Task 3 (Open)

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

The optimised route. Pilots fly it in the direction of the arrows. The radii, the leg distances and the start times are on the task page.

Analysis computed

Pilots: 48
Airtime: 108h (13:00–17:34 AEDT)
Thermals: 18758 shared by 2+ pilots
Working band: 911–2155 m
Airtime split: 37%climbing
27%gliding
36%searching

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 average the vectors 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 — measured and modelled alike — share that one time axis, so a vertical scan compares the two at the same moment. Arrows fly WITH the wind — direction figures are degrees the wind blows from; 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 117 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.

Start	Pilots	Height band	Mean climb	Strongest side
13:02 AEDT	7	800–1500 m	+1.4 m/s	W
13:11 AEDT	8	900–1700 m	+1.6 m/s	SW
13:16 AEDT	8	1300–2000 m	+1.0 m/s	NW
13:17 AEDT	8	700–1800 m	+1.6 m/s	SW
13:20 AEDT	8	800–2200 m	+1.7 m/s	NE
13:29 AEDT	8	800–2000 m	+1.1 m/s	E
13:33 AEDT	10	1100–2300 m	+1.7 m/s	SE
13:34 AEDT	6	1500–2300 m	+2.0 m/s	NE
13:35 AEDT	6	800–1900 m	+2.0 m/s	NW
13:45 AEDT	11	800–2300 m	+1.9 m/s	W
13:49 AEDT	8	1400–2400 m	+1.6 m/s	N
13:51 AEDT	17	800–2500 m	+1.8 m/s	N
13:54 AEDT	8	1000–2100 m	+1.8 m/s	N
13:56 AEDT	7	1600–2600 m	+1.7 m/s	SW
14:00 AEDT	9	1100–2400 m	+2.1 m/s	W
14:09 AEDT	6	1200–2300 m	+1.8 m/s	SE
14:11 AEDT	5	900–2000 m	+1.6 m/s	SW
14:17 AEDT	7	700–1900 m	+1.1 m/s	NW
14:20 AEDT	10	1000–2200 m	+1.5 m/s	S
14:20 AEDT	6	1600–2300 m	+1.3 m/s	S
14:22 AEDT	6	1100–1800 m	+1.6 m/s	SE
14:22 AEDT	7	1100–2400 m	+1.6 m/s	NW
14:26 AEDT	9	1000–1900 m	+1.8 m/s	NW
14:28 AEDT	5	1000–2200 m	+2.4 m/s	SW
14:31 AEDT	11	1800–2500 m	+1.9 m/s	W
14:32 AEDT	9	1500–2300 m	+1.9 m/s	E
14:33 AEDT	9	1400–2400 m	+2.0 m/s	NE
14:34 AEDT	8	900–2300 m	+1.8 m/s	SE
14:35 AEDT	8	1000–2600 m	+2.2 m/s	SE
14:37 AEDT	6	700–1400 m	+1.5 m/s	SW
14:41 AEDT	6	800–1700 m	+1.3 m/s	E
14:51 AEDT	9	1000–1800 m	+1.4 m/s	E
14:53 AEDT	7	1100–1900 m	+1.3 m/s	W
14:59 AEDT	8	900–1700 m	+1.8 m/s	SE
15:07 AEDT	5	1200–2600 m	+2.2 m/s	SW
15:08 AEDT	7	1100–2600 m	+1.8 m/s	SE
15:23 AEDT	11	900–2300 m	+2.0 m/s	NW
15:54 AEDT	6	800–1900 m	+0.9 m/s	N
16:06 AEDT	7	1100–2100 m	+1.5 m/s	SW
16:19 AEDT	13	700–2000 m	+1.6 m/s	SW

Thermal at 13:51 AEDT — 17 pilots, 49 climbs

Wind 9.8 km/h from 260° (W), measured from 305 circle estimates in the pilots' own tracks.
Model wind cross-check loading…
Leans 16° from vertical toward 120° (ESE), within 40° of downwind.
Strongest on the N side of the core at +2.0 m/s against +1.8 m/s on the S side.
Multiple cores in 8 of 17 bands between 900 and 2200 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
Olav Opsanger	-0.8 m/s	+2.3 m/s	+13.0 m/s
Enda Carrigan	-3.0 m/s	+2.3 m/s	+10.0 m/s
Peter Burkitt	-1.0 m/s	+2.0 m/s	+5.5 m/s
Richard Martin	-0.5 m/s	+2.0 m/s	+4.8 m/s
Jay Kubeil	-2.0 m/s	+1.8 m/s	+4.8 m/s
Andrew Sutton	-0.7 m/s	+1.8 m/s	+4.3 m/s
Peter Garrone	-2.0 m/s	+1.8 m/s	+6.8 m/s
Steve Docherty	-2.0 m/s	+1.5 m/s	+4.3 m/s
Adrian Connor	-0.8 m/s	+1.5 m/s	+3.0 m/s
Peter Tolhurst	-2.0 m/s	+1.3 m/s	+3.5 m/s
Gary Herman	-1.5 m/s	+1.3 m/s	+3.3 m/s
Bruce Atkinson	+1.0 m/s	+1.0 m/s	+1.0 m/s
Rory Duncan	-0.5 m/s	+0.8 m/s	+2.3 m/s
Todd Wisewould	-2.0 m/s	+0.8 m/s	+3.3 m/s
Hossain Tefaili	-0.5 m/s	+0.8 m/s	+1.5 m/s
James McGinty	-1.0 m/s	+0.8 m/s	+2.7 m/s
Mario Chapa	—	—	—

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
2400–2500 m	63 / -133	70 m	131 m	+0.6 m/s	+1.8 m/s	28	1	1
2300–2400 m	170 / -55	111 m	187 m	+1.2 m/s	+3.0 m/s	101	3	1
2200–2300 m	150 / -84	119 m	218 m	+1.1 m/s	+3.0 m/s	94	3	1
2100–2200 m	169 / 1	143 m	240 m	+0.9 m/s	+3.5 m/s	274	7	2
2000–2100 m	103 / -59	202 m	345 m	+1.3 m/s	+4.8 m/s	469	9	2
1900–2000 m	14 / -67	203 m	302 m	+1.7 m/s	+5.8 m/s	467	9	4
1800–1900 m	-39 / -49	200 m	269 m	+2.1 m/s	+5.3 m/s	371	9	3
1700–1800 m	-62 / -61	200 m	258 m	+2.5 m/s	+6.0 m/s	296	8	3
1600–1700 m	-101 / -55	212 m	271 m	+2.7 m/s	+8.3 m/s	230	8	3
1500–1600 m	-125 / -91	175 m	231 m	+2.6 m/s	+10.8 m/s	209	7	1
1400–1500 m	-149 / -69	139 m	226 m	+1.9 m/s	+9.3 m/s	306	7	1
1300–1400 m	-158 / -36	101 m	173 m	+2.5 m/s	+13.0 m/s	179	6	1
1200–1300 m	-122 / 0	83 m	161 m	+2.6 m/s	+5.7 m/s	97	3	1
1100–1200 m	-123 / 13	120 m	417 m	+2.6 m/s	+10.0 m/s	98	4	1
1000–1100 m	-131 / 203	224 m	274 m	+1.6 m/s	+4.3 m/s	223	6	2
900–1000 m	-158 / 149	207 m	290 m	+1.1 m/s	+3.3 m/s	329	8	2
800–900 m	-174 / 40	54 m	78 m	+0.9 m/s	+2.3 m/s	25	2	1

How to read this: 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; the dashed arrow is the weather model's wind for the same place, time and altitudes — a model run, not an observation.

Which behaviours went with better results

Every row is one behaviour, measured for each pilot and then compared against the published placings (Spearman's rank correlation, ρ). Rank 1 is best, so a behaviour where more is better shows a negative ρ. A bigger bar means the behaviour tracked the placings more closely on this task, and pilots measured is how much of the analysed field the behaviour applied to — a reading drawn from half the field is thinner than one drawn from all of it. Select a row to see that behaviour plotted against rank — the chart stays in view while you work down the table.

Glide speed between climbs

Label every pilot

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = -0.83 (clear pattern, n = 45). 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 45 to about rank 7. 3 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Field glide speed: median 54.4 km/h · p90 63.3 km/h (45 pilots)

Behaviour	Strength	What it means	Pilots measured
Glide speed between climbs		clear pattern
Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb		clear pattern
Time spent flying with a gaggle		clear pattern
How long after the gate opened the pilot started		clear pattern
Glide L/D against the field median		clear pattern
Low saves dug out from the bottom of the band		clear pattern
Share of lift turned in that was kept as a climb		clear pattern
How often leaving the gaggle paid off		clear pattern
Climbs joined on another pilot's marker		clear pattern
Arriving at ESS with height to spare		could be chance
Share of the height gain made outside thermals		some pattern
How much of the thermal the pilot climbed before leaving it		some pattern
Gliding faster when the next climb is stronger		could be chance
How low the pilot gets between climbs		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
How round and consistent the circles were		could be chance
Gliding wide of the optimal course line		could be chance
Distance covered between climbs		could be chance
Climb rate at thermal exit		could be chance
Time to core thermals		could be chance

clear pattern is |ρ| ≥ 0.5, some pattern ≥ 0.3 and faint pattern below — each only once the coefficient is bigger than chance alone produces at that many pilots (its noise floor). could be chance (in the statistics: within noise) means shuffling the placings produces a coefficient that size more than 5% of the time, so it cannot be told apart from luck however big it looks. too few pilots is fewer than 8 pilots with a value — not enough to tell either way.

Rank 21 behaviours against one day's results and a few will look strong on luck alone — the ones worth believing are those that repeat across tasks in the competition-level analysis.

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 54.4 km/h · p90 63.3 km/h (45 pilots)

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.

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = 0.74 (clear pattern, n = 47). 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 20 to about rank 48. 1 pilot has no value and is not plotted.

Speed-section phase shares, field p25/median/p75: climb 26/33/36% · glide 28/33/37% · search 29/37/45%

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.

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = -0.74 (clear pattern, n = 47). 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 39 to about rank 4. 1 pilot has no value and is not plotted.

67 gaggle episodes detected (peak size 13 pilots).

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 = 0.62 (clear pattern, n = 47). 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 1 to about rank 40. 1 pilot has no value and is not plotted.

Glide L/D against the field median

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.

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = -0.61 (clear pattern, n = 41). 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 32 to about rank 13. 7 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Low saves dug out from the bottom of the band

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.

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = -0.60 (clear pattern, n = 47). 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 34 to about rank 5. 1 pilot has no value and is not plotted.

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.

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = -0.56 (clear pattern, n = 43). 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 43 to about rank 14. 5 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

How often leaving the gaggle paid off

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.

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = -0.56 (clear pattern, n = 24). 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 8. 24 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Climbs joined on another pilot's marker

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.

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = -0.55 (clear pattern, n = 43). 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 37 to about rank 17. 5 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Outcome checks

These are not behaviours. They measure the result itself, for example the time behind the leader and the race time lost, so they always follow the places. They are here as a check on the analysis. A weak pattern in this table means that something is wrong in the numbers, and not in the flying of any pilot. Their per-pilot tables stay in the Race craft section below.

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. Olav Opsanger

2. Rory Duncan

3. Trent Brown

4. Mitch Butler

5. Steve Docherty

6. Bruce Wynne

7. Steven Crosby

8. Neale Halsall

9. Rohan Taylor

10. Steve Blenkinsop

11. Peter Adriaans

12. Jon Durand

13. Richard Martin

14. Dustan Hansen

15. Todd Wisewould

16. Stuart Cathcart

17. Jay Kubeil

18. Vic Hare

19. Neil Hooke

20. James Atkinson

21. Adrian Connor

22. Enda Carrigan

23. Hughbert Alexander

24. Bruce Atkinson

25. Peter Burkitt

26. Hossain Tefaili

27. Tushar Pokle

28. Gary Herman

29. Neill Hollingsworth

30. Peter Tolhurst

31. Mario Chapa

32. Andrew Sutton

33. James McGinty

34. Peter Garrone

35. Damian Hamilton

36. Mark Jeffree

37. Andrew Taylor

38. Cedric Joyce

39. Wayne Johnston

40. Michael Free

41. Troy Horton

42. Rennick Kerr

43. Brett Davis

44. John Harriott

45. Andrew Berenyi

46. Ward Gunn

47. Marty Hearne

48. Jason Lannstrom

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. The columns start with the behaviours whose better end went with better places, continue through the behaviours that separated nobody, and end with the behaviours that ran the other way. A field that one behaviour separated therefore shades dark in the top-left corner, and a field where each pilot won differently does not. The band above rates how much pattern each group of columns holds: a clear, some or faint pattern, noise (could be chance), or too few pilots to tell. The family sections below carry the exact values. † This behaviour has no good or bad direction. The shade is the position in the field, and not the quality.

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. Each group carries the name of its strongest signature. A ★ marks the pilot most typical of their group.

Group A — Committed racers

31 pilots · ranks 1–38 · median 16 · middle half 8.5–23.5

Low — Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb group median P33 in this field (30 percent) · usually a strength
High — Time spent flying with a gaggle group median P67 in this field (46 percent)
High — Glide speed between climbs group median P66 in this field (59.2 kilometres per hour) · usually a strength
Low — Share of the height gain made outside thermals group median P35 in this field (12 percent)

1. Olav Opsanger
2. Rory Duncan
3. Trent Brown
4. Mitch Butler
5. Steve Docherty (most typical of this group)
6. Bruce Wynne
7. Steven Crosby
8. Neale Halsall
9. Rohan Taylor
10. Steve Blenkinsop
11. Peter Adriaans
12. Jon Durand
13. Richard Martin
14. Dustan Hansen
15. Todd Wisewould
16. Stuart Cathcart
17. Jay Kubeil
18. Vic Hare
19. Neil Hooke
20. James Atkinson
21. Adrian Connor
22. Enda Carrigan
23. Hughbert Alexander
24. Bruce Atkinson
25. Peter Burkitt
26. Hossain Tefaili
28. Gary Herman
31. Mario Chapa
32. Andrew Sutton
34. Peter Garrone
38. Cedric Joyce

Group B — Self-finders

13 pilots · ranks 27–44 · median 37 · middle half 33–41

Low — Climbs joined on another pilot's marker group median P12 in this field (0 percent)
Low — Time spent flying with a gaggle group median P13 in this field (0 percent)
High — Share of the height gain made outside thermals group median P86 in this field (34 percent)
Low — Glide L/D against the field median group median P15 in this field (0.84 ratio) · usually costly

27. Tushar Pokle
29. Neill Hollingsworth
30. Peter Tolhurst
33. James McGinty
35. Damian Hamilton
36. Mark Jeffree
37. Andrew Taylor
39. Wayne Johnston
40. Michael Free
41. Troy Horton
42. Rennick Kerr (most typical of this group)
43. Brett Davis
44. John Harriott

Not clustered: 45. Andrew Berenyi — only 11 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 46. Ward Gunn — only 5 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 47. Marty Hearne — only 2 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 48. Jason Lannstrom — only 6 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%).

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. On this task, 44 pilots on 21 behavioural metrics formed 2 groups, with k searched from 2 to 6. The mean silhouette is 0.25. 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 (0.19)

#	Pilot	NonSink%
1	Olav Opsanger	55
2	Rory Duncan	54
3	Trent Brown	56
4	Mitch Butler	57
5	Steve Docherty	57
6	Bruce Wynne	59
7	Steven Crosby	59
8	Neale Halsall	60
9	Rohan Taylor	61
10	Steve Blenkinsop	57
11	Peter Adriaans	56
12	Jon Durand	56
13	Richard Martin	60
14	Dustan Hansen	56
15	Todd Wisewould	57
16	Stuart Cathcart	56
17	Jay Kubeil	55
18	Vic Hare	49
19	Neil Hooke	58
20	James Atkinson	57
21	Adrian Connor	55
22	Enda Carrigan	57
23	Hughbert Alexander	56
24	Bruce Atkinson	57
25	Peter Burkitt	56
26	Hossain Tefaili	60
27	Tushar Pokle	56
28	Gary Herman	59
29	Neill Hollingsworth	58
30	Peter Tolhurst	62
31	Mario Chapa	55
32	Andrew Sutton	54
33	James McGinty	59
34	Peter Garrone	56
35	Damian Hamilton	52
36	Mark Jeffree	65
37	Andrew Taylor	62
38	Cedric Joyce	57
39	Wayne Johnston	54
40	Michael Free	53
41	Troy Horton	52
42	Rennick Kerr	62
43	Brett Davis	65
44	John Harriott	57
45	Andrew Berenyi	53
46	Ward Gunn	30
47	Marty Hearne	43
48	Jason Lannstrom	28

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 average the vectors 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	2.8	284	7446
13:00 AEDT	3.2	297	1429
14:00 AEDT	2.2	245	2241
15:00 AEDT	3.1	318	2294
16:00 AEDT	4.5	268	1352
17:00 AEDT	5.7	266	130

The vector mean of the wind estimate of each circle. GlideComp uses centre drift where it can, and ground-speed modulation where it cannot. The direction is the degrees the wind blows FROM (0° = north).

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)→TINTAL	13:43–17:26 AEDT	41	13:48–17:15 AEDT	2.1	198	1015	41
TINTAL→CUDGWE	14:11–17:02 AEDT	29	14:17–16:45 AEDT	2.5	316	1372	29
CUDGWE→KANGCK	14:48–16:37 AEDT	22	14:53–16:35 AEDT	4.8	335	1126	22
KANGCK→TOOMA	15:35–17:15 AEDT	17	15:41–17:04 AEDT	5.7	270	845	17
TOOMA→CORRY (ESS)	16:15–17:09 AEDT	8	16:19–17:01 AEDT	4.8	253	231	8
CORRY (ESS)→CORRY	16:41–17:09 AEDT	8	—	—	—	0	0
CORRY→CORRY (GOAL)	16:41–17:09 AEDT	8	—	—	—	0	0

“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	1.1	2.1	347
14:00 AEDT	1.1	2.0	556
15:00 AEDT	1.0	2.0	512
16:00 AEDT	1.0	2.0	341
17:00 AEDT	0.9	1.4	28

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	13:00–14:00 AEDT
Earliest takeoff	13:00 AEDT
Median takeoff	13:55 AEDT
Latest takeoff	15:54 AEDT

Best conditions is the one-hour window with the strongest median climb (1.1 m/s), among hours with enough climbs to be representative (≥20% of the busiest hour).

best: clear pattern (0.56)

#	Pilot	Out-climb	Core s	LeaveRate	Kept%	TopOut%	Round
1	Olav Opsanger	78 (61 shared climbs)	24 (22 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.6 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	77 (17/22 circling bouts led to climbs)	36 (mean on-course altitude 43% of band)	0.15 (238 circles, 76% left)
2	Rory Duncan	75 (49 shared climbs)	44 (26 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (19 climbs ≥ 90 s)	76 (16/21 circling bouts led to climbs)	53 (mean on-course altitude 44% of band)	0.16 (251 circles, 63% left)
3	Trent Brown	70 (48 shared climbs)	34 (15 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	85 (22/26 circling bouts led to climbs)	32 (mean on-course altitude 36% of band)	0.14 (261 circles, 90% left)
4	Mitch Butler	62 (65 shared climbs)	37 (21 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (14 climbs ≥ 90 s)	87 (20/23 circling bouts led to climbs)	50 (mean on-course altitude 50% of band)	0.15 (302 circles, 78% left)
5	Steve Docherty	72 (58 shared climbs)	38 (25 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (13 climbs ≥ 90 s)	78 (18/23 circling bouts led to climbs)	45 (mean on-course altitude 47% of band)	0.17 (268 circles, 64% left)
6	Bruce Wynne	59 (29 shared climbs)	67 (25 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.3 (22 climbs ≥ 90 s)	77 (17/22 circling bouts led to climbs)	54 (mean on-course altitude 40% of band)	0.18 (76 circles, 66% left)
7	Steven Crosby	66 (53 shared climbs)	40 (30 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.0 (23 climbs ≥ 90 s)	78 (21/27 circling bouts led to climbs)	51 (mean on-course altitude 45% of band)	0.17 (314 circles, 65% left)
8	Neale Halsall	64 (97 shared climbs)	22 (27 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (16 climbs ≥ 90 s)	87 (20/23 circling bouts led to climbs)	39 (mean on-course altitude 42% of band)	0.17 (300 circles, 59% left)
9	Rohan Taylor	68 (92 shared climbs)	39 (25 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (14 climbs ≥ 90 s)	82 (23/28 circling bouts led to climbs)	27 (mean on-course altitude 36% of band)	0.16 (326 circles, 83% left)
10	Steve Blenkinsop	71 (32 shared climbs)	48 (21 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.0 (15 climbs ≥ 90 s)	84 (16/19 circling bouts led to climbs)	38 (mean on-course altitude 43% of band)	0.23 (236 circles, 37% left)
11	Peter Adriaans	70 (58 shared climbs)	40 (24 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (15 climbs ≥ 90 s)	83 (15/18 circling bouts led to climbs)	42 (mean on-course altitude 43% of band)	0.15 (252 circles, 33% left)
12	Jon Durand	73 (43 shared climbs)	47 (18 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (16 climbs ≥ 90 s)	83 (15/18 circling bouts led to climbs)	39 (mean on-course altitude 42% of band)	0.15 (341 circles, 72% left)
13	Richard Martin	69 (57 shared climbs)	39 (26 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (19 climbs ≥ 90 s)	68 (17/25 circling bouts led to climbs)	32 (mean on-course altitude 38% of band)	0.15 (422 circles, 30% left)
14	Dustan Hansen	73 (31 shared climbs)	37 (17 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.6 (10 climbs ≥ 90 s)	85 (11/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	58 (mean on-course altitude 54% of band)	0.16 (131 circles, 87% left)
15	Todd Wisewould	65 (56 shared climbs)	34 (20 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (14 climbs ≥ 90 s)	76 (13/17 circling bouts led to climbs)	72 (mean on-course altitude 56% of band)	0.13 (270 circles, 88% left)
16	Stuart Cathcart	56 (27 shared climbs)	54 (21 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.6 (20 climbs ≥ 90 s)	58 (14/24 circling bouts led to climbs)	74 (mean on-course altitude 47% of band)	0.23 (140 circles, 86% left)
17	Jay Kubeil	75 (55 shared climbs)	45 (20 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.4 (14 climbs ≥ 90 s)	79 (11/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	61 (mean on-course altitude 51% of band)	0.17 (235 circles, 87% left)
18	Vic Hare	77 (21 shared climbs)	77 (11 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.4 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	67 (8/12 circling bouts led to climbs)	40 (mean on-course altitude 51% of band)	0.16 (182 circles, 67% left)
19	Neil Hooke	58 (45 shared climbs)	51 (19 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (16 climbs ≥ 90 s)	65 (11/17 circling bouts led to climbs)	60 (mean on-course altitude 55% of band)	0.14 (232 circles, 63% left)
20	James Atkinson	65 (51 shared climbs)	34 (21 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.4 (16 climbs ≥ 90 s)	77 (10/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	52 (mean on-course altitude 54% of band)	0.14 (208 circles, 65% left)
21	Adrian Connor	68 (17 shared climbs)	51 (14 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (12 climbs ≥ 90 s)	79 (11/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	70 (mean on-course altitude 57% of band)	0.14 (150 circles, 38% left)
22	Enda Carrigan	73 (33 shared climbs)	47 (15 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (10 climbs ≥ 90 s)	56 (9/16 circling bouts led to climbs)	43 (mean on-course altitude 48% of band)	0.12 (192 circles, 82% left)
23	Hughbert Alexander	69 (42 shared climbs)	41 (11 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (8 climbs ≥ 90 s)	82 (9/11 circling bouts led to climbs)	41 (mean on-course altitude 51% of band)	0.16 (127 circles, 63% left)
24	Bruce Atkinson	56 (14 shared climbs)	50 (19 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.3 (14 climbs ≥ 90 s)	47 (7/15 circling bouts led to climbs)	26 (mean on-course altitude 37% of band)	0.26 (50 circles, 64% left)
25	Peter Burkitt	71 (32 shared climbs)	30 (6 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	89 (8/9 circling bouts led to climbs)	46 (mean on-course altitude 51% of band)	0.15 (135 circles, 94% left)
26	Hossain Tefaili	75 (27 shared climbs)	61 (11 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.6 (7 climbs ≥ 90 s)	57 (8/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	33 (mean on-course altitude 36% of band)	0.12 (165 circles, 44% left)
27	Tushar Pokle	66 (18 shared climbs)	69 (11 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (10 climbs ≥ 90 s)	67 (10/15 circling bouts led to climbs)	82 (mean on-course altitude 64% of band)	0.15 (125 circles, 90% left)
28	Gary Herman	77 (23 shared climbs)	34 (13 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (8 climbs ≥ 90 s)	73 (11/15 circling bouts led to climbs)	71 (mean on-course altitude 42% of band)	0.14 (170 circles, 22% left)
29	Neill Hollingsworth	67 (33 shared climbs)	10 (10 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	78 (7/9 circling bouts led to climbs)	26 (mean on-course altitude 37% of band)	0.21 (174 circles, 56% left)
30	Peter Tolhurst	63 (33 shared climbs)	6 (4 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.0 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	83 (5/6 circling bouts led to climbs)	48 (mean on-course altitude 32% of band)	0.18 (60 circles, 100% left)
31	Mario Chapa	60 (5 shared climbs)	95 (5 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.4 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	67 (2/3 circling bouts led to climbs)	111 (mean on-course altitude 51% of band)	0.23 (10 circles, 100% left)
32	Andrew Sutton	66 (17 shared climbs)	53 (5 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (2/4 circling bouts led to climbs)	53 (mean on-course altitude 37% of band)	0.14 (87 circles, 100% left)
33	James McGinty	53 (13 shared climbs)	51 (3 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.4 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (2/4 circling bouts led to climbs)	48 (mean on-course altitude 23% of band)	0.14 (42 circles, 100% left)
34	Peter Garrone	64 (10 shared climbs)	64 (5 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	83 (5/6 circling bouts led to climbs)	43 (mean on-course altitude 32% of band)	0.14 (42 circles, 74% left)
35	Damian Hamilton	73 (12 shared climbs)	41 (8 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (7 climbs ≥ 90 s)	33 (3/9 circling bouts led to climbs)	59 (mean on-course altitude 50% of band)	0.14 (114 circles, 98% left)
36	Mark Jeffree	58 (26 shared climbs)	40 (8 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.6 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	57 (4/7 circling bouts led to climbs)	21 (mean on-course altitude 22% of band)	0.17 (175 circles, 94% left)
37	Andrew Taylor	58 (20 shared climbs)	31 (7 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	71 (5/7 circling bouts led to climbs)	7 (mean on-course altitude 8% of band)	0.14 (142 circles, 88% left)
38	Cedric Joyce	74 (6 shared climbs)	98 (6 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.1 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (4/8 circling bouts led to climbs)	60 (mean on-course altitude 19% of band)	0.25 (13 circles, 85% left)
39	Wayne Johnston	82 (10 shared climbs)	13 (5 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.9 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	60 (3/5 circling bouts led to climbs)	30 (mean on-course altitude 20% of band)	0.20 (19 circles, 79% left)
40	Michael Free	73 (9 shared climbs)	50 (4 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	40 (2/5 circling bouts led to climbs)	23 (mean on-course altitude 4% of band)	0.16 (91 circles, 41% left)
41	Troy Horton	74 (10 shared climbs)	27 (4 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.8 (1 climb ≥ 90 s)	80 (4/5 circling bouts led to climbs)	31 (mean on-course altitude 16% of band)	0.15 (61 circles, 100% left)
42	Rennick Kerr	55 (22 shared climbs)	8 (8 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	60 (3/5 circling bouts led to climbs)	16 (mean on-course altitude 6% of band)	0.20 (129 circles, 78% left)
43	Brett Davis	57 (10 shared climbs)	73 (3 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (1 climb ≥ 90 s)	—	9 (mean on-course altitude 1% of band)	0.14 (93 circles, 100% left)
44	John Harriott	66 (18 shared climbs)	32 (3 climbs ≥ 60 s)	—	20 (1/5 circling bouts led to climbs)	-7 (mean on-course altitude -6% of band)	0.26 (51 circles, 67% left)
45	Andrew Berenyi	51 (7 shared climbs)	5 (4 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	0 (mean on-course altitude -18% of band)	0.12 (21 circles, 90% left)
46	Ward Gunn	—	—	—	—	—	— (2 circles, 100% left)
47	Marty Hearne	—	—	—	—	—	0.15 (15 circles, 100% left)
48	Jason Lannstrom	—	39 (1 climb ≥ 60 s)	—	—	—	— (8 circles, 100% left)

Share of lift turned in that was kept as a climb

Measured in percent · no expected direction

Acceptance by hour

Hour	Median accepted (%)	pilots
13:00 AEDT	100	4
14:00 AEDT	83	35
15:00 AEDT	75	39
16:00 AEDT	69	28
17:00 AEDT	0	12

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 (7448 circles).

best: clear pattern (0.83)

#	Pilot	GlideSpd	GlideL/D	SpeedToFly	Wide%	Dolphin%
1	Olav Opsanger	64.5 (26 glides, 91 min gliding)	1.02 (5 legs compared)	3.7 (25 glide→climb pairs)	32 (5 legs completed)	24 (1948 of 8113 m gained outside thermals)
2	Rory Duncan	64.6 (17 glides, 83 min gliding)	0.99 (5 legs compared)	1.8 (16 glide→climb pairs)	28 (5 legs completed)	9 (667 of 7403 m gained outside thermals)
3	Trent Brown	62.2 (26 glides, 86 min gliding)	0.91 (5 legs compared)	4.7 (25 glide→climb pairs)	23 (5 legs completed)	14 (1001 of 7288 m gained outside thermals)
4	Mitch Butler	61.8 (27 glides, 95 min gliding)	1.12 (5 legs compared)	1.6 (26 glide→climb pairs)	33 (5 legs completed)	12 (837 of 6977 m gained outside thermals)
5	Steve Docherty	59.4 (26 glides, 95 min gliding)	1.07 (5 legs compared)	0.8 (25 glide→climb pairs)	25 (5 legs completed)	12 (770 of 6546 m gained outside thermals)
6	Bruce Wynne	66.3 (13 glides, 81 min gliding)	0.95 (5 legs compared)	1.7 (12 glide→climb pairs)	32 (5 legs completed)	2 (184 of 8120 m gained outside thermals)
7	Steven Crosby	62.2 (24 glides, 103 min gliding)	1.09 (5 legs compared)	-1.1 (23 glide→climb pairs)	41 (5 legs completed)	12 (889 of 7595 m gained outside thermals)
8	Neale Halsall	63.3 (29 glides, 100 min gliding)	0.96 (5 legs compared)	2.0 (28 glide→climb pairs)	39 (5 legs completed)	19 (1532 of 7941 m gained outside thermals)
9	Rohan Taylor	62.1 (41 glides, 118 min gliding)	1.13 (4 legs compared)	3.9 (40 glide→climb pairs)	43 (4 legs completed)	18 (1435 of 8076 m gained outside thermals)
10	Steve Blenkinsop	56.4 (23 glides, 111 min gliding)	1.23 (4 legs compared)	3.7 (22 glide→climb pairs)	27 (4 legs completed)	11 (701 of 6421 m gained outside thermals)
11	Peter Adriaans	56.9 (24 glides, 97 min gliding)	1.02 (4 legs compared)	-1.1 (23 glide→climb pairs)	33 (4 legs completed)	15 (1071 of 7194 m gained outside thermals)
12	Jon Durand	59.2 (20 glides, 92 min gliding)	0.94 (4 legs compared)	2.9 (19 glide→climb pairs)	26 (4 legs completed)	11 (746 of 6996 m gained outside thermals)
13	Richard Martin	58.8 (24 glides, 119 min gliding)	1.11 (4 legs compared)	4.6 (23 glide→climb pairs)	23 (4 legs completed)	14 (898 of 6607 m gained outside thermals)
14	Dustan Hansen	59.6 (23 glides, 86 min gliding)	1.11 (4 legs compared)	-0.7 (22 glide→climb pairs)	29 (4 legs completed)	19 (1013 of 5352 m gained outside thermals)
15	Todd Wisewould	63.4 (29 glides, 108 min gliding)	1.04 (4 legs compared)	0.7 (28 glide→climb pairs)	32 (4 legs completed)	19 (1220 of 6393 m gained outside thermals)
16	Stuart Cathcart	54.4 (12 glides, 95 min gliding)	1.09 (4 legs compared)	10.5 (11 glide→climb pairs)	36 (4 legs completed)	4 (285 of 6667 m gained outside thermals)
17	Jay Kubeil	53.9 (22 glides, 95 min gliding)	1.00 (4 legs compared)	0.8 (21 glide→climb pairs)	21 (4 legs completed)	14 (829 of 5968 m gained outside thermals)
18	Vic Hare	66.3 (14 glides, 69 min gliding)	1.14 (3 legs compared)	5.1 (13 glide→climb pairs)	28 (3 legs completed)	8 (433 of 5202 m gained outside thermals)
19	Neil Hooke	56.1 (18 glides, 75 min gliding)	1.02 (3 legs compared)	-0.3 (17 glide→climb pairs)	23 (3 legs completed)	12 (608 of 5219 m gained outside thermals)
20	James Atkinson	56.8 (19 glides, 75 min gliding)	1.03 (3 legs compared)	-0.9 (18 glide→climb pairs)	31 (3 legs completed)	17 (854 of 5094 m gained outside thermals)
21	Adrian Connor	52.6 (13 glides, 75 min gliding)	0.88 (3 legs compared)	-1.8 (12 glide→climb pairs)	13 (3 legs completed)	8 (400 of 4716 m gained outside thermals)
22	Enda Carrigan	63.0 (16 glides, 70 min gliding)	0.94 (3 legs compared)	-1.5 (15 glide→climb pairs)	25 (3 legs completed)	13 (661 of 5198 m gained outside thermals)
23	Hughbert Alexander	56.7 (17 glides, 52 min gliding)	1.21 (2 legs compared)	-2.4 (17 glide→climb pairs)	32 (2 legs completed)	19 (717 of 3700 m gained outside thermals)
24	Bruce Atkinson	49.1 (7 glides, 67 min gliding)	1.05 (2 legs compared)	-0.4 (6 glide→climb pairs)	25 (2 legs completed)	7 (274 of 3844 m gained outside thermals)
25	Peter Burkitt	61.4 (11 glides, 47 min gliding)	0.93 (2 legs compared)	4.3 (10 glide→climb pairs)	32 (2 legs completed)	13 (475 of 3618 m gained outside thermals)
26	Hossain Tefaili	59.7 (11 glides, 58 min gliding)	0.93 (2 legs compared)	2.0 (10 glide→climb pairs)	36 (2 legs completed)	18 (658 of 3673 m gained outside thermals)
27	Tushar Pokle	44.8 (16 glides, 69 min gliding)	0.81 (2 legs compared)	0.6 (15 glide→climb pairs)	38 (2 legs completed)	16 (553 of 3514 m gained outside thermals)
28	Gary Herman	50.7 (11 glides, 61 min gliding)	0.88 (2 legs compared)	-3.1 (10 glide→climb pairs)	21 (2 legs completed)	10 (360 of 3594 m gained outside thermals)
29	Neill Hollingsworth	49.8 (19 glides, 49 min gliding)	0.51 (2 legs compared)	1.4 (18 glide→climb pairs)	18 (2 legs completed)	22 (1326 of 6028 m gained outside thermals)
30	Peter Tolhurst	50.4 (13 glides, 33 min gliding)	0.88 (1 leg compared)	-0.8 (12 glide→climb pairs)	58 (1 leg completed)	34 (472 of 1385 m gained outside thermals)
31	Mario Chapa	46.2 (1 glides, 21 min gliding)	1.00 (1 leg compared)	—	47 (1 leg completed)	3 (31 of 1122 m gained outside thermals)
32	Andrew Sutton	49.4 (5 glides, 19 min gliding)	0.94 (1 leg compared)	0.2 (4 glide→climb pairs)	22 (1 leg completed)	22 (144 of 669 m gained outside thermals)
33	James McGinty	47.0 (4 glides, 19 min gliding)	0.79 (1 leg compared)	—	33 (1 leg completed)	20 (180 of 915 m gained outside thermals)
34	Peter Garrone	51.1 (5 glides, 19 min gliding)	0.84 (1 leg compared)	3.4 (4 glide→climb pairs)	18 (1 leg completed)	10 (83 of 818 m gained outside thermals)
35	Damian Hamilton	47.9 (5 glides, 30 min gliding)	0.77 (1 leg compared)	2.2 (4 glide→climb pairs)	52 (1 leg completed)	14 (273 of 1953 m gained outside thermals)
36	Mark Jeffree	47.9 (12 glides, 52 min gliding)	0.78 (1 leg compared)	-1.3 (11 glide→climb pairs)	87 (1 leg completed)	23 (568 of 2417 m gained outside thermals)
37	Andrew Taylor	48.1 (15 glides, 46 min gliding)	1.02 (1 leg compared)	-0.5 (14 glide→climb pairs)	96 (1 leg completed)	37 (531 of 1429 m gained outside thermals)
38	Cedric Joyce	43.0 (4 glides, 44 min gliding)	0.77 (1 leg compared)	—	95 (1 leg completed)	7 (129 of 1789 m gained outside thermals)
39	Wayne Johnston	42.2 (5 glides, 24 min gliding)	0.87 (1 leg compared)	-0.3 (4 glide→climb pairs)	18 (1 leg completed)	36 (130 of 357 m gained outside thermals)
40	Michael Free	52.0 (3 glides, 22 min gliding)	0.91 (1 leg compared)	—	42 (1 leg completed)	13 (139 of 1053 m gained outside thermals)
41	Troy Horton	48.9 (6 glides, 18 min gliding)	0.92 (1 leg compared)	4.2 (5 glide→climb pairs)	16 (1 leg completed)	35 (164 of 466 m gained outside thermals)
42	Rennick Kerr	43.0 (5 glides, 21 min gliding)	—	1.5 (4 glide→climb pairs)	—	35 (288 of 824 m gained outside thermals)
43	Brett Davis	46.6 (7 glides, 20 min gliding)	—	0.6 (6 glide→climb pairs)	—	45 (173 of 383 m gained outside thermals)
44	John Harriott	52.3 (3 glides, 12 min gliding)	—	—	—	60 (156 of 259 m gained outside thermals)
45	Andrew Berenyi	35.4 (1 glides, 5 min gliding)	—	—	—	—
46	Ward Gunn	—	—	—	—	—
47	Marty Hearne	—	—	—	—	—
48	Jason Lannstrom	—	—	—	—	—

Glide speed between climbs

Measured in kilometres per hour · higher is better

Field glide speed: median 54.4 km/h · p90 63.3 km/h (45 pilots)

best: clear pattern (0.74)

#	Pilot	Floor%	LowSaves	km/climb	Search%
1	Olav Opsanger	21 (18 descents, lowest -39% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 2% of band)	1.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 61%)	32
2	Rory Duncan	30 (11 descents, lowest -11% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from -11% of band)	2.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 57%)	21
3	Trent Brown	15 (14 descents, lowest -10% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -7% of band)	1.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 53%)	30
4	Mitch Butler	28 (15 descents, lowest -15% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 11% of band)	1.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 41%)	27
5	Steve Docherty	23 (13 descents, lowest -9% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 8% of band)	1.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 55%)	30
6	Bruce Wynne	22 (12 descents, lowest -12% of band)	4.0 (deepest save from -4% of band)	3.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 42%)	16
7	Steven Crosby	19 (15 descents, lowest -3% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from 7% of band)	1.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 52%)	30
8	Neale Halsall	22 (15 descents, lowest -7% of band)	0.0	1.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 48%)	37
9	Rohan Taylor	14 (16 descents, lowest -16% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from 4% of band)	1.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 51%)	37
10	Steve Blenkinsop	6 (8 descents, lowest -20% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from -16% of band)	2.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 52%)	31
11	Peter Adriaans	8 (11 descents, lowest -18% of band)	3.0 (deepest save from -5% of band)	1.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 46%)	26
12	Jon Durand	27 (12 descents, lowest -2% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from 1% of band)	2.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 53%)	29
13	Richard Martin	8 (12 descents, lowest -12% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from -11% of band)	1.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 44%)	39
14	Dustan Hansen	42 (11 descents, lowest -10% of band)	0.0	2.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 55%)	26
15	Todd Wisewould	23 (9 descents, lowest -3% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 12% of band)	1.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 46%)	38
16	Stuart Cathcart	28 (9 descents, lowest -29% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from -27% of band)	2.9 (mean shared-climb pctile 41%)	27
17	Jay Kubeil	36 (9 descents, lowest 0% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -3% of band)	2.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 56%)	28
18	Vic Hare	22 (6 descents, lowest 1% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from 7% of band)	2.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 58%)	27
19	Neil Hooke	45 (8 descents, lowest 11% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 15% of band)	2.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 43%)	29
20	James Atkinson	37 (9 descents, lowest -31% of band)	0.0	1.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 48%)	30
21	Adrian Connor	31 (8 descents, lowest -15% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -6% of band)	2.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 49%)	27
22	Enda Carrigan	22 (6 descents, lowest -10% of band)	0.0	2.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 53%)	35
23	Hughbert Alexander	22 (12 descents, lowest -50% of band)	0.0	1.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 56%)	31
24	Bruce Atkinson	-14 (4 descents, lowest -18% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from -13% of band)	3.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 38%)	27
25	Peter Burkitt	25 (5 descents, lowest 10% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 15% of band)	1.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 46%)	36
26	Hossain Tefaili	23 (4 descents, lowest -26% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 0% of band)	1.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 56%)	43
27	Tushar Pokle	52 (7 descents, lowest 28% of band)	0.0	1.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 39%)	37
28	Gary Herman	17 (5 descents, lowest -27% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 11% of band)	2.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 53%)	40
29	Neill Hollingsworth	9 (20 descents, lowest -45% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -21% of band)	1.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 56%)	38
30	Peter Tolhurst	-13 (2 descents, lowest -19% of band)	0.0	1.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 50%)	42
31	Mario Chapa	—	0.0	—	8
32	Andrew Sutton	—	0.0	—	57
33	James McGinty	—	1.0 (deepest save from 8% of band)	—	45
34	Peter Garrone	—	0.0	—	29
35	Damian Hamilton	—	0.0	—	47
36	Mark Jeffree	3 (4 descents, lowest -23% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -13% of band)	—	55
37	Andrew Taylor	-3 (5 descents, lowest -40% of band)	0.0	—	45
38	Cedric Joyce	8 (3 descents, lowest -33% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from 12% of band)	—	45
39	Wayne Johnston	22 (2 descents, lowest 15% of band)	0.0	—	41
40	Michael Free	—	1.0 (deepest save from -17% of band)	—	43
41	Troy Horton	18 (3 descents, lowest -10% of band)	0.0	—	45
42	Rennick Kerr	—	0.0	—	53
43	Brett Davis	—	0.0	—	67
44	John Harriott	—	0.0	—	64
45	Andrew Berenyi	—	0.0	—	46
46	Ward Gunn	—	0.0	—	100
47	Marty Hearne	—	—	—	—
48	Jason Lannstrom	—	0.0	—	100

Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb

Measured in percent · lower is better

Speed-section phase shares, field p25/median/p75: climb 26/33/36% · glide 28/33/37% · search 29/37/45%

best: clear pattern (0.74)

#	Pilot	InGaggle%	Marked%	LeaveWin%
1	Olav Opsanger	85	75 (42/56 climbs marked)	100 (3W–0L (3 departures))
2	Rory Duncan	32	53 (16/30 climbs marked)	100 (4W–0L (4 departures))
3	Trent Brown	62	45 (21/47 climbs marked)	100 (6W–0L (6 departures))
4	Mitch Butler	62	66 (35/53 climbs marked)	75 (3W–1L (4 departures))
5	Steve Docherty	46	56 (25/45 climbs marked)	100 (2W–0L (2 departures))
6	Bruce Wynne	22	14 (3/22 climbs marked)	75 (3W–1L (4 departures))
7	Steven Crosby	71	65 (31/48 climbs marked)	—
8	Neale Halsall	53	72 (49/68 climbs marked)	67 (2W–1L (3 departures))
9	Rohan Taylor	63	57 (42/74 climbs marked)	50 (1W–1L (2 departures))
10	Steve Blenkinsop	50	51 (19/37 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
11	Peter Adriaans	43	47 (27/57 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
12	Jon Durand	67	48 (16/33 climbs marked)	67 (2W–1L (3 departures))
13	Richard Martin	45	56 (24/43 climbs marked)	75 (3W–1L (4 departures))
14	Dustan Hansen	9	21 (8/38 climbs marked)	—
15	Todd Wisewould	34	58 (31/53 climbs marked)	—
16	Stuart Cathcart	56	48 (11/23 climbs marked)	50 (1W–1L (2 departures))
17	Jay Kubeil	50	69 (24/35 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
18	Vic Hare	48	55 (12/22 climbs marked)	100 (4W–0L (4 departures))
19	Neil Hooke	60	61 (17/28 climbs marked)	—
20	James Atkinson	68	56 (20/36 climbs marked)	50 (1W–1L (2 departures))
21	Adrian Connor	31	29 (7/24 climbs marked)	50 (1W–1L (2 departures))
22	Enda Carrigan	32	64 (16/25 climbs marked)	50 (2W–2L (4 departures))
23	Hughbert Alexander	45	14 (4/28 climbs marked)	50 (1W–1L (2 departures))
24	Bruce Atkinson	34	53 (8/15 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
25	Peter Burkitt	39	80 (20/25 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
26	Hossain Tefaili	38	67 (16/24 climbs marked)	0 (0W–2L (2 departures))
27	Tushar Pokle	4	0 (0/23 climbs marked)	—
28	Gary Herman	43	67 (12/18 climbs marked)	0 (0W–3L (3 departures))
29	Neill Hollingsworth	5	6 (2/33 climbs marked)	—
30	Peter Tolhurst	37	52 (11/21 climbs marked)	—
31	Mario Chapa	23	—	—
32	Andrew Sutton	63	67 (6/9 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
33	James McGinty	0	0 (0/11 climbs marked)	—
34	Peter Garrone	50	57 (4/7 climbs marked)	—
35	Damian Hamilton	0	0 (0/10 climbs marked)	—
36	Mark Jeffree	0	0 (0/20 climbs marked)	—
37	Andrew Taylor	0	0 (0/22 climbs marked)	—
38	Cedric Joyce	36	40 (2/5 climbs marked)	—
39	Wayne Johnston	0	0 (0/7 climbs marked)	—
40	Michael Free	0	0 (0/7 climbs marked)	—
41	Troy Horton	0	0 (0/8 climbs marked)	—
42	Rennick Kerr	0	0 (0/10 climbs marked)	—
43	Brett Davis	0	0 (0/8 climbs marked)	—
44	John Harriott	0	0 (0/4 climbs marked)	—
45	Andrew Berenyi	0	—	—
46	Ward Gunn	0	—	—
47	Marty Hearne	—	—	—
48	Jason Lannstrom	0	—	—

Time spent flying with a gaggle

Measured in percent · no expected direction

67 gaggle episodes detected (peak size 13 pilots).

best: clear pattern (0.62)

#	Pilot	StartDly	TimeLost	Behind	Spare m
1	Olav Opsanger	3	208	10.4	-61
2	Rory Duncan	141	220	0.0	-188
3	Trent Brown	8	45	11.1	-117
4	Mitch Butler	60	1161	24.2	9
5	Steve Docherty	172	185	16.0	-48
6	Bruce Wynne	17	1859	34.4	-33
7	Steven Crosby	10	993	35.9	188
8	Neale Halsall	76	953	38.0	-72
9	Rohan Taylor	13	1221	—	—
10	Steve Blenkinsop	150	589	—	—
11	Peter Adriaans	25	756	—	—
12	Jon Durand	2	89	—	—
13	Richard Martin	752	1152	—	—
14	Dustan Hansen	3032	538	—	—
15	Todd Wisewould	929	1527	—	—
16	Stuart Cathcart	12	1506	—	—
17	Jay Kubeil	88	942	—	—
18	Vic Hare	72	0	—	—
19	Neil Hooke	235	1312	—	—
20	James Atkinson	200	827	—	—
21	Adrian Connor	857	905	—	—
22	Enda Carrigan	858	1304	—	—
23	Hughbert Alexander	183	1004	—	—
24	Bruce Atkinson	868	1654	—	—
25	Peter Burkitt	190	987	—	—
26	Hossain Tefaili	1003	2103	—	—
27	Tushar Pokle	3673	2846	—	—
28	Gary Herman	822	1845	—	—
29	Neill Hollingsworth	4641	1274	—	—
30	Peter Tolhurst	660	668	—	—
31	Mario Chapa	281	604	—	—
32	Andrew Sutton	671	290	—	—
33	James McGinty	1066	442	—	—
34	Peter Garrone	710	332	—	—
35	Damian Hamilton	2989	1424	—	—
36	Mark Jeffree	292	2983	—	—
37	Andrew Taylor	4146	1512	—	—
38	Cedric Joyce	7470	2824	—	—
39	Wayne Johnston	2779	118	—	—
40	Michael Free	2748	822	—	—
41	Troy Horton	-99	97	—	—
42	Rennick Kerr	4694	—	—	—
43	Brett Davis	2678	—	—	—
44	John Harriott	56	—	—	—
45	Andrew Berenyi	6119	—	—	—
46	Ward Gunn	680	—	—	—
47	Marty Hearne	—	—	—	—
48	Jason Lannstrom	2905	—	—	—

How long after the gate opened the pilot started

Measured in seconds · lower is better

Start execution

Pilot	Delay	Alt m	Band %	Behind km
Olav Opsanger	0:03	1819	73	7.6
Rory Duncan	2:21	1949	83	10.7
Trent Brown	0:08	1835	74	7.5
Mitch Butler	1:00	1944	83	7.8
Steve Docherty	2:52	1884	78	10.3
Bruce Wynne	0:17	2103	96	7.4
Steven Crosby	0:10	2003	88	7.7
Neale Halsall	1:16	1846	75	8.1
Rohan Taylor	0:13	1924	81	7.8
Steve Blenkinsop	2:30	1975	86	10.6
Peter Adriaans	0:25	1910	80	7.8
Jon Durand	0:02	1889	79	7.5
Richard Martin	12:32	1978	86	10.7
Dustan Hansen	50:32	2098	95	9.0
Todd Wisewould	15:29	1886	78	9.7
Stuart Cathcart	0:12	1939	83	7.8
Jay Kubeil	1:28	1837	74	10.4
Vic Hare	1:12	1908	80	8.0
Neil Hooke	3:55	1622	57	3.8
James Atkinson	3:20	1832	74	3.6
Adrian Connor	14:17	1862	76	8.4
Enda Carrigan	14:18	1869	77	10.6
Hughbert Alexander	3:03	1929	82	3.7
Bruce Atkinson	14:28	2055	92	8.4
Peter Burkitt	3:10	1723	65	9.7
Hossain Tefaili	16:43	1911	80	11.0
Tushar Pokle	61:13	2092	95	10.0
Gary Herman	13:42	1922	81	7.7
Neill Hollingsworth	77:21	1638	58	9.2
Peter Tolhurst	11:00	1976	86	10.2
Mario Chapa	4:41	1754	68	10.6
Andrew Sutton	11:11	1969	85	10.1
James McGinty	17:46	1518	49	9.7
Peter Garrone	11:50	1851	76	10.7
Damian Hamilton	49:49	1904	80	9.1
Mark Jeffree	4:52	1149	19	11.3
Andrew Taylor	69:06	1722	65	10.6
Cedric Joyce	124:30	1411	40	12.1
Wayne Johnston	46:19	1801	72	10.2
Michael Free	45:48	1248	27	10.7
Troy Horton	-1:39	1602	56	0.0
Rennick Kerr	78:14	1582	54	9.8
Brett Davis	44:38	1107	16	10.2
John Harriott	0:56	1467	45	7.7
Andrew Berenyi	101:59	973	5	11.5
Ward Gunn	11:20	401	-41	8.2
Jason Lannstrom	48:25	398	-41	9.0

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.

Rory Duncan against the winner, leg by leg: bars hanging below the line are time lost, bars above are time gained; over the 5 compared legs, -12:41 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→TINTAL	TINTAL→CUDGWE	CUDGWE→KANGCK	KANGCK→TOOMA	TOOMA→ESS	Total
Olav Opsanger	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00
Rory Duncan	-0:54	-13:57	-2:32	+9:15	-4:32	-12:41
Trent Brown	-0:40	-2:03	+2:37	+0:11	+0:31	+0:36
Mitch Butler	-1:50	+7:08	-3:56	+0:44	+10:47	+12:52
Steve Docherty	+0:15	-0:37	+3:52	+0:21	-1:01	+2:50
Bruce Wynne	-4:05	-10:06	+25:55	+17:57	-5:52	+23:50
Steven Crosby	-0:32	+0:38	+16:38	+3:54	+4:49	+25:27
Neale Halsall	-0:58	-1:10	+10:46	+13:14	+4:31	+26:23
Rohan Taylor	-0:42	+0:21	+24:32	-3:37	—	+20:35
Steve Blenkinsop	+0:37	-6:01	-4:52	+13:55	—	+3:39
Peter Adriaans	+0:28	+2:47	+6:30	+11:29	—	+21:13
Jon Durand	-1:05	-1:40	+5:16	+6:10	—	+8:40
Richard Martin	-1:54	+1:09	-4:11	+21:03	—	+16:07
Dustan Hansen	+1:42	+3:48	-8:36	-2:03	—	-5:09
Todd Wisewould	-0:53	+22:53	+5:57	+1:14	—	+29:10
Stuart Cathcart	-0:02	-0:58	+29:56	+1:23	—	+30:18
Jay Kubeil	+12:57	-0:43	+0:06	+1:25	—	+13:46
Vic Hare	-0:55	-5:37	+0:15	—	—	-6:17
Neil Hooke	+5:53	+6:12	+13:37	—	—	+25:42
James Atkinson	+4:44	+0:28	+12:25	—	—	+17:37
Adrian Connor	+1:59	+9:39	+6:46	—	—	+18:24
Enda Carrigan	+15:07	+3:09	-1:56	—	—	+16:21
Hughbert Alexander	+2:56	+10:21	—	—	—	+13:17
Bruce Atkinson	+1:59	+22:07	—	—	—	+24:06
Peter Burkitt	+1:03	+11:57	—	—	—	+12:59
Hossain Tefaili	-2:11	+32:28	—	—	—	+30:17
Tushar Pokle	+24:23	+19:35	—	—	—	+43:58
Gary Herman	+2:52	+24:25	—	—	—	+27:17
Neill Hollingsworth	+6:34	+11:12	—	—	—	+17:47
Peter Tolhurst	+10:15	—	—	—	—	+10:15
Mario Chapa	+9:11	—	—	—	—	+9:11
Andrew Sutton	+3:57	—	—	—	—	+3:57
James McGinty	+6:29	—	—	—	—	+6:29
Peter Garrone	+4:39	—	—	—	—	+4:39
Damian Hamilton	+22:51	—	—	—	—	+22:51
Mark Jeffree	+48:50	—	—	—	—	+48:50
Andrew Taylor	+24:19	—	—	—	—	+24:19
Cedric Joyce	+46:11	—	—	—	—	+46:11
Wayne Johnston	+1:05	—	—	—	—	+1:05
Michael Free	+12:49	—	—	—	—	+12:49
Troy Horton	+0:44	—	—	—	—	+0:44

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.

Minutes behind the fastest pilot at each turnpoint — the leader runs along the top at zero, and a line that stops early is a pilot who landed. The top 5 are coloured; every pilot's exact numbers are in the table below.

Horserace — minutes behind the leader at each turnpoint

Pilot	ELLIOT	TINTAL	CUDGWE	KANGCK	TOOMA	CORRY	CORRY
Olav Opsanger	1.7	3.8	13.9	15.1	5.8	10.4	10.4
Rory Duncan	4.0	5.2	1.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Trent Brown	1.8	3.3	11.3	15.1	6.0	11.1	11.1
Mitch Butler	2.6	2.9	20.2	17.4	8.9	24.2	24.2
Steve Docherty	4.5	6.9	16.4	21.4	12.5	16.0	16.0
Bruce Wynne	1.9	0.0	0.0	27.1	35.8	34.4	34.4
Steven Crosby	1.8	3.4	14.2	31.9	26.6	35.9	35.9
Neale Halsall	2.9	4.1	13.0	24.9	28.9	38.0	38.0
Rohan Taylor	1.9	3.3	13.8	39.5	26.6	—	—
Steve Blenkinsop	4.1	6.9	11.0	7.3	11.9	—	—
Peter Adriaans	2.1	4.7	17.5	25.2	27.4	—	—
Jon Durand	1.7	2.7	11.2	17.6	14.5	—	—
Richard Martin	14.2	14.4	25.7	22.6	34.4	—	—
Dustan Hansen	52.2	56.0	69.9	62.5	51.2	—	—
Todd Wisewould	17.1	18.4	51.4	58.5	50.4	—	—
Stuart Cathcart	1.9	3.9	13.1	44.2	36.3	—	—
Jay Kubeil	3.1	18.2	27.6	28.9	21.0	—	—
Vic Hare	2.9	4.1	8.6	10.0	—	—	—
Neil Hooke	5.6	13.6	29.9	44.7	—	—	—
James Atkinson	5.0	11.9	22.4	36.0	—	—	—
Adrian Connor	15.9	20.0	39.8	47.7	—	—	—
Enda Carrigan	16.0	33.2	46.5	45.7	—	—	—
Hughbert Alexander	4.7	9.8	30.2	—	—	—	—
Bruce Atkinson	16.1	20.2	52.5	—	—	—	—
Peter Burkitt	4.8	8.0	30.0	—	—	—	—
Hossain Tefaili	18.4	18.3	60.9	—	—	—	—
Tushar Pokle	62.9	89.4	119.1	—	—	—	—
Gary Herman	15.3	20.4	54.9	—	—	—	—
Neill Hollingsworth	79.0	87.7	109.0	—	—	—	—
Peter Tolhurst	12.7	25.0	—	—	—	—	—
Mario Chapa	6.3	17.6	—	—	—	—	—
Andrew Sutton	12.8	18.9	—	—	—	—	—
James McGinty	19.4	28.0	—	—	—	—	—
Peter Garrone	13.5	20.3	—	—	—	—	—
Damian Hamilton	51.5	76.5	—	—	—	—	—
Mark Jeffree	6.5	57.5	—	—	—	—	—
Andrew Taylor	70.8	97.2	—	—	—	—	—
Cedric Joyce	126.1	174.5	—	—	—	—	—
Wayne Johnston	48.0	51.2	—	—	—	—	—
Michael Free	47.5	62.4	—	—	—	—	—
Troy Horton	0.0	2.9	—	—	—	—	—
Rennick Kerr	79.9	—	—	—	—	—	—
Brett Davis	46.3	—	—	—	—	—	—
John Harriott	2.6	—	—	—	—	—	—
Andrew Berenyi	103.6	—	—	—	—	—	—
Ward Gunn	13.0	—	—	—	—	—	—
Jason Lannstrom	50.1	—	—	—	—	—	—

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 §12.3.6). 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 -54 m (n=8).

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 average the vectors 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 §12.3.6). 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 distance of the final leg from goal. There is no expected direction: a marginal glide wins if it connects, and loses if it does not.

Task 3 (Open)

What the weather did

From the weather model

From the pilots' tracks

The day's thermals

Thermal at 13:51 AEDT — 17 pilots, 49 climbs

Which behaviours went with better results

Glide speed between climbs

Metrics with a clear pattern, plotted against rank

Glide speed between climbs

Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb

Time spent flying with a gaggle

How long after the gate opened the pilot started

Glide L/D against the field median

Low saves dug out from the bottom of the band

Share of lift turned in that was kept as a climb

How often leaving the gaggle paid off

Climbs joined on another pilot's marker

Outcome checks

The whole field at a glance

Pilot style clusters

The metrics in detail

Day profile & windbest: could be chance (0.19)

Climbingbest: clear pattern (0.56)

Glidingbest: clear pattern (0.83)

Glide speed between climbs

Decision-makingbest: clear pattern (0.74)

Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb

Gagglebest: clear pattern (0.74)

Time spent flying with a gaggle

Race craftbest: clear pattern (0.62)

Footnotes

How the field is compared

Metric glossary

Day profile & wind

Climbing

Gliding

Decision-making

Gaggle

Race craft

best: could be chance (0.19)

best: clear pattern (0.56)

best: clear pattern (0.83)

best: clear pattern (0.74)

best: clear pattern (0.74)

best: clear pattern (0.62)