Day 6 summary:
The forecast for the day was for light winds, low thermals and no clouds and so an 82 km task was set, visiting some of Annecy’s iconic landmarks, Dents de Lanfon, Parmelan and Tournette, then heading over to the Aravis before arriving in goal.
Thus it was that we found ourselves banging our heads off the inversion, waiting for the start to open on the Rod des Tours. The familiar leeside scrabble on Mont Lachat de Thones opened the way to the Tete de Turpin and a taste of the Parmelan cliffs before heading over to the Dents de Lanfon with its plentiful thermals.
After collecting the turnpoint at Talloires, we climbed again on the Dents de Lanfon before heading over to the classic ridge run out and back along the impressive Parmelan cliffs.
We then flew back past the Dents de Lanfon and the Lanfonette to the launch at Montmin before tackling the Tournette, which seemed initially impassable, as the thermals were simply not high enough to cross. A lot of fruitless ridge-soaring took place before things opened up, and the pilots were granted passage towards the Aravis.
From then on, the thermals just got stronger and stronger and the flight north along the spectacular mountains was done without turning and on full bar before turning towards the goal in Grand Bornand. A fitting end to an excellent week of amazing flying.

Task 5 summary. Despite a bleak initial forecast of top cover and high winds Le Grand-Bornand blessed us with another fantastic weather day. Due to the forecast a short local task was planned but with strong thermals and a base up at 3000m it quickly came apparent that this was going to be a fast and furious task. From the start the lead gaggle followed the optimum line south down the valley past La Clusaz to climb on the ridge further south. From here the gaggle split with some going low directly to the turn point hoping for a climb while the rest took altitude to tag the turn point before heading into the centre of the valley for turn point 2. After that, a spicy leesider from Tete du Danay was the key to the rest of the task. The direct line to the southerly, penultimate turnpoint proved fastest and it was scarcely necessary to turn all the way to goal.

Task 4 summary.
With a light north wind and a base around 2800m, a 72km task comprising five turnpoints was set.
Matthijs Groeneveld and Luke Nicol recounted the day.
The Start was above the Pic de Jallouvre, which all of a sudden, became very crowded.
At 12.45 we started gliding southwest towards Le Suet. Baptiste came from low and tagged the turnpoint first, followed by Luke and then the chasing pack. The route (northeast) to turnpoint 2 was very lifty, but just before the Aguile Verte the leading gaggle got stuck, and only Matthijs and Florin got out quickly and tagged turnpoint 2 first.
Everybody got back together after the take-off, on the way to turnpoint 3, with most of the leading gaggle climbing in a 1.5m/s thermal above The Magic Lake. Here there was a split between a group going in close to the Aravis (following Baptiste) and a group thermalling further out with more patience. The 2nd group, with Luke in the lead, seemed to have the upper hand and came over the top of the lead gaggle just at the Pointe de Merdassier, 3 km away from turnpoint 3.
From turnpoint 3 it was a ridge run all the way to turnpoint 4 at the north end of the Aravis chain, which we flew barely needing to turn. Luke, Ronny and Baptiste were the highest, and along with a few daredevils halfway down the pack, pulled ahead.
The last 2 turnpoints were fast and furious. Luke ended up with a 20 second lead over Baptiste at ESS, but Baptiste won the day on leadout points. Father and son team Baptiste and Cyril Lambert, flying for team Ozone 2, won the day. Another great task in Le Grand Bornand.

Task 4 summary.
With a light north wind and a base around 2800m, a 72km task comprising five turnpoints was set.
Matthijs Groeneveld and Luke Nicol recounted the day.
The Start was above the Pic de Jallouvre, which all of a sudden, became very crowded.
At 12.45 we started gliding southwest towards Le Suet. Baptiste came from low and tagged the turnpoint first, followed by Luke and then the chasing pack. The route (northeast) to turnpoint 2 was very lifty, but just before the Aguile Verte the leading gaggle got stuck, and only Matthijs and Florin got out quickly and tagged turnpoint 2 first.
Everybody got back together after the take-off, on the way to turnpoint 3, with most of the leading gaggle climbing in a 1.5m/s thermal above The Magic Lake. Here there was a split between a group going in close to the Aravis (following Baptiste) and a group thermalling further out with more patience. The 2nd group, with Luke in the lead, seemed to have the upper hand and came over the top of the lead gaggle just at the Pointe de Merdassier, 3 km away from turnpoint 3.
From turnpoint 3 it was a ridge run all the way to turnpoint 4 at the north end of the Aravis chain, which we flew barely needing to turn. Luke, Ronny and Baptiste were the highest, and along with a few daredevils halfway down the pack, pulled ahead.
The last 2 turnpoints were fast and furious. Luke ended up with a 20 second lead over Baptiste at ESS, but Baptiste won the day on leadout points. Father and son team Baptiste and Cyril Lambert, flying for team Ozone 2, won the day. Another great task in Le Grand Bornand.

Task 2 summary: It was a challenging day with strong conditions that rewarded patience. Taking it a little slower early on paid off, allowing me to bank enough height before committing to the Annecy Lake crossing. Once above the Roc des Bœufs, everything was going well. However, not sticking to the usual line on the return leg nearly put me on the deck, along with much of the field. It turned into a slow crawl along the base of Roc des Bœufs into a strong headwind, while making just 10 km/h over the ground, even on full bar. I just managed to reach the end of the ridge by the lake, where I finally found the climb I needed. From there, it was a relatively straightforward and safe final glide, covering the remaining 22 km back to goal. It was a slow day overall, but taking a more measured approach paid dividends. All in all, it was a good flight, making the right decisions when it mattered and getting safely back to goal.

Task 1 summary: The day started off quite cloudy, but opened up as we went to launch. A strong climb straight from launch to cloud-base set the tone of the day and when the start opened, it was full speed to the leeside thermal at Mont Lachat before it was time to make a choice between the direct route to the lake via the Rocher de Belchamp and the safer longer route further to the north. Most people chose the direct route, and a rowdy leesider from the rocks opened the way to the lake and the long glide to the Roc des Boeufs. The breeze was already established and it was easy to reach the far turnpoint before turning downwind back over the lake towards the Aravis. A climb from Montmin was the final climb leading to the black cloud above Tournette and a straight line glide along the Aravis to goal. What a day!

119 pilots in goal, a 76 km task with stunning views of Lake Annecy.

Results

With a forecast of weak thermals and a low base, the omens were not great and, when a high layer of cloud blotted out the sun, the day seemed doomed. However we waited it out, the cloud moved away, and the race was on! A racy ridge run task seemed suited to the conditions, but the thermals were stronger than forecast although the cycles did require some determined scratching at times. There were plentiful and strong thermals around the last turnpoint, and pilots launched themselves on the final long glide into goal to bring the event to a close with this surprisingly excellent task.

Results

Competition Results

Pal wins again!
Well done to today’s winners: Pal TAKATS, Mette KRUM and team Gin.
Pal’s strategy was to defend his first position – looking out for Luke Nicol and Kuba Sto who both tried to attack and take the initiative today.
‘I was looking out for my closest competitors and just tried to stay high, do smart moves with the cycles. Attacking hard at the right moments paid off. Some of my closest competitors got ahead and low.
I let the others go first and observed to see how they got on. Today was tricky reading the clouds, so I played the safer game of coming back to the mountain and climbing.
The conditions were more demanding today and the best so far.’
At one point Pal remembers seeing 7 for at least a short time on his vario which took him all the way to cloudbase!
At the end, Pal took a straight line to goal and came back directly to the mountain above the campsite cutting a corner, while the leaders went back to take-off.
Pal told the srs.live news hounds: ‘It was a big mix of watching and keeping track of my competitors, the terrain and the sky. The less you are busy with the glider, the more information you can collect and the better decisions you can make.
It was a lot of fun! One day left to go!’

Results

With a bad forecast in the mountains, we moved to Lijak, where the Slovenian mountains meet the plains, with a view over the Adriatic Sea. A task was set, optimised to encourage pilots to fly in the flats instead of batting up and down the ridge but, as the start opened, a thick layer of upper cloud blotted out the sun, leaving the pilots scrabbling to keep airborne on the ridge. As the sun gradually penetrated the cloud, things livened up on the ridge and it was full speed bar time as we flew up and down the ridge before tackling the final crux of the race, which required pilots to climb high enough to glide out to the final turnpoint in the south and back to the goal. 101 pilots made goal!

Results

At the start the field split into two groups: the main group, remaining in the vicinity of launch and a much smaller group who moved north onto the main crest, ready to fly to Krn over the high ground. When the start opened, all the pilots converged on the Krn bowl, taking strong climbs and soaring along the impressive cliffs before flying over the edge and on to the first turnpoint on the Polovnik ridge. You had to climb high on the ridge to push easily onto Stol, where it was possible to climb again before tackling the double turnpoint there. With sufficient height, it was possible to take both in a single glide, although many opted to return to the ridge to top up between the two turnpoints. After that, it was possible to take either side of the valley or glide directly down the middle to collect the next turnpoint before jumping onto the north side of the ridge and moving back to launch before the most southerly turnpoint. A booming climb over launch made the glide to the turnpoint fairly routine, and some fairly lifty lines made the return easier than expected. But the sting in the tail was the final turnpoint located high on the treacherous Mrzli Vrh ridge which lived up to its reputation by decking a large number of the leaders.

Pal Takats found his way through to win the task.

Results