HG NATIONALS WANAKA DAY FIVE

Treble Cone Task 4

The forecast was for light easterlies and to come on at 13:00 and build to peak around 16:00 with late afternoon showers.

One News turned up at take off in the car park of Treble cone and interviewed a few of the competitors and the novices.

The task was set with a 2km start gate at pub corner with three start gates.

Out to Mt Roy then on to Mt Maude at the south end of Lake Hawea then head up the isthmus between Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka to where it narrows and then back to Pembroke Park in Wanaka.

Hagen was first off followed by John but they had to work hard to stay up and as they slowly wound down it did not look a good time to follow them.

The conditions got better and a few pilots took off but most stayed on the hill.

Cloud was building behind us at the top of TC and some paragliders were getting height so the rest followed to find tight broken thermals.

It was working to the south of the waterfall and persistence paid off with pilots climbing out above TC to over 8000ft after a hard fight.

Those who did make it above TC had a good glide out to Mt Roy to top out and a buoyant glide to Mt Maude.

You needed to stay high on the range along the isthmus as it was a long glide out to the road and no good landings on the east side.

The day had developed well by this stage and those who had made it this far had a good run back to Wanaka with plenty of height to burn off over Pembroke Park.

John Smith was first into goal followed by Clint and Angus. Four other pilots made it into goal to make it the best day so far.              

Watch One News on Thursday or Friday for coverage of the event.

The showers did come around 8:30pm when the midweek  BBQ as in full swing.

Task 4 Results
Provisional Results After 4 Tasks
TV One News Item 30th January 2015

Mark Alton
Reporter