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 :)
