23:01Z—Update from Jason: “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!! All are home and Francois is probably the 15 meter daily winner; Francois told me that he thought today was the best day so far.”

Correction: The 15 meter daily placings are Francois(3), Sarah (9), and Tom (24)—Ed.

Standard Class Scores—Daily, Total
15 Meter Class Scores— Daily, Total

Peter Deane is 28/57 for the day and 26/57 cumulative.

For more information, visit the contest Web site

Weather

 Accuweather for contest site

 

Tasks

 

 

 

Blog and Photos

From Jason Arnold. . .

So, to all readers, yes it is nice weather here right now. I know we may whine about the dust, or the wind, or the higher temps and high UV, but really it ain’t so bad. I know the pilots (some of them) are wearing down a little after one week, but hey, this is work and even play can get old.

The Argentine task master apparently has this business of calling the task of the day just so that the teams get about 3/4 of the way around the course and, with only the wind to blow them home, they make a downwind dash along the final leg, sometimes for many kilometers. “I had the longest final glide of my career,” Tom McKnight said yesterday and, “I think a lot of the ’20”, with Francois adding that, “The tasks are called with just enough room to make it around.”

Yesterday’s start had our team (USA) positioned perhaps the best of the contest thus far, and with little cumulus popping, pilots had something to go on. “in the blue it’s follow the leader, but with the clouds there’s more room to explore.” Leaving the gaggles behind, “[Team USA] was able to start pushing,” Francois said, with Sarah adding about the blue days so far that, “the problem with gaggles is that nobody knows how to center the thermals.”

Tom and Peter had a more difficult time of it yesterday with Peter adding that, “I’m going to wash my head and take part of the Happy Cup”, apparently a large tin cup at his camp filled with a mixture of Coke and “happiness”.

Yerba is everywhere in Argentina with most folks carrying a thermos of hot water and a container of the green tea-like leaves and some (a little) sugar used for the first few drinks. The cup is kept full with leaves and water is poured over them several times. It gives energy, and in my case, when combined with several cups of coffee it has a synergistic effect, like that of Red Bull and vodka (just kidding).