Welsh Open 2009 (F3F Eurotour)

Welsh Open 2009 (F3F Eurotour)
Pierre Rondel
28/09/2009

Like in 2008, I spent 4 days in Wales to participate to the Welsh Open. Last year was a little bit disappointing: Because of the lack of wind we were able to run only 3 rounds, not enough to validate the contest for the eurotour. This year was more promising since the contest was held on 3 days instead of 2.

Large participation with top pilots from different european countries, with also a fight for the top ranking of the Eurotour. I was one of them because with 2 good results in Spain and France, I was hoping to get some good points at this welsh open I already won in 2002. But god Eole decided something different for me :( .

Forecasts were saying that the wind would decrease along friday to become very poor on Saturday and Sunday. We managed to do 5 rounds on Friday. Best times have been done at the beginning of the round. Fying at the end of the round, I got only medium to poor lift so my times were not satisfying despite I anticipated well the turns without any cut. Espen Torp was flying few pilots before me and was unlucky like I was.

Unfortunately Saturday and Sunday, we waited for the wind all day long. Around 1 o'clock on sunday we closed the contest. With Jean-Luc and Cedric, we waited, then decided to go on the west slope. Around 3 o'clock, we were able to fly for 2 hours and practice in a small to medium breeze.

Here is the ranking. Congratulation to Graham who got the win and the fatest time with a 35s !!!

A big thank you to the organisers who ran the competition smoothly with very little logistics. We see that they are use to organise competition often. I will be back :)

Here are some video I took during the practice the day before the competition :

Alliaj HM

During the competition:

Cédric Grandseigne 38s flight

While waiting for the wind :(

RC Paraglider

Here is also a nice video from CM Cheng from Hong Kong:

http://www.youtube.com/