West Coast, Final Task

Another perfect flying day has been delivered - a 67 km task went along terrain that we had seen in bits and pieces on earlier days.

Goal was at the Purcell LZ which is in a fairly narrow valley with a lot of terrain on the downwind side. The excitement began just before the second place pilot, Marty Devietti, was about to enter the goal. At 150 feet above the trees his Airwave FR3 exploded and he instantly threw his reserve.

150 ft isn't really enough for a reserve to fully deploy, but it turned out to be a smart thing to do because it was the reserve that caught on a tree top and stopped his descent. As he swung a few feet above the ground, his GPS beeped to let him know that he had crossed the goal line...

That secured second place for Marty. Greg Babush was super consistent in this comp and wins first place for his efforts. Jack Brown was third.

The week's weather went through a very noticeable shift - it was bitter cold aloft for the first task and by the end of the week we were in shorts (inside the pod) and light jackets with thin gloves. We had some nice Cu for the start of the comp and pure blue for the end.

This comp had the best set tasks I have ever experienced at Woodrat - and I've been to every comp there. Along with the weather, the tasks make or break a comp, but unlike the weather, we have control over the tasks.

I want to acknowledge the task committee for an amazing job - thanks for making this comp spectacular. The task committee was: Jeff Wishnie, Brad Gunnuscio, Dean Stratton, Hayden Glatte and Marty Devietti. You guys rock.

Competition Results are Here.

See you all at the Rat Race!