with all of the maturity and aplomb of a seasoned politician.  You rock dude, and I can’t wait to buy you a beer. Respect!.
 

So I got my opinion poll as requested and, though I cringe at the dubious accolade of having seeded the idea, I guess I should thank Joerg for the recognition for what it is worth.   
 

..but now I have to confess that I did not fully express my opinion on opinion polls:
 

Surveys and Opinion polls are problematic (as are statistics in general).  Sometimes the answers to the questions raise more questions without revealing answers.  A lot of the time the results confirm diametrically opposed positions depending on the viewpoint.   A favourite author of mine, Daniel Kahneman, describes an example of dubious data interpretation citing the $1.7Billion investment made by the Gates foundation in the creation of small schools based on the strength of research to find the secret of successful education.  In short the research showed that small schools are more successful on average than larger schools which led to the billion dollar investment.  It turns out that If the statisticians who reported to the Gates Foundation had asked about the characteristics of the worst schools, they would have found that bad schools also tend to be smaller than average. The truth is that small schools are not better on average; they are simply more variable (Kahneman, Daniel 2011, Thinking, Fast and Slow p. 118).
 

How is this relevant?  If the truth be told paragliding and CIVL will never have the resources available to the Gates Foundation.  Given that Bill and friends can cock it up so completely, what are the chances that CIVL will make sound decisions based on the outcomes of opinion polls? Will we ever know which important questions have not been asked? 

Frankly, I don’t care.  If anything has been achieved by this poll then at the very least it has to be the introduction of the idea of direct engagement with the people at the heart of our sport.  That the group is opinionated and divided is clear; that there will never be consensus on complex issues relating to personal preference is a fact.  Yet even if the impressions that were created by this poll further divides us I am deeply satisfied that the individual pilots have expressed their views and now we must just deal with it. 
 

My wish for paragliding is that we find a way to flatten the hierarchy inherent in bureaucratic structures like CIVL and our own NACs.  We should cut out the layers of representation and lobby groups and let the pilots participate directly in the decision making process without the interference of bosses, delegates and other middle-men.  Think I’m nuts?  Well, we have the technology to do it.  All we need is to engage professionals about how to formulate information gathering; define the rules of engagement; and agree about the process of decision making.  Then the administrators will simply become facilitators and we would save millions (yeah, I know, I’m naïve in a socialist hippy kind of way).  In some (tiny) respects we have this in the world cup association, but even there policy sometimes emanates from lobbying,  howling and mudslinging rather than objectively structured engagement.
 

Now I can’t help wondering:
 

• what would have happened at the worlds in Piedrahitha if the pilots were asked if the competition should continue?
• would we still have open class if the pilots were asked?
• would we have put up with the idea of certified helmets if we were asked?
• should we ask the pilots a yes/no question about bringing back open class, and if the we can’t agree do we introduce open and serial class in the same comp as it was in the world cup ten years ago?
• should we ask the pilots which of the rules and requirements imposed on Cat 1 comps suck?
• do we ask the pilots if they think Cat 1 comps need an overhaul?

 

Super Final Analysis

The fire protest

As much as I hate to break my own house rule (no moaning, no whining & no fighting), the last day protest action overshadowed the flying festival so I feel compelled to present my own view of it.
 

Everyone loves a smart arse, so I'm going to say it anyway because I predicted it after all and even though there is nothing quite as annoying as a blogger quoting himself, this is what I said: The problem with rules in general is that you have to apply them, so the more you have the greater the administrative burden (http://andre-comps.blogspot.com/2013/01/super-final-task-9.html).
 

So the resulting fallout of the fire-flying episode brought about a world class goat-herding squabble. Everyone knew that at least a dozen pilots dived into that second last day fire thermal to a greater or lesser extent. The fact that only two pilots were punished caused a voluble outcry at the general meeting that evening. It transpired that one particular pilot (in his infinite wisdom) broadcast a message on the safety channel during the task declaring the fire perfectly safe to fly in much to the disgust of several pilots who objected on air. It turned out to be nearly impossible to pinpoint the exact location of the fire based on track logs so our affable scoring Scotsman was hard pressed to explain that he could not definitively finger more than the two who were bust outright without more information. The resultant interaction by the punished and accusers mediated by our long suffering chair resembled a tennis 'B' slapping contest. The radio announcing fire-flyer repeatedly told the best pilots in the world with diminishing credibility how unfair his sanction was, while a current European champion (who shall remain nameless) told the same pilots what a heinous crime fire flying was.
 

Most startling for many was the message that came from the pre-eminent paragliding pilot of all disciplines, Chrigel Maurer. He stood up and told the assembly that paragliding was a brotherhood and that the organisers had a duty to come up with systems to catch pilots who break rules and that they could not expect competitors to step forward with evidence of cheating. This further divided sentiment with the Chrigel Fan Club applauding wildly and the cynical independent thinkers wondering if they had heard correctly: 'Did the god of paragliding really just say Catch us if you can'? I didn't hang about for the second or third set, but my spies tell me the tennis match was eventually abandoned with no clear winner and several losers.
 

It transpired that someone was eventually able to supply enough information to pinpoint said fire and thirteen pilots were sanctioned (including the eventual super final champion). The resulting protest, decision, protest, decision, protest, final decision process delayed prize giving by several hours with some regaining points and credibility and five demoted to the rank of 'cheat'.
 

The good, the bad and the Ugly

· This super final was probably the highest standard ever seen (certainly in my experience)

· EN D has given two or three dozen additional pilots a chance of competing at the highest level (previously not competitive in open class)

· EN D speed limitation has bunched the gaggle up and rewards conservative flying styles (pimping)

· The EN D class is widely viewed as a failed experiment and remains the subject of hot debate

· Two line EN D wings flown by super final pilots has messed up the entire EN certification

· The fate of the competition class as debated by FAI/CIVL representatives remains unclear

· Cheating at the top level is endemic and nothing new (includes FAI Cat 1 comps)

· Gin is back! The Boom 9 was clearly the best glider by a considerable margin

I happen to be the SA FAI delegate and have been on the receiving end of much correspondence on the subject of FAI comp class. I will not bore you with the detail suffice to say that I have serious doubts about the 'representation' part. As offensive as this may be to some of you/them, I cannot reconcile some of the comments and opinions I have read by certain delegates to the views expressed by the pilots they purport to represent. Now I am not speaking of random pilots, but world class top 100 world cup pilots that I regularly bump into on tour from numerous nations including the dominant European ones with whom I am able to communicate (given my serious lack of international language skills).
 

Perhaps it is time to summarise the debate and host an independent opinion poll of the top 400 FAI ranked pilots to whom the debate matters most. It is particularly galling to have people make decisions on our behalf when we have not been directly consulted and no-one I know accepts the idea that there are people out there who are empowered to make better decisions than ourselves.
 

P.S. I can almost hear the mumbling administrative masses complaining that we gave them this power but I suspect they might do well to actually speak to their comp pilots in the event that have not already done so.
 

Personal Note

This was not my finest performance ever. My only pathetic excuse is that I struggled with the strength of the field when combined with the cocktail of opiates, muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatories required to offset the discomfort of trying to fly a paraglider after my rain induced parachutal 'landing' on the practice day. The doctor examining my bundle of scans commented: I cannot easily determine which of these injuries are new, but none of them require surgery. You should be more careful when climbing ladders in future.

Latest task

Sent from Samsung tablet

Fire horse

Meet director?

Super final moments

Super Final Task 9

Another challenging day with many pilots stuck on launch with less than fifteen minutes to go. It was a fast and furious day with a wonderful concept task that has been used only a few times: a single turnpoint servng as an entry, exit and goal giving the field 360 deg options. Sadly the day shut down which culled three quarters of the field. We expect some mud slinging on account of the fact that a dozen or more got up in the only lift available in the valley which happened to be forbidden fruit in the form of a highly conspicuous fire recently banned after the 'fire thermal' earlier in the comp. The problem with rules in general is that you have to apply them, so the more you have the greater the administrative burden. In addition, this competition is starting to highlight the deeply flawed format of the EN D experiment. It turns out that not all EN D wings are born equal even when spawned from the same same womb (factory) with supposedly identical twins displaying a confounding array of ability particularly in the speed category. Even the post-task line testing has become suspect given the grumbling I have heard in the trenches. I sincerely hope that a return to open class is on the cards so we can restore some sanity to the World Cup . Having said all of that one thing remains constant: seriously good pilots are winning as expected so its not all bad.

task 8

I have lost count of the number of tasks but I guess we have done seven or eight.  This was another difficult day which saw the entire field grovelling after the last turn point before goal.  There was very little sun in the valley so once we were done dancing under the clouds some thirty or so staggered to goal low.Russel got in early.  Sent from Samsung tablet

Super Final - Task 6

After enduring a little bit of constructive criticism (and some outright moaning), the task committee contrived to split the race wide open with a cunningly selected turn point some sixty odd kilometers to the south with a huge 35 km radius and goal at Zarzal.  The idea was clearly to give us a multitude of options which included crossing the valley early, late or not at all.  Bravo task committee, except for the fact that the majority crossed early and then the conditions didn't play nice with the whole valley clouding over wrecking the pecking order   spectacularly.  

The survivors managed to scrape themselves off of the valley floor and just as we were hopeful of actually finishing the task, a barrier of rain and highly visible gust front forced Nicci to stop the task.  No surprises that 80 pilots covered between seventy and eighty of the hundred and ten kilometers.

The start was cloud flying chaos and I have video footage of blatant cheating at the first crossing by at least a dozen of the first group popping out of the clouds WAY above base.  Sadly you can't make out any numbers and although one or two of the bastards tried half heartedly to lose some height after the fact it was a reminder of the corrupt ethic that exists in pockets of the paragliding world cup.  That is not to say I have never been in cloud during competion, but I like to think that I have made honest attempts at rectifying any indiscretion.  

Team SA had a less than perfect day with equipment malfunction and premature landing maneuvers with yours truly managing a mediocre performance some 8km behind Mark Watts who might have won the day.

The boys report: low and slow, not at all, and bitterly disappointed by col Moeg, st Kristoffel and Red respectively.

Super Final - Task 5

There were calls for a more challenging task so we were given 131km to fly with no fewer than six valley crossings.  Not that it made an iota of difference with the bulk of the field hopping from cloud to cloud and arriving at goal in just under four hours together.  The homogeneity in performance of these serial wings offers very little if the task is simple.

The task committee now faces a challenge if they hope to maintain their credibility.

It was a better day for team SA with Red, St K and Andre arriving a few minutes behind the leaders.

Flight Stats:
Max climb: 7.8 (1s) 4.6 (10s)
Max alt�: 2,858mASL
Total gain :14,328m
Effective� glide: 9.1

The effective glide is probably closer to 10 if you ignore the start and should give you some idea of the lifty� course line.

Super Final 2012 - Roldanillo - Day Six - Rest Day

Snapshots

Andy Warhol exhibition El Museo Rayo with Omar Rayo's widow as guide

Omar Rayo

Enamorarienta
 

Bar Colombia

Parade

SA Flag on giant hat

pre-Dawn

 

Super Final 2012 - Roldanillo - Day 5 - task 4

The fourth task was another 100+km ‘S’ for speed shaped task that required romping around the valley at Cloudbase stomping the speed bar.  Launch was a little more relaxed with an extra 15 minutes and enough wind up the front to get everyone off with plenty of time to spare.  The start was a three km exit from launch involved milling around at cloud base (and occasion above cloud base) before the start mad dash down to the south.  Yours truly was styling with the lead group until B26 before a brain malfunction resulted in an unwanted task discard.  Big Red had to land shortly after launch with knots with Moeg & Kristoffel romping home in slightly better style.

 

The usual suspects were at the front again, but there was plenty of drama at the goal with a bundle of BIG names landing meters short of the goal line which will stir up the order a little.  In a nutshell, the scoring works like this: for every day of flying 25% of your worst task is discarded.  This means that after the four days we have had so far, your worst performance relative to the day quality is discarded.  In theory this means we will discard 2.25 tasks by the end of the competition so you get to screw up twice!  In practice screwing up can mean getting stuck for ten minutes, so better to fly conservatively which is how things have panned out if you look at how cautiously the lead gaggle proceeds.  There is sooo much pimping going on you have to take a deep breath and find the right line or lose out on every glide if you choose to lead out.
Male Task winners: LucaD, StephanG, LucA
Female: Laurie, Nicole, Keiko

 

British Blog: emileadrian.blogspot.com

 

 

The whole fire thermal experience turned out to be quite controversial with a new rule being introduced that forbids any fire flying.  There were even calls to penalise pilots based on maximum vario readings of more than 10m/s.  Now in case you got the wrong impression, those who did fly the fire all agree that it was not something to be repeated (although I would cautiously go to the outer edge again if I had sufficient altitude).  The cynics were wondering what other rules should be enforced during competition if we can’t trust the pilot’s judgement: 

- no speed bar closer than 50m from a ridge

- height restriction of 4,000m @ Sun Valley

- no Alps in the lee in fohne

- no hands off the toggles at full speed

- no thermalling nearer than ten meters from one-another

 

I almost called Nicci on the radio when I saw 10m/s for a few moments during task 4 to swear that I was no-where near a fire, but that seemed inappropriate.

 

Sherpa and pony

 

Task 3: Uncommon Flight information