John Simon writes:

Finally a day off and some time to relax with one possible flying
day Friday to end it (good chance of rain though). It's been busy and sometimes
exhausting, all this flying! The flying here has been amazing, with absolutely
stunning views and tasks and plenty of great weather and valid tasks.

I was not here for the pre-worlds so I can't say, but I've been told the winds
are somewhat lighter. They also narrowed the number of launch sites down to
three and the tasks seem to be quite reasonable, although for me, a primarily
flat land / small mountain pilot, it's been quite a learning process.

Turbulence has been moderate on only two tasks and nothing very scary, just more
work than you'd like and an occasional quick little wire slap to keep you
focused. I stay well clear of the lee-side when I'm not super high, not sure all
pilots have been so cautious so results may vary. I've not flown very well
overall but the experience is invaluable.

The one or 2 flat land tasks treated me a little better but this is mountain
country, pilots traveled here from all over the world to get big air under big
hills and they are dominating as expected. Those that are comfortable getting
low and not turning and who are willing to fly very close to the granite walls
have an advantage, local pilots more so as they know there is an "LZ around the
corner" or just know they'll get up on a certain outcropping.

The US team has been working well together but our results have not been the
best. (Macedonia!)

The comp has been very well run, with great communication and good information
for the pilots plus a sandwich and fruit at launch everyday for each pilot.
Downtown Tolmezzo has been virtually handed over to the comp organizers it
seems, with banners and super size TV's playing hang gliding videos and big
tents and a stage in place for our use. They had a nice dinner and great party
for us the other night with a fun brass band and much dancing and revelry.

Each day we are up at 6:45 to 7:30 depending on the site and off for the long
drive to launch (with a stop to get our team leader or fuel or food, it's about
2 hours to Meduno, our main site and even the Gemona launch is 1:30 or so. Then
it's haul your gear up the mountain for those unlucky enough to have launch 3
and setup.

Glider repair has been part of my day (thanks Zippy, and Sergey and Marcos), and
on 2 occasions I thought I would not be able to fly but I can't say enough about
the US team helping me out on one day and Aeros simply saving the day on another.

By about 11 or noon, it's a quick pilot briefing and early bird launches are 15
minutes later, so it goes fast. Flights are 2-6 hours and then retrieve
dinner/beer and a drive back to Sutrio where we stay. Usually get back home by
about 9 or 10 pm, so the days are long and full and fun.

Overall it's been just incredible, the flying, the weather, the views, the
people, all awesome. I highly recommend this area.

During practice we flew Bassano (awesome) and then Gemona and Meduno twice each
(awesome and awesome). The last two being the main comp launch sites each with
3 different launches available. The other day we flew Valsecca and it was even
more amazing, launching at 6000 feet into the Alps is not to be missed. In the
comp along with 5 practice flights we've flown to both Austria and Slovenia as
well as many lovely sites in Italy. The team has been focused even if our
results are not what we'd like and you can't help but love all the flying here.

One more day.