Thursday, May 9
    An uneaten half of an onion, two pieces of chewed bread and a smouldering log in the fireplace. Those are the early-morning remains of yesterday's hanger party at Stranik. The sky is clear again and Lysa Mountain in the Beskid Mountains can be seen on the northwest horizon. By eight o'clock in the morning the meteorological station reports 11 m/second winds from the southeast at its 50 km distant peak, with gusts of up to 17 m/s. Strong gusts at the starting ground do not even allow anyone to unpack a chute and leaving the camp is postponed for now. Stranik is virtually deserted with the number of people at the peak countable on the fingers of one hand.



    Only at eleven o'clock is a decision made at camp to drive up to Stranik and the first racers begin to appear. But seeing the larch trees swaying in wind, they choose other types of sports instead.



    After noon the wind, thanks to the thermals, begins to let up at times and at 13:00 a 37 km long discipline in the wind direction, over Turzovka, with a goal in Cadca is announced.

    "Można wrócic tutaj?", asks one of the Polish pilots at the end of the briefing, but it's difficult to tell whether or not his intention of returning to Stranik against the strong wind is serious or not. The start window is opened at 13:30 and wind or no wind, the favorites set to it. Taking off are Juraj Kleja, Mirek Varvarovsky and of course Tonda Pallas, for whom the strong wind is evidently a treat.



    The starting ground is not complete by any means today. Approximately 40 pilots haven't shown up, having instead taken off for trips around the area because they didn't believe it possible to announce a discipline. A whole group of pilots from Brno, for example, is missing as they set out on foot for a tour of Strecno castle and at the moment is undoubtedly observing the happenings at Stranik from an honorable distance.

    "Back in behind him and take some of his energy!", advises old hand Petr Recek and the racers really get lucky, that he happened by. The anemometer indicates gusts of up to 13 m/s and the majority of pilots are having trouble starting. The only option is to keep interrupting the start window for a few minutes at a time.

    One pilot even gets involuntarily and so all that much more dramatically, blown over the hill, but fortunately after shutting his flaps and several acrobatic figures, manages to land safely in the field behind the village of Zastranie. Hanka Matyaskova is again forced to choose a little meadow by the road leading from Teplicka through the forest to Zastranie for landing. "But it's really nice here", she comments on the situation, leaning against her backpack as she waits calmly for a ride in an entirely different car from my tin can.




    The approach in the cloudless thermals today reaches around 2500 meters and thanks to the strong wind, the average speed on the route is relatively high. On the direct sections, the GPS navigators of some racers show up to 90 km/h in relation to the ground. And while four pilots are forced to land before the first decisive crest by Cadec, Michal Orolin lacks only 200 m to the goal upon landing.

    Evzen Hollman arrives first at the goal in 58 minutes, followed by Petr Kostrhun, Antonin Pallas, Radek Vecera, Luiean Gruzej, Karel Vrbensky and Mirek "Radar" Stehula. Six minutes after the closing of the goal, Polish racer Jerzy Kraus, who took off from Stranik at 16:28, lands at the goal.

    And because there was no shortage of experiences today, it's necessary to have a detailed post-flight analysis over beer at camp Varin.




    Technology has advanced and at 21:54, that is 24 minutes after the deadline for turning in GPS readers, the organizers have printed the results of not only today's discipline, but the overall results as well.




    In the overall placement of the race, Radek Vecera remains in the lead, followed closely by Antonin Pallas who has moved up from 4th place and moving up to third place from 6th is Petr Kostrhun. Mirek "Radar" Stehula and Michal Orolin have been pushed to 5th and 6th places, because Evzen Hollmann, with his very prompt start and rapid flight, has today worked his way into 4th place.