Sunny Italy, excellent red wine, fantastic pizza served by smiling Cristine, Alice, Lucia, Stephanie…and in addition to all that, the starting fee for the FAI 2nd category race is just 25 euros. Turn that down!

    Despite all those undeniable virtues of the Polish Open 2003, which was held from September 1-5 on the familiar terrain near Bassano del Grappa, Italy, just three Czechs entered - Karel Vrbenský, Martin Pacejka and myself. Besides us, there were another 68 pilots from Poland, Slovenia, Russia, Spain and even one representative of the host country.

    Considering that the weather on the first day of the race is acting as if it doesn't have a clue we're in sunny Italy, we're in no rush up the hill after registering. But our calm waiting doesn't do us any good and the first day of competing is cancelled due to the cloudy sky and frequent showers. However, the Polish organizers led by Marek Maderski are prepared for that too.




    In the early afternoon several five-liter demijohns of wine are conjured up from somewhere and the Polish-Czech singing duet can begin. Although Karel and I did what we could, in the end we had to respectfully concede defeat. It really was due mainly to the Polish voices that the owner of the nearby pizzeria, Manuel, had to come and ask us to quiet down and due to which the local inhabitants sent for the local police.



Tuesday, 2 September 2003
    The early morning sky was almost overcast with stratified clouds, and the minds of many competitors overcast from all the wine last night. But as is often the case, a gray morning is often the beginning of a beautiful day. In the morning the stratified cloud cover starts to break up, but an abundant cumulous cloud cover starts moving in quickly.

    At the briefing at 10 a.m. it is decided that we will go to the starting point on the slope above the village of Campo Croce - even though the first shower of the day starts shortly after the briefing ends. The next one catches us at the starting point and it looks like neoprene outfits will be the only suitable clothing for today's task.

    The weather forecast the organizers got from local pilots and presented at the briefing isn't buzzing with optimism either - they say we can expect more rain around 3 p.m. So a short distance discipline with a 38-km route is announced - a speed run starting at Campo Croce and the starting marker Bacowka, then flying eastward to Punta Musce, past the big basin under the peak of Monte Grappa, then through Brent to the Tortima transmitter and on to the goal at the official landing deck in Semonzo.

    In light of the forecast, most of the pilots start during the first sunny window so they can finish the discipline before the afternoon rain sets in. But you can't command the wind or the rain, so about half-way through the discipline, everything proves different than expected. The cumulus slowly dissipates, the sun shines ever brighter on the steep slopes of the surrounding mountains and into the expansive flatlands beneath them, the air clears, and, thanks to fantastic visibility, to the south we can see the bustling shipping transport in the Adriatic Sea. The conditions change from poor and unconvincing to unexpectedly excellent. Under the beautiful cumulus a five-meter ascension can be turned into 1900 meters above sea level, which makes it possible to proceed very quickly in the second half of the route. Within two minutes of each other, the Polish pilots Roman Witkowski and Rafal Luckos, the Slovenian Aljaz Valic and me with my Addiction all land at the goal in Semonza within two minutes of each other.

    While we're packing up our parachutes, Karely Vrbenský's Magus emerges from behind the high grass on the uncut meadow next to the goal. Piloting like a master, Karel avoids the mullein that's growing in his path, jumps over two mole hills and ends his heart-attack-inducing glide by flying through the ribbon at six centimeters above the ground, ending with a surprisingly smooth landing.

    But the winner of the discipline turns out to be the local champ Federico Nevastro, who was the only one that decided not to believe the forecast, and, thanks to starting more an hour later than the rest, was able to take advantage of the strong conditions along the whole route and achieve an average speed of 30.81 km/h.