The 2008 pre-Worlds:

#	Name	Nat	Glider	Total
10	Jeff O'Brien	USA	Wills Wing T2 154	2883
17	Davis Straub	USA	Wills Wing T2 - 144	2623
21	Gordon Rigg	GBR	Moyes Litespeed S4	2492
23	Attila Bertok	HUN	Moyes Litespeed 5	2422
48	Jeff Shapiro	USA	Wills Wing T2 144	1955
51	Zac Majors	USA	Wills Wing T2C 144	1916
88	Derreck Turner	USA	Moyes Litespeed S5	1231

I built a lot of expectation into my head having accomplished this result compared to 117 other pilots flying in the pre-Worlds. I felt good about flying in Laragne and was quite happy with my result (sixteenth in the line of losers). Scott Barrett won the pre-Worlds and was obviously elated.

Gordon Rigg felt that the earth was some how kicked off its axis that I had finished ahead of him at the pre-Worlds. He was completely incensed and let me know about it. Attila, the World Champion fell down when he should have stayed up.

The 2009 Worlds:

#	Name	Nat	Glider	Total
1	Alessandro Ploner	ITA	Icaro2000 Z9	5046
2	Jon Durand	AUS	Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5	4935
3	Thomas Weissenberger	AUT	Moyes Litespeed RS 4	4695
4	Zac Majors	USA	Wills Wing T2C 144	4594
5	Gordon Rigg	GBR	Moyes Litespeed S 4	4581
6	Antoine Boisselier	FRA	Moyes Litespeed RS 4	4568
7	Dustin Martin	USA	Wills Wing T2C 144	4558
8	Nene Rotor	BRA	Wills Wing T2 C -144	4556
9	Dan Vyhnalik	CZE	Aeros Combat L 14	4547
10	Manfred Ruhmer	AUT	Icaro 2000 Laminar Z9	4535
11	Christian Ciech	ITA	Icaro 2000 Laminar 14 Z9	4534
15	Carl Wallbank	GBR	Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5	4294
20	Mario Alonzi	FRA	Aeros Combat L 13.5	4213
23	Attila Bertók	HUN	Moyes Litespeed S 5	4165
26	Bruce Kavanagh	GBR	Wills Wing T2C	4040
28	Jeff O'Brien	USA	Wills Wing Tee Two See	3946
28	Gerolf Heinrichs	AUT	Moyes Litespeed RS 4	3946
38	Robert Reisinger	AUT	Moyes Litespeed RS 4	3620
46	Scott Barrett	AUS	Airborne C4 13.5	3334
50	Christian Voiblet	SUI	Aeros Combat 12L	3282
56	Blay Jr Olmos	ESP	Moyes Litespeed S 3.5	3022
67	Gary Wirdnam	GBR	Wills Wing T2C	2684
74	Jeff Shapiro	USA	Wills Wing T-2C 144	2389
80	Julia Kucherenko	RUS	Aeros Combat-L	2261
82	Davis Straub	USA	Wills Wing T2C - 144	2140
89	Oleg Bondarchuk	UKR	Aeros Combat	1847

Jonny was very close to Alex and won a day. Zac could have easily come in third and I feel partially responsible for him losing a hundred points on the second to last day. When we were all together (with Jonny also) on the ridge southwest of Aspres climbing slowly five minutes before the second start window almost at cloud base, I mentioned on the radio that if we ran out of time and lift before the start we should go west to the clouds and mountain over there. This suggestion was perhaps too influential because that is what Zippy did right after I made the suggestion. It really wasn't time to make this move, and he lost 500' to 1000' on us at the start which was a handicap that kept him behind the whole way.

Zac, who was added to the team as the fifth member when registration was again opened, turned in the best performance by an American only missing goal on the two days when the task was stopped.

Gordon Rigg was restored to his rightful place and the world got back on its axis. You might remember that Gordon was denied a place on the British team then got back on with Robin Hamilton couldn't make it to the Worlds. He then out performed all his teammates as well as being on the task committee. I'm sure that he feels quite vindicated.

Dustin Martin flew well and consistently and was rewarded with a seventh place finish. Two Americans in the top ten, which hasn't happened since the Worlds at the Owens Valley. The US team had its best finish since then also.

Manfred was so far ahead in points to most of the field that when he bombed out on the last day, he only dropped to tenth.

Christian Ciech was at one point in the lead having captured the lead from Manfred. Then he made a crucial error going back to restart on a day that was stopped before the task was ended. This cost him big time. He was likewise not near goal on the second to last day when the task was stopped. He looked quite crestfallen after these events but tried to be supportive in his actions if not his expression for his former student and friend Alex Ploner, and for the whole Italian team.

Carl Wallbank, after a poor landing near me on the second to last day when we were all just trying to make it over the ridge at Mison, had forty stitches in his leg and a broken pinky. He then flew the last day and made goal. He was able to launch off the steep north side. He before and later said that he likely wouldn't have launched at all from the shallow south side.

Mario Alonzi was ranked number one quite a few times in the last year, but in his home country against the best in the World he was twentieth.

Attila Bertok landed short a few times, and was unable to defend his crown as World Champion, to the disappointment of the Hungarian team. He finished about like he did last year.

Bruce Kavanaugh placed third on the British team after being added as the fifth pilot. The British team won the last World Championship in Big Spring, Texas but finished behind the US here in France.

Jeff O'Brien won the first day and was the early leader, but didn't keep up the pace and dropped back after taking later start times on days that he should have gone with the big gaggle, then hitting the no fly zone, and not making it to goal on the last day. He also just missed getting to goal on the previous day to be in ahead of the stop time.

Gerolf Heinrichs and Robert Reisinger, perpetual top finishers (but not quite right at the top) were way down below their and our expectations. Gerolf got not too far on the last two days, but finished well on others, except for getting stuck on one day and coming to goal fortieth.

Scott Barrett finished well off the pace of his previous year's efforts, in spite of using smart tactics (going around the turnpoint when we went west of Pic de Bure) which won him the pre-Worlds.

Christian Voiblet finished second on one day behind Christian Ciech when he took the lead from Manfred, but didn't get far on other days and landed short on the final day.

Blay, inspite of doing very well in Australia and often doing better than Jonny apparently didn't fly one day (I don't know the reason) and in general did not do as well as expected after beating Jonny in the Spanish nationals.

Gary Wirdham landed early at Camping Montéglin on the last day after feeling that the air conditions were too rough.

Jeff Shapiro did not do as well as he expected getting some poor late starts and dropping out in weak conditions on a couple of days and being held up on launch one day. He didn't improve his relative performance over his efforts at the pre-Worlds. I'm quite sure that he feels he has no one to blame but himself.

Julia was the top placing women. She destroyed her first glider and then flew another one. She could use help with landing technique, although it may also be associated with the problem of being relatively short and light in hang gliders that are not made for such people if they wish to pass the DHV certification.

Me, I dropped like a stone, essentially due to very poor decision making related to strong emotions that nudge me in the wrong direction. The emotions overcome any of my limited abilities to cogitate in stressful situations. Deep breathing might help. I might go into more details later if I think that they will be of any use to the reader in dealing with their own situations. We'll see.

Oleg Bondarchuck was suffering from back problems.