Gena Tabery, On the Fly: Days 10-11

For Open Class winner Oscar Goudrian (OG) of South Africa, Day 10 turned out to be the slowest winning day of this race, at 134.5 kph, or 83.6 mph. The fastest speed of the day went to Australia’s 18-meter pilot, David Jansen (4D), at 141.2 kph, or 87.7 mph. As for Day 11, another day, another polygonal task. Task-calling at this contest has featured large numbers of turnpoints, short legs, and acute angles. The contest area is somewhat limited Monday through Friday by restricted military space immediately west of Uvalde. And indeed, one pilot violated that space yesterday and received a severe penalty. Yet geography and weather alone cannot account for these somewhat unusual, pinball-like tasks.