HGFA Skysailor Magazine

SKY SAILOR 5 November | December 2018 T he fresh mountain air and picturesque patchwork of fields below see pilots from all over the world flock to this amazing site each summer. It’s been recognised as one of the most outstanding flatland and cross-country mountain flying sites in Europe – though it isn’t without its flying challenges, as competing Aussie pilot, Wally Arcidiacono, highlights. For the four experienced Aussies – Peter Slade, Steven Nagle, Filipe Rezende and Wally Arcidiacono – flying in the PWC Bulgaria was an aerial adventure like no other – an unknown one to Wally at the time, a history-making flying achievement. With the competition consisting of six tasks over seven days in some very strong and often lee-side conditions, Wally successfully took out Task One, arriving in goal four minutes ahead of everyone else. Wally’s win was only the second time an Australian has had a PWC task win – the first being Shane Hill in an Italian PWC many years ago. “This being only my second PWC – first one was in Bright, Australia in February – I was rather surprised to find myself first in goal,” Wally said. “Personally, I really didn’t enjoy the lee-side conditions and made a decision early during the first task that took me away from the mountains and into the flats. This decision didn’t pay off as I got low in strong wind and was then behind for a good portion of the race. About 20km from goal, the field was spread into about five or six small gaggles when a 6m/s climb brought everyone back together. At the top of this thermal, I was mid-field with other pilots just beginning to leave on glide. At this point, the other 100 odd pilots in the main gaggle followed the gliders in front of them on a sinky line which was destined to put everyone low. Having already made this mistake earlier in the day, I swiftly decided to go alone on a slightly longer, but tactically safer route following some small hills.” The decision paid great dividends for Wally, as he didn’t have any points of struggle and rolled into goal with altitude to spare. “Local Bulgarian pilot, Yassen Savov, had a similar idea and we were the only two competitors to make this tactical decision,” he said. “The icing on the cake for me was when I found out later that evening that a new PWC rule states that any pilot who wins a task gains automatic entry into the PWC Super Final. The opportunity to go to the Super Final is one I never thought I’d receive – I see it as a once in a lifetime opportunity. In my 14 years of flying, I feel that the potential of attending the PWC Super Final in Brazil in March 2019 could be my most challenging, yet richly educational racing experience. Financially it’s a huge commitment, but I hope to find a way to get myself there. I’ve been searching for financial sponsorship for several months now and hopefully this feather in my cap aids in this endeavour.” Three other Australian pilots have already qualified for next year’s Super Final, yet no Australian has ever attended one of these events.