transBALKAN 2014 news and results

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21.08.2014

     Today the SW wind made it difficult to return from the last turnpoint. Still Simeon Klokocovnik (SLO) managed and landed at goal at 4 pm. Jozef Poje landed short and walked to the goal.
    Niki Stoyanov and Elin Hristov landed near Panitsite and had a blisterring hike in rain until reaching goal late in the evening.
    Niki Yotov and Vanya Radulova had a short flight near Baba peak, followed by walking and bomb out flight from Svishtiplaz. They landed in Pirdop and walked to Anton.

Photos

20.08.2014 - 20:31

     Today we had much weaker flying conditions.
    The thermals started later because of the overheated atmosphere and the thick inversion at 2000 meters. Till the late afternoon cloudbase was no more than 1800 meters and it was a struggle to stay in the air specially above the flatlands.
    The competitors started early by ascending the mountain up from Zlatitca with Elin in the lead and first to be in the air as well.
    The conditions however were weak so Elin and Niki Stoyanov bombed out quickly near the village of Karnare. Jozef and Simeon however managed to penetrate trough the E wind and flew around 40 km to the Village of Tazha making them the current leaders with Niki Soyanov and Elin who made a good hike back to Sopot, following in the back .     The competitors paired in couples so basically now we have team Slovenia in the lead and team Bulgaria in the back.
    The tandem team of Niki Yotov and Vanya Radulova managed spend a long high mountain hike towards second turn point and are looking to send a second night in the mountain.
     Things are getting interesting as we're looking towards tomorrows flying day - who will cross the finish line first? Are we going to have 2 people in first place?

     Stick around to find the answers tomorrow.

19.08.2014 - 19:01

    The forecast for the whole week is for beautiful weather with good flying conditions - weak N winds above 2500 meters bringing good unstable air and weak SE to SW winds later in the week in the lower layers.
    Both days so far, cloud-base is about 2300 - 2500 meters.

    Yesterday everyone had a slow start with a long climb to the peak of Triglav from the village of Skobelevo.
    Since the main wind direction was from the NE, most of the pilots waited for flying conditions on the NE side of Triglav.
    Elin Hristov chose the bold tactic to try and catch a thermal on the lee side of the peak and ... it worked!He took off first managing to make a nice flight of almost 50 km to the village of Rozino after which he hiked just past the village of Klisura where he spent the night.
    Niki Stoianov managed to catch up with him despite the fact he took off later and managed to squeeze the difference between him and Elin to around 5 km at the end of the day.
    Nikolay Yotov and Vanya Radulova managed to fly their tandem to the village of Vasil Levski. Jozef and Simeon choose a different approach involving flying and hiking on the main mountain range, and spending the night on the peak of Botev. Krasi Kostadinchev decided to withdraw from the race in the afternoon.

    Today Niki Stoyanov started with the beginning of the day at 6:00 which gave him a good head start over Elin in the climb of Vezhen peak. Later however Elin managed to compensate for lost time with good flying.
    Everyone made the point at Baba peak walking, after which the flying continued.
    Elin just landed to the east of the village of Anton. Niki Stoianov is right behind him with a gap of less than 9 km and still flying.
    Jozef and Simeon are about to meet in the town of Pirdop and Niki stoianov will probably join them.
Niki Yotov and Vanya Rdulova took the high mountain tactic and will probably spend the night in the mountain.
    The forecast for the next days looks really good and the chances are that Elin and Niki Stoyanov might finish the task tomorrow.

    Who will be first - we'll find out in the next days!