https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-vanderwerf/el-penon-classic-race-2017/1536577286360371

This past week I had the pleasure of joining over 30 Mexican,
Columbian, Canadian and Guatemalan pilots at the now annual El Penon Classic
Race. Having lived here in Valle de Bravo, Mexico for the majority of the past
half decade this time of year has become my favorite.

The hordes of paraglider pilots have all but left town. The few that remain
only fly early or late leaving the launch and skies of El Penon open to us hang
gliders. This year the competition had 6 task-able days. The first few days there were
some clouds to help mark the lift. Everyday the lift was strong and climbed
high. Average sustained climb rates of 4-6 m/s (800-1200 ft/min). Top of lift
ranging from 3400-4200m (11,000-14,000 ft).

I personally flew for a total of 11 hours and a combined XC distance of about
200 km (125 miles). On two days I made pretty major mistakes early on in the
task causing me to have to land less then a third of the way through. One day I
hesitated when I should have pushed and the next I pushed when I should have
hesitated. Though these two days scored me the least points they taught me the
most.

In the end I'm quite pleased with my overall result of 4^th place.
Congratulations to the current sport class world champion Carlos Alvarado for
consistently making it to goal and taking 1^st over all.

My two fellow tandem pilots at Vuelolibre MX Jose Luis Jaramillo and Fermin
Tello filled out the podium. Rudy Gotes and Alfredo Tello kept up with the pack
and at times left it behind while flying single surface Wills Wing "Race"
Falcons.

Congrats also to the 5 female pilots most especially to mi novia Emma for
entering her first competition. Thanks to Claudia (from Europe) for doing a
great job organizing a majority Latino pilot competition. And to everyone who
competed thanks for safe and fun competition. In the end only one pilot suffered
a few cracked ribs after a hard down-wind landing. Oh and of course thanks to
Rudy and Lagar Ruiz Pascual who did so much and do so much to keep making this
event happen. I look forward to next year already!

https://airtribune.com/elpenion2017/results

The Saturday flying results don't appear here. At least as I
publish this on Sunday evening.