On Wednesday, January 9, 2013 5:02:29 PM UTC-5, Fox Sierra wrote:
BB,



Your keen insights as a professor of risk and volatility are needed here! How is it possible that so many gliders land within a few kilometers of the finish with a standard deviation of achieved distances of only a few kilometers!?!?!? Assuming there was not a wall of rain blocking the landing zone, wouldn't a few gliders be expected to have the extra 100 meters of altitude required??

FS

The day was blue with high winds. Waiting is not just for the gaggle but also for thermals to get stronger. Later in the day in Chaves other factors weigh in, like the sea breeze that comes from the Atlantic. So in the end the day just died and pilots landed out. This has happened most of the time last week.

The organizers are frustrated by this very unusual weather pattern, supposedly provoked by the El Niño currents in the Pacific. Hopefully conditions will change this week for some real racing, not just survival.

Some of the tasks may have been set too long based on optimistic forecasts that didn't bear out.

Despite everything the top pilots are at the top... They're just damn good!