May, 2004

Valadares 2004 / Pre-World Competition
By Nicole McLearn

After having just returned from the Pre-PWC in Dominican Republic, I was hungry for some more international XC comps. I had applied for entry to the pre-Worlds in Brazil, and finally got the email saying I had been accepted. However it was now only 2 months until the pre-Worlds were to start, so I had a lot to do to get ready. A Brazilian Visa, getting the time off school, looking for cheap plane tickets, and getting a hotel reservation. I had originally booked for the Hotel Real Minas, headquarters for the pre-Worlds, but was told they were booked full and I ended up getting a place next door at the GV Palace (make sure to book early for next year!).

After 28 hours of planes, airports, and bus rides, I finally got into GV late at night. Fortunately I had hooked up with a Spanish/British pilot on the bus and we walked around for a bit before finding our respective hotels (it would have been easier probably had it been daytime).

Next morning I got up early and looked for the city LZ, next to the river. Pretty easy to find, and large enough to land in comfortably, but due to it's proximity to the airport you can't overfly the city at more than 200 m. This would be a problem for some pilots later on! Found Real Minas Hotel and saw a shuttle would be going up to launch for the last day of the Brazilian Nationals, so I jumped on.

The road up to launch is pretty nice, cobblestone-paved and car-friendly (a lot of the locals just get a taxi to take them up for R$10-15). Since so many comps are held here in GV, the locals have made the launch pretty pilot-friendly. There are two sides of the ridge to launch on, plenty of windsocks and flags, 2 bars/restaurants, washrooms, official's tents, and a clothing shop. For pilots there was also free (part of the entry fee) food on launch (apples, watermelon, oranges, etc.) and plenty of bottled water available. Pretty sweet setup for a launch!

The launch itself is a ridge at the top of the only mountain in the area, Ibituruna Peak, which overlooks GV. In fact, the logo for the city is this peak, with a stylized paraglider and hanglider in front of it (they are really into free-flight there!) Otherwise it is flatland flying, with small rolling hills surrounding the Peak in all directions. You can fly in pretty much any direction, but for comps they usually set tasks along the main road to GV (or at least part of the task leg), for easy retrieval convenience.

In addition to GV being a flat-land flying site, the thermals are also pretty gentle. No screaming climbs like in Golden, but gentle, big, fat thermals that you can almost sleep in. Patience is required there, but if you hang in you can stay up. However, since there are no obvious thermal trigger marks other than the Peak itself, you have to fly the clouds, and gaggle-flying is much appreciated! Going on glide, everyone fans out to find a thermal, and when someone does, the other pilots will make a bee-line for that thermal. They all climb up in it, then repeat the process again and again.

When we arrived at launch it was cloudy and a bit of wind. Waited around a bit until it cleared up; we could see sun and development to the west but it wasn´t getting to us! Some pilots launched right away but it wasn´t ridgy enough to stay up.

Jeff and Dave from the USA and I stayed on launch till mid-afternoon, hoping the clouds would clear and the sun would appear, but alas! Sled rides down to the city LZ; however the view was incredible and the side of the mountain facing the town has huge cliff faces.

One thing about landing at the city LZ, as soon as you land you get mobbed by the local kids, and they are persistent! Even when you ask them to stand back, they are right in there touching everything!

Practice Day:
Today we had the comp's Parade of Nations, where all the pilots troop down the main street of GV. It was a big affair, with costumes, marching band, and lots of flag-waving. It culminated in the pre-Worlds opening ceremonies.

After the opening ceremonies looked like good flying so we went up. Very busy on launch, and cross cycles, so lots of duffed launches and pilots over the edge of the cliffy area. It was very interesting to watch these comp pilots try to get their high-aspect gliders off the launch collapse-free! I got off and climbed to cloudbase over the towers, then did a bit of exploring around the mountain. Very busy on landing, lots of PG and HG´s all over the place being packed up and lots of local kids helping to pack up.

Day #1:
Today was the first day of the pre-Worlds. I got up to launch to similar conditions to yesterday, cross cycles and east wind aloft. The task committee therefore set a task downwind, with one turnpoint and then on to goal (total 55 km).

Everyone was very hesitant to launch due to poor conditions but with the end of the launch window approaching we all got off. Very scratchy conditions right at the beginning, with pilots sinking out early at the base of the mountain. However most pilots managed to hang in for the air start-time and head for the first turnpoint ~34 km away.

Very light conditions, and lots of patience needed! Thermals were only 0.6-1.1 m/s so very frustrating for those of us used to mountain flying and stronger conditions! Lots of pilots sunk out along the way until there were only a few of us left. We managed to get to the low hills again after the flats and get height for the push to the first turnpoint. Most pilots landed at the first turnpoint in a small village; I landed about 2 km short in a cow field. Powerlines on final glide were practically invisible until the last minute (they are all over the place in Brazil, and cut through fields rather than alongside them), so I ended up turning and landing downwind in the mud to avoid them. Very light and patient conditions; it took me over 3 hours to make the 32 km!

Got a ride to the village and the other pilots via horse-and-cart from a local farmer. Turns out they all landed at the soccer field in the village and interrupted the game. Our transport came shortly thereafter and we headed back to GV, a very long day! Nobody made goal today, and only a few made it past the first turnpoint.

Day #2:
Today skies were cloudy and rainy looking, but we still had to go up to launch for the briefing etc. Finally cleared up about 2pm and a task was set, 53 km downwind speed run to goal with no turnpoints. Showers in the area, low cloudbase, and wind made the day not so good, and then a huge cu-nim was approaching from the direction we were to fly into. So 2 minutes before the launch window was to open the task committee closed the window and cancelled the task due to poor weather conditions and safety concerns.

That night I joined the British team pilots who had invited Dennis Pagen (our FAI/CIVL observer and daily weather-briefing person) to talk about flying in Brazil, and weather stuff in general and the stuff in his books. Very informative, and cool to hear his explanations for why things happen the way they do.

Day #3:
Today the task was cancelled due to bad weather. We flew down in between the rain showers rather than take the bus down. Lots of pilots didn´t make the landing at the city LZ due to lots of sink; some landed on the other side of the river (big retrieve hassle!). I watched one pilot try for the city LZ, realize he wasn´t going to make it, and turn back for the other side of the river. But he was too low to make the other side neither, so he had to land on the island, which is all city streets and powerlines and houses (imagine west side of Vancouver/Kits area). He landed on the main street where the trees didn´t overhang too much, right in front of a car that was coming down the street. Fortunately the car saw him coming in to land and stopped a few feet from where the pilot touched down!

Day #4:
Today looked promising, with blue skies visible in the morning. However on launch the clouds closed in on us, so had to wait until mid-afternoon for a task to be called. Task was finally called for a 36 km task to goal with no turnpoints. Some pilots launched right away but quickly sunk out due to shade moving in. One pilot had a bad inflation and went over the edge of the cliff off launch and got stuck below; the rock climbing rescue team had to go after him and pull him back up to launch (he was ok). The rest of us waited until the launch window was almost closed, then we launched. There was no sun in the direction we needed to fly, so we just went on glide, hoping for something. Nada, and we all landed inside the 8 km bomb-out radius that makes a valid day (the best made 7.2 km). So an invalid day, with no points scored.

Day #5:
Today finally sunny skies! Task was called for a 47 km triangle, with the first turnpoint upwind in serious booney-country (no roads). We all launched in cross cycles (interesting launches!) and had to fight for the house thermal just off launch. The wind was strong and getting stronger, and every turn we made took us further away from where we wanted to go. We were able to make it cross-wind closer to the turnpoint, but the wind kept getting stronger and stronger, and blowing us further away. Every bit of altitude we were able to make climbing we lost on the glide upwind!

Eventually a lot of people (about half the field, myself included) landed short of the turnpoint, next to the only road in the area. We weren´t even outside the 8 km minimum distance radius! As I was packing up in the only decent field in the area, people were dropping out of the sky all around me all the while cursing and swearing all the way in (I could hear them, even when it wasn´t in English.

There were a few not-so-good landings, in swamps, and inaccessable areas that pilots had to hike out from. One Aussie pilot hit one of the zillions of invisible powerlines in the area and suffered a back injury (compressed vertebrae) after he fell. We watched him be taken away by ambulance after getting him to the main road. He ended up headed home a few days later.

The powerlines here are a big hazard. They string the lines from hill to hill, with a big sag in the middle of the valley. You can be coming in to land in the most perfect field imaginable, and then at the last minute see this sagging line right in your flight path. So we are learning to avoid these seemingly perfect LZ´s, and go for side-hilling it instead (although they also string them up and down hills too) or circling our chosen LZ *a lot* to see if there are any 8´tree-poles that may indicate a line.

In the end, only one person made goal (a local), and about 50% of the field didn´t even make minimum distance! So the day was very devalued, ~600 point day for the winner and ~200 points for minimum distance.

Day #6:
Today it was light winds and blue skies, so a task was set for 36 km race to goal with multiple start times. Cloudbase was low still so after we launched we had to keep out of the clouds or risk disqualification. Eventually a blue hole opened up which allowed us to get to the other side of launch and head over the flats. Very scratchy conditions on the flats, many pilots sunk out soon. I was stuck on a hill formation next to the road, trying to get high enough to make the jump over the road to the good thermal sources. Many people went the other way, towards the river, and sunk out there, a long way from a road!

I finally found a scrappy thermal and managed to claw and scratch my way to the next town, where I landed on top of a hill rather than risk the powerline-covered ground below, 11.5 km. Nobody made goal, and the furthest was ~25 km.

Day #7:
Today I woke up to pouring rain, so the decision to head up was pushed back to mid-morning. The meet directors finally decided to send us up to launch, and the same task as yesterday was set. We were all set up on launch, when several cu-nims started forming around us and merging together in super-cu-nims, so the task was cancelled for safety reasons. Most pilots decided to drive down, but some elected to fly and were caught in the increasing winds. Some didn´t make the goal LZ and had to land on the other side of the river. We were glad to not have flown after it started gusting and raining on the way down!

So in the end the comp was hampered by bad weather, which the locals say is totally atypical for that area for that time of year. The classic days of GV which I had heard about never really materialized, and full-on racing conditions were few and far between. However past years have been awesome, and the locals are optimistic that next year's Paragliding World Championships will have the usual run of excellent weather that they usually enjoy. I learned a lot, especially since it was my first time flat-land flying, plus a lot of tactics I can make use of later on! I definitely plan on going back next year as part of the Canadian Team (if I get on!).

Final results are on http://www.goupresults.com/2005worlds/. Next year's Worlds are scheduled for March 11-27. There's always lots of pilots around, so even if you're not competing there is lots of flying to be done, and other sites to visit in the area.