The first day of the Norwegian Nationals was canned, we got overdevelopment and rain after setting up at Salknappen.
Yesterday we got perfect conditions with cloudbase above 2000 meters and weak winds. The task was set to be a 82.8km out and retur, Vole – Kvam – Otta – Vågå centre – Vågå landing. It was slow going in the beginning, I found a nice 4 m/s termal over “bekken” after takeoff, and took the 13:30 startgate with Nils Åge and Erik Vermaas. We glided towards Vågåruste, I stopped and took a weak thermal after a few km, Nils åge went on and gotstuck low in Vågåruste. Erik and I got to cloudbase after a while, and we stopped a few more times before gliding over to Heidal, where Erik got stuck low below me. I stayed high and followed the clouds until the first TP at kvam where the air was dead. I searched around for lift in the whole area, wasting 800 meters before I took the TP and found some weak lift in the shade below Torgeirkampen. I met the gaggle getting back up, and got kicked around in a violent thermal near Otta. I saw Robin coming back low over Torgeirkampen after the TP, but I was still far ahead of him.
After taking the TP over Otta i got back up to 2000 meters above Ottaplatået, and went on glide 19 km out from the last TP, my Galileo told me I would have plenty of height, but I suspected headwind, and also had to calculate in the 3 km final glide from Vågå center to goal. I got a reasonable glide in weak headwind, but decided to stop and tank up some safety altitude behind Lalm, from there in it was a fast glide. I knew Tor Erik was maybe 15 minutes behind, but with with a later start time as well. I was first in goal, Tor Erik second, he had a minute faster time, but I won the day on departure and arrival points. Johnny was third, Olav, Robin, and Nils Åge next. A total of 10 pilots made goal, with the rest spread out nicely – a perfect day scoring wise.
Results at http://www.kkpg.no/index.php3?id=408
Sadly the weather forecast was dead on today, overcast and rain. Tomorrow might be nice though.