{"id":14059,"date":"2020-03-10T13:26:47","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T12:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ojovolador.com\/?p=14059"},"modified":"2020-03-11T10:29:09","modified_gmt":"2020-03-11T09:29:09","slug":"4th-fai-pan-american-championships-t2-rain-stopped-and-beautiful-game-jogo-bonito-started","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ojovolador.com\/en\/4th-fai-pan-american-championships-t2-rain-stopped-and-beautiful-game-jogo-bonito-started\/","title":{"rendered":"4th FAI Pan American Championships: T2- The rain stopped and \u2018the beautiful game\u2019 (jogo bonito) started"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we climbed into the buses to take-off we all got drawn into our thoughts and started getting in the zone. For those like me, visiting for the first time, the ride to the launch site is quite an experience.\u00a0 Baixo Guando must be one of the most beautiful places we\u2019ve visited.\u00a0 Lush forest and long, I mean 6ft long, grass covers it all with exception of this surreal, near-vertical granite peaks.\u00a0 It feels like a movie set for Jurassic Park.<\/p>\n

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Task winner Ignacio Ortiz and Pablo ” Peque” Hernandez, new Argentine Talent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once on take-off, we get ready and get our first briefing but then, the clouds start bilging up and before we know it, we are all racing to get our gear under cover.\u00a0 It poured down for two hours\u2026 forget the task!\u00a0 We won\u2019t even manage to drive down in this weather.<\/p>\n

Two hours later, the skies open and a new task is set.\u00a0 A \u2018short\u2019 37Km race to goal is set with a 1.5 hr window to the task start for 15:15LT.\u00a0 The wind dummies take off and we all cheer \u2018Gege\u2019 as he catches the first thermal.<\/p>\n

All pilots take off and start the slug up cloudbase, in this weak, low base conditions it was bound to get \u2018cozy\u2019 before the start.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t long before we exchange \u2018friendly\u2019 greetings as we elbow our way into the weak lift.<\/p>\n

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Task of the day at the 4th FAI Pan American Paragliding Championships<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The task is on and we all gingerly take the first glide towards TP1, nobody is racing full pedal, more like 30, 40% accelerator. \u00a0Many pilots never find another usable climb, especially those who had dessert the night before. You\u2019ve got to be light today.<\/p>\n

The main gaggle progresses well but slowly around the course.\u00a0 Pilots start dropping like flies, amongst them one of the \u2018big\u2019 Nations with 6 pilots in their Team, Argentina. Brazil, on the other hand, is doing well as Nations today, same for Team USA with Cody Mittanck and Mitch Riley scoring well.<\/p>\n

As pilots landed in remote places, some epic walk out stories are born.\u00a0 The main ones perhaps belong to Andre Modelo, walking 3.5hrs past sunset. Luckily it was full moon, or he would still be in the jungle now.\u00a0 Daniel Mass lost his brand new, never before flown instruments after a water landing \u201cIt looked a shallow puddle from the air\u2026I saw some ducks and they were wet only up to their chest in water\u2026 \u201c.\u00a0 Last, chubby Spaniard Oscar Falcon, YouTuber \u2018un Gordako por el Mundo\u2019, nearly gives up on life after landing two hours away from any road \u201cI thought I would have to fish my way to survival\u2026\u201d.\u00a0 Luckily, he found his way out or humankind would have been facing another mass species extinction.\u00a0 Back to the race and those still in the air.<\/p>\n

As pilots approach the glide to the second to last TP, multiple world record holders Frank Brown and Rafael Saladini show why they are amongst the world\u2019s best. \u00a0Picking some lift lines and progressing forward, they leave the field behind\u2026 or are they? There\u2019s a third pilot joining this unlikely \u2018m\u00e9nage a troix\u2019, young Argentine pilot, new talent from Tucuman, Ignacio Ortiz is in the mix. Ignacio momentarily takes the lead but at less than 10Km from the end and with conditions dying he eases off the pedal, \u201c it was too weak to go solo, I wanted to wait\u201d.\u00a0 Rafa appears to take the bait first time round rocketing past him high towards the second to last turn point.\u00a0 He is so high, he marks, goes back to the last TP and starts gliding towards goal, now, worryingly low. He needs a climb. Full pedal,\u00a0 ending up ahead, but low.\u00a0 Frank by now is landed paving the way to Jaison Seferino and Christiano Ricci to approach the leaders.<\/p>\n

Rafa is nearly on the deck as Ignacio catches a weak thermal when marking the last turn point, hanging to it as if his life depended on it. He can\u2019t see the goal, but he knows is near, yet he can\u2019t reach it, he needs to climb.<\/p>\n

The lift is weak, so weak! Rafa gets anxious, he finds nothing, sees Ignacio and flies back the course upwind to join him on the climb\u2026 too late, second bait taken.<\/p>\n

Ignacio has been laughed at for flying with a ridiculous 12Kg of ballast water, now is his time to laugh back.<\/p>\n

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