Task 1 (Open)

How the field flew this task, and which behaviours separated it.

View task

The optimised route — radii, leg distances and start times are on the task page.

Analysis computed

Pilots: 32
Airtime: 83h (13:46–18:33 AEDT)
Thermals: 30882 shared by 2+ pilots
Working band: 934–2580 m
Airtime split: searching34%
climbing41%
gliding25%

What the weather did

From the weather model

Independent of the tracklogs: modelled conditions for the task area.

Fetching the day’s weather — it will appear here in a moment.

From the pilots' tracks

What the field actually flew — wind, climb strength and leg timing measured from every pilot's tracklog.

The day’s wind, hour by hour and leg by leg. What the air did, read from the field itself. We estimate the wind from the circling of every pilot. The first method is the drift of the circle centre, and the second method, used when the first is not available, is the modulation of the ground speed. We then combine the estimates two ways. The table by hour of day shows how the wind increased and changed direction through the day. The table by speed-section leg shows the wind on each part of the course. This metric describes the day, so it has no value for each pilot.

How strong the day’s climbs were, hour by hour. When the day started, reached its peak, and ended. We group the thermal climbs of all pilots by the hour in which each climb started, labelled in the time zone of the competition. The median and the 90th-percentile average climb rate for each hour show how the lift developed. This metric describes the day, so it has no value for each pilot.

Share of the flight spent in air that wasn’t sinking. How much of the flight was in air worth being in. The value is the share of the airborne time of a pilot, on the shared grid, with a 30 s-smoothed vario at or above −0.5 m/s. The time they flew, the line they steered and the way the flight ended all feed this value. It is therefore a reading of the day as much as of the pilot. There is no expected direction, and the sign of the correlation is the finding. The timing table compares the window of the day’s best climbs against the time when the field launched.

All charts share that one time axis. Arrows fly WITH the wind — direction figures are degrees the wind blows from.

A vertical scan compares the measured and the modelled at the same moment. Arrow length and opacity track speed and sample count.

On the per-leg chart the pale bar is when the field flew that leg, and the solid band inside it is the circling its wind was measured from — a leg the field glided is measured in a sliver of the time it was flown.

Exact numbers are in the day family’s tables under “The metrics in detail”.

The day's thermals

The 40 most-shared of 157 multi-pilot thermals, reconstructed by pooling every pilot's track through the same climb. Everything shown is measured from the tracks — no fitted lift model. Select a thermal to see it in detail.

Thermal at 14:12 AEDT — 14 pilots, 19 climbs

Wind 12.6 km/h from 280° (W), measured from 191 circle estimates in the pilots' own tracks.
Model wind cross-check loading…
Leans 18° from vertical toward 154° (SSE), 54° off downwind (100°).
Strongest on the NW side of the core at +3.1 m/s against +1.4 m/s on the SE side.
Multiple cores in 4 of 12 bands between 800 and 1500 m — separate feeders (⬧ in the rose) before they merged.

Watch this thermal in the 3D replay

Pilots in this thermal (climb rates)

Pilot	Min	Median	Max
Gordon Rigg	-0.5 m/s	+3.0 m/s	+5.5 m/s
Rory Duncan	-0.7 m/s	+2.8 m/s	+4.8 m/s
Craig Taylor	-2.5 m/s	+2.3 m/s	+8.5 m/s
Olav Opsanger	-1.3 m/s	+1.8 m/s	+5.8 m/s
Jon Durand	+0.0 m/s	+1.8 m/s	+2.8 m/s
Enda Carrigan	-1.0 m/s	+1.5 m/s	+5.0 m/s
Rich Reinauer	-2.3 m/s	+1.5 m/s	+4.3 m/s
Rohan Holtkamp	-2.5 m/s	+1.3 m/s	+4.8 m/s
Vic Hare	-1.5 m/s	+1.3 m/s	+6.3 m/s
Ward Gunn	-2.0 m/s	+1.0 m/s	+1.5 m/s
David Drabble	-2.0 m/s	+1.0 m/s	+2.5 m/s
Steve Blenkinsop	-0.5 m/s	+0.8 m/s	+3.3 m/s
Peter Burkitt	-1.0 m/s	+0.7 m/s	+2.3 m/s
Trent Brown	-0.7 m/s	+0.5 m/s	+2.3 m/s

Each pilot's slowest, typical and best climb over their own vario samples in this thermal — a negative minimum means they touched sink inside it.

Band table (exact numbers)

Band	Core offset E/N (m)	Working radius	Extent	Mean climb	Best climb	Samples	Pilots	Cores
2500–2600 m	267 / -414	133 m	232 m	+1.6 m/s	+4.3 m/s	50	1	1
1700–1800 m	-87 / -231	154 m	207 m	+1.1 m/s	+4.5 m/s	91	2	1
1600–1700 m	-146 / -166	136 m	269 m	+2.3 m/s	+4.8 m/s	143	3	1
1500–1600 m	-170 / -154	133 m	275 m	+2.7 m/s	+5.0 m/s	146	4	1
1400–1500 m	-193 / -72	100 m	158 m	+3.6 m/s	+5.8 m/s	110	4	2
1300–1400 m	-159 / -4	145 m	334 m	+2.8 m/s	+8.5 m/s	141	4	1
1200–1300 m	-159 / 63	185 m	332 m	+2.5 m/s	+5.0 m/s	156	4	1
1100–1200 m	-150 / 70	218 m	357 m	+2.0 m/s	+4.8 m/s	239	6	2
1000–1100 m	-158 / 22	215 m	372 m	+1.7 m/s	+5.5 m/s	317	7	1
900–1000 m	-175 / 4	263 m	404 m	+1.6 m/s	+6.3 m/s	230	7	2
800–900 m	-166 / 56	319 m	417 m	+1.1 m/s	+5.0 m/s	272	7	2
700–800 m	-220 / 157	285 m	609 m	+0.9 m/s	+3.0 m/s	51	2	1

Start	Pilots	Height band	Mean climb	Strongest side
14:00 AEDT	9	700–2400 m	+2.5 m/s	N
14:12 AEDT	11	700–2600 m	+3.0 m/s	SW
14:12 AEDT	14	700–2600 m	+2.0 m/s	NW
14:15 AEDT	5	600–1100 m	+1.5 m/s	W
14:15 AEDT	10	900–2600 m	+2.2 m/s	NE
14:22 AEDT	7	1800–2600 m	+2.3 m/s	NW
14:26 AEDT	5	1800–2600 m	+2.5 m/s	SE
14:26 AEDT	5	1900–2600 m	+2.2 m/s	NE
14:32 AEDT	6	1500–2600 m	+1.9 m/s	NE
14:35 AEDT	6	1900–2600 m	+2.0 m/s	E
14:42 AEDT	7	1100–1600 m	+1.9 m/s	SE
14:43 AEDT	6	1100–2600 m	+2.1 m/s	NE
14:45 AEDT	4	1200–2300 m	+1.8 m/s	SE
14:47 AEDT	4	1400–2600 m	+2.5 m/s	SW
14:49 AEDT	5	2100–2600 m	+1.4 m/s	NW
14:49 AEDT	6	900–2200 m	+1.6 m/s	W
14:51 AEDT	7	2100–2600 m	+1.5 m/s	NW
14:52 AEDT	6	1700–2600 m	+1.2 m/s	NE
14:53 AEDT	7	1800–2600 m	+1.2 m/s	NE
15:12 AEDT	6	800–2600 m	+4.3 m/s	NE
15:20 AEDT	5	1800–2500 m	+2.3 m/s	NW
15:22 AEDT	5	2000–2600 m	+2.7 m/s	NW
15:25 AEDT	4	1400–2600 m	+2.2 m/s	SE
15:25 AEDT	5	1000–2500 m	+1.4 m/s	W
15:27 AEDT	4	1100–2500 m	+1.5 m/s	NW
15:33 AEDT	4	2100–2600 m	+1.3 m/s	NW
15:34 AEDT	5	1300–2600 m	+3.0 m/s	NW
15:35 AEDT	5	2000–2500 m	+1.3 m/s	W
15:44 AEDT	8	1500–2500 m	+1.8 m/s	N
15:46 AEDT	5	1400–2600 m	+2.2 m/s	E
15:54 AEDT	5	1200–2600 m	+2.5 m/s	W
15:55 AEDT	4	1300–2300 m	+1.6 m/s	N
15:56 AEDT	5	1300–2300 m	+1.4 m/s	NE
15:56 AEDT	8	600–2600 m	+2.3 m/s	N
15:57 AEDT	6	1500–2600 m	+2.4 m/s	NW
16:10 AEDT	6	1100–2600 m	+2.1 m/s	NW
16:17 AEDT	6	1000–2600 m	+2.2 m/s	NE
16:18 AEDT	4	1100–2600 m	+2.1 m/s	NW
16:29 AEDT	4	900–2400 m	+2.1 m/s	NE
16:57 AEDT	4	900–2300 m	+2.0 m/s	NW

The dashed arrow is the weather model’s wind — a model run, not an observation.

Each thermal pools every pilot’s fixes through the same climb into 100 m altitude bands. A band’s core is the lift-weighted centre of its fixes, so the rose and the sector readings are already normalised for the thermal’s lean and drift.

Wedge length is relative climb by side of the core; the dashed ring is the measured working radius and the dotted ring the widest the field ranged. The solid arrow is the wind measured from the pilots’ circles.

Which behaviours went with better ranks

Each row is one behaviour, compared against the published ranks. Select a row to plot it against rank.

Glide speed between climbs

Label every pilot

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = -0.79 (clear pattern, n = 29). More is expected to be better here, and it was: top ranks gather to the right. The curve is a trend fitted through the dots: left to right it runs from about rank 28 to about rank 3. 3 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Field glide speed: median 59.3 km/h · p90 66.5 km/h (29 pilots)

Behaviour	Strength	What it means	Pilots measured
Glide speed between climbs		clear pattern
How low the pilot gets between climbs		clear pattern
How much of the thermal the pilot climbed before leaving it		clear pattern
Final glide committed to when leaving the last climb		clear pattern
How long after the gate opened the pilot started		clear pattern
Glide L/D against the field median		some pattern
Time spent flying with a gaggle		some pattern
How often leaving the gaggle paid off		could be chance
Distance covered between climbs		could be chance
Gliding wide of the optimal course line		some pattern
Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb		could be chance
Share of lift turned in that was kept as a climb		could be chance
Low saves dug out from the bottom of the band		could be chance
Climbs joined on another pilot's marker		could be chance
Arriving at ESS with height to spare		could be chance
Share of the height gain made outside thermals		could be chance
Time to core thermals		could be chance
Climbing faster than the pilots sharing the thermal		could be chance
Share of the flight spent in air that wasn’t sinking		could be chance
Gliding faster when the next climb is stronger		could be chance
How round and consistent the circles were		could be chance
Climb rate at thermal exit		could be chance

Metrics with a clear pattern, plotted against rank

Glide speed between climbs

Measured in kilometres per hour · higher is better

How fast the pilot moves down the course when they are on a glide. The value is the duration-weighted mean ground speed over every glide after the start, which is the glide distance divided by the glide time. A higher value means more ground covered in each minute between climbs.

Field glide speed: median 59.3 km/h · p90 66.5 km/h (29 pilots)

How low the pilot gets between climbs

Measured in percent · no expected direction

How low the pilot goes before the next climb. A high value is a race with height in reserve, and a low value is a flight that goes down near the ground. We take each pair of climbs that the pilot made after the start, and we find the lowest point between them. We keep only the gaps that go down 100 m or more, because a top-up between two climbs is not a descent. We do not count a sled run or the glide to goal, because the pilot made no climb after them. The value is the median of those low points, as a percentage of the day's working band. 0% is where the lowest tenth of the field's climbs started, and 100% is where the highest tenth stopped. Thus a negative value shows that the pilot went lower than almost all of the field. The pilot must have two or more of these descents. There is no expected direction. The sign of the correlation says whether height in reserve pays.

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = -0.58 (clear pattern, n = 28). No expected direction — the sign is the finding: larger values went with better ranks here. The curve is a trend fitted through the dots: left to right it runs from about rank 25 to about rank 6. 4 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

How much of the thermal the pilot climbed before leaving it

Measured in percent · no expected direction

Does the pilot climb to the top of every thermal, or leave with lift still above them? We take the altitude where they left each thermal after the start, as a percentage of the day’s working band. 0% is the floor of the field and 100% is its ceiling. The value is the median. There is no expected direction: a climb to the top buys height in reserve, and an early departure buys time.

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = -0.53 (clear pattern, n = 29). No expected direction — the sign is the finding: larger values went with better ranks here. The curve is a trend fitted through the dots: left to right it runs from about rank 29 to about rank 7. 3 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Final glide committed to when leaving the last climb

Measured in ratio · no expected direction

How optimistic the pilot was about their final glide. A pilot wins or loses a task by the height at which they leave the last climb. At the last climb of the pilot before ESS, or before the landing, we divide the distance to goal by their height above goal. That is the glide ratio they committed to. 8 means they left and needed 8:1 to make goal. The value counts only when that climb ended within 1.5 times the length of the last course leg longer than 1 km from goal — when ESS and goal share a waypoint, the zero-length hop between them is not that leg. There is no expected direction: a marginal glide wins if it connects, and loses if it does not.

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = 0.53 (clear pattern, n = 27). No expected direction — the sign is the finding: larger values went with worse ranks here. The curve is a trend fitted through the dots: left to right it runs from about rank 9 to about rank 21. 5 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

How long after the gate opened the pilot started

Measured in seconds · lower is better

Every second between the opening of the gate and the crossing of the start line is a second lost for nothing. The value is the seconds from the start gate taken to the scored SSS crossing. On an elapsed-time task, the pilot’s own crossing is the reference, so the delay is 0 by definition. The start table adds the crossing altitude, and the distance behind the leading pilot who had already started.

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = 0.51 (clear pattern, n = 30). Less is expected to be better here, and it was: top ranks gather to the left. The curve is a trend fitted through the dots: left to right it runs from about rank 6 to about rank 29. 2 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Outcome checks

These measure the result, not a behaviour, so they always follow the ranks.

Outcome	Strength	What it means	Pilots measured
Race time behind the leader at ESS		clear pattern
Race time lost against the fastest pilots, leg by leg		could be chance

The whole field at a glance

1. Jon Durand

2. Rohan Holtkamp

3. Peter Burkitt

4. Olav Opsanger

5. Glen Mcfarlane

6. Paul Bissett-Amess

7. Steven Crosby

8. Vic Hare

9. Rory Duncan

10. Todd Wisewould

11. Gordon Rigg

12. Craig Taylor

13. Rich Reinauer

14. Enda Carrigan

15. Troy Horton

16. Mitch Butler

17. Steve Blenkinsop

18. David Drabble

19. John Harriott

20. Nils Vesk

21. Neil Hooke

22. Neale Halsall

23. Harrison Rowntree

24. Ward Gunn

25. Trent Brown

26. Andrew Sutton

27. Hossain Tefaili

28. Gary Herman

29. Rennick Kerr

30. Stuart McElroy

31. Daniel Rhodes

32. Ivo van der Leeden

The pilots in rank order against every behaviour. A darker cell is a better percentile in this field, and an empty cell is a behaviour that does not apply.

Pilot style clusters

The groups are flying style, and not score. The spread of ranks in each group shows where that style paid and where it did not.

Group A — High leavers

8 pilots · ranks 1–13 · median 5.5 · middle half 2.8–8.5

High — How much of the thermal the pilot climbed before leaving it group median P88 in this field (85 percent)
High — Glide speed between climbs group median P88 in this field (65.2 kilometres per hour) · usually a strength
High — Glide L/D against the field median group median P83 in this field (1.20 ratio) · usually a strength
High — Time spent flying with a gaggle group median P83 in this field (45 percent)

1. Jon Durand
2. Rohan Holtkamp (most typical of this group)
3. Peter Burkitt
4. Olav Opsanger
7. Steven Crosby
8. Vic Hare
10. Todd Wisewould
13. Rich Reinauer

Group B — Bold leavers

21 pilots · ranks 5–29 · median 19 · middle half 14–24

High — How often leaving the gaggle paid off group median P74 in this field (100 percent)
Low — Distance covered between climbs group median P33 in this field (1.8 kilometres) · usually costly
High — Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb group median P66 in this field (31 percent) · usually costly
High — How long after the gate opened the pilot started group median P66 in this field (321 seconds) · usually costly

5. Glen Mcfarlane
6. Paul Bissett-Amess
9. Rory Duncan
11. Gordon Rigg
12. Craig Taylor
14. Enda Carrigan (most typical of this group)
15. Troy Horton
16. Mitch Butler
17. Steve Blenkinsop
18. David Drabble
19. John Harriott
20. Nils Vesk
21. Neil Hooke
22. Neale Halsall
23. Harrison Rowntree
24. Ward Gunn
25. Trent Brown
26. Andrew Sutton
27. Hossain Tefaili
28. Gary Herman
29. Rennick Kerr

Not clustered: 30. Stuart McElroy — only 5 of 22 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 31. Daniel Rhodes — only 9 of 22 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 32. Ivo van der Leeden — only 4 of 22 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%).

29 pilots on 22 behavioural metrics formed 2 groups.

GlideComp groups the pilots by flying style, and not by score. It transforms the rank of every behavioural metric to a percentile inside the field. It then compares two pilots by the mean percentile gap over the metrics that both pilots have, and never fills in a missing value. Ward-linkage agglomeration forms the groups, and the best mean silhouette selects the number of groups. Each group carries the spread of the GAP ranks of its members, which shows where a style paid and where it did not.

k was searched from 2 to 6. The mean silhouette is 0.14 — a value near 0 means soft group boundaries, and a value near 1 means tight, well-separated groups.

The metrics in detail

best: could be chance (0.14)

#	Pilot	NonSink%
1	Jon Durand	57
2	Rohan Holtkamp	53
3	Peter Burkitt	51
4	Olav Opsanger	58
5	Glen Mcfarlane	54
6	Paul Bissett-Amess	56
7	Steven Crosby	57
8	Vic Hare	55
9	Rory Duncan	57
10	Todd Wisewould	54
11	Gordon Rigg	55
12	Craig Taylor	60
13	Rich Reinauer	56
14	Enda Carrigan	55
15	Troy Horton	55
16	Mitch Butler	58
17	Steve Blenkinsop	57
18	David Drabble	59
19	John Harriott	54
20	Nils Vesk	54
21	Neil Hooke	50
22	Neale Halsall	54
23	Harrison Rowntree	54
24	Ward Gunn	61
25	Trent Brown	54
26	Andrew Sutton	54
27	Hossain Tefaili	53
28	Gary Herman	58
29	Rennick Kerr	65
30	Stuart McElroy	63
31	Daniel Rhodes	61
32	Ivo van der Leeden	53

The day’s wind, hour by hour and leg by leg

Measured in kilometres per hour · no expected direction

What the air did, read from the field itself. We estimate the wind from the circling of every pilot. The first method is the drift of the circle centre, and the second method, used when the first is not available, is the modulation of the ground speed. We then combine the estimates two ways. The table by hour of day shows how the wind increased and changed direction through the day. The table by speed-section leg shows the wind on each part of the course. This metric describes the day, so it has no value for each pilot.

Wind by hour

Period	Speed (km/h)	Dir (°)	n
Whole task	18.6	273	5375
13:00 AEDT	11.3	233	24
14:00 AEDT	16.9	278	1470
15:00 AEDT	19.2	281	1748
16:00 AEDT	20.5	268	1443
17:00 AEDT	17.5	256	644
18:00 AEDT	17.5	265	46

Each circle gives one wind estimate. GlideComp uses centre drift where it can, and ground-speed modulation where it cannot. The direction is the vector mean of the estimates, in degrees the wind blows FROM (0° = north). The speed is the median of their magnitudes, because the length of a vector mean falls toward zero when the directions scatter.

Hours are shown in the competition’s time zone.

Wind by leg

Leg	Flown	Pilots	Circling	Speed (km/h)	Dir (°)	n	From pilots
ELLIOT (SSS)→HALFWY	14:46–16:25 AEDT	28	14:54–16:10 AEDT	19.8	298	506	20
HALFWY→CUDGWE	14:54–16:48 AEDT	24	14:56–16:36 AEDT	16.8	272	729	24
CUDGWE→TINTAL	15:20–17:22 AEDT	19	15:21–17:15 AEDT	20.9	262	807	19
TINTAL→KANGCK	15:47–18:14 AEDT	14	15:52–18:14 AEDT	20.2	274	698	14
KANGCK→CUDG	16:14–18:23 AEDT	13	16:56–18:01 AEDT	16.9	249	205	8
CUDG→NCORGL (ESS)	16:26–18:28 AEDT	12	16:28–16:30 AEDT	33.3	202	4	1

“Flown” is when the field was ON the leg — the first pilot entering to the last leaving — over the “Pilots” who started and flew the whole leg.

“Circling” is the narrower window the wind was actually measured in: first to last circle estimate any pilot logged while on the leg, from “From pilots” pilots. Glides produce no estimate, so a leg the field mostly glided shows a sliver of its flown window (or “—” where no one circled at all) — and a late leg the leaders glided can be measured EARLIER than the leg before it without either being wrong.

How strong the day’s climbs were, hour by hour

Measured in metres per second · no expected direction

When the day started, reached its peak, and ended. We group the thermal climbs of all pilots by the hour in which each climb started, labelled in the time zone of the competition. The median and the 90th-percentile average climb rate for each hour show how the lift developed. This metric describes the day, so it has no value for each pilot.

Climb by hour

Hour	Median (m/s)	p90 (m/s)	n
13:00 AEDT	1.8	2.3	3
14:00 AEDT	1.4	2.7	360
15:00 AEDT	1.4	2.6	453
16:00 AEDT	1.2	2.4	364
17:00 AEDT	1.2	2.2	139
18:00 AEDT	0.9	1.4	10

The average climb rate of every thermal use across the field, grouped by the start of the climb. The hours are in the time zone of the competition.

Share of the flight spent in air that wasn’t sinking

Measured in percent · no expected direction

How much of the flight was in air worth being in. The value is the share of the airborne time of a pilot, on the shared grid, with a 30 s-smoothed vario at or above −0.5 m/s. The time they flew, the line they steered and the way the flight ended all feed this value. It is therefore a reading of the day as much as of the pilot. There is no expected direction, and the sign of the correlation is the finding. The timing table compares the window of the day’s best climbs against the time when the field launched.

Day timing

	Time
Best conditions	14:00–15:00 AEDT
Earliest takeoff	13:46 AEDT
Median takeoff	14:17 AEDT
Latest takeoff	15:54 AEDT

Best conditions is the one-hour window with the strongest median climb (1.4 m/s), among hours with enough climbs to be representative (≥20% of the busiest hour).

best: clear pattern (0.53)

One lane per behaviour, one dot per pilot, placed by percentile within the pilots that behaviour could be measured on — so a dot's position says where a pilot sat, never how spread the field was. Hover a pilot to light them up in every lane at once.

#	Pilot	Out-climb	Core s	LeaveRate	Kept%	TopOut%	Round
1	Jon Durand	71 (39 shared climbs)	40 (22 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.7 (17 climbs ≥ 90 s)	75 (9/12 circling bouts led to climbs)	78 (mean on-course altitude 63% of band)	0.16 (225 circles, 89% left)
2	Rohan Holtkamp	56 (32 shared climbs)	42 (24 climbs ≥ 60 s)	2.1 (13 climbs ≥ 90 s)	79 (11/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	92 (mean on-course altitude 71% of band)	0.14 (141 circles, 82% left)
3	Peter Burkitt	72 (26 shared climbs)	45 (14 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.6 (9 climbs ≥ 90 s)	75 (12/16 circling bouts led to climbs)	84 (mean on-course altitude 58% of band)	0.24 (148 circles, 95% left)
4	Olav Opsanger	63 (46 shared climbs)	39 (26 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (19 climbs ≥ 90 s)	71 (10/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	75 (mean on-course altitude 61% of band)	0.15 (241 circles, 63% left)
5	Glen Mcfarlane	72 (25 shared climbs)	56 (22 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.4 (16 climbs ≥ 90 s)	76 (13/17 circling bouts led to climbs)	54 (mean on-course altitude 43% of band)	0.16 (219 circles, 74% left)
6	Paul Bissett-Amess	71 (39 shared climbs)	43 (20 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (15 climbs ≥ 90 s)	71 (10/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	59 (mean on-course altitude 49% of band)	0.15 (199 circles, 59% left)
7	Steven Crosby	66 (43 shared climbs)	43 (23 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.4 (16 climbs ≥ 90 s)	88 (14/16 circling bouts led to climbs)	94 (mean on-course altitude 70% of band)	0.14 (211 circles, 86% left)
8	Vic Hare	59 (54 shared climbs)	51 (24 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.6 (15 climbs ≥ 90 s)	53 (9/17 circling bouts led to climbs)	80 (mean on-course altitude 58% of band)	0.17 (258 circles, 66% left)
9	Rory Duncan	66 (48 shared climbs)	48 (30 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (24 climbs ≥ 90 s)	79 (19/24 circling bouts led to climbs)	57 (mean on-course altitude 50% of band)	0.12 (196 circles, 48% left)
10	Todd Wisewould	75 (57 shared climbs)	42 (30 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.7 (21 climbs ≥ 90 s)	82 (14/17 circling bouts led to climbs)	86 (mean on-course altitude 69% of band)	0.15 (300 circles, 85% left)
11	Gordon Rigg	56 (25 shared climbs)	84 (23 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (21 climbs ≥ 90 s)	53 (10/19 circling bouts led to climbs)	58 (mean on-course altitude 39% of band)	0.13 (267 circles, 81% left)
12	Craig Taylor	64 (49 shared climbs)	36 (24 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (15 climbs ≥ 90 s)	73 (19/26 circling bouts led to climbs)	49 (mean on-course altitude 39% of band)	0.17 (414 circles, 37% left)
13	Rich Reinauer	81 (47 shared climbs)	38 (27 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.8 (19 climbs ≥ 90 s)	79 (15/19 circling bouts led to climbs)	86 (mean on-course altitude 62% of band)	0.12 (196 circles, 79% left)
14	Enda Carrigan	69 (37 shared climbs)	33 (26 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.6 (14 climbs ≥ 90 s)	78 (14/18 circling bouts led to climbs)	65 (mean on-course altitude 52% of band)	0.14 (212 circles, 73% left)
15	Troy Horton	61 (27 shared climbs)	38 (22 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (15 climbs ≥ 90 s)	89 (16/18 circling bouts led to climbs)	38 (mean on-course altitude 42% of band)	0.13 (153 circles, 98% left)
16	Mitch Butler	61 (46 shared climbs)	56 (22 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (15 climbs ≥ 90 s)	71 (15/21 circling bouts led to climbs)	57 (mean on-course altitude 44% of band)	0.16 (203 circles, 63% left)
17	Steve Blenkinsop	58 (36 shared climbs)	57 (18 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	67 (10/15 circling bouts led to climbs)	61 (mean on-course altitude 39% of band)	0.11 (237 circles, 46% left)
18	David Drabble	57 (24 shared climbs)	56 (21 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (19 climbs ≥ 90 s)	77 (10/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	62 (mean on-course altitude 51% of band)	0.17 (247 circles, 98% left)
19	John Harriott	75 (9 shared climbs)	40 (13 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (9 climbs ≥ 90 s)	71 (10/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	82 (mean on-course altitude 63% of band)	0.15 (122 circles, 1% left)
20	Nils Vesk	41 (10 shared climbs)	150 (12 climbs ≥ 60 s)	-0.6 (12 climbs ≥ 90 s)	63 (5/8 circling bouts led to climbs)	83 (mean on-course altitude 41% of band)	0.25 (11 circles, 73% left)
21	Neil Hooke	66 (19 shared climbs)	74 (15 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (12 climbs ≥ 90 s)	75 (6/8 circling bouts led to climbs)	55 (mean on-course altitude 35% of band)	0.17 (130 circles, 54% left)
22	Neale Halsall	82 (27 shared climbs)	37 (14 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.7 (9 climbs ≥ 90 s)	83 (10/12 circling bouts led to climbs)	24 (mean on-course altitude 27% of band)	0.18 (129 circles, 60% left)
23	Harrison Rowntree	88 (15 shared climbs)	51 (14 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.6 (10 climbs ≥ 90 s)	40 (2/5 circling bouts led to climbs)	42 (mean on-course altitude 28% of band)	0.13 (160 circles, 37% left)
24	Ward Gunn	55 (46 shared climbs)	41 (15 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	70 (7/10 circling bouts led to climbs)	66 (mean on-course altitude 62% of band)	0.14 (149 circles, 98% left)
25	Trent Brown	73 (20 shared climbs)	66 (15 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.6 (12 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	46 (mean on-course altitude 35% of band)	0.15 (146 circles, 100% left)
26	Andrew Sutton	74 (13 shared climbs)	36 (11 climbs ≥ 60 s)	2.4 (7 climbs ≥ 90 s)	60 (3/5 circling bouts led to climbs)	10 (mean on-course altitude 33% of band)	0.15 (80 circles, 100% left)
27	Hossain Tefaili	74 (16 shared climbs)	60 (8 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.7 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (4/8 circling bouts led to climbs)	79 (mean on-course altitude 49% of band)	0.11 (74 circles, 22% left)
28	Gary Herman	57 (24 shared climbs)	53 (7 climbs ≥ 60 s)	2.4 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	80 (4/5 circling bouts led to climbs)	44 (mean on-course altitude 35% of band)	0.14 (79 circles, 33% left)
29	Rennick Kerr	75 (26 shared climbs)	76 (6 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	67 (2/3 circling bouts led to climbs)	-16 (mean on-course altitude -10% of band)	0.21 (74 circles, 68% left)
30	Stuart McElroy	72 (16 shared climbs)	56 (7 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.6 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	—	0.20 (41 circles, 80% left)
31	Daniel Rhodes	75 (8 shared climbs)	35 (9 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (7 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	—	0.11 (112 circles, 100% left)
32	Ivo van der Leeden	21 (7 shared climbs)	43 (6 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.1 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	—	— (3 circles, 100% left)

Share of lift turned in that was kept as a climb

Measured in percent · no expected direction

How selective the pilot is about the lift they stop for. Each period of circling of 30 s or more after the start counts as lift that the pilot sampled. If the period overlaps a detected thermal, the pilot kept that lift. If it does not, they turned a few circles and left it. The value is the percentage kept. A low value means they are selective. A high value means they keep almost every climb they turn in. There is no expected direction: selection wins on a strong day and wastes time on a weak one.

Acceptance by hour

Hour	Median accepted (%)	pilots
14:00 AEDT	58	4
15:00 AEDT	92	28
16:00 AEDT	67	27
17:00 AEDT	54	18
18:00 AEDT	0	3

Median per-pilot acceptance %, bucketed by the hour (competition time zone).

How round and consistent the circles were

Measured in ratio · lower is better

Whether the pilot flies clean, repeatable circles, or moves around the thermal. We fit each detected circle by least squares. The RMS fit error divided by the fitted radius measures how round the turn was. The value is the median over all of the circles of the pilot. A lower value means smoother and more consistent turns.

Turn direction across the field: 69% left (5377 circles).

best: clear pattern (0.79)

#	Pilot	GlideSpd	GlideL/D	SpeedToFly	Wide%	Dolphin%
1	Jon Durand	72.3 (16 glides, 53 min gliding)	1.32 (6 legs compared)	0.0 (15 glide→climb pairs)	12 (6 legs completed)	6 (380 of 5866 m gained outside thermals)
2	Rohan Holtkamp	63.7 (20 glides, 68 min gliding)	1.09 (6 legs compared)	-4.1 (19 glide→climb pairs)	13 (6 legs completed)	10 (529 of 5445 m gained outside thermals)
3	Peter Burkitt	64.1 (14 glides, 69 min gliding)	1.05 (6 legs compared)	-4.1 (13 glide→climb pairs)	9 (6 legs completed)	8 (479 of 5885 m gained outside thermals)
4	Olav Opsanger	67.3 (17 glides, 63 min gliding)	1.22 (5 legs compared)	-5.2 (16 glide→climb pairs)	22 (6 legs completed)	9 (500 of 5406 m gained outside thermals)
5	Glen Mcfarlane	62.2 (17 glides, 84 min gliding)	1.08 (6 legs compared)	2.6 (16 glide→climb pairs)	34 (6 legs completed)	5 (368 of 7038 m gained outside thermals)
6	Paul Bissett-Amess	59.9 (21 glides, 74 min gliding)	0.99 (6 legs compared)	2.8 (20 glide→climb pairs)	31 (6 legs completed)	8 (617 of 7680 m gained outside thermals)
7	Steven Crosby	59.2 (23 glides, 87 min gliding)	1.24 (6 legs compared)	1.9 (22 glide→climb pairs)	42 (6 legs completed)	8 (520 of 6596 m gained outside thermals)
8	Vic Hare	69.8 (17 glides, 89 min gliding)	1.34 (6 legs compared)	-3.9 (16 glide→climb pairs)	65 (6 legs completed)	7 (673 of 8989 m gained outside thermals)
9	Rory Duncan	61.6 (28 glides, 84 min gliding)	0.96 (6 legs compared)	1.4 (27 glide→climb pairs)	43 (6 legs completed)	7 (583 of 7988 m gained outside thermals)
10	Todd Wisewould	63.5 (22 glides, 91 min gliding)	0.96 (6 legs compared)	0.0 (21 glide→climb pairs)	45 (6 legs completed)	9 (775 of 8332 m gained outside thermals)
11	Gordon Rigg	61.8 (15 glides, 91 min gliding)	1.14 (6 legs compared)	0.9 (14 glide→climb pairs)	47 (6 legs completed)	1 (58 of 8736 m gained outside thermals)
12	Craig Taylor	62.2 (33 glides, 104 min gliding)	1.03 (6 legs compared)	1.8 (32 glide→climb pairs)	40 (6 legs completed)	15 (1264 of 8268 m gained outside thermals)
13	Rich Reinauer	66.3 (21 glides, 81 min gliding)	1.18 (5 legs compared)	-2.7 (20 glide→climb pairs)	62 (5 legs completed)	8 (665 of 8250 m gained outside thermals)
14	Enda Carrigan	53.9 (27 glides, 95 min gliding)	0.86 (4 legs compared)	2.4 (26 glide→climb pairs)	58 (4 legs completed)	12 (1077 of 8735 m gained outside thermals)
15	Troy Horton	49.8 (20 glides, 79 min gliding)	0.77 (3 legs compared)	-0.4 (19 glide→climb pairs)	41 (3 legs completed)	9 (592 of 6854 m gained outside thermals)
16	Mitch Butler	60.4 (13 glides, 59 min gliding)	1.06 (3 legs compared)	-2.8 (12 glide→climb pairs)	25 (3 legs completed)	9 (318 of 3494 m gained outside thermals)
17	Steve Blenkinsop	55.1 (19 glides, 72 min gliding)	0.97 (3 legs compared)	3.2 (18 glide→climb pairs)	64 (3 legs completed)	6 (369 of 6238 m gained outside thermals)
18	David Drabble	61.3 (21 glides, 81 min gliding)	0.95 (3 legs compared)	-1.8 (20 glide→climb pairs)	85 (3 legs completed)	12 (801 of 6611 m gained outside thermals)
19	John Harriott	53.2 (22 glides, 64 min gliding)	0.97 (2 legs compared)	7.3 (21 glide→climb pairs)	24 (3 legs completed)	16 (562 of 3591 m gained outside thermals)
20	Nils Vesk	51.5 (3 glides, 27 min gliding)	1.00 (2 legs compared)	—	11 (2 legs completed)	5 (76 of 1625 m gained outside thermals)
21	Neil Hooke	48.6 (8 glides, 42 min gliding)	1.25 (2 legs compared)	7.2 (7 glide→climb pairs)	67 (2 legs completed)	13 (282 of 2226 m gained outside thermals)
22	Neale Halsall	57.8 (12 glides, 42 min gliding)	0.89 (2 legs compared)	3.6 (11 glide→climb pairs)	96 (2 legs completed)	8 (325 of 3942 m gained outside thermals)
23	Harrison Rowntree	58.1 (5 glides, 26 min gliding)	0.82 (2 legs compared)	-0.2 (4 glide→climb pairs)	40 (2 legs completed)	3 (75 of 2521 m gained outside thermals)
24	Ward Gunn	59.3 (23 glides, 65 min gliding)	1.00 (2 legs compared)	-4.9 (22 glide→climb pairs)	188 (2 legs completed)	23 (935 of 4010 m gained outside thermals)
25	Trent Brown	52.0 (3 glides, 18 min gliding)	0.92 (1 leg compared)	—	4 (1 leg completed)	6 (39 of 614 m gained outside thermals)
26	Andrew Sutton	54.2 (8 glides, 24 min gliding)	0.55 (1 leg compared)	-8.7 (7 glide→climb pairs)	31 (1 leg completed)	18 (189 of 1051 m gained outside thermals)
27	Hossain Tefaili	53.3 (7 glides, 33 min gliding)	0.97 (1 leg compared)	1.6 (6 glide→climb pairs)	277 (1 leg completed)	5 (188 of 3770 m gained outside thermals)
28	Gary Herman	49.4 (6 glides, 25 min gliding)	1.15 (1 leg compared)	0.0 (5 glide→climb pairs)	61 (1 leg completed)	16 (224 of 1387 m gained outside thermals)
29	Rennick Kerr	38.4 (3 glides, 14 min gliding)	—	—	—	—
30	Stuart McElroy	—	—	—	—	—
31	Daniel Rhodes	—	—	—	—	—
32	Ivo van der Leeden	—	—	—	—	—

Glide speed between climbs

Measured in kilometres per hour · higher is better

Field glide speed: median 59.3 km/h · p90 66.5 km/h (29 pilots)

best: clear pattern (0.58)

#	Pilot	Floor%	LowSaves	km/climb	Search%
1	Jon Durand	55 (11 descents, lowest 19% of band)	0.0	3.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 54%)	24
2	Rohan Holtkamp	70 (15 descents, lowest -31% of band)	0.0	2.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 42%)	26
3	Peter Burkitt	50 (11 descents, lowest -2% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 5% of band)	3.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 57%)	23
4	Olav Opsanger	58 (12 descents, lowest 22% of band)	0.0	2.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 47%)	21
5	Glen Mcfarlane	37 (11 descents, lowest -5% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from -1% of band)	3.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 45%)	25
6	Paul Bissett-Amess	58 (11 descents, lowest -11% of band)	3.0 (deepest save from 2% of band)	2.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 52%)	23
7	Steven Crosby	73 (13 descents, lowest 38% of band)	0.0	2.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 41%)	26
8	Vic Hare	46 (13 descents, lowest -13% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from -7% of band)	2.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 52%)	26
9	Rory Duncan	38 (15 descents, lowest -2% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from -2% of band)	1.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 50%)	26
10	Todd Wisewould	52 (12 descents, lowest 32% of band)	0.0	2.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 60%)	28
11	Gordon Rigg	19 (11 descents, lowest -27% of band)	4.0 (deepest save from -27% of band)	4.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 50%)	23
12	Craig Taylor	25 (13 descents, lowest -8% of band)	4.0 (deepest save from -2% of band)	1.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 47%)	41
13	Rich Reinauer	56 (13 descents, lowest -2% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 2% of band)	2.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 60%)	24
14	Enda Carrigan	21 (13 descents, lowest -27% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -3% of band)	1.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 59%)	31
15	Troy Horton	17 (12 descents, lowest -9% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from -1% of band)	1.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 43%)	24
16	Mitch Butler	41 (7 descents, lowest 1% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 11% of band)	2.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 50%)	34
17	Steve Blenkinsop	5 (9 descents, lowest -30% of band)	4.0 (deepest save from -4% of band)	1.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 43%)	27
18	David Drabble	26 (10 descents, lowest -15% of band)	0.0	1.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 44%)	36
19	John Harriott	70 (10 descents, lowest -3% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -3% of band)	1.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 55%)	40
20	Nils Vesk	43 (2 descents, lowest 29% of band)	0.0	7.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 31%)	19
21	Neil Hooke	47 (4 descents, lowest -26% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -15% of band)	2.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 44%)	21
22	Neale Halsall	4 (9 descents, lowest -15% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 1% of band)	1.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 56%)	47
23	Harrison Rowntree	-9 (2 descents, lowest -20% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -20% of band)	5.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 70%)	25
24	Ward Gunn	51 (6 descents, lowest 20% of band)	0.0	0.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 38%)	40
25	Trent Brown	22 (2 descents, lowest 7% of band)	0.0	—	21
26	Andrew Sutton	-0 (3 descents, lowest -8% of band)	0.0	—	64
27	Hossain Tefaili	36 (3 descents, lowest 25% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -10% of band)	—	31
28	Gary Herman	5 (2 descents, lowest -29% of band)	0.0	—	42
29	Rennick Kerr	—	0.0	—	80
30	Stuart McElroy	—	—	—	—
31	Daniel Rhodes	—	0.0	—	15
32	Ivo van der Leeden	—	—	—	—

Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb

Measured in percent · lower is better

Time that goes into neither a climb nor progress down the course. This is the time spent to find lift, to stay up, and to decide what to do next. The value is the share of the speed-section time, from the start to ESS or to the landing, in which the pilot neither climbed in a thermal nor glided with real net speed. A lower value means less time lost between climbs.

Speed-section phase shares, field p25/median/p75: climb 31/37/39% · glide 29/34/38% · search 23/26/35%

best: some pattern (0.47)

#	Pilot	InGaggle%	Marked%	LeaveWin%
1	Jon Durand	41	35 (9/26 climbs marked)	100 (3W–0L (3 departures))
2	Rohan Holtkamp	44	29 (8/28 climbs marked)	—
3	Peter Burkitt	44	23 (5/22 climbs marked)	—
4	Olav Opsanger	49	32 (9/28 climbs marked)	100 (2W–0L (2 departures))
5	Glen Mcfarlane	19	15 (4/26 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
6	Paul Bissett-Amess	26	21 (8/39 climbs marked)	100 (2W–0L (2 departures))
7	Steven Crosby	45	54 (20/37 climbs marked)	0 (0W–2L (2 departures))
8	Vic Hare	47	53 (16/30 climbs marked)	—
9	Rory Duncan	25	34 (15/44 climbs marked)	100 (3W–0L (3 departures))
10	Todd Wisewould	35	55 (22/40 climbs marked)	33 (1W–2L (3 departures))
11	Gordon Rigg	14	28 (5/18 climbs marked)	100 (2W–0L (2 departures))
12	Craig Taylor	27	31 (17/55 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
13	Rich Reinauer	49	46 (17/37 climbs marked)	50 (1W–1L (2 departures))
14	Enda Carrigan	23	24 (12/49 climbs marked)	50 (2W–2L (4 departures))
15	Troy Horton	7	18 (7/38 climbs marked)	—
16	Mitch Butler	43	48 (11/23 climbs marked)	—
17	Steve Blenkinsop	32	48 (14/29 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
18	David Drabble	23	33 (12/36 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
19	John Harriott	0	0 (0/33 climbs marked)	—
20	Nils Vesk	46	75 (3/4 climbs marked)	100 (2W–0L (2 departures))
21	Neil Hooke	12	29 (4/14 climbs marked)	0 (0W–2L (2 departures))
22	Neale Halsall	23	63 (12/19 climbs marked)	0 (0W–2L (2 departures))
23	Harrison Rowntree	29	80 (4/5 climbs marked)	100 (2W–0L (2 departures))
24	Ward Gunn	45	66 (23/35 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
25	Trent Brown	0	25 (1/4 climbs marked)	—
26	Andrew Sutton	27	20 (2/10 climbs marked)	—
27	Hossain Tefaili	28	50 (5/10 climbs marked)	—
28	Gary Herman	23	54 (7/13 climbs marked)	—
29	Rennick Kerr	0	33 (1/3 climbs marked)	—
30	Stuart McElroy	—	—	—
31	Daniel Rhodes	0	—	—
32	Ivo van der Leeden	—	—	—

Time spent flying with a gaggle

Measured in percent · no expected direction

Whether the pilot raced with other pilots or alone. The value is the share of their flying time after the start inside a detected gaggle, that is, clustered with one other racing pilot or more on the shared time grid. There is no expected direction. A gaggle increases the power to search for lift, but it also holds a pilot to its own speed. The sign of the correlation says which of the two occurred here.

49 gaggle episodes detected (peak size 8 pilots).

best: clear pattern (0.53)

#	Pilot	StartDly	TimeLost	Behind	Spare m	FinalGl
1	Jon Durand	11	0	0.0	270	6.63 (left last climb 7.6 km out at 1423 m)
2	Rohan Holtkamp	110	25	10.0	91	3.87 (left last climb 6.4 km out at 1934 m)
3	Peter Burkitt	73	137	12.3	184	9.67 (left last climb 6.7 km out at 970 m)
4	Olav Opsanger	56	77	13.1	222	5.57 (left last climb 7.1 km out at 1546 m)
5	Glen Mcfarlane	159	615	44.9	329	2.11 (left last climb 4.2 km out at 2256 m)
6	Paul Bissett-Amess	574	1572	54.1	245	6.09 (left last climb 7.7 km out at 1539 m)
7	Steven Crosby	208	1642	56.4	240	3.66 (left last climb 6.3 km out at 1996 m)
8	Vic Hare	76	1828	57.0	37	1.65 (left last climb 3.5 km out at 2410 m)
9	Rory Duncan	286	1634	60.2	105	2.20 (left last climb 3.9 km out at 2062 m)
10	Todd Wisewould	254	1683	66.1	59	1.94 (left last climb 4.5 km out at 2587 m)
11	Gordon Rigg	59	3072	67.9	181	1.44 (left last climb 3.1 km out at 2415 m)
12	Craig Taylor	234	3720	80.7	258	5.02 (left last climb 8.5 km out at 1967 m)
13	Rich Reinauer	78	1259	—	—	2.52 (left last climb 4.5 km out at 2051 m)
14	Enda Carrigan	387	2443	—	—	8.05 (left last climb 5.9 km out at 1011 m)
15	Troy Horton	321	1378	—	—	4.37 (left last climb 5.2 km out at 1469 m)
16	Mitch Butler	164	441	—	—	3.63 (left last climb 3.3 km out at 1181 m)
17	Steve Blenkinsop	693	1572	—	—	24.25 (left last climb 4.8 km out at 472 m)
18	David Drabble	649	2817	—	—	14.68 (left last climb 7.9 km out at 816 m)
19	John Harriott	256	1001	—	—	4.49 (left last climb 6.8 km out at 1786 m)
20	Nils Vesk	238	0	—	—	6.84 (left last climb 11.3 km out at 1928 m)
21	Neil Hooke	406	672	—	—	8.23 (left last climb 12.5 km out at 1798 m)
22	Neale Halsall	377	1293	—	—	30.31 (left last climb 12.8 km out at 697 m)
23	Harrison Rowntree	58	0	—	—	—
24	Ward Gunn	304	3226	—	—	—
25	Trent Brown	134	0	—	—	15.21 (left last climb 12.3 km out at 1083 m)
26	Andrew Sutton	328	74	—	—	9.21 (left last climb 6.9 km out at 1028 m)
27	Hossain Tefaili	862	2202	—	—	5.93 (left last climb 9.4 km out at 1861 m)
28	Gary Herman	889	411	—	—	20.60 (left last climb 7.1 km out at 623 m)
29	Rennick Kerr	4107	—	—	—	9.58 (left last climb 3.8 km out at 670 m)
30	Stuart McElroy	—	—	—	—	—
31	Daniel Rhodes	94	—	—	—	—
32	Ivo van der Leeden	—	—	—	—	—

How long after the gate opened the pilot started

Measured in seconds · lower is better

Start execution

Pilot	Delay	Alt m	Band %	Behind km
Jon Durand	0:11	2112	72	6.8
Rohan Holtkamp	1:50	2383	88	0.5
Peter Burkitt	1:13	2473	94	0.0
Olav Opsanger	0:56	2204	77	6.8
Glen Mcfarlane	2:39	2424	90	7.7
Paul Bissett-Amess	9:34	1885	58	6.9
Steven Crosby	3:28	2297	83	3.7
Vic Hare	1:16	2175	75	6.9
Rory Duncan	4:46	2174	75	4.6
Todd Wisewould	4:14	2463	93	4.0
Gordon Rigg	0:59	2064	69	6.8
Craig Taylor	3:54	2328	85	7.0
Rich Reinauer	1:18	2227	79	6.9
Enda Carrigan	6:27	2538	97	4.4
Troy Horton	5:21	2399	89	6.9
Mitch Butler	2:44	2583	100	6.9
Steve Blenkinsop	11:33	1732	48	6.2
David Drabble	10:49	2353	86	9.0
John Harriott	4:16	2533	97	8.7
Nils Vesk	3:58	2348	86	7.1
Neil Hooke	6:46	2323	84	6.2
Neale Halsall	6:17	1976	63	3.8
Harrison Rowntree	0:58	1938	61	8.4
Ward Gunn	5:04	2385	88	6.1
Trent Brown	2:14	2340	85	6.8
Andrew Sutton	5:28	2120	72	6.8
Hossain Tefaili	14:22	1053	7	7.1
Gary Herman	14:49	2002	65	6.7
Rennick Kerr	68:27	1284	21	2.5
Daniel Rhodes	1:34	2154	74	9.5

Delay = gate taken → SSS crossing. Behind km = extra distance to the next turnpoint vs the furthest-along already-started pilot at the moment of this start (time grid).

Race time lost against the fastest pilots, leg by leg

Measured in seconds · lower is better

For each completed speed-section leg, we compare the leg time of the pilot with the mean of the top 10 pilots by rank who completed that leg. Only the losses count, and we add them together. The sum of the leg times is the race time, and the rank defines the reference, so this metric follows the result by construction. Read the waterfall table, which shows every leg against the task winner, for the diagnosis. Do not read the correlation as a finding.

Rohan Holtkamp, over 6 compared legs: +8:22 overall. — marks a leg the pilot or the winner did not complete; the table below has every pilot.

Leg waterfall — leg time vs the task winner

Pilot	SSS→HALFWY	HALFWY→CUDGWE	CUDGWE→TINTAL	TINTAL→KANGCK	KANGCK→CUDG	CUDG→ESS	Total
Jon Durand	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00
Rohan Holtkamp	+1:08	+2:05	+0:50	+0:01	+2:53	+1:25	+8:22
Peter Burkitt	+1:10	+2:45	+0:32	+1:01	+2:31	+3:17	+11:17
Olav Opsanger	+0:04	-0:19	-0:17	+1:44	+10:43	+0:25	+12:20
Glen Mcfarlane	+9:30	+5:01	+10:06	+2:58	+14:24	+0:26	+42:24
Paul Bissett-Amess	+30:50	-3:33	+6:17	+8:22	+1:50	+0:59	+44:44
Steven Crosby	+21:53	+17:20	+1:08	+7:20	+4:43	+0:45	+53:09
Vic Hare	+0:36	+7:31	+22:24	+6:44	+17:30	+1:11	+55:56
Rory Duncan	+6:59	+4:41	+2:29	+13:47	+27:29	+0:11	+55:36
Todd Wisewould	+25:04	+13:09	+6:02	+3:59	+12:25	+1:22	+62:02
Gordon Rigg	+0:32	-4:09	+9:48	+26:49	+33:35	+0:33	+67:08
Craig Taylor	+5:15	+0:28	+14:03	+57:30	-0:26	+0:10	+76:59
Rich Reinauer	+2:42	+5:16	+23:50	+4:17	+11:08	—	+47:14
Enda Carrigan	+20:49	+7:17	+8:47	+27:57	—	—	+64:51
Troy Horton	+10:00	+18:32	+13:58	—	—	—	+42:30
Mitch Butler	+10:26	-2:40	+11:36	—	—	—	+19:21
Steve Blenkinsop	+27:46	+11:44	+6:14	—	—	—	+45:44
David Drabble	+17:07	+29:55	+19:27	—	—	—	+66:29
John Harriott	+22:55	+5:38	+7:40	—	—	—	+36:13
Nils Vesk	+4:57	-0:11	—	—	—	—	+4:45
Neil Hooke	+8:19	+16:04	—	—	—	—	+24:22
Neale Halsall	+26:30	+9:38	—	—	—	—	+36:09
Harrison Rowntree	+9:24	-0:48	—	—	—	—	+8:36
Ward Gunn	+34:00	+34:21	—	—	—	—	+68:21
Trent Brown	+1:08	—	—	—	—	—	+1:08
Andrew Sutton	+10:57	—	—	—	—	—	+10:57
Hossain Tefaili	+46:25	—	—	—	—	—	+46:25
Gary Herman	+16:34	—	—	—	—	—	+16:34

Each cell is the leg time of this pilot minus the leg time of the winner. A + value is slower than the winner, and a − value is faster. A — means that the pilot or the winner did not complete the leg.

The scalar metric instead adds the losses against the mean of the top 10 pilots who completed each leg. A leg flown faster than that reference contributes 0.

Race time behind the leader at ESS

Measured in minutes · lower is better

At each speed-section turnpoint, we compare the elapsed race time of the pilot, which is the reaching time minus their own start, with the fastest pilot to that turnpoint. The value is the minutes behind at ESS. It follows the final rank almost exactly, because this metric is the sanity check of the evaluation.

A line that stops early is a pilot who landed. The top 5 are coloured; the table below has every pilot.

Horserace — minutes behind the leader at each turnpoint

Pilot	ELLIOT	HALFWY	CUDGWE	TINTAL	KANGCK	CUDG	NCORGL
Jon Durand	0.0	0.0	2.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Rohan Holtkamp	1.6	2.8	7.7	5.7	5.7	8.6	10.0
Peter Burkitt	1.0	2.2	7.8	5.5	6.5	9.0	12.3
Olav Opsanger	0.7	0.8	3.3	0.2	1.9	12.7	13.1
Glen Mcfarlane	2.5	12.0	19.8	27.1	30.0	44.4	44.9
Paul Bissett-Amess	9.4	40.2	39.5	42.9	51.3	53.1	54.1
Steven Crosby	3.3	25.1	45.3	43.6	50.9	55.7	56.4
Vic Hare	1.1	1.7	12.0	31.6	38.3	55.8	57.0
Rory Duncan	4.6	11.6	19.1	18.7	32.5	60.0	60.2
Todd Wisewould	4.0	29.1	45.1	48.3	52.3	64.7	66.1
Gordon Rigg	0.8	1.3	0.0	7.0	33.8	67.4	67.9
Craig Taylor	3.7	9.0	12.3	23.5	81.0	80.5	80.7
Rich Reinauer	1.1	3.8	11.9	32.9	37.2	48.3	—
Enda Carrigan	6.3	27.1	37.2	43.1	71.1	—	—
Troy Horton	5.2	15.2	36.5	47.7	—	—	—
Mitch Butler	2.5	13.0	13.1	21.9	—	—	—
Steve Blenkinsop	11.4	39.1	53.7	57.1	—	—	—
David Drabble	10.6	27.7	60.5	77.1	—	—	—
John Harriott	4.1	27.0	35.5	40.3	—	—	—
Nils Vesk	3.8	8.7	11.4	—	—	—	—
Neil Hooke	6.6	14.9	33.8	—	—	—	—
Neale Halsall	6.1	32.6	45.1	—	—	—	—
Harrison Rowntree	0.8	10.2	12.2	—	—	—	—
Ward Gunn	4.9	38.9	76.0	—	—	—	—
Trent Brown	2.0	3.2	—	—	—	—	—
Andrew Sutton	5.3	16.2	—	—	—	—	—
Hossain Tefaili	14.2	60.6	—	—	—	—	—
Gary Herman	14.6	31.2	—	—	—	—	—
Rennick Kerr	68.3	—	—	—	—	—	—
Daniel Rhodes	1.4	—	—	—	—	—	—

The elapsed race time, from the pilot’s own start, minus the fastest elapsed time to that turnpoint. A — means that the pilot did not reach the turnpoint.

Arriving at ESS with height to spare

Measured in metres · lower is better

Height still available at ESS that the pilot no longer needed. That altitude was available for more speed, and the pilot did not use it. The value is the altitude at ESS minus the altitude needed to glide to goal at the standard glide ratio of the sport, which is 5.0 for HG and 4.0 for PG (S7F §13.4.6). A large positive margin means the pilot arrived too high. A margin near zero means they flew the final glide with little height to spare.

ESS altitude margin over final glide: top-10 median 203 m (n=10) vs rest median 220 m (n=2).

Footnotes

How the field is compared

Everything that compares pilots to each other uses one shared clock. That includes gaggles, shared thermals, and the position of each pilot at the same moment. GlideComp resamples every track onto a common 10-second grid. Two pilots are therefore always compared at the same instant, whatever rate their instruments logged at.

Metric glossary

How GlideComp measures every metric on this page. On screen, the ⓘ beside a metric opens the same description in place. On paper, this section is the reference for all of them.

Day profile & wind

The day’s wind, hour by hour and leg by leg(“Wind” in tables): Measured in kilometres per hour · no expected direction
What the air did, read from the field itself. We estimate the wind from the circling of every pilot. The first method is the drift of the circle centre, and the second method, used when the first is not available, is the modulation of the ground speed. We then combine the estimates two ways. The table by hour of day shows how the wind increased and changed direction through the day. The table by speed-section leg shows the wind on each part of the course. This metric describes the day, so it has no value for each pilot.
How strong the day’s climbs were, hour by hour(“Climb/hr” in tables): Measured in metres per second · no expected direction
When the day started, reached its peak, and ended. We group the thermal climbs of all pilots by the hour in which each climb started, labelled in the time zone of the competition. The median and the 90th-percentile average climb rate for each hour show how the lift developed. This metric describes the day, so it has no value for each pilot.
Share of the flight spent in air that wasn’t sinking(“NonSink%” in tables): Measured in percent · no expected direction
How much of the flight was in air worth being in. The value is the share of the airborne time of a pilot, on the shared grid, with a 30 s-smoothed vario at or above −0.5 m/s. The time they flew, the line they steered and the way the flight ended all feed this value. It is therefore a reading of the day as much as of the pilot. There is no expected direction, and the sign of the correlation is the finding. The timing table compares the window of the day’s best climbs against the time when the field launched.

Climbing

Climbing faster than the pilots sharing the thermal(“Out-climb” in tables): Measured in percent · higher is better
When this pilot and other pilots were in the SAME thermal, who climbed faster? In every thermal that two pilots or more used, we rank each use by its average climb rate. The percentile of a use is the share of uses that were strictly slower. The value is the duration-weighted mean percentile over the shared climbs of the pilot. 50% is exactly average. 80% means they climbed faster than four in five of the pilots they shared lift with. The shared thermal is what separates centring skill from thermal selection: a pilot who only found better air gets no higher value here.
Time to core thermals(“Core s” in tables): Measured in seconds · lower is better
How long the pilot takes to get into the best lift after they arrive in a thermal. For each thermal of 60 s or more, we measure the seconds from the entry until the 30 s rolling climb rate first reaches 90% of its peak in that thermal. The value is the median across the thermals of the pilot. Every second here is a second spent climbing slower than the thermal can carry them.
Climb rate at thermal exit(“LeaveRate” in tables): Measured in metres per second · no expected direction
The median climb rate that the pilot left thermals at. For each thermal of 90 s or more, we take the climb rate over its final 30 s. A high value means they leave lift that still works. A low value means they stay in a climb until nothing is left. This is an absolute rate, so read it against the day: compare it with the median climb in "How strong the day’s climbs were". A pilot who leaves at 1.5 m/s leaves a good climb on a 1 m/s day, and takes the worst lift available on a 4 m/s day. There is no expected direction. The sign of the correlation says which behaviour paid on this task.
Share of lift turned in that was kept as a climb(“Kept%” in tables): Measured in percent · no expected direction
How selective the pilot is about the lift they stop for. Each period of circling of 30 s or more after the start counts as lift that the pilot sampled. If the period overlaps a detected thermal, the pilot kept that lift. If it does not, they turned a few circles and left it. The value is the percentage kept. A low value means they are selective. A high value means they keep almost every climb they turn in. There is no expected direction: selection wins on a strong day and wastes time on a weak one.
How much of the thermal the pilot climbed before leaving it(“TopOut%” in tables): Measured in percent · no expected direction
Does the pilot climb to the top of every thermal, or leave with lift still above them? We take the altitude where they left each thermal after the start, as a percentage of the day’s working band. 0% is the floor of the field and 100% is its ceiling. The value is the median. There is no expected direction: a climb to the top buys height in reserve, and an early departure buys time.
How round and consistent the circles were(“Round” in tables): Measured in ratio · lower is better
Whether the pilot flies clean, repeatable circles, or moves around the thermal. We fit each detected circle by least squares. The RMS fit error divided by the fitted radius measures how round the turn was. The value is the median over all of the circles of the pilot. A lower value means smoother and more consistent turns.

Gliding

Glide speed between climbs(“GlideSpd” in tables): Measured in kilometres per hour · higher is better
How fast the pilot moves down the course when they are on a glide. The value is the duration-weighted mean ground speed over every glide after the start, which is the glide distance divided by the glide time. A higher value means more ground covered in each minute between climbs.
Glide L/D against the field median(“GlideL/D” in tables): Measured in ratio · higher is better
Whether the pilot found better air on glide than the other pilots on the same leg. For each completed speed-section leg, we take the pilot's glide-phase L/D. That is the path distance divided by the net altitude lost during the glides, and we skip a leg that loses less than 100 m. We divide it by the median L/D of the field on that same leg, and then average over the legs. 1.10 means the pilot glided 10% further for each metre lost than the usual pilot on those legs.
Gliding faster when the next climb is stronger(“SpeedToFly” in tables): Measured in kilometres per hour · higher is better
Speed to fly: the pilot flies faster when a good climb is in front of them, and slower when it is not. We pair each glide after the start with the climb rate of the next thermal that starts within 5 minutes. The value is the mean glide speed before climbs stronger than the median, minus the mean glide speed before weaker climbs. +8 km/h means the pilot flew 8 km/h faster into the good climbs. This is a PROXY, and not true speed to fly, because there is no glider polar data.
Gliding wide of the optimal course line(“Wide%” in tables): Measured in percent · lower is better
How much further the pilot flew on glide than the optimised course line needed. 0% is a flight exactly along the line, and 12% is a glide 12% further than necessary. On each completed speed-section leg, we compare the pilot's route with the optimised distance of the leg, weighted by that optimised distance. Only the glides are measured at their full path length. Circling and searching contribute their entry-to-exit displacement instead. A climb or a search for lift therefore never reads as a wide line, because a pilot chooses a line only on glide. 0% is a real value that a pilot can reach: a pilot who flies the line of the optimiser scores exactly zero.
Share of the height gain made outside thermals(“Dolphin%” in tables): Measured in percent · no expected direction
Dolphin flying: how much of the height that the pilot gained came outside of circling. The value is the share of the altitude gain after the start, smoothed over 10 s, that the pilot made outside a detected thermal. There is no expected direction. The sign of the correlation shows whether dolphin flying paid on this day.

Decision-making

How low the pilot gets between climbs(“Floor%” in tables): Measured in percent · no expected direction
How low the pilot goes before the next climb. A high value is a race with height in reserve, and a low value is a flight that goes down near the ground. We take each pair of climbs that the pilot made after the start, and we find the lowest point between them. We keep only the gaps that go down 100 m or more, because a top-up between two climbs is not a descent. We do not count a sled run or the glide to goal, because the pilot made no climb after them. The value is the median of those low points, as a percentage of the day's working band. 0% is where the lowest tenth of the field's climbs started, and 100% is where the highest tenth stopped. Thus a negative value shows that the pilot went lower than almost all of the field. The pilot must have two or more of these descents. There is no expected direction. The sign of the correlation says whether height in reserve pays.
Low saves dug out from the bottom of the band(“LowSaves” in tables): Measured in count · no expected direction
How many times the pilot got low and climbed out again. We count the climbs after the start that the pilot entered below 15% of the working band, and that then gained 300 m or more. Those are true low saves. Zero is a real value, and not a missing one: it means the pilot never got that low. There is no expected direction. The sign of the correlation says whether a climb-out or a flight that stays high pays.
Distance covered between climbs(“km/climb” in tables): Measured in kilometres · higher is better
How far the pilot gets down the course before they must stop and circle again. This is the direct reading of how often they stop. The value is the scored flown distance divided by the number of thermals taken after the start, so 3 km means three kilometres of course for each climb. The pilot must fly 20 km or more. The note of each pilot adds their mean climb percentile inside shared thermals, so you can read the number of stops together with the climb strength. Long legs between weak climbs is a different day from long legs between strong ones.
Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb(“Search%” in tables): Measured in percent · lower is better
Time that goes into neither a climb nor progress down the course. This is the time spent to find lift, to stay up, and to decide what to do next. The value is the share of the speed-section time, from the start to ESS or to the landing, in which the pilot neither climbed in a thermal nor glided with real net speed. A lower value means less time lost between climbs.

Gaggle

Time spent flying with a gaggle(“InGaggle%” in tables): Measured in percent · no expected direction
Whether the pilot raced with other pilots or alone. The value is the share of their flying time after the start inside a detected gaggle, that is, clustered with one other racing pilot or more on the shared time grid. There is no expected direction. A gaggle increases the power to search for lift, but it also holds a pilot to its own speed. The sign of the correlation says which of the two occurred here.
Climbs joined on another pilot's marker(“Marked%” in tables): Measured in percent · no expected direction
How much of the lift of the pilot another pilot found first. The value is the share of their climbs after the start where another pilot was already established in the same thermal when they arrived. Established means 30 s or more into the climb, and still climbing. A high value means they mostly climb on the markers of other pilots. A low value means they find their own air. There is no expected direction. A marker is free information, but it puts a pilot where the last climb was, and not where the next one is.
How often leaving the gaggle paid off(“LeaveWin%” in tables): Measured in percent · no expected direction
When a pilot leaves a gaggle that continues to fly, did the departure pay off? We compare the arrival of the pilot who left at the next turnpoint against the median arrival of the pilots who stayed. A win rate of more than 50% means their departures beat the gaggle. A pilot counts as a pilot who stayed only if they were still in the gaggle after the split, and reached that turnpoint after it.

Race craft

How long after the gate opened the pilot started(“StartDly” in tables): Measured in seconds · lower is better
Every second between the opening of the gate and the crossing of the start line is a second lost for nothing. The value is the seconds from the start gate taken to the scored SSS crossing. On an elapsed-time task, the pilot’s own crossing is the reference, so the delay is 0 by definition. The start table adds the crossing altitude, and the distance behind the leading pilot who had already started.
Race time lost against the fastest pilots, leg by leg(“TimeLost” in tables): Measured in seconds · lower is better
For each completed speed-section leg, we compare the leg time of the pilot with the mean of the top 10 pilots by rank who completed that leg. Only the losses count, and we add them together. The sum of the leg times is the race time, and the rank defines the reference, so this metric follows the result by construction. Read the waterfall table, which shows every leg against the task winner, for the diagnosis. Do not read the correlation as a finding.
Race time behind the leader at ESS(“Behind” in tables): Measured in minutes · lower is better
At each speed-section turnpoint, we compare the elapsed race time of the pilot, which is the reaching time minus their own start, with the fastest pilot to that turnpoint. The value is the minutes behind at ESS. It follows the final rank almost exactly, because this metric is the sanity check of the evaluation.
Arriving at ESS with height to spare(“Spare m” in tables): Measured in metres · lower is better
Height still available at ESS that the pilot no longer needed. That altitude was available for more speed, and the pilot did not use it. The value is the altitude at ESS minus the altitude needed to glide to goal at the standard glide ratio of the sport, which is 5.0 for HG and 4.0 for PG (S7F §13.4.6). A large positive margin means the pilot arrived too high. A margin near zero means they flew the final glide with little height to spare.
Final glide committed to when leaving the last climb(“FinalGl” in tables): Measured in ratio · no expected direction
How optimistic the pilot was about their final glide. A pilot wins or loses a task by the height at which they leave the last climb. At the last climb of the pilot before ESS, or before the landing, we divide the distance to goal by their height above goal. That is the glide ratio they committed to. 8 means they left and needed 8:1 to make goal. The value counts only when that climb ended within 1.5 times the length of the last course leg longer than 1 km from goal — when ESS and goal share a waypoint, the zero-length hop between them is not that leg. There is no expected direction: a marginal glide wins if it connects, and loses if it does not.

Task 1 (Open)

What the weather did

From the weather model

From the pilots' tracks

The day's thermals

Thermal at 14:12 AEDT — 14 pilots, 19 climbs

Which behaviours went with better ranks

Glide speed between climbs

Metrics with a clear pattern, plotted against rank

Glide speed between climbs

How low the pilot gets between climbs

How much of the thermal the pilot climbed before leaving it

Final glide committed to when leaving the last climb

How long after the gate opened the pilot started

Outcome checks

The whole field at a glance

Pilot style clusters

The metrics in detail

Day profile & windbest: could be chance (0.14)

Climbingbest: clear pattern (0.53)

Share of lift turned in that was kept as a climb

Acceptance by hour

How round and consistent the circles were

Glidingbest: clear pattern (0.79)

Glide speed between climbs

Decision-makingbest: clear pattern (0.58)

Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb

Gagglebest: some pattern (0.47)

Race craftbest: clear pattern (0.53)

Footnotes

How to read the table

How the field is compared

Metric glossary

Day profile & wind

Climbing

Gliding

Decision-making

Gaggle

Race craft

best: could be chance (0.14)

best: clear pattern (0.53)

best: clear pattern (0.79)

best: clear pattern (0.58)

best: some pattern (0.47)

best: clear pattern (0.53)