Saturday my shoulder was very painful, even if the conditions were a little calmer than Friday I could not keep on going. I had to give up after the first thermal in Heidal and glide out to land at Frya. It was a really good day with no overdevelopment, 3000m + cloudbase, and lots of pilots got good flights. Nils Åge flew over 200 km as the first HG pilots in Norway but lacks documentation for an official record. Olav got 169km, and Arnt made 105km. Jon and Robin flew from Bjorli, and made over 140 km to Fåvang. I drove and picked up Nils Åge, Olav and Knut Løndal in Hamar.
Sunday it was almost no wind, and we set a 100km FAI triangle task. My shoulder was better, and I could thermal both ways. Olav and I landed at the first TP in Grimsdalen. I think we got a bad cycle and were flying a little too aggressively. Otto also landed near us one hour later. Robin and Jon completed the task, but the speed was too slow for a new record. We did not know the road in the valley was closed, but luckily Per who drove for us got in through the gate and picked us up.
Monday was another great day, where many pilots went to Bismo to fly long open distance. Olav and I decided to try an out&return task as we both had to be back in Vågå early. We set a 150km task from Vågå to Fåvang and back. It was blue and difficult in the beginning, and I was very low before getting up from Vågåruste. I could not see Olav anywhere and he forgot to charge the radio so we could not cooperate. In Heidal I got to over 3000 meters in a 7m/s thermal, and glided almost to Frya before taking the next thermal. From there I took it slow, and made the mistake of crossing over to Kvitfjell under some clouds. I had forgotten we set the turnpoint far back behind Fåvang, and had to go crosswind on the courseline for almost 10km, crossing the valley again at a very wide point. It was a stupid move that cost me lots of time.
Back from Fåvang it was a long glide to a slow climb from 1300 m behind Ringebu, from there it was good climbs again. I tried to stay high, and stopped in weaker lift than on the way out to be safe. At Otta I got the best and last thermal of the day, and went on final glide from above 3000 meters. The headwind got stronger and I could not find any lift, my glide ratio was down to around 1:8 because of the headwind. I was not sure I would make it until I was over the river before the landing, and had about 40 meters to spare when I arrived. A little too close for comfort… Olav took Heidal on the way back, and got low behind Andershø before getting high and on a fast glide to goal. He arrived 30 minutes before me, with a 20 minutes better time. It’s a new national record for out&return distance and time. I flew for about 4:50, and my shoulder really needs a few days rest now.
Jon Gjerde started from Bismo, and flew over 206km to Rena, for a new open distance record.
Tuesday most pilots including me had to get back to work, but Frode Halse set a new open distance record for paragliding with a 156km flight from Vole to Rena. He reported good clouds and high base.
I’ll link up some more pictures and tracklogs later.