THE LAST BLAST 21 - 22 MARCH

Saturday Task Briefing

Wow, it was another wildly successful weekend for flying competitions!

The Auckland Regional Paragliding Competition – The Last Blast, was held at the Paeroas over the weekend.

It was a great turnout, with representation from Hawkes Bay, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and of course Auckland.

The hang gliders had also been eyeing up the forecast, and joined us for a League of their own.

Saturday’s task was pretty straightforward, taking us up over the back and about 53km south to Rangitaiki.

Jeff Ripley won the day with his 38km flight. Emlyn Revell-Nash put in a notable effort, but was penalised heavily for a couple of indiscretions and ended up losing all his points. Still, he won the coveted ‘Thermal Core-gette’ prize for his struggles. Keep an eye on this guy, I reckon.

The massive Thermal Core-gette

Sunday had us up and down the ridge, then up and over to Deep Creek and back to Broadlands.

Again, Jeff reminded us that he is indeed the Talented Mr Ripley, being first to goal.

Debriefing and prize giving was done up the road at the Reporoa Pub. Congratulations Jeff, for winning both the overall comp and the Fun Class trophies! 

And the Winner is...

Final scores here: http://highcloud.net/xc/comp_result.php?comPk=160

Kudos went to Mavis and Steve Wright for getting all the vehicles down from launch, and to Janice for being a super launch marshall.

It was great to see a lot of pilots dipping their toes (or wings?) into the competition scene for the first time. Hope to see you back for more next season.

Thanks again, Johnny, for organising. And for remembering to line up good weather this time.

I know the hangies also had a superb weekend with some great flights, but no news yet on who won the HG league. I can’t handle the suspense!