7 years ago (2017-01-26 19:43:29) :
     A lot of the trackers came on line as pilots got the end of speed section so the initial order we gave for pilots crossing end of speed may not have been 100% accurate. The final order that the top ten pilots crossed end of speed was: Maxime Pinot, Luca Donini, Xavier Pujol Barricarte, Joachim Oberhauser, Hernan Pitocco, Adrian Hachen, Felix Rodriguez Fernandez, Pierre Remy, Tim Bollinger and Yoshiki Kuremoto

7 years ago (2017-01-26 19:32:24) :
     Yongtae Ahn is the last to reach goal after 4.5 hours in the air and 103.6 km flown.It's worth noting that Andreas Malecki's tracker has just come back on line showing him arriving in goal 23rd.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 18:40:26) :
     Next in: Arnaud Secher, Yigit Yildirim, Emmanuel Nicolas, Russell Achterberg, Lionel Lang, Joel Loire, Moonseob Lim, Thibaut Lavol

7 years ago (2017-01-26 18:34:10) :
     80th into goal is the PWCs very own James Bond, Yury Mishanin.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 18:33:21) :
     Martinho Ribeiro Morais, Petra Slivova, Rafael Saladini, Jurij Vidic, Jungman Choi, Tilen Ceglar, Jacques Fournier and Michele Boschi are next in.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 18:30:46) :
     Olivier Henry and partner Benedicte Saury really are taking it in turn to get to goal, today it was Olivier's turn.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 18:25:13) :
     Stanislav Mayer who did the last XAlps and Semih Sayir who did one of the very first XAlps, have just landed in goal.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 18:22:59) :
     Yoshiaki Hirokawa, Bjornar Trondsen, Jose Luis Sudbrack Guimaraes and Seiko Fukuoka Naville have just made goal. Here's an interesting statistic, the 4 people with the longest surnames in the competition all landed together today.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 18:20:04) :
     Russell Ogden, after such a brave attempt to push out and the lowest save since PWCA records began, has finally made goal.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 18:17:54) :
     Mathias Ioualalen and Antonio Golfari have just got to goal.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 18:15:57) :
     Francisco Javie Reina Lagos, Pablo Rodarte, Nicole Fedele, Yael Margelisch, Jan Richard Hansen, Joerg Nuber and Keiko Hiraki have just made goal.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 18:13:14) :
     Brazilian champion Cristiano Ricci, Franz Erlacher, Clement Hoelter, Martin Rebord, Lucas Bernardin and Klaudia Bulgakow have just landed in goal.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 18:10:14) :
     Thomas Gury, Jan Sterren, Alexey Bystritskiy, Erico Oliveira, Jean Marc Caron and Clement Latour have just come in.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 18:07:54) :
     Unfortunately some of the big names in the comp have landed just short of goal.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 18:06:30) :
     Christian Biasi, Damien Lacaze, Biagio Alberto Vitale and Eugene Claase have made goal. Good to see Eugene make it today after the disappointment of flying so well yesterday then landing just short.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 18:03:24) :
     Friends Julian Robinson and Brendan Reid have landed in goal.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 18:00:08) :
     Peter Nagele and reigning champion Stefan Wyss have just landed in goal.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:59:03) :
     Spanish pilot Xevi Bonet Dalmau who's been in the top 10 three times so far in this Super Final, has just landed in goal.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:57:34) :
     Next to land in goal Marco Busetta, Francisco Mantaras and Samuel Nascimento - we can almost hear the cheering crowds in Boom Jesus 800 km away.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:55:56) :
     Deonir Spancerski, Jonathan Marin, Gianbasilio Profiti, Tim Rochas, Simon Pellissier, and Teo Bouvard have arrived in goal just before Teo's mentor, maestro Julien Wirtz.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:52:52) :
     Antoine Gerin-jean has just got into goal - we can hear the cheers from Mum and Dad Francois and Valu at Aerogliss in St Andre les Alpes - base for our 2016 PWC.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:49:57) :
     A lot of those who have just got end of speed are quite low but they are going over a little ridge so it should be down hill to goal, so lets keep brake lines crossed that they make it.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:48:23) :
     Cody Mittanck has just passed end of speed, he's currently lying 38th so this should help him gain a few places and get into the top 30 to get a place in the US team - his objective for this comp.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:45:57) :
     Gin test pilot Torsten Siegel and Richard Pethigal (Super Final weather guru when he's not being kidnapped by the Shinning Path), have just got end of speed and should get into goal any minute now.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:44:20) :
     Aaron Durogati 3rd on day 1, 5th on day 3, 2nd = on day 4 and 1st on day 5 and currently lying 1st over all has just come into goal 8 minutes behind the leaders.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:42:05) :
     Next into goal Gildas Ben and Michael Sigel.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:41:09) :
     Next in goal: Durali Karaca, Kiyoshi Nariyama and first lady today Laurie Genovese.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:40:01) :
     Next in goal are Luca Donini, Xavier Pujol Barricarte, Joachim Oberhauser, Felix Rodriguez Fernandez, Pierre Remy, Tim Bollinger and Idris Birch

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:35:30) :
     Well done Maxime. Adrian and Idris have just landed beside them.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:34:35) :
     Gooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:34:10) :
     Next are Adrian Hachen, Yoshiki Kuremoto, Hernan Pitocco, Yoshiki Kuremoto are next.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:33:14) :
     Maxime Pinot has taken end of speed first.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:32:44) :
     Hernan Pitocco and Felix Rodriguez Fernandez are with them

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:31:41) :
     Maxime Pinot on the Zeno is 1.8 from end of speed his glide ratio looks like he should make it. Adrian Hachen is 1.9 km away on the Boom 11. Height wise they are identical at 920m.What a nail biting finish.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:29:29) :
     Maxime Pinot's tracker has just come back on line and he's in the lead - what a practice day!!!! He's 2.3 km from end of speed, he's really nailed it today.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:28:34) :
     They tend to wait until the final glide to go at max speed as that is the point in the race where your position really counts.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:27:28) :
     Pierre Remy is with them. They are all at the same height and have set off together for the race to end of speed.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:26:24) :
     Kiyoshi Nariyama on the Ozone Enzo 2 is right behind them at 1605 m on final glide too.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:25:26) :
     Felix Rodriguez Fernandez on the Ozone Zeno is high at 1556m he's on his final glide to end of speed. Tim Bollinger is 1 km behind on the Gin Boomerang 11 at 1572m is on his final glide too.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:23:54) :
     It's worth noting that quite a few of the trackers are off line.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:23:10) :
     They are all really spread out, goal is beckoning but the top 40 won't be arriving within 15 seconds of each other in goal today like they did yesterday.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:21:46) :
     It's neck and neck between the Zenos, Enzo 2s and Boomerang 11s to get the 4th turn point. Felix Rodriguez Fernandez has got it first.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:15:21) :
     Felix Rodriguez Fernandez, Joachim Oberhauser and Laurie Genovese on Ozone Zenos are at the front with Tim Bollinger, Torsten Siegel and Idris Birch on Boomerang 11s. Idris is higher than everyone else at 1664m and climbing.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:12:01) :
     They are 5 km out from the turn point and are all taking pretty much the same line but very stretched out.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:09:59) :
     As the pilots approach the half way point to the last turn point Laurie Genovese is in the lead. The pilot quality of especially the women here, is incredible. 5 out of the 11 women Seiko Fukuoka Naville, Laurie Genovese, Keiko Hiraki, Nicole Fedele and Petra Slivova have all won the women's Super Final in the past. Petra Slivova, Klaudia Bulgakow and Seiko Fukuoka Naville have all been women's world champion. You don't get a more impressive field than that.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:03:23) :
     There isn't that much wind behind them. The fastest speed that any of the pilots are doing is Cody Mittanck doing 66 km/h.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 17:00:10) :
     Maxime Pinot is out in front on the Ozone Zeno at 1157m above the ground flying at 59km/h. Adrian Hachen is just behind him on the Boomerang 11 at 1247m above the ground flying at 55 km/h.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:57:30) :
     Maxime Pinot is right out in front, as he said on launch, he's got nothing to lose, what a great competition to use as training.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:55:42) :
     Andreas Malecki (Pepe) has taken the turn point and going the same route as Samuel Nascimento. Pepe is a very experienced pilot, he's flown in all the Super Finals since time began (2009). If they can work together they could get to the next turn point further along the course route than the lead gaggle further north. That would earn Pepe honorary citizenship of Boom Jesus.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:50:35) :
     Samuel Nascimento has taken the turn point further south which has put him back into second place. The crowds in Boom Jesus (with a population of 10) will be going wild.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:49:10) :
     The top ten pilots have all now got the turn point and are breathing a collective sigh of relief as they start the down wind leg south west to turn point 4.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:48:00) :
     The order that pilots take the turn point doesn't necessarily reflect their position along the course. Pilots like Samuel Nascimento haven't taken it yet but is further south and therefore further along the course line than those who have already taken it. The atmosphere in his village of Boom Jesus must be amazing watching this.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:45:54) :
     Gildas Ben is round the turn point.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:45:20) :
     Maxime Pinot got it next - the new hair cut is working after all.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:44:34) :
     The leaders are approaching turn point 3 and should get it any second now. Adrian Hachen has just got it.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:43:49) :
     Gildas Ben is in front. This is his first Super Final, he's an ex rugby player and has done some pretty hard core paragliding in Reunion island flying off Piton des Neiges.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:40:36) :
     Maxime Pinot who was 2nd on day 1 and 1st on day 4, is at the front too. He did his 1st tandem flight at age 10 and his first solo flight at age 13. Unfortunately he didn't do too well in some of the other tasks so he's going to use the rest of the competition for training he told me. Will he be one to push out with all to gain and nought to lose? I blame the poor days on his new hair cut, he's such a talented pilot, incredible.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:33:43) :
     Top Italian pilot Luca Donini is right at the front too now. It's worth pointing out that we have the top pilots from so many nations competing in this Super Final.From Italy: Luca DONINI (1st in 2016 Italian nationals) and Aaron DUROGATI (3rd)Three veterans from the German national team who have competed together for many years are here: Marc WENSAUER, Andreas MALECKI and Torsten SIEGELTop 2 Argentineans: Hernan PITOCCO, and Francisco Mantaras, respectively 1st and 3rd in the last stop of the Argentine Paragliding Cup in Mendoza in 2016 are both here. Hot on each other's wing tips, they took all the podium places in the Argentinean comps last year.4 out of the top 10 Swiss pilots are here: Stefan WYSS, Michael SIGEL, Patrick Von Kaenel and Adrian HACHEN (in order of ranking in the 2016 Swiss championships).The top 5 French pilots are here: Jonathan MARIN, Clement LATOUR, Honorin HAMARD, Antoine GERIN-JEAN and Thomas GURY (in order of ranking in the French 2016 championships).9 out of the top 10 French pilots are competing in the Super Final (15 out the top 20)

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:28:20) :
     Idris Birch is now in the lead on his Boomerang 11, he's high at 1122m and climbing. He's Britain's hottest new pilot. He has pulled some real blinders in competitions and is more than capable of making his own decisions and choosing his own route as we saw at the PWC in St Andre in 2016.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:24:48) :
     Samuel Nascimento is in front, he's at 661m and climbing, he's taking a route a lot further south than the lead gaggle. He holds the world distance record and even has 564 km tattooed on his arm and the date 15/10/2016 beside it. He's the 1st Brazilian to have ever won a Super Final task (day 6). He lives near Pocos De Caldas in a little village called Corrego Do Bom Jesus. I can't imagine the excitement around our live leaderboard in the bar in Boom Jesus right now.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:16:53) :
     Murat Tuzer is the furthest round the course but very low as is Clement Hoelter just behind him.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:15:19) :
     They are all now in a cross wind leg flying south east to the next turn point. As was the concern on launch they are lower, did enough of them stop to get a height top up before they started this cross wind leg? Height evaporates very quickly in a cross wind leg.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:12:31) :
     How many of the others will be drawn by the Pied Piper and go directly south?

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:11:52) :
     Multi talented Emmanuel Nicolas has pulled away from the gaggle and gone more directly south.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:10:45) :
     Russell Ogden is currently on his own south of the gaggle climbing steadily, he got up from 40m above the ground! He's back up at 900m. This is the story we've seen so often in this competition, as soon as somebody pushes out in front they go down. However it looks like Guy power was there to help Russel today.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:08:27) :
     Klaudia Bulgakow is at the front again, what an amazing pilot, she was women's World Champion in 2013 in Bulgaria but has never won the Super Final - could this be hers?

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:06:34) :
     Russell's tracker is off line at the moment. For those of you worried about how we manage to find everyone at the end of the day when they've landed out and their trackers don't have a signal, we have our meet director Dio on launch with a very powerful radio able to contact everyone.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:04:16) :
     This is nail biting watching Russel. He's at 60m above the ground and still not finding a climb - where is a bit of Guy power when you need it?

7 years ago (2017-01-26 16:03:05) :
     Russell Ogden is right out in front but he's really low and not finding a climb. For those of you watching this sat in front of computers at home who know nothing about paragliding, can I just say that blowing at the screen won't help to get your preferred pilot to goal any quicker or up from very low.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:57:57) :
     Yassen Savov having taken a route further south has now met up with the leaders but still has to take the turn point, which he will do a lot further south of the others.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:54:20) :
     The top 30 have got the turn point, once again what a close lead gaggle.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:53:40) :
     The leaders have just got the turn point: Miguel Diaz Ruiz, Russell Ogden, Luc Armant, Tilen Ceglar, Jonathan Marin, Yoann Chavanne

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:52:05) :
     Idris Birch having stopped for a climb is now back up at the top and higher than the leaders at 1400m.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:50:49) :
     The sky seems to be getting bluer as the afternoon goes on - possibly from those who are low and desperately trying to get up. Having said, that the first 60 pilots all seem to be well about 1000m

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:47:30) :
     The leaders are currently getting very close to the second turn point. The top 10 are at about roughly the same height of 1100 m and most seem to be climbing. Russel Ogden on the Zeno is currently flying the fastest at 53 km/h.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:45:21) :
     A lot of the pilots with new wings here are from the northern hemisphere and didn't have much time to train and get used to their new equipment before they got here. However, with 7 long tasks under their waist belts, pilots and wings all know each other a lot better now.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:44:21) :
     None of the pilots seemed too stressed by the idea that the world of paragliding are watching their every climb, 10,000 people from Chile to China have been willing them to get to goal over the 7 days of racing we've had so far.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:39:59) :
     Nearly an hour into the race and nobody has landed yet.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:38:28) :
     As we thought on launch today, the weather seems a bit more stable today. Thermals seem a bit more broken. It is a lot less humid and cloud base is about 1800m.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:36:07) :
     Samuel Nascimento has taken the lead but so needs a climb and isn't finding one.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:35:10) :
     What is great about this competition is that a whole spread of levels of experience of pilots are able to fly on exactly the same wing making the playing field very level. However neither of the two leaders at the moment can call themselves in anyway inexperienced. Russel has won more British competitions than he has hair on his head and Yassen won the Europeans in St Andre in 2012.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:32:33) :
     Height wise Yassen needs a climb, he's 330 m lower than Russel and not climbing, Russels is in zeros, they're both on Zenos so there's not much in it.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:30:18) :
     Yassen Savov is right out on his own and has taken the lead. This is so what Yassen does best, he'll have his head phones on with some good music and just be going for it.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:28:37) :
     At this point we always ask where's Yassen Savov? Right out on his own at the front taking a completely different line.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:27:21) :
     The gaggle behind them are split, half are going directly west behind Russel, the others are going more south west.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:26:07) :
     Russell Ogden has gone to join Martin Rebord along with Marc Wensauer. They will no doubt all be looking for a bit of Guy power. Russel is the highest of the 3 at 1027m

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:23:59) :
     Martin is out to the west of the gaggle on his own - brave.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:23:14) :
     Martin Rebord is at the front. He's been flying comps for 5 years. He likes it here but finds it very different to what he is used to - a commercial tandem pilot and ski instructor at home - here he's on a Boomerang 10 and there is definitely no snow.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:15:54) :
     Yesteday's winner Russell Ogden briefly took the lead for a moment. He won on lead out points yesterday from amongst a very close field. No doubt all that XAlps training is helping him.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:14:05) :
     Maxime Pinot also told me that it's very difficult not to jump at every opportunity to attack out in front but to really be patient and wait for the very best moment before going for it. Again this is why we have seen a lot of the leaders bombing out early and why their scores are not very consistent as Maxime's show.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:13:21) :
     Maxime Pinot told me that one thing which makes flying here very difficult is that the thermals are very mobile which makes working in a group a lot more efficient because you can see more easily where the thermals are. We've seen so many of the top pilots push out and bomb in this competition. Hero to Zero, nothing's easier.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:12:19) :
     Louis Gerin-jean is low at about 300m and doesn't seem to be able to find a climb.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:11:19) :
     Louis Gerin-jean and Emmanuel Nicolas are in front.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 15:09:49) :
     The first 70 pilots have got the first turn point and are now on a fast down wind leg south west to the second turn point.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 14:53:25) :
      Team GB came 1st yesterday and Russell Ogden was 1st overall. Flying in honour of Guy Anderson's broken ankle worked. Will they have some Guy power today?

7 years ago (2017-01-26 14:49:25) :
      But how beautiful will todays thermals be for flying? That's the big question on everyone's leading edge at the moment.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 14:44:23) :
      12.45 the window is open and they're off, lots of colourful little specs in a beautiful blue sky with white puffy clouds.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 14:24:01) :
      Once again there is some great footage on World Cup TV.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 14:23:14) :
      In the team competition Gin Gliders and Ozone were joint equal yesterday.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 14:15:43) :
      The last few pilots are now launching

7 years ago (2017-01-26 14:09:01) :
      Laurie Genovese has just taken off. She was 6th in goal overall on task 6, the highest overall place of any woman in the comp so far. Well done Laurie.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 14:04:01) :
      You can almost hear a collective 'ooouf' of relief when they get to cloud base where it's nice and cool away from the searing heat of the launch.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 14:01:24) :
      Those who have launched are climbing up easily and are already in a good position to get the start just east of take-off.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 13:59:17) :
      Up and coming French pilot Meryl Delferriere is trying to take off the north launch which is not providing easy. And she's off.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 13:56:36) :
      Charles Cazaux currently lying 4th overall is off on his way to the start

7 years ago (2017-01-26 13:54:57) :
      R union pilot Gildas Ben is about to launch

7 years ago (2017-01-26 13:53:17) :
      Yael Margelisch has just launched

7 years ago (2017-01-26 13:52:15) :
      Take off chief marshall Bill Lock explains the difficulty of take off on both sides, it means double the marshals and launching with the wind on the nose

7 years ago (2017-01-26 13:46:07) :
      Window is open

7 years ago (2017-01-26 13:45:45) :
      Window opens in 1 min but at the moment the big question is which side of the mountain to take off, north or south.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 13:43:01) :
      Tim Rochas told me today will be difficult to attack as it's so blue He's been in goal every day except 1 so will try to continue being consistent.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 13:36:30) :
      Window opens at 11.45 in ten minutes.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 13:34:07) :
      The wind is north east today.

7 years ago (2017-01-26 13:23:04) :
      Brendan Reid told me he's not sure if today will be the fun racing task that yesterday was. The key will be to be high at the start of the cross wind legs.