| Some final words |
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So, Saturday dawned bright and sunny, with less wind than predicted and subsequently high hopes of a 2nd task that would give us a valid Nordic Open 2009.
So we set a good task of around 60km to the west, with a goal in Bled (town by lake). In order to give the pilots a new experience, and to save precious time on the final day, we announced a ground started race to goal. Most pilots have never flown a ground start, where the time begins as soon as the window opens, but on a launch like the Krvavec there is really no reason to not do it as there is plenty of space for all to launch more or less simultaneously.
There was some doubt to the launchability of the conditions right up until a minute before the window would open, but then a head breeze kicked in and the window opened right on schedule. Most pilots were in the air in mere minutes and went right out on the task, while in the mean time the clouds were growing too big out along the ridge.
As it turned out the lead gaggle soon encountered some rain which after a while became fairly heavy, and the safety director had no choice but to stop the task. The big question was, would the task score enough to make the 1500points total needed for the comp to be officially valid?
After a bit of scoring challenges and a call to Stein Tore we knew it wouldn't - the winner of the task got a measly 139 points, and the total points for the leader after task 3 (whereof one wasn't scored) now had 1080 points.
We called a quick unofficial meeting among the Nordic countries, and decided that we'd award all the sponsor prizes but not the official trophies - they will now sit in my basement until next year, where hopefully the next Nordic Open organisers will use them (with new placards fitted).
The prize giving started on a merry note, but fittingly enough a heavy downpour soon put an end to that. Thus it became that the individual nations rankings were awarded in small groups sheltering under awnings here and there, whereas the overall trophies did manage to get distributed before the rain became too heavy...
Since we had to get to Buzet in Croatia as soon as possible for the World Cup, some frantic packing ensued. We pulled out of Preddvor about an hour after the prize giving, and that was the end of that Nordic Open.
I hope I'll see you all next year, where I will be competing rather than directing,
Mads
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