Task 4 (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: 46
Airtime: 64h (13:08–17:11 AEDT)
Thermals: 13629 shared by 2+ pilots
Working band: 795–2038 m
Airtime split: 32%climbing
21%gliding
47%searching

1 pilot is in the standings but not in this analysis. Which, and why

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 53 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
13:12 AEDT	4	800–1700 m	+1.5 m/s	E
13:19 AEDT	11	900–1800 m	+1.4 m/s	N
13:22 AEDT	19	900–1700 m	+1.4 m/s	SW
13:33 AEDT	16	900–2100 m	+1.6 m/s	NW
13:37 AEDT	3	1000–2100 m	+1.9 m/s	W
13:38 AEDT	13	1500–2300 m	+1.5 m/s	N
13:40 AEDT	8	1700–2300 m	+1.6 m/s	NE
13:42 AEDT	5	1600–2300 m	+1.8 m/s	SW
13:44 AEDT	6	1500–2200 m	+1.5 m/s	S
13:50 AEDT	8	800–1100 m	+0.9 m/s	SW
13:58 AEDT	6	1800–2300 m	+1.1 m/s	NW
13:58 AEDT	6	900–2300 m	+0.8 m/s	W
14:06 AEDT	13	900–1900 m	+1.5 m/s	SE
14:08 AEDT	9	900–2000 m	+2.0 m/s	SW
14:09 AEDT	13	900–1500 m	+1.3 m/s	E
14:11 AEDT	5	900–1500 m	+1.5 m/s	SW
14:12 AEDT	13	1100–2000 m	+1.8 m/s	NE
14:13 AEDT	10	1100–2100 m	+1.6 m/s	E
14:18 AEDT	13	1100–2400 m	+1.8 m/s	E
14:18 AEDT	3	700–1400 m	+1.0 m/s	NW
14:20 AEDT	2	800–1900 m	+1.5 m/s	SE
14:22 AEDT	9	1600–2500 m	+1.6 m/s	S
14:23 AEDT	5	900–1700 m	+1.7 m/s	W
14:25 AEDT	4	700–1100 m	+1.0 m/s	E
14:28 AEDT	6	800–1800 m	+1.7 m/s	NW
14:33 AEDT	2	500–900 m	+1.1 m/s	SW
14:38 AEDT	4	1500–2200 m	+1.5 m/s	S
14:39 AEDT	4	700–1400 m	+1.3 m/s	SW
14:40 AEDT	3	800–1400 m	+0.7 m/s	NE
14:41 AEDT	3	1200–1500 m	+1.3 m/s	W
14:42 AEDT	2	800–1500 m	+1.5 m/s	W
14:46 AEDT	6	700–1500 m	+1.0 m/s	NW
14:47 AEDT	5	900–1200 m	+1.1 m/s	SE
14:47 AEDT	3	1000–1400 m	+0.7 m/s	SW
14:51 AEDT	6	800–2300 m	+2.0 m/s	NW
14:51 AEDT	4	1000–1700 m	+1.6 m/s	SW
14:53 AEDT	4	600–900 m	+0.7 m/s	W
14:56 AEDT	3	1300–2100 m	+1.6 m/s	W
15:12 AEDT	4	900–1200 m	+1.3 m/s	E
15:17 AEDT	3	1100–1800 m	+1.4 m/s	SW

Thermal at 13:22 AEDT — 19 pilots, 56 climbs

Wind 12.2 km/h from 324° (NW), measured from 286 circle estimates in the pilots' own tracks.
Model wind cross-check loading…
Leans 38° from vertical toward 135° (SE), within 10° of downwind.
Strongest on the SW side of the core at +1.6 m/s against +1.5 m/s on the NE side.
Multiple cores in 4 of 8 bands between 1100 and 1600 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
Enda Carrigan	-3.0 m/s	+2.0 m/s	+5.5 m/s
Rory Duncan	-1.8 m/s	+1.8 m/s	+7.5 m/s
Vic Hare	-2.5 m/s	+1.8 m/s	+5.3 m/s
Mitch Butler	-2.5 m/s	+1.8 m/s	+4.3 m/s
Steve Docherty	-1.0 m/s	+1.8 m/s	+4.5 m/s
Neale Halsall	-6.0 m/s	+1.5 m/s	+6.3 m/s
Peter Adriaans	-2.0 m/s	+1.3 m/s	+4.8 m/s
Stuart Cathcart	-1.5 m/s	+1.3 m/s	+2.8 m/s
Olav Opsanger	-3.5 m/s	+1.3 m/s	+12.3 m/s
Jon Durand	-0.7 m/s	+1.3 m/s	+4.0 m/s
Steven Crosby	-1.5 m/s	+1.3 m/s	+3.0 m/s
Peter Tolhurst	-1.5 m/s	+1.3 m/s	+3.3 m/s
Steve Blenkinsop	-1.0 m/s	+1.0 m/s	+4.0 m/s
Troy Horton	-2.0 m/s	+1.0 m/s	+3.8 m/s
Andrew Sutton	-0.5 m/s	+1.0 m/s	+3.0 m/s
Neil Hooke	-2.0 m/s	+0.8 m/s	+2.8 m/s
Michael Free	-2.8 m/s	+0.8 m/s	+5.8 m/s
Richard Martin	-2.0 m/s	+0.7 m/s	+3.8 m/s
Andrew Berenyi	+0.0 m/s	+0.5 m/s	+2.0 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
1600–1700 m	69 / -68	215 m	188 m	+0.8 m/s	+4.0 m/s	113	3	1
1500–1600 m	316 / -183	274 m	383 m	+1.9 m/s	+4.8 m/s	89	2	2
1400–1500 m	248 / -185	174 m	286 m	+1.3 m/s	+5.5 m/s	144	7	1
1300–1400 m	177 / -229	150 m	221 m	+1.5 m/s	+4.8 m/s	409	7	2
1200–1300 m	75 / -152	138 m	188 m	+1.8 m/s	+5.5 m/s	422	8	2
1100–1200 m	-10 / -27	127 m	190 m	+1.4 m/s	+12.3 m/s	693	13	2
1000–1100 m	-66 / 34	118 m	181 m	+1.5 m/s	+5.0 m/s	612	14	1
900–1000 m	-109 / 131	106 m	172 m	+1.2 m/s	+7.5 m/s	591	14	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.

How often leaving the gaggle paid off

Label every pilot

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = 0.71 (too few pilots, n = 5). No expected direction — the sign is the finding: larger values went with worse ranks here. There is no trend curve. Too few pilots have a value to fit one that means anything. 41 pilots have no value and are not plotted, including the #1 ranked pilot.

Behaviour	Strength	What it means	Pilots measured
How often leaving the gaggle paid off		too few pilots
Share of the height gain made outside thermals		clear pattern
Gliding wide of the optimal course line		clear pattern
Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb		clear pattern
Glide L/D against the field median		clear pattern
Low saves dug out from the bottom of the band		clear pattern
How low the pilot gets between climbs		clear pattern
How much of the thermal the pilot climbed before leaving it		clear pattern
Time spent flying with a gaggle		some pattern
Climbs joined on another pilot's marker		some pattern
Share of lift turned in that was kept as a climb		some pattern
Glide speed between climbs		some pattern
Share of the flight spent in air that wasn’t sinking		some pattern
Gliding faster when the next climb is stronger		could be chance
How long after the gate opened the pilot started		could be chance
Distance covered between climbs		could be chance
Climb rate at thermal exit		could be chance
Climbing faster than the pilots sharing the thermal		could be chance
How round and consistent the circles were		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 20 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.

1 behaviour was measured on fewer than 8 pilots — too few to tell either way, so read those rows as a hint at most.

Metrics with a clear pattern, plotted against rank

Share of the height gain made outside thermals

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.

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = 0.59 (clear pattern, n = 32). 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 4 to about rank 17. 14 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Gliding wide of the optimal course line

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.

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = -0.55 (clear pattern, n = 38). Less is expected to be better here, but this task ran the other way: top ranks gather to the right. The curve is a trend fitted through the dots: left to right it runs from about rank 23 to about rank 14. 8 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

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 = 0.55 (clear pattern, n = 46). 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 3 to about rank 45.

Speed-section phase shares, field p25/median/p75: climb 1/17/25% · glide 22/29/39% · search 38/51/60%

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 = -0.54 (clear pattern, n = 38). 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 38 to about rank 15. 8 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 = -0.53 (clear pattern, n = 46). 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 23 to about rank 10.

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 = -0.53 (clear pattern, n = 27). 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 30 to about rank 5. 19 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 = -0.51 (clear pattern, n = 34). 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 38 to about rank 1. 12 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 lost against the fastest pilots, leg by leg		could be chance

The whole field at a glance

1. Stuart Cathcart

2. Vic Hare

3. Steve Blenkinsop

4. Bruce Atkinson

5. Todd Wisewould

6. Mitch Butler

7. Jay Kubeil

8. John Harriott

9. Ward Gunn

10. Bruce Wynne

11. Steven Crosby

12. Trent Brown

13. Richard Martin

14. Cedric Joyce

15. Enda Carrigan

16. Peter Burkitt

17. Olav Opsanger

18. Jon Durand

19. Steve Docherty

20. Adrian Connor

21. Jason Lannstrom

22. Rory Duncan

23. Peter Adriaans

24. Mark Jeffree

25. Marty Hearne

26. Michael Free

27. Neale Halsall

28. Neil Hooke

29. Dustan Hansen

30. Hughbert Alexander

31. Gary Herman

32. Hossain Tefaili

33. Troy Horton

34. Rohan Taylor

35. James McGinty

36. Andrew Taylor

37. Peter Garrone

38. Peter Tolhurst

39. Andrew Berenyi

40. James Atkinson

41. Brett Davis

42. Damian Hamilton

43. Wayne Johnston

44. Rennick Kerr

45. Tushar Pokle

46. Andrew Sutton

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 — Escape artists

8 pilots · ranks 1–13 · median 4.5 · middle half 2.8–6.8

High — Low saves dug out from the bottom of the band group median P89 in this field (1.0 count)
High — How much of the thermal the pilot climbed before leaving it group median P88 in this field (42 percent)
Low — Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb group median P12 in this field (32 percent) · usually a strength
High — Gliding wide of the optimal course line group median P82 in this field (51 percent) · usually costly

1. Stuart Cathcart
2. Vic Hare (most typical of this group)
3. Steve Blenkinsop
4. Bruce Atkinson
5. Todd Wisewould
6. Mitch Butler
9. Ward Gunn
13. Richard Martin

Group B — Gaggle flyers

25 pilots · ranks 7–41 · median 21 · middle half 15–29

High — Time spent flying with a gaggle group median P71 in this field (50 percent)
Low — How low the pilot gets between climbs group median P35 in this field (1 percent)

7. Jay Kubeil
8. John Harriott
10. Bruce Wynne
11. Steven Crosby
12. Trent Brown
14. Cedric Joyce
15. Enda Carrigan
16. Peter Burkitt
17. Olav Opsanger
18. Jon Durand
19. Steve Docherty
20. Adrian Connor
21. Jason Lannstrom (most typical of this group)
23. Peter Adriaans
24. Mark Jeffree
26. Michael Free
27. Neale Halsall
28. Neil Hooke
29. Dustan Hansen
30. Hughbert Alexander
32. Hossain Tefaili
33. Troy Horton
34. Rohan Taylor
36. Andrew Taylor
41. Brett Davis

Not clustered: 22. Rory Duncan — only 12 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 25. Marty Hearne — only 12 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 31. Gary Herman — only 12 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 35. James McGinty — only 11 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 37. Peter Garrone — only 11 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 38. Peter Tolhurst — only 10 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 39. Andrew Berenyi — only 11 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 40. James Atkinson — only 5 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 42. Damian Hamilton — only 9 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 43. Wayne Johnston — only 6 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 44. Rennick Kerr — only 11 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 45. Tushar Pokle — only 9 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 46. Andrew Sutton — only 9 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, 33 pilots on 21 behavioural metrics formed 2 groups, with k 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: some pattern (0.34)

#	Pilot	NonSink%
1	Stuart Cathcart	52
2	Vic Hare	58
3	Steve Blenkinsop	62
4	Bruce Atkinson	59
5	Todd Wisewould	57
6	Mitch Butler	59
7	Jay Kubeil	58
8	John Harriott	64
9	Ward Gunn	54
10	Bruce Wynne	62
11	Steven Crosby	55
12	Trent Brown	56
13	Richard Martin	59
14	Cedric Joyce	85
15	Enda Carrigan	59
16	Peter Burkitt	59
17	Olav Opsanger	57
18	Jon Durand	58
19	Steve Docherty	61
20	Adrian Connor	45
21	Jason Lannstrom	58
22	Rory Duncan	60
23	Peter Adriaans	58
24	Mark Jeffree	63
25	Marty Hearne	48
26	Michael Free	58
27	Neale Halsall	60
28	Neil Hooke	61
29	Dustan Hansen	63
30	Hughbert Alexander	63
31	Gary Herman	44
32	Hossain Tefaili	57
33	Troy Horton	57
34	Rohan Taylor	56
35	James McGinty	58
36	Andrew Taylor	52
37	Peter Garrone	52
38	Peter Tolhurst	51
39	Andrew Berenyi	58
40	James Atkinson	27
41	Brett Davis	65
42	Damian Hamilton	54
43	Wayne Johnston	46
44	Rennick Kerr	56
45	Tushar Pokle	57
46	Andrew Sutton	41

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	5.0	285	4466
13:00 AEDT	3.9	309	1051
14:00 AEDT	6.4	284	2028
15:00 AEDT	4.5	279	1143
16:00 AEDT	4.0	219	242
17:00 AEDT	0.9	194	2

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)→KHANCO	13:58–15:27 AEDT	38	14:07–15:23 AEDT	10.2	278	7	4
KHANCO→GRGGRG	14:05–16:01 AEDT	14	14:09–15:57 AEDT	7.8	289	827	14
GRGGRG→ROSSL	14:37–16:57 AEDT	4	14:45–16:46 AEDT	4.7	273	345	4
ROSSL→KHANCO (ESS)	15:50–16:40 AEDT	2	15:55–16:25 AEDT	2.9	247	91	2
KHANCO (ESS)→KHANCO (GOAL)	16:20–16:40 AEDT	2	—	—	—	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	1.9	269
14:00 AEDT	0.9	1.8	497
15:00 AEDT	0.9	1.7	287
16:00 AEDT	0.8	1.4	37
17:00 AEDT	0.5	0.5	1

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	13:08 AEDT
Median takeoff	14:03 AEDT
Latest takeoff	15:03 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 (0.51)

#	Pilot	Out-climb	Core s	LeaveRate	Kept%	TopOut%	Round
1	Stuart Cathcart	78 (29 shared climbs)	54 (16 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (14 climbs ≥ 90 s)	80 (12/15 circling bouts led to climbs)	74 (mean on-course altitude 64% of band)	0.16 (174 circles, 41% left)
2	Vic Hare	70 (44 shared climbs)	32 (27 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (19 climbs ≥ 90 s)	84 (16/19 circling bouts led to climbs)	51 (mean on-course altitude 51% of band)	0.17 (324 circles, 50% left)
3	Steve Blenkinsop	69 (7 shared climbs)	36 (20 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	73 (11/15 circling bouts led to climbs)	33 (mean on-course altitude 29% of band)	0.18 (318 circles, 17% left)
4	Bruce Atkinson	65 (17 shared climbs)	56 (21 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.3 (16 climbs ≥ 90 s)	52 (12/23 circling bouts led to climbs)	41 (mean on-course altitude 42% of band)	0.33 (20 circles, 10% left)
5	Todd Wisewould	80 (18 shared climbs)	33 (8 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (6 climbs ≥ 90 s)	56 (10/18 circling bouts led to climbs)	55 (mean on-course altitude 43% of band)	0.17 (138 circles, 22% left)
6	Mitch Butler	73 (27 shared climbs)	34 (12 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (6 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (5/10 circling bouts led to climbs)	23 (mean on-course altitude 27% of band)	0.17 (171 circles, 30% left)
7	Jay Kubeil	71 (29 shared climbs)	38 (9 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	67 (4/6 circling bouts led to climbs)	20 (mean on-course altitude 31% of band)	0.19 (92 circles, 24% left)
8	John Harriott	63 (46 shared climbs)	35 (7 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	60 (6/10 circling bouts led to climbs)	12 (mean on-course altitude 20% of band)	0.13 (167 circles, 0% left)
9	Ward Gunn	76 (15 shared climbs)	49 (9 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (8 climbs ≥ 90 s)	67 (6/9 circling bouts led to climbs)	44 (mean on-course altitude 41% of band)	0.14 (124 circles, 4% left)
10	Bruce Wynne	63 (20 shared climbs)	97 (9 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.5 (8 climbs ≥ 90 s)	38 (5/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	27 (mean on-course altitude 25% of band)	0.16 (51 circles, 10% left)
11	Steven Crosby	68 (17 shared climbs)	43 (5 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	40 (2/5 circling bouts led to climbs)	17 (mean on-course altitude 33% of band)	0.17 (97 circles, 28% left)
12	Trent Brown	50 (6 shared climbs)	48 (6 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	62 (8/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	14 (mean on-course altitude 8% of band)	0.15 (111 circles, 95% left)
13	Richard Martin	71 (18 shared climbs)	47 (11 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (8 climbs ≥ 90 s)	36 (5/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	24 (mean on-course altitude 27% of band)	0.14 (216 circles, 12% left)
14	Cedric Joyce	58 (6 shared climbs)	75 (7 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.4 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	20 (2/10 circling bouts led to climbs)	33 (mean on-course altitude 38% of band)	0.26 (19 circles, 74% left)
15	Enda Carrigan	69 (21 shared climbs)	36 (13 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (8 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (9/18 circling bouts led to climbs)	19 (mean on-course altitude 22% of band)	0.15 (160 circles, 49% left)
16	Peter Burkitt	71 (21 shared climbs)	73 (6 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.0 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	67 (4/6 circling bouts led to climbs)	23 (mean on-course altitude 26% of band)	0.17 (112 circles, 19% left)
17	Olav Opsanger	73 (24 shared climbs)	2 (5 climbs ≥ 60 s)	—	40 (2/5 circling bouts led to climbs)	42 (mean on-course altitude 29% of band)	0.14 (62 circles, 13% left)
18	Jon Durand	59 (23 shared climbs)	36 (8 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.0 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (3/6 circling bouts led to climbs)	0 (mean on-course altitude 21% of band)	0.14 (94 circles, 9% left)
19	Steve Docherty	65 (30 shared climbs)	74 (6 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (6 climbs ≥ 90 s)	45 (5/11 circling bouts led to climbs)	9 (mean on-course altitude 17% of band)	0.19 (136 circles, 2% left)
20	Adrian Connor	79 (8 shared climbs)	35 (4 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (2/4 circling bouts led to climbs)	-11 (mean on-course altitude 22% of band)	0.14 (51 circles, 2% left)
21	Jason Lannstrom	72 (26 shared climbs)	54 (3 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	63 (5/8 circling bouts led to climbs)	19 (mean on-course altitude 23% of band)	0.13 (72 circles, 49% left)
22	Rory Duncan	66 (25 shared climbs)	32 (7 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	0 (0/3 circling bouts led to climbs)	—	0.15 (74 circles, 0% left)
23	Peter Adriaans	72 (22 shared climbs)	47 (10 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (8 climbs ≥ 90 s)	71 (5/7 circling bouts led to climbs)	39 (mean on-course altitude 36% of band)	0.19 (120 circles, 13% left)
24	Mark Jeffree	64 (22 shared climbs)	68 (8 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (7 climbs ≥ 90 s)	45 (5/11 circling bouts led to climbs)	25 (mean on-course altitude 32% of band)	0.15 (103 circles, 66% left)
25	Marty Hearne	83 (8 shared climbs)	84 (3 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.4 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	0 (0/3 circling bouts led to climbs)	—	0.17 (35 circles, 6% left)
26	Michael Free	54 (19 shared climbs)	9 (5 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	33 (2/6 circling bouts led to climbs)	-2 (mean on-course altitude 8% of band)	0.21 (113 circles, 26% left)
27	Neale Halsall	68 (22 shared climbs)	4 (7 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (2/4 circling bouts led to climbs)	38 (mean on-course altitude 15% of band)	0.16 (97 circles, 10% left)
28	Neil Hooke	61 (32 shared climbs)	68 (9 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (7 climbs ≥ 90 s)	33 (4/12 circling bouts led to climbs)	16 (mean on-course altitude 14% of band)	0.14 (147 circles, 18% left)
29	Dustan Hansen	71 (18 shared climbs)	69 (2 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	100 (4/4 circling bouts led to climbs)	27 (mean on-course altitude 39% of band)	0.12 (57 circles, 9% left)
30	Hughbert Alexander	63 (47 shared climbs)	26 (5 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.6 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (2/4 circling bouts led to climbs)	0 (mean on-course altitude 12% of band)	0.14 (99 circles, 14% left)
31	Gary Herman	81 (9 shared climbs)	23 (4 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.8 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	0 (0/3 circling bouts led to climbs)	—	0.19 (36 circles, 0% left)
32	Hossain Tefaili	74 (11 shared climbs)	144 (2 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.9 (1 climb ≥ 90 s)	67 (2/3 circling bouts led to climbs)	-15 (mean on-course altitude 19% of band)	0.16 (68 circles, 15% left)
33	Troy Horton	78 (15 shared climbs)	160 (2 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	22 (2/9 circling bouts led to climbs)	5 (mean on-course altitude 10% of band)	0.20 (63 circles, 37% left)
34	Rohan Taylor	91 (3 shared climbs)	29 (4 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.6 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	40 (2/5 circling bouts led to climbs)	34 (mean on-course altitude 40% of band)	0.15 (82 circles, 62% left)
35	James McGinty	53 (19 shared climbs)	37 (3 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	—	0.13 (29 circles, 48% left)
36	Andrew Taylor	90 (3 shared climbs)	82 (3 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (3/6 circling bouts led to climbs)	21 (mean on-course altitude 22% of band)	0.11 (86 circles, 9% left)
37	Peter Garrone	61 (10 shared climbs)	36 (7 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	—	0.19 (36 circles, 6% left)
38	Peter Tolhurst	75 (8 shared climbs)	65 (4 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	0 (0/4 circling bouts led to climbs)	—	0.13 (33 circles, 3% left)
39	Andrew Berenyi	60 (16 shared climbs)	44 (8 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.8 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	—	0.18 (65 circles, 3% left)
40	James Atkinson	—	—	—	—	—	— (8 circles, 0% left)
41	Brett Davis	51 (9 shared climbs)	38 (9 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.0 (8 climbs ≥ 90 s)	71 (5/7 circling bouts led to climbs)	18 (mean on-course altitude 24% of band)	0.16 (226 circles, 11% left)
42	Damian Hamilton	72 (15 shared climbs)	19 (4 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	—	0.17 (70 circles, 21% left)
43	Wayne Johnston	25 (4 shared climbs)	—	—	—	—	— (4 circles, 0% left)
44	Rennick Kerr	65 (15 shared climbs)	51 (4 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.6 (1 climb ≥ 90 s)	—	-23 (mean on-course altitude -30% of band)	0.20 (53 circles, 2% left)
45	Tushar Pokle	68 (13 shared climbs)	43 (3 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.8 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	—	0.20 (40 circles, 0% left)
46	Andrew Sutton	56 (2 shared climbs)	43 (1 climb ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (1 climb ≥ 90 s)	—	—	0.13 (14 circles, 0% 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
13:00 AEDT	0	1
14:00 AEDT	53	34
15:00 AEDT	50	29
16:00 AEDT	0	8
17:00 AEDT	33	1

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: 24% left (4467 circles).

best: clear pattern (0.59)

#	Pilot	GlideSpd	GlideL/D	SpeedToFly	Wide%	Dolphin%
1	Stuart Cathcart	57.7 (13 glides, 83 min gliding)	1.10 (4 legs compared)	-1.3 (12 glide→climb pairs)	37 (4 legs completed)	7 (416 of 5594 m gained outside thermals)
2	Vic Hare	66.8 (21 glides, 80 min gliding)	0.99 (4 legs compared)	-0.0 (20 glide→climb pairs)	49 (4 legs completed)	10 (640 of 6583 m gained outside thermals)
3	Steve Blenkinsop	54.3 (20 glides, 68 min gliding)	0.99 (3 legs compared)	-0.7 (19 glide→climb pairs)	70 (3 legs completed)	20 (854 of 4212 m gained outside thermals)
4	Bruce Atkinson	44.6 (12 glides, 67 min gliding)	1.07 (3 legs compared)	-1.6 (11 glide→climb pairs)	33 (3 legs completed)	7 (266 of 3736 m gained outside thermals)
5	Todd Wisewould	56.3 (16 glides, 60 min gliding)	1.13 (2 legs compared)	-1.2 (15 glide→climb pairs)	52 (2 legs completed)	24 (610 of 2568 m gained outside thermals)
6	Mitch Butler	62.9 (9 glides, 39 min gliding)	1.07 (2 legs compared)	1.1 (8 glide→climb pairs)	45 (2 legs completed)	12 (277 of 2347 m gained outside thermals)
7	Jay Kubeil	49.8 (6 glides, 39 min gliding)	1.05 (2 legs compared)	0.0 (5 glide→climb pairs)	27 (2 legs completed)	20 (358 of 1819 m gained outside thermals)
8	John Harriott	51.5 (24 glides, 64 min gliding)	1.11 (2 legs compared)	0.3 (23 glide→climb pairs)	68 (2 legs completed)	43 (859 of 1996 m gained outside thermals)
9	Ward Gunn	54.2 (8 glides, 40 min gliding)	1.00 (2 legs compared)	5.5 (7 glide→climb pairs)	94 (2 legs completed)	19 (503 of 2669 m gained outside thermals)
10	Bruce Wynne	55.4 (4 glides, 46 min gliding)	0.95 (2 legs compared)	—	36 (2 legs completed)	9 (202 of 2183 m gained outside thermals)
11	Steven Crosby	55.4 (7 glides, 27 min gliding)	1.09 (2 legs compared)	-0.3 (6 glide→climb pairs)	19 (2 legs completed)	14 (135 of 969 m gained outside thermals)
12	Trent Brown	50.2 (15 glides, 45 min gliding)	0.85 (2 legs compared)	-0.0 (14 glide→climb pairs)	75 (2 legs completed)	26 (490 of 1866 m gained outside thermals)
13	Richard Martin	52.7 (8 glides, 32 min gliding)	1.24 (2 legs compared)	1.7 (7 glide→climb pairs)	58 (2 legs completed)	25 (306 of 1212 m gained outside thermals)
14	Cedric Joyce	44.0 (3 glides, 45 min gliding)	0.95 (1 leg compared)	—	28 (1 leg completed)	71 (373 of 524 m gained outside thermals)
15	Enda Carrigan	56.0 (17 glides, 58 min gliding)	0.99 (2 legs compared)	-1.5 (16 glide→climb pairs)	135 (2 legs completed)	28 (784 of 2816 m gained outside thermals)
16	Peter Burkitt	53.8 (8 glides, 28 min gliding)	1.13 (1 leg compared)	1.5 (7 glide→climb pairs)	18 (1 leg completed)	36 (420 of 1163 m gained outside thermals)
17	Olav Opsanger	59.1 (5 glides, 30 min gliding)	1.15 (1 leg compared)	-1.3 (4 glide→climb pairs)	10 (1 leg completed)	70 (893 of 1283 m gained outside thermals)
18	Jon Durand	53.9 (7 glides, 21 min gliding)	1.05 (1 leg compared)	0.5 (6 glide→climb pairs)	4 (1 leg completed)	29 (144 of 490 m gained outside thermals)
19	Steve Docherty	50.8 (12 glides, 41 min gliding)	1.19 (1 leg compared)	-2.4 (11 glide→climb pairs)	6 (1 leg completed)	42 (425 of 1009 m gained outside thermals)
20	Adrian Connor	41.8 (2 glides, 8 min gliding)	0.88 (1 leg compared)	—	-1 (1 leg completed)	—
21	Jason Lannstrom	44.5 (15 glides, 36 min gliding)	0.98 (1 leg compared)	-0.8 (14 glide→climb pairs)	14 (1 leg completed)	32 (455 of 1401 m gained outside thermals)
22	Rory Duncan	—	0.90 (1 leg compared)	—	-1 (1 leg completed)	—
23	Peter Adriaans	53.7 (9 glides, 32 min gliding)	1.01 (1 leg compared)	1.5 (8 glide→climb pairs)	10 (1 leg completed)	17 (245 of 1444 m gained outside thermals)
24	Mark Jeffree	48.3 (11 glides, 40 min gliding)	0.89 (1 leg compared)	-0.6 (10 glide→climb pairs)	18 (1 leg completed)	29 (471 of 1649 m gained outside thermals)
25	Marty Hearne	—	0.90 (1 leg compared)	—	4 (1 leg completed)	—
26	Michael Free	49.1 (5 glides, 26 min gliding)	0.93 (1 leg compared)	0.5 (4 glide→climb pairs)	12 (1 leg completed)	45 (367 of 822 m gained outside thermals)
27	Neale Halsall	56.8 (3 glides, 24 min gliding)	1.02 (1 leg compared)	—	10 (1 leg completed)	35 (169 of 478 m gained outside thermals)
28	Neil Hooke	49.4 (9 glides, 42 min gliding)	1.01 (1 leg compared)	-1.2 (8 glide→climb pairs)	9 (1 leg completed)	28 (382 of 1377 m gained outside thermals)
29	Dustan Hansen	57.9 (4 glides, 21 min gliding)	0.90 (1 leg compared)	—	20 (1 leg completed)	46 (161 of 351 m gained outside thermals)
30	Hughbert Alexander	53.2 (18 glides, 23 min gliding)	1.11 (1 leg compared)	2.2 (17 glide→climb pairs)	20 (1 leg completed)	44 (641 of 1463 m gained outside thermals)
31	Gary Herman	—	0.97 (1 leg compared)	—	1 (1 leg completed)	—
32	Hossain Tefaili	53.7 (4 glides, 11 min gliding)	0.96 (1 leg compared)	—	18 (1 leg completed)	56 (133 of 239 m gained outside thermals)
33	Troy Horton	44.1 (2 glides, 17 min gliding)	0.89 (1 leg compared)	—	11 (1 leg completed)	46 (187 of 409 m gained outside thermals)
34	Rohan Taylor	64.7 (7 glides, 20 min gliding)	0.89 (1 leg compared)	8.2 (6 glide→climb pairs)	13 (1 leg completed)	30 (360 of 1209 m gained outside thermals)
35	James McGinty	—	0.95 (1 leg compared)	—	42 (1 leg completed)	—
36	Andrew Taylor	45.9 (6 glides, 25 min gliding)	0.86 (1 leg compared)	-0.0 (5 glide→climb pairs)	8 (1 leg completed)	40 (243 of 613 m gained outside thermals)
37	Peter Garrone	—	0.94 (1 leg compared)	—	13 (1 leg completed)	—
38	Peter Tolhurst	—	—	—	—	—
39	Andrew Berenyi	—	0.58 (1 leg compared)	—	35 (1 leg completed)	—
40	James Atkinson	—	—	—	—	—
41	Brett Davis	47.3 (7 glides, 33 min gliding)	—	1.1 (6 glide→climb pairs)	—	16 (244 of 1547 m gained outside thermals)
42	Damian Hamilton	—	—	—	—	—
43	Wayne Johnston	—	—	—	—	—
44	Rennick Kerr	44.3 (1 glides, 3 min gliding)	—	—	—	—
45	Tushar Pokle	—	—	—	—	—
46	Andrew Sutton	—	—	—	—	—

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 53.4 km/h · p90 58.8 km/h (34 pilots)

best: clear pattern (0.55)

#	Pilot	Floor%	LowSaves	km/climb	Search%
1	Stuart Cathcart	30 (7 descents, lowest 13% of band)	0.0	2.9 (mean shared-climb pctile 52%)	19
2	Vic Hare	26 (10 descents, lowest -9% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 4% of band)	1.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 53%)	27
3	Steve Blenkinsop	8 (9 descents, lowest -11% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 6% of band)	1.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 40%)	29
4	Bruce Atkinson	25 (8 descents, lowest 4% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 12% of band)	2.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 41%)	29
5	Todd Wisewould	38 (7 descents, lowest 1% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 8% of band)	1.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 54%)	52
6	Mitch Butler	12 (4 descents, lowest -25% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 11% of band)	1.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 54%)	39
7	Jay Kubeil	-1 (2 descents, lowest -9% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 7% of band)	2.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 50%)	41
8	John Harriott	12 (4 descents, lowest -28% of band)	0.0	0.9 (mean shared-climb pctile 48%)	58
9	Ward Gunn	15 (4 descents, lowest 11% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 0% of band)	1.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 55%)	35
10	Bruce Wynne	1 (3 descents, lowest -31% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from 2% of band)	2.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 42%)	43
11	Steven Crosby	5 (2 descents, lowest -2% of band)	0.0	2.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 40%)	34
12	Trent Brown	1 (6 descents, lowest -21% of band)	0.0	1.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 43%)	47
13	Richard Martin	8 (4 descents, lowest 5% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 12% of band)	—	56
14	Cedric Joyce	—	0.0	—	72
15	Enda Carrigan	4 (6 descents, lowest -14% of band)	0.0	—	57
16	Peter Burkitt	6 (4 descents, lowest -15% of band)	0.0	—	49
17	Olav Opsanger	—	0.0	—	50
18	Jon Durand	-15 (2 descents, lowest -27% of band)	0.0	—	38
19	Steve Docherty	1 (3 descents, lowest -23% of band)	0.0	—	58
20	Adrian Connor	—	0.0	—	37
21	Jason Lannstrom	5 (3 descents, lowest -7% of band)	0.0	—	57
22	Rory Duncan	—	0.0	—	48
23	Peter Adriaans	18 (4 descents, lowest -9% of band)	0.0	—	47
24	Mark Jeffree	30 (3 descents, lowest 3% of band)	0.0	—	63
25	Marty Hearne	—	0.0	—	42
26	Michael Free	-5 (2 descents, lowest -24% of band)	0.0	—	60
27	Neale Halsall	-16 (2 descents, lowest -22% of band)	0.0	—	61
28	Neil Hooke	-7 (3 descents, lowest -21% of band)	0.0	—	56
29	Dustan Hansen	10 (2 descents, lowest 0% of band)	0.0	—	50
30	Hughbert Alexander	-20 (5 descents, lowest -25% of band)	0.0	—	59
31	Gary Herman	—	0.0	—	37
32	Hossain Tefaili	-14 (2 descents, lowest -22% of band)	0.0	—	61
33	Troy Horton	—	0.0	—	72
34	Rohan Taylor	—	0.0	—	34
35	James McGinty	—	0.0	—	39
36	Andrew Taylor	—	0.0	—	56
37	Peter Garrone	—	0.0	—	21
38	Peter Tolhurst	—	0.0	—	61
39	Andrew Berenyi	—	0.0	—	36
40	James Atkinson	—	0.0	—	100
41	Brett Davis	10 (3 descents, lowest -1% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 0% of band)	—	56
42	Damian Hamilton	—	0.0	—	85
43	Wayne Johnston	—	0.0	—	100
44	Rennick Kerr	—	0.0	—	84
45	Tushar Pokle	—	0.0	—	86
46	Andrew Sutton	—	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 1/17/25% · glide 22/29/39% · search 38/51/60%

best: too few pilots (0.71)

#	Pilot	InGaggle%	Marked%	LeaveWin%
1	Stuart Cathcart	30	35 (8/23 climbs marked)	—
2	Vic Hare	26	32 (13/41 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
3	Steve Blenkinsop	8	0 (0/46 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
4	Bruce Atkinson	23	11 (2/19 climbs marked)	—
5	Todd Wisewould	14	7 (2/29 climbs marked)	—
6	Mitch Butler	46	28 (5/18 climbs marked)	—
7	Jay Kubeil	54	50 (6/12 climbs marked)	—
8	John Harriott	35	13 (4/31 climbs marked)	—
9	Ward Gunn	13	0 (0/17 climbs marked)	—
10	Bruce Wynne	58	50 (4/8 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
11	Steven Crosby	66	89 (8/9 climbs marked)	—
12	Trent Brown	16	0 (0/21 climbs marked)	—
13	Richard Martin	17	0 (0/12 climbs marked)	—
14	Cedric Joyce	64	33 (1/3 climbs marked)	—
15	Enda Carrigan	32	24 (7/29 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
16	Peter Burkitt	50	6 (1/16 climbs marked)	—
17	Olav Opsanger	87	60 (3/5 climbs marked)	—
18	Jon Durand	68	22 (2/9 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
19	Steve Docherty	96	33 (7/21 climbs marked)	—
20	Adrian Connor	28	—	—
21	Jason Lannstrom	49	32 (9/28 climbs marked)	—
22	Rory Duncan	46	—	—
23	Peter Adriaans	50	20 (3/15 climbs marked)	—
24	Mark Jeffree	82	22 (4/18 climbs marked)	—
25	Marty Hearne	10	—	—
26	Michael Free	19	0 (0/9 climbs marked)	—
27	Neale Halsall	62	50 (3/6 climbs marked)	—
28	Neil Hooke	88	20 (3/15 climbs marked)	—
29	Dustan Hansen	43	0 (0/6 climbs marked)	—
30	Hughbert Alexander	32	4 (1/24 climbs marked)	—
31	Gary Herman	0	—	—
32	Hossain Tefaili	58	0 (0/5 climbs marked)	—
33	Troy Horton	10	0 (0/3 climbs marked)	—
34	Rohan Taylor	0	0 (0/17 climbs marked)	—
35	James McGinty	0	—	—
36	Andrew Taylor	18	0 (0/10 climbs marked)	—
37	Peter Garrone	58	—	—
38	Peter Tolhurst	0	—	—
39	Andrew Berenyi	0	—	—
40	James Atkinson	0	—	—
41	Brett Davis	0	0 (0/10 climbs marked)	—
42	Damian Hamilton	0	—	—
43	Wayne Johnston	0	—	—
44	Rennick Kerr	0	—	—
45	Tushar Pokle	0	—	—
46	Andrew Sutton	0	—	—

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.

27 gaggle episodes detected (peak size 14 pilots).

best: could be chance (0.29)

#	Pilot	StartDly	TimeLost	Behind	Spare m
1	Stuart Cathcart	78	103	0.0	290
2	Vic Hare	46	973	20.1	31
3	Steve Blenkinsop	33	790	—	—
4	Bruce Atkinson	3842	370	—	—
5	Todd Wisewould	2233	8	—	—
6	Mitch Butler	15	0	—	—
7	Jay Kubeil	62	9	—	—
8	John Harriott	1884	2174	—	—
9	Ward Gunn	1896	810	—	—
10	Bruce Wynne	61	13	—	—
11	Steven Crosby	65	0	—	—
12	Trent Brown	946	826	—	—
13	Richard Martin	1876	307	—	—
14	Cedric Joyce	2198	109	—	—
15	Enda Carrigan	55	2215	—	—
16	Peter Burkitt	1821	2	—	—
17	Olav Opsanger	10	0	—	—
18	Jon Durand	5	0	—	—
19	Steve Docherty	63	0	—	—
20	Adrian Connor	2100	23	—	—
21	Jason Lannstrom	2180	44	—	—
22	Rory Duncan	947	0	—	—
23	Peter Adriaans	87	0	—	—
24	Mark Jeffree	2165	62	—	—
25	Marty Hearne	2843	12	—	—
26	Michael Free	1028	0	—	—
27	Neale Halsall	33	0	—	—
28	Neil Hooke	58	0	—	—
29	Dustan Hansen	4910	47	—	—
30	Hughbert Alexander	3814	6	—	—
31	Gary Herman	1996	9	—	—
32	Hossain Tefaili	1837	6	—	—
33	Troy Horton	335	0	—	—
34	Rohan Taylor	4544	0	—	—
35	James McGinty	3668	217	—	—
36	Andrew Taylor	1918	43	—	—
37	Peter Garrone	1887	62	—	—
38	Peter Tolhurst	237	—	—	—
39	Andrew Berenyi	-64	275	—	—
40	James Atkinson	-1800	—	—	—
41	Brett Davis	7032	—	—	—
42	Damian Hamilton	4351	—	—	—
43	Wayne Johnston	3932	—	—	—
44	Rennick Kerr	4167	—	—	—
45	Tushar Pokle	3552	—	—	—
46	Andrew Sutton	-119	—	—	—

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.

Start execution

Pilot	Delay	Alt m	Band %	Behind km
Stuart Cathcart	1:18	2050	101	1.9
Vic Hare	0:46	1993	96	1.6
Steve Blenkinsop	0:33	1980	95	1.4
Bruce Atkinson	64:02	1963	94	6.6
Todd Wisewould	37:13	2087	104	5.1
Mitch Butler	0:15	2064	102	1.2
Jay Kubeil	1:02	2048	101	1.7
John Harriott	31:24	2233	116	1.3
Ward Gunn	31:36	1895	88	1.8
Bruce Wynne	1:01	2050	101	1.7
Steven Crosby	1:05	2037	100	1.8
Trent Brown	15:46	1964	94	3.3
Richard Martin	31:16	2156	110	1.4
Cedric Joyce	36:38	1948	93	5.0
Enda Carrigan	0:55	1899	89	1.7
Peter Burkitt	30:21	2097	105	2.4
Olav Opsanger	0:10	2055	101	1.1
Jon Durand	0:05	2074	103	1.1
Steve Docherty	1:03	2080	103	1.7
Adrian Connor	35:00	2007	98	3.8
Jason Lannstrom	36:20	1899	89	4.6
Rory Duncan	15:47	2123	107	3.3
Peter Adriaans	1:27	1942	92	2.0
Mark Jeffree	36:05	2043	100	5.2
Marty Hearne	47:23	2107	106	6.2
Michael Free	17:08	1867	86	3.0
Neale Halsall	0:33	1994	96	1.6
Neil Hooke	0:58	1948	93	1.8
Dustan Hansen	81:50	1894	88	3.6
Hughbert Alexander	63:34	1818	82	6.2
Gary Herman	33:16	2022	99	2.2
Hossain Tefaili	30:37	2018	98	2.0
Troy Horton	5:35	1884	88	4.8
Rohan Taylor	75:44	2024	99	4.4
James McGinty	61:08	1313	42	7.6
Andrew Taylor	31:58	2075	103	1.3
Peter Garrone	31:27	1992	96	1.3
Peter Tolhurst	3:57	1596	64	3.8
Andrew Berenyi	-1:04	1804	81	0.0
James Atkinson	-30:00	365	-35	0.0
Brett Davis	117:12	811	1	14.0
Damian Hamilton	72:31	499	-24	10.5
Wayne Johnston	65:32	419	-30	11.4
Rennick Kerr	69:27	503	-23	11.1
Tushar Pokle	59:12	524	-22	11.7
Andrew Sutton	-1:59	463	-27	0.0

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.

Vic Hare against the winner, leg by leg: bars hanging below the line are time lost, bars above are time gained; over the 4 compared legs, +20:36 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→KHANCO	KHANCO→GRGGRG	GRGGRG→ROSSL	ROSSL→ESS	Total
Stuart Cathcart	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00
Vic Hare	-0:23	-0:09	+7:51	+13:17	+20:36
Steve Blenkinsop	-0:13	+24:23	+0:20	—	+24:29
Bruce Atkinson	+0:01	+19:26	-15:03	—	+4:24
Todd Wisewould	+0:09	+12:27	—	—	+12:36
Mitch Butler	-0:15	-0:30	—	—	-0:45
Jay Kubeil	+0:10	-0:03	—	—	+0:07
John Harriott	+0:28	+49:03	—	—	+49:31
Ward Gunn	+0:01	+26:46	—	—	+26:47
Bruce Wynne	+0:14	+1:14	—	—	+1:29
Steven Crosby	-0:12	-10:51	—	—	-11:04
Trent Brown	-1:35	+27:01	—	—	+25:27
Richard Martin	-0:16	+18:22	—	—	+18:06
Cedric Joyce	+1:50	—	—	—	+1:50
Enda Carrigan	-0:08	+50:11	—	—	+50:03
Peter Burkitt	+0:03	—	—	—	+0:03
Olav Opsanger	-0:38	—	—	—	-0:38
Jon Durand	-0:09	—	—	—	-0:09
Steve Docherty	-0:20	—	—	—	-0:20
Adrian Connor	+0:24	—	—	—	+0:24
Jason Lannstrom	+0:45	—	—	—	+0:45
Rory Duncan	-1:06	—	—	—	-1:06
Peter Adriaans	-0:07	—	—	—	-0:07
Mark Jeffree	+1:03	—	—	—	+1:03
Marty Hearne	+0:14	—	—	—	+0:14
Michael Free	-0:01	—	—	—	-0:01
Neale Halsall	-0:33	—	—	—	-0:33
Neil Hooke	+0:01	—	—	—	+0:01
Dustan Hansen	+0:49	—	—	—	+0:49
Hughbert Alexander	+0:07	—	—	—	+0:07
Gary Herman	+0:10	—	—	—	+0:10
Hossain Tefaili	+0:07	—	—	—	+0:07
Troy Horton	-0:05	—	—	—	-0:05
Rohan Taylor	-0:54	—	—	—	-0:54
James McGinty	+3:38	—	—	—	+3:38
Andrew Taylor	+0:44	—	—	—	+0:44
Peter Garrone	+1:03	—	—	—	+1:03
Andrew Berenyi	+4:36	—	—	—	+4:36

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	KHANCO	GRGGRG	ROSSL	KHANCO	KHANCO
Stuart Cathcart	31.3	1.8	11.3	0.0	0.0	0.0
Vic Hare	30.8	0.8	10.2	6.8	20.1	20.1
Steve Blenkinsop	30.5	0.8	34.7	23.7	—	—
Bruce Atkinson	94.0	64.5	93.4	67.1	—	—
Todd Wisewould	67.2	37.8	59.8	—	—	—
Mitch Butler	30.2	0.5	9.5	—	—	—
Jay Kubeil	31.0	1.7	11.1	—	—	—
John Harriott	61.4	32.3	90.9	—	—	—
Ward Gunn	61.6	32.1	68.4	—	—	—
Bruce Wynne	31.0	1.7	12.5	—	—	—
Steven Crosby	31.1	1.3	0.0	—	—	—
Trent Brown	45.8	14.7	51.2	—	—	—
Richard Martin	61.3	31.5	59.4	—	—	—
Cedric Joyce	66.6	38.9	—	—	—	—
Enda Carrigan	30.9	1.2	60.9	—	—	—
Peter Burkitt	60.3	30.9	—	—	—	—
Olav Opsanger	30.2	0.0	—	—	—	—
Jon Durand	30.1	0.4	—	—	—	—
Steve Docherty	31.0	1.2	—	—	—	—
Adrian Connor	65.0	35.9	—	—	—	—
Jason Lannstrom	66.3	37.5	—	—	—	—
Rory Duncan	45.8	15.1	—	—	—	—
Peter Adriaans	31.4	1.8	—	—	—	—
Mark Jeffree	66.1	37.6	—	—	—	—
Marty Hearne	77.4	48.1	—	—	—	—
Michael Free	47.1	17.6	—	—	—	—
Neale Halsall	30.6	0.5	—	—	—	—
Neil Hooke	31.0	1.4	—	—	—	—
Dustan Hansen	111.8	83.1	—	—	—	—
Hughbert Alexander	93.6	64.2	—	—	—	—
Gary Herman	63.3	33.9	—	—	—	—
Hossain Tefaili	60.6	31.2	—	—	—	—
Troy Horton	35.6	6.0	—	—	—	—
Rohan Taylor	105.7	75.3	—	—	—	—
James McGinty	91.1	65.2	—	—	—	—
Andrew Taylor	62.0	33.2	—	—	—	—
Peter Garrone	61.4	33.0	—	—	—	—
Peter Tolhurst	33.9	—	—	—	—	—
Andrew Berenyi	28.9	4.0	—	—	—	—
James Atkinson	0.0	—	—	—	—	—
Brett Davis	147.2	—	—	—	—	—
Damian Hamilton	102.5	—	—	—	—	—
Wayne Johnston	95.5	—	—	—	—	—
Rennick Kerr	99.4	—	—	—	—	—
Tushar Pokle	89.2	—	—	—	—	—
Andrew Sutton	28.0	—	—	—	—	—

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 161 m (n=2).

Footnotes

1 pilot in the standings but not in this analysis

Randall Clotworthy — scored from a manual flight report — no tracklog to analyse

The correlations are measured against the published ranks, and those ranks include these pilots. Their behaviour cannot be measured without a tracklog.

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 4 (Open)

What the weather did

From the weather model

From the pilots' tracks

The day's thermals

Thermal at 13:22 AEDT — 19 pilots, 56 climbs

Which behaviours went with better results

How often leaving the gaggle paid off

Metrics with a clear pattern, plotted against rank

Share of the height gain made outside thermals

Gliding wide of the optimal course line

Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb

Glide L/D against the field median

Low saves dug out from the bottom of the band

How low the pilot gets between climbs

How much of the thermal the pilot climbed before leaving it

Outcome checks

The whole field at a glance

Pilot style clusters

The metrics in detail

Day profile & windbest: some pattern (0.34)

Climbingbest: clear pattern (0.51)

Glidingbest: clear pattern (0.59)

Glide speed between climbs

Decision-makingbest: clear pattern (0.55)

Gagglebest: too few pilots (0.71)

Time spent flying with a gaggle

Race craftbest: could be chance (0.29)

Footnotes

1 pilot in the standings but not in this analysis

How the field is compared

Metric glossary

Day profile & wind

Climbing

Gliding

Decision-making

Gaggle

Race craft

best: some pattern (0.34)

best: clear pattern (0.51)

best: clear pattern (0.59)

best: clear pattern (0.55)

best: too few pilots (0.71)

best: could be chance (0.29)