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Award Winning Instruction
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2010 Monarca Open - Task 3
The clouds were popping as we made our way up to launch, and the task committee shook things up with an interesting 68km task on a beautiful day here in Valle.
The climbs at launch were good today and most made the transition to the Penon zone with decent altitude. It was working out in front of the Penon today. As the clouds formed a few people skipped the Penon and the Wall and went directly to Crazy Thermal. It wasn’t a big happy thermal fest at Crazy. You had to search a bit from climb to climb, and be ready to duck out to the side of a cloud as you reached base. The clouds were forming better off the mesa toward the Piano side of Crazy as pilots touched base. Pilots who topped out at Crazy made the move for Maguey and the Three Kings early. It was working out front on the Three Kings spine which set things up nicely for the 2km start cylinder downwind at Maguey. Pilots did a good job of staying high and working together to avoid getting into the clouds just before the start. Most were well established at the start and the armada tagged Maguey to get the start, then went in for the Maguey turn point. It was going up all over the place so those who needed a climb before heading to Laguna took one. After Laguna, the leaders came back into Maguey and climbed. Two of the leaders broke away and took a bold line on the mesa toward Saint Augustine, but they ended up getting low, finding a climb and joining most of the leaders who made a play for Cerro Gordo. There were a couple of pilots who got high at Maguey and took a line right at Escalares. This line worked and these two pilots were briefly in the lead as they climbed up the side of clouds all the way to Sacamecate. Their view towards Saucos was blocked by the clouds. They didn’t see the convergence line leading from somewhere between Escalares and Saint Augustine which led all the way out to Saucos. This convergence line became the super highway, and pilots flew all the way out and all the way back on this big lift line. The highway eventually dried up, but those who were in the area when it was set up had some smooth sailing. The leaders went on a line from Saint Augustine directly toward Iglesia on a straight line at Divisa. This group passed Iglesia and Cerro Gordo, but had to peel left toward Maguey when this wasn’t working. The best line was to go left of Cerro Gordo right through the middle of the mesa. There happened to be some clouds in the middle of the mesa, and the sunny side of the convergence line on the mesa was working, and gave these pilots the advantage of being upwind of the rest of the leaders when they were making their play directly at Divisa before turning toward Maguey. The pilots who pushed toward Maguey ended up getting on the windward side of the mesa and following our normal route to Divisa. There was also a posse who took the line from Saint Augustine to the Penon, and got up onto the mesa, and Crazy Thermal, making the normal run to Maguey. Brad Gunnuscio won the day and made the final move from the west end of Divisa. He pushed out under a dark cloud at the end of the ridge to the sun and got a big climb and had the lake on a 10 to 1 glide at the top of the climb. He pointed his Icepeak 3 at goal and clocked 86 Kilometers per hour on the down wind run to take the day. Lucas Bernardin did a text book job of shadowing Brad all the way from Saucos to take 2nd place, and Jack Brown continues to race very well taking third. Tomorrow is supposed to be overcast. Hoping we get enough sun to call a decent task. Rob Sporrer reporting from the pit. photos courtesy of Rasta Chip Hildebrand
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