Christian Ciech is interviewed in the landing field after winning Task 3
Sunday saw a big task set at the Hang Gliding world Championships: 166 km through the big mountains north of Laragne, France. Cloudbase was low though, so pilots were squeezing through a ‘letterbox’ between cloudbase and mountain plateau of some 200m.
Switzerland’s Christian Voiblet, who came second for the day, described it as a “great task … safe flying, strong – just how we like it.”
Christian was beaten by a single point by Italy’s Christian Ciech who raced around the course in just under 3hrs 10 minutes.
Manfred Ruhmer (AUT) came in fourth, and has slipped to second place overall behind Ciech.
It wasn’t all good for everyone though: Team USA saw Zac Majors come in third, but Jeff O’Brien, Task 1 winner, was penalised for flying through airspace. He scored zero for the day after his tracklog showed him thermalling up in a parachute dropzone, instead of landing as rules dictate.
His appeal will be heard today, Monday 29 June. He has cited rain, a parachute plane and strong lift as reasons why he flew on – to get out of the area as quickly as he could.
In total 44 pilots made goal. With a good weather forecast for the rest of the week the Worlds is shaping up not be the Austrian walkover that many thought it would be.
Follow the action online at www.chabre2009.blogspot.com. Results at www.chabre2009.com
