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Aug
11
Written by:
Jeff O'Brien
8/11/2010 11:36 AM
99 to the line...
Currently I'm sitting in a hotel room overlooking the Ponte Vecchio Bridge in Florence, Italy.... smiling... All is perfect.
Somewhere near Corotona.
Friday Lauri got into Sigillo. She'd traveled from Denver, rented a car in Rome, and rocked overland to Sigillo. A savvy travel. The gem in our plan is the GPS uploaded with a map of Italy. Within the first hours, the $99 spent on the maps had already paid back in full.
Unfortunately / fortunately there was rain on Friday so that allowed me to get everything sorted out in our apartment, the fridge stocked, and some birthday supplies as it was Lauri's b-day on Saturday. I was unhappy we weren't flying, but happy I had the opportunity to sort out accommodations so her arrival would be seamless.
Friday evening we hung out with Davis, Belinda, and Shapiro before attending the main party at the hotel in town. We thought it weird the major event was before the last day of the meet, but most of us had been partying down pretty well all week. Zippy's winning day came after he was seen dancing down main street at 3am the night before.
Assisi night.
There were over 300 people in attendance at the party and it was a festive affair. Dinner was followed by dancing to a DJ complete with table dancing girls. Motivation to drink up and shake down. Lauri and I jet lagged finally at around 1am, but we heard the party continued til around 3.
Confined in Corotona.
The next day cloudbase was below launch as we drove up. We set up and waited for things to lift. After chilling on the hilltop restaurant and waiting for conditions to improve, an out and return task was called with start times between 3 and 4pm.
Sunset over Ponte Vecchio bridge - Florence.
Launch que's were a bit hectic, but I got off the hill at the right time. Lift was somewhat light, and we had to trave 10miles away to get the start, so I settled in and slowly moved east toward the cylinder trying to stay high. Things worked out pretty well and I was able to stay near cloudbase waiting for the start. Rain was behind launch, but most all of the overdevelopment would stay just off course line the entire day. We would only fly through light rain for a couple of miles during the task.
Old Florence.
The start ticked over and I got a decent one. I noticed several pilots further out in the valley specked out - it was Davis, Manfred, Jonny, and others. They'd get the jump on everyone. I was running with Zippy and Dustin in sight as well as Andre Wolf and others.
New Florence.
As we neared the most technical portion of the first leg, I was thankful Zippy was willing to run deep and low in front. I wasn't high, and there was a mostly unland-able canyon we had to negotiate. I saw Zippy climbing deep, and dove for him with Shapiro right off my keel. Zippy, Shapiro, and I turned tip to tip winding up through as the climb improved. It turned into a 800fpm tight screamer that everyone came over to. Pushed out traffic avoidance to try and catch up. I ran for the turnpoint with Davis and others just above me. He was having a great flight.
Old Florence.
New Florence.
On the way back from the turn, I had Zippy and Dustin just lower and in front sniffing out the lift. I was able to find a reasonable climb that the others didn't and took it up high for the crossing back over the range. It was at this point that Manfred came in just above. We were running with a handful of other pilots I couldn't identify. Antoine Boisselier was there.
There was a lot of shade ahead and I was trying to discern if there were cu's embedded below the thick overcast. The air seemed void of energy. If we could hang on the 15km until the sun again, we'd have a chance. There was also very light ridge lift on the windward side. We flew through a couple miles of light rain. I burbled down the ridge. Manfred was being patient. Dustin was out charging ahead.
We got back into the sun, but the lift wasn't there. We were loosing precious altitude. Spines and ridges that should have been working were not. Manfred had position on us all. There were three pilots out in front and lower than me. I let them sniff for the lift while I tried my best to conserve. I came over another spine and there were two deer chasing each other on the hillside meadow. It was one of those moments where you take in the scene for just a couple of moments, then get back on task. I was about 100ft. off the hillside and working hard to find the lift.
Someone started climbing low in the valley. I watched for a couple of turns from my zero sink, and they were climbing well. I raced over with others. I called back to teammates I was in 450fpm low over town. I could see the armada of 30 or more coming for us. Manfred dove in just below. Jonny appeared out of nowhere. Blay was there. So was Christian. When we neared the airspace ceiling, I was expecting Manfred and Christian to pull rope and break. I watched closely. I decided to pull the trigger. I glided toward the "launch" turnpoint, and then we'd have to go another 10km to a final turnpoint before going for goal.
Table for two for lunch? Indeed.
I was escorted by Manfred and Christian toward the last turnpoint. Manfred seemed to be playing it conservative a bit, I'm sure he wanted Christian and I out in front so he could avoid any meet loosing moves. Christian was going for it, but loosing some altitude. I tried to hug the mountain range a bit more and dolphin fly my way. This is where previous experience paid off. On the second day, we had virtually the same final turnpoint and virtually the same final glide. I knew how high over the peaks and ridges I should be for good numbers and I seemed to have them. I saw Christian whirl around when he hit lift. He was now 500 feet below. I looked at my instrument and decided my numbers were good around the last turnpoint through to goal. I kept going.
The numbers were indeed good to goal and I arrived with just enough for a pass over the line and a 270 degree turn to land into the wind. Dustin was at goal, so I was confused. It turned out he had pushed too hard on the way to the final turnpoint and landed at goal. Had he not pushed just a bit too much, he likely would have won the day. After all the downloads were complete and airspace was scrutinized, I'd won the day. 99 were in goal. A sweet fly for sure. The fact that it was Lauri's birthday made it sweeter.
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17 comment(s) so far...
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Here at Inspo and Southside, even the hill itself seems to miss you.
B-) 3D
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