The results appear (behind the times) here:
http://www.flysunvalley.com/USNPC/results.html.


On Friday, David Prentice and Josh Cohn were the only pilots to make the 104 km
task back to the base of Mt. Borah. It was a tough high pressure day, so it was
great to see at least two pilots in goal.


The Saturday forecast was also for a high pressure day with no clouds but the
inversion was much reduced and the lift was projected to be good all the way to
17,000'. The forecast for light southerly winds, except for the southerly valley
flow, was the most heartening aspect of the forecast which allowed us to call a
triangle task in the Wood River Valley, up to Galena pass, back to Otto's and
finally at the bail out LZ at River Run.


To mix things up a bit we call an entry start circle that made for a big gaggle
over Mount Baldy, the launch, and an end to the speed section at Sun Peak on the
east side of the valley allowing pilots to take their time getting to the goal.
There were lots of horses in the valley for the Wagon Days parade and we wanted
to keep the paraglider pilots way from them. The last leg also went over town,
so pilots needed to carefully gauge how high they left Sun Peak.


The winds were very light on launch and no one had a problem getting off launch
and over launch. I took off in my borrowed Wills Wing Falcon 3 170 after almost
everyone launched, the first hang glider flight from Mount Baldy in many years.
Lift was light below launch as we at first got flushed, but picked up over
launch to 400 fpm. The thermals was typically punchy concentrated packets of
rising air coming off the nearby hill sides.


We kept all the pilots near the launch in order to have the tourists witness a
mass exodus as the start window opened and that's what we got. Most pilots
headed directly for the eastern edge of the valley and the high steep rocky
faces facing into the afternoon sun. Once above the peaks the lift was quite
strong and pilots had an easy time getting high with a tail wind to Galena. The
wind wasn't so strong that they had any problems coming back along the same
peaks to get to Otto's on the same side of the valley.


The end of the speed section was 10 km west of Otto's and some pilots raced to
get their clock stopped but then had to climb back up to have a chance to make
goal. There would be a twenty percent penalty on their speed points if they
didn't actually make it within the 400 m cylinder around goal. Brian Webb, who
was first into goal for the day, stayed high, not racing to the end of the speed
section and easily made goal (and was second for the day).


We watched at the goal as pilots were coming in, many were obviously too low as
they encountered the valley wind low in the valley. Pilots were leaving Sun Peak
wit 12,000'+ and a 5 to 1 glide and not making it in. As they were coming
straight over town, this made for some interesting landings.


Some pilots peeled off at the last second and landed in the secondary bail out
field just short of the primary LZ. David Prentice thought it was quite funny
when he landed on a roof in town. This after he was witnessed pissing while
flying over the launch, apparently on purpose.


Another pilot, thinking that he had goal made, when in fact from the goal we saw
that he couldn't, experienced a full front collapse at about 200'. He recovered
in a spin, flew through a set of pine trees, and landed unhurt in an
intersection. Apparently no horses were spooked by this activity, but those of
us in the LZ certainly were.


Everything ended well with many happy pilots at the presentation ceremonies. The
meet averaged 90 km (55 miles) tasks, which is likely the longest average ever
in the US paragliding meet. (Just for reference the recent flex wing pre-Worlds
in Texas averaged over 100 miles per day).


Darius Lukosevicius, from Kansas, won the serial class. Nicole Mclearn was the
top female pilot. The top three finishers over all were: Matt Dadam  (US
National champion), Brian Webb (from Oz) and Dave Prentice. All received prize
money.


Thanks to the pilots for all their kind support for me as meet director and
thanks to Chuck Smith of Fly Sun Valley for inviting me to be meet director. I
had a great time. Thanks to Nat, Matt, and Honza my very able and enthusiastic
task committee members.


Idaho and the Wood River Valley are special places (in my heart at least) and I
appreciated the opportunity to come back here and enjoy their magic.