Head in the clouds: Race tactics at the weightless

Spinning smoothly, my view is a series of thin blue strips. A watercolour-world of washed-out hues – a distant line of cumulus to the west, bright white wispies here at base and below a hazy smear of mountains. At over three thousand metres, I’ve punched through the inversion late in the day. I lean back exhausted and let the glider circle itself. Looking at my phone, I realise two things, I must stay under...