Trofeo Monte Grappa 2017

This year I was lucky enough to be selected for one of the highest rated competitions aside from PWCs: Trofeo Monte Grappa. The competition - like every year - took place over the Easter holidays near the beautiful town of Bassano del Grappa, which since I started flying is one of my frequently visited home bases.

The level of pilots was as expected very high and among the 150 participants, big names were roaming around everywhere. Aside from that it was a great occasion to meet old friends.

The weather forecast didn't look too promising from the beginning, but we were in good hope for at least three days of nice task flying. The area around Bassano is generally well known for being flyable on almost any day through out the year. Being shielded by the Dolomites, Bassano's microclimate allows often to have good flights even if Föhn is forecasted. Or as some say: The best northwind-ridge in the alps :)

The take-off which is used for the competitions, Rubbio, however was new to me. It offers a huge grassy slope with plenty of space for even larger competitions than this.

On the first day, our race started due to some organizing effort pretty late at 2pm.
The task was set to be a 71km task towards Schio, then leading south into the flatlands and from there to the southern ridge of Monte Grappa. Unfortunately, the cloud cover made the day weaker and weaker and many pilots landed after a bit more than 30km flown, and so did I. Only 25 pilots managed to get into goal.

 Friday looked again promising for the morning with more cloud coverage in the afternoon. As we learned later during the comp, however due to a NOTAM which was applied for too late by the organizers, we were not allowed to start the race before 1pm. This day the race was set to start at 1:30pm and we were supposed to fly for 73km. The task lead us from Rubbio to the end of the Monte Grappa ridge, back to Schio and through the flatlands to the landing in Semonzo. Great I thought, this ridge I know like my own pocket. And so I went with a great height all the way to the first turnpoint. Unfortunately, since again the day started to get weaker, I didn't bear in mind that the ridge works great from below on sunny days, but didn't at all on a cloudy day like this day. Flying high would have been the key... but again, I had to land short after 35km. 95 pilots made it to goal and my positioning was therewith out of range.

Saturday was forcasted to be a rainy day and the day was cancelled. Many pilots used the opportunity to go to Venice for some sight seeing. I went with some friends hiking up to Col Serai and a little bit of free flying in the afternoon.

On Sunday we had a task set but it was cancelled after less than 60min due to heavy rain on course. The task was therefor not validated.

Monday, the last day of the competition looked similar than the day before forecast wise. The temperatures decreased over night from 25°C on the last days to only 8°C. We were skeptical when arriving on take-off whether flying would at all be possible on the day, since the dark clouds were slowly approaching from the east. However, a task of 52km was set, which should lead us away from the dark clouds and away from the mountains, where thunderstorms were predicted for later in the afternoon. We were flying towards Asolo over the small foothills and I was initially fast and in one of the first gaggles. The task was again cancelled, this time after 65 minutes and for that reason valid.

It hasn't been one of the best competitions weather-wise and the fact of starting late every day was annoying, especially with the rain predicted for every afternoon. It also hasn't been one of the most successful competitions, position-wise (I ended up 132nd out of 150). But I enjoyed the challenging tasks in the flatlands, which I normally barely use when flying in Bassano. And I definitely enjoyed the company of so many great pilots and am glad I could learn a great bunch of tactical skills from them. I hope to be part of the game again next year. End of April, the next competition for me will be Mosel Open 2017. Stay tuned :)

Trofeo Tre Pizzi and a bit of Adria

For the second year in a row, I decided to participate in Trofeo Tre Pizzi, a four day cross coutnry competition which takes place in the middle-italian region Marche, in a beautiful valley of the Apennines mountain range. With many cute villages and small towns like Matelica and Esanatoglia, the area is not only wonderful for paragliding but also a blast for everybody to visit (not to mention the delicious food and amazing people).
Unfortunately the area 100km south of Esanatoglia was hit by a devastating earthquake the day before the competition was supposed to start and many people left their lives in completely destroyed towns. People in Esanatoglia were luckier and got away with no more than a fright.
Since the first day of competition was cancelled to free the airspace for rescue maneuvers, we decided to spent a day on the coast to enjoy wonderful soaring over the Adriatic sea and swimming during sunset and sunrise.

The first day of competition welcomed us on Monte Gemmo with a beautiful East-facing takeoff with a lot of wind. We waited until the afternoon to let it weaken and were able to fly a 68.1km-task in a zick-zack course between Camerino and Fabriano. It was hard to decide whether to fly in the flats or rather close to the mountains. I stuck to the mountains until the 3rd waypoint and then went to the flats which turned out to be a mistake on this day. In the strong head wind I was washed down and landed 20km short.

For the second task we went again to Monte Gemmo where we realized that the forecasted west-wind was already setting in earlier and lower than expected. We waited for a while if it will change and finally were brought to the opposite side of the valley, to Monte San Vicino. This range offers a North-West-facing takeoff and beautiful rocky peaks where you can soar up in the west-winds. Since the whole procedure of shifting pilots over to the new takeoff took a while, we had a late strat at 15:40 and another zick-zack task, this time on the other side of the valley with 61.3km. The same fortune (wrong decition) as the day before brought me back on the ground. This time 30km short of goal. It turned out that on this day the flats would have been the better choice rather than flying on the mountains.

Day three, which was already the last day, started earlier from Monte San Vicino with again strong west winds and blown thermals. A task was set with 57.9 km, Again with the option to fly everything on the mountain range or in the flats.
I was high in the beginning but came quite low at the start. Patiently I made my way up again and flew with a good hight to the first waypoint north of Fabriano. Learned my lessin from yesterday, I decided to go in the flats on the western side of the small hills. It turned out to be a wonderful decision and while people spent a lot of time making hight on the mountain range I gained a lot of places on my course. According to the live-tracking I was second in between and made a very fast race. Unfortunately, a little lack of patience made me land 4km before goal and I finished 19th overall on this day.

In total I ended up first woman (although there was no extra ladies category since we were only two) and overal 40th out of 82. So far my best result in a competition and what's even more important, a wonderful three days experience. Here is a link to the results:
https://airtribune.com/trofeo-tre-pizzi-2016/results

I'd like to thank www.flugschule-hochries.de for the Ozone LM6, which brings more and more joy with each flight, and Richard Edlinger for the great company and for showing me beautiful places.

Many thanks to the organizers from the Lega Piloti and from the local club in Esanatoglia for a perfect competition and a very warm welcome. It was again a wonderful event! I will definitely come back again.