The PWC - Paragliding World Cup - 2023 Paragliding World Cup series has its peak at the beginning of 2024 in Baixo Guandu, Brazil. In the selection of the best pilots who were nominated for this race, there are also six Czech representatives: Vít Pekárek, Petr Kostrhun, Jan Jareš, Tomáš Drnec, Jonáš Horáček and Oldřich Brož (cover photo from the left)
Super final site https://pwca.events/13th-world-cup-superfinal/
Overall results of Czech competitors: Vít Pekárek 36th place, Jonáš Horáček 46th place, Jan Jareš 59th place, Petr Kostrhun 65th place, Tomáš Drnec 82nd place, Oldřich Brož 127th place
French pilot Honorin Hamard won the race, Baptiste Lambert finished second and Joachim Oberhauser took third place.
Photo report by Klára Hadašová from the seven competition days and also from the rest days, photos from the pilots can be found later in the article
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Czech PG expedition to the PWC Superfinal in Baixo Guandu, Brazil day 1 and 2.
On the morning of March 3, a group of five Czech representatives will fly to the super final of the World Cup on an early flight from Prague to Amsterdam - Jonáš Horáček, Jan Jareš, Petr Kostrhún, Vít Pekárek and Tomáš Drnec, where they will be joined by the sixth competitor, Olda Brož, who will close the group. With the already complete line-up, they continue with another twelve-hour flight to Sao Paolo, Brazil. After check-in, there is still a 30-minute journey to Vitoria, where the pilots will not reach until midnight local time, i.e. after 24 hours spent traveling, but they are still not at their destination. This will make the town of Baixo Guandu up to three hours away.
Each member of the group struggles with oversized luggage, a "Submarine" i.e. a racing seat, a racing wing and personal luggage with clothes and necessities for the next 11 days of the Brazilian climate.
Everyone, properly tired, always takes a hotel approx. 1,5 km from the airport and falls asleep around an hour after midnight, looking forward to the morning ride to Baixa and the first day on site.
Day 1:
The Czech pilots cover the three hours in the morning to Baixo Guandu very quickly thanks to the brisk driving of the local driver, they check in and after lunch they set off for LA 23 km distant start of Rampa do Monjolo with a height of 848 masl
Jonáš Horáček plans the complicated task of the training day back to the city, which ultimately means covering about 12 km by air. Jonáš, one of the most promising pilots of recent years, thus shows his own concept of a successful pilot: Above all, don't burn out the beginning!
The boys are taking off, testing how their wings fly and how things are going in Brazil. It is said to be extremely hot everywhere, so different from the low temperatures of Czech March.
I'm trying to somehow upload a bookmark to the submarine, so I start more than half an hour after the boys. It manifests itself here he has familiar nervousness from new terrain and power mi fails dial over the hill, actually not at all....
Finally he flies awaym forward to such a nicely inflated rib, I will dial within 800 meters, fly around for a whilei and he tries toom, how it flies and walks Eventually i fly direct flight to the city to the river, to altitude 80 m. From Kluk, who were already here, learnsm, that if you flies around 1500 m max, but then again, the floor is very low, so there should be enough space…. he describes his experiences from his first PWC superfinal in the life of Olda Brož.
Day 2:
In the morning, the Czech group receives instructions that they are leaving for a training day at 9:00 a.m. They have breakfast and head to the meeting point, which is just around the corner from the hotel.
They hand over the parachutes to a large truck and sit in a nice, air-conditioned minibus, which, after minor vicissitudes with a boiling engine, brings them to the start. The clouds in the distance do not look good, however, handing over the responsibility for the weather to the organizers and being able to just race is one of the main advantages of the races, so the pilots continue their preparations.
Pilots are weighing themselves, Olda is finding weight for the seat, small 0,5l bottles with wet sand look like a good idea.
Subsequently, the biggest wild boars start. Among them i Jonáš Horáček and Víťa Pekárek.
The others do not like the situation too much, there is a storm in the distance and behind the hill, so they wait.
Finally, a strong wind picks up, the pilots pack their wings again and leave the hill for lunch, some go to measure the line of the wings.
Registration will take place at 16:XNUMX p.m., where the pilots don two cool T-shirts and a sticker on their helmets and head out for the so-called spejle – fast grilled meat on the street, according to our reporter – very good.
We are very much looking forward to the first real task and we are keeping our fingers crossed for everyone!
Day 3:
3rd day of travel, 2nd day on site and 1st task, i.e. the first racing day!
The boys are excited, the forecast is not very good. The expedition plans to leave for the hill at 8:00 in the morning. At the start, a moderate E-SE wind of up to 5 km/h is forecast, which should gradually turn to the NE and increase to 10 km/h. The forecast also includes high clouds and bases of 900-1300 m. Thermal 2-3,5 m/s with a 60% chance of rain.
After arriving at the start, the competitors are in a beautiful cloud zone, so no one is in a hurry, it's just a bit unpleasant that the refreshment kiosk is still closed and some pilots have a spoiled start to the day. Brazil is far away, those who don't have a local SIM have to surf carefully and this gives a lot of space to look at other pilots' equipment and talk to each other. Pilots evaluate each other's different sizes of desks, some are resting, some are using the kiosk they are opening. Gradually, the clouds lift and the pilots begin to concentrate and get ready under the big tent that they built for them so that they don't have to expose their wings to the sun longer than necessary.
A fairly simple 67,7 km long task across the river to the first switchback, with a trap at the end in the scenically picturesque Laranjeiras, is listed. At the end, the pilots must not use the instrument glide behind the arrow, because it would lead them directly into the rock, which they have to fly around early, or gain altitude and fly over it. Let's hope that the discipline of the pilots to listen to the taska rules meeting is high! The ground start is announced around 11:45, the base of the clouds, which eventually reaches them only at about 1200 m, and they wait in the air for 12:30, when the air start is set.
The start whistle blows and we, as live viewers on Flymaster, cheer at the monitors, because Olda Brož is breaking out of the big club of spinning competitors! And Petr immediately chases him Kostrhun! Olda does not feel comfortable in the position of leader, he keeps turning around to see if he is flying in the wrong direction, but no, it is 18 km to the first turn.
Behind the river along the track it's getting dark and it doesn't look rosy, but an arrow is an arrow, so fliesm.
once I am skip itil the river, started at the locations of the first turning point rain heavily and the whole area don't fall outthat not good at all. Soon it is task stalled, pilots get order to land. The storm is relentless! All those who have enough height fly to land on the local unused airport and I try to fly away from the water. Of course cloud from which I am ran, expired, dissolved, and instead began to rain at the exact moment whenI started packing the wing. He stops me at the muddy road roommate, who was said to be headed elsewhere, but turned for me and another female pilot who landed here with me. I then returned to HQ Tracker, he had his wing and submarine dried and unfortunately I didn't make it to lunch, which I'm sorry about.
The other pilots who took a more leisurely journey from the airport not only managed to eat lunch, but also found time to find a local joinery to make a simple window for laser line measurement with the help of joiners. The Czech pilot will not get lost in the world!
We are looking forward to the second task, which will hopefully break the not quite optimal conditions of the first two days! Look forward to it with us.
Day 4:
Dear friends, the 4th day of the super final and the report from LA 2nd task are ahead of us. And the fun ends - it really started to fly! The pilots were a little afraid of rain before the task, the forecast was similar to the previous day, but in the end it turned out to be a beautiful day and a fantastic race, especially for Czech spectators.
The planned task was not too long, 75 km long in the pilot-specific Brazilian climate
The pilots took off from the ground and held positions above the launch for a long time, waiting for the air launch. They were divided into three groups, one spinning directly above the start, one halfway to the circle and one already outside the starting circle. The clockwork of the seasoned pilots, who return to the circle a few seconds before the start of the aerial takeoff, was fascinating.
He is the first to take off again and the pilots are led by Olda Brož right from the start. However, the pilots soon catch up with him and the whole pack moves very quickly towards the first turning point.
Very soon the field split slightly into two main tracks, we followed both as we had representatives in each. The teamwork of the Czech pilots is evident, the guys fly without unnecessary jumps, very well strategically. Jonáš Horáček, Baptiste Lambert and Honorin Hamard flew more or less along the line of the optimal route, except for a small rock switch at the first turn. The second group, in which Honza Jareš and Víťa Pekárek flew, flew to the right towards the hill, which is usually used by pilots to climb, but today it was unfortunately a bit in the shade and did not give meters. .
Pilots can't rely on typical breakaway edges, exposed spots, risers are strong and are where the pilot would rather not expect them. If he flies under a cloud, he often struggles with nothing, while under a blue sky he catches a three-meter riser.
Petr Kostrhun he moved more in front all the way, his last track with about 30 pilots didn't fit a bit, Kostya flew very well yesterday, unfortunately his new wing was poorly sewn, so in the end he not only has a small counter, but also an old wing! Here the race is flying its Enzo, but Kostya can and the old wing is new enough to stick with the tip.
Honza Jareš chose his own track shortly before LA 1st turning point with several pilots, he flew inconspicuously, but very well tactically, without major crisis situations.
Olda Brož was drying the wing after yesterday's big storm, perhaps during the taska, it got really wet the day before. Tomáš Drnec flew great, there must have been a delay somewhere along the way, because he arrived with a greater loss of time. Unfortunately, he landed 400 m short of the target after crossing the ESS and chose a rice field for his slide, which was apparently not such a big problem, not hitting a field with a glide height.
We were also able to observe Víťa Pekárek all the way in front together with the boys, their strategy and teamwork is evident even from a distance through the monitor.
Around the middle of the track, the search for thermals was very difficult and whether the pilots gained altitude here or not probably also became decisive for the altitude in the final glide to the finish line.
The finish was a stroke, because in the first group he flew for us Jonáš Horáček and unfortunately, livetrekking froze for him and a few other pilots a few kilometers before the finish line. Jonáš he was fundamentally lower than the others, but as he himself writes, he was a little afraid that they would not slide to the finish line, and we fought with him from a distance for the ESS and the finish line.
Livetracking thus extended our struggle by a good hour before we met with Jonášem and found out that, albeit narrowly, he reached both the end of speed section (time goal) and the goal itself, and in addition, he has so many leading points (bonus points for the leader position during the race) that he will definitely not place above 10th place:
"I flew at the same height as Hamard, then I was a little afraid that it I don't slip, so I am spent and as a result probably already on this one slippage it's not worth stepping on, but it worked it….I literally wasn't in radishes.” We honestly do too Jonášthey were very afraid that you wouldn't make it...
Long after the race is over Jonáš appeared in fifth place, but Honorin Hamard was still not finally loaded and we were still waiting. Jonáš Horáček finally, after a long racing break, in a fantastic 6th place in the bag with his new blue and white Enzo and blue submarine. All credit to the organizers, the final results were ready and published in the evening!
The race in general so far, thank God, no precipitation. You still can't see much from the submarines, but the pilots, having learned to control the specific seats, lean out more and look around. We have information that the director tightened up and, after problems during the first task, when some pilots turned in the opposite direction, he threatened to introduce the rule from last year in Brazil, when it was mandatory to turn only to the left or right side all day. Here, this threat is said to have taken effect, the pilots were disciplined in this task.
For those who do not have this info, 4 pilots fly in the team, but the best and two worst results are deleted. The second best always counts and therefore only one! The team competition is very financially demanding, it is not possible to just set up a team (economically very demanding), so paid free team names are also used by pilots who may slightly collide with the name.
Task 2: 6. Jonáš Horáček, 44. Jan Jareš, 51. Vít Pekárek, 80. Petr Kostrhun 103. Olda Brož and 114. Tomáš Drnec.
Day 5:
Another day for the super final, another counted or whistled task or task CANCELED. This is what no competitor wants to hear at the end of a long-awaited day. Frozen all around while the racers waited, several showers passed by and over them.
During the session at the start, they are willing to answer our questions about the course of the race. One pilot describes his feelings from the previous day - his experiences exude satisfaction and humility. He says that he likes it here, but above all he soaks up the atmosphere, experiences and watches how others do it. He says that it was very emotional for him when he was flying in a suitcase and Hnorin Hamard appeared next to him on one side and Babtiste Lambert on the other.
In between, others describe to me the opulent breakfasts at the hotel - generally excellent food, which becomes the subject of more than one of them's notes. They are obviously enjoying their trip to Brazil.
The organizers probably also feel that there is a need to keep the pilots in suspense, so they publish a pie chart of the participating seats and wings on their website. The submarine clearly wins by a huge margin, in second place is Gin Genie race 5 and right behind it is Drifterka from Niviuk. For the wings, Enzo 3 from Ozon takes a clear lead, behind it is Niviuk Icepeak X-one, followed by Gin Boomerang 12 and let's mention the fourth Zeno 2. Other wings (Tripple 7 Gambit) did not make it into the pie chart.
While the pilots are waiting at the start and we are waiting at the monitors to see if the race will take place, the task committee is busy, changing the task several times, still under the illusion that everyone will see the start. Finally, the task is whistled, one of the pilots unpacks and goes to take off for a free flight, someone packs and goes to the bus.
Many thanks to the guys for their cooperation and materials, we hope that Drny's knee is fine, that they avoid fever, and that they are ready for today's flight, which is supposed to be, one of them wrote to us!
Day 6:
We are flying again, we have already completed the fifth day in the place, but only the third task, the second valid.
The guys arrive in the morning for the start, then let them know that they will be flying today, I check on all WPC social networks, the videos show the sun, Andreas Maleck at the board, explaining the task, everything is as it should be, there will be more drama! And it was!
Today, the whole pack is flying, an uninformed spectator may mistake the start circle for the ESS circle, i.e. End of speed section, on livetracking - but once he gets his bearings, he can see the whole pack of timed pilots setting off on the correct route.
It is flown on a 75 km long track, on which a major crisis comes for some pilots already on the way to the first turning point. They also include Honza Jareš s Jonášem Horáček, who together climbed down to the level of the rocky peak. Fortunately, they managed to pick it up relatively easily.
Olda Brož is no longer so lucky and unfortunately sits down in the first half of the track. JonášOvi luckily decides to throw sticks under his feet further and brings him variety with a bag - his Air 3 is dying.
Víťa Pekárek and Tomáš Drnec fly as hard as they can, and that is still not enough for Peter Kostrhunand, which really turns on the turbo today! Kostya flies unbelievably and it is already clear that if he flies, he will get 100% leading points, i.e. more or less points for the role of race leader.
After the first pivot point passed, we see a separation Jonáše from the main pack and leading his group further north - one almost wants to write - perhaps he is not listening to his Air 3, where only this inscription is displayed, but Jonáš he obviously knows what he's doing. From the northern direction, after a while it turns back to the first group, its loss is incredibly close, very soon it touches LA 3rd turning point and very quickly flies to the ESS behind the group, in which there are three of our pilots.
Meanwhile, Honza Jareš drinks his bitter cup almost to the bottom and we almost write him off on the monitors. It flies at 135 AGL, which is below LA 250m hill level. There is a thirty-minute "lift" when this incredibly prudent pilot is saved by birds and patience. Honza is determined to get to a good height, not to land at all costs, the sight of the surrounding solitude and the possibility of waiting until night to be picked up drives him on. In those 250 m there was not even a signal, only a dirt road and one house in the vicinity. Honza switches to "Survive Mainly" mode, where the vision of the slowest way through the air is better than that of a car on the ground!
Still fighting for the box ahead. Tomáš Drnec subsequently writes that the task was successful, but quite demanding in terms of track selection, orography, which he cannot read here at all, and clouds that do whatever they want!
About halfway from LA 3rd turning point to the ESS, the field splits. Peter Kostrhun he chooses a different track for the flight and his group drowns quite a bit before the ESS. Jonáš he famously flies to the finish line 1:14 after the first! Although Kostya loses a bit of time at the end, he gets 100% leading points and gets 20th place in the task. Considering that LA 60th competitor flies through the ESS two and a half minutes after the first, this is a great result.
We are really looking forward to the next task, which will hopefully take place due to the favorable weather!
Day 7:
Yesterday, the Czech pilots announced in advance that the weather for the current task is not completely certain, maybe they will fly, maybe not. The starting situation exactly corresponded to this prediction. The start itself was postponed twice, but in the end the task was not cancelled, but it was started, and few suspected that it would be a rather demanding competition.
The assignment was 92,6 km, when the pilots had to fly from the start to the starting circle, which, of course, had to be flown back from the outside. Situations with the starting wind at the back often alternated with moments of complete no wind or a weak crosswind. So when the takeoff was successful, and all the pilots were in the air, the sky became cloudy, which was not so terrible at first, because the so-called she kept wearing the blanket, but gradually her condition got weaker and weaker, sometimes even a pilot got a little wet - however, only safety level 2 was reported, so the flight continued, until all the pilots gradually landed early.
Cloudy skies and weak thermals did not help much for top starts and subsequently there were not many escapes, most flew canned and in a group. It flew very low above the ground, which is illustrated by the bon mot from the official interview for the 4th task: "We turned the risers quite low, I turned one around a tree, that's how low we were".
All the pilots patiently turned the mild climbs at low altitudes and expected the situation to improve, but unfortunately it did not happen - the winner was the one who remained the most patient.
Not only the Czech pilots were grinding the terrain and flying here at 65, here at 80 meters and the ground, with a good climb they reached 350 AGL. They stayed in the first group for a very long time Jonáš Horáček and Honza Jareš, and Honza in particular, were tipped by the monitors for a good result, because he is very patient and these conditions were great for him. However, Honza glosses: "Yeah, but I couldn't stand my nerves, when the group started to miss me. I misjudged the wind at the rocks I was flying around in the lee. When I flew around the rock, it was blowing across the scythe and I was already low and didn't get up. In the end, quite good for the misery.'
In front of the finish line, which, of course, no one knew would be where she ended up Jonáš he jerked away from the group that was spinning a stronger zero. Jonáš he flew further, probably because he was lower than the group - understand - he almost kicked the trees and landed. But it didn't take long - one riser - and the others landed too.
Petr had it much more interesting Kostrhun, who had to ford a stream, on the other side of which a pick-up awaited him. Accustomed to Czech streams, he was duly surprised by the depth of the stream where he drowned his flip flops. Fortunately, the wing survived this escapade completely intact.
Finally Jonáš Horáček great 6th place and moves to 5th place in the overall ranking. Czech team yesterday 3rd place.
The next task was canceled due to the weather, which will help the Czech pilots to gather some strength for the next fights. Petr will use the time off to improve yesterday's burn, they will certainly also get to know the beauties of the surroundings, because as Olda wrote to us, there are extremely hospitable people in Brazil, always willing to be completely selflessly helpful.
Day 8:
It's a rest day, but that doesn't mean there's nothing going on in Brazil.
According to the rules, in long races there must be at least one rest day when they do not go up the hill at all. Discussions about whether or not to include a rest day had been going on in the WhatsApp group since the previous evening - it was a matter of deciding whether to vote not to have a rest day at all, when there wasn't so much going on, or to include it.
The forecast was bad, the sky was slowly getting cloudy, the organizer decided to postpone the departure by an hour to 9:00. Olda thinks that the shift was intended so that the weather would definitely deteriorate while the pilots were down and even the most optimists would be forced to admit that going to the start was not worth it.
In the end, that's exactly what happened and the day was officially cancelled.
After breakfast, the pilots each returned to their rooms, to their own rest, news breaks, etc. It is terribly stuffy outside, it starts raining at 10 o'clock, the sky is completely overcast, so even if there was a departure for the start in the morning, the pilots would humbly return back and the start would not take place.
Old's backpack's zipper definitely breaks, so he arranges to borrow another one from the French - although he usually carries a spare backpack, unfortunately he didn't take it this time. In order to be able to arrange the loan, he has to get to the French expedition, which is about a 2 km walk - not entirely pleasant - after the rain outside, the water immediately evaporates and the atmosphere can be compared to a laundry room. However, his trip is worth it, because in the end he buys a beautiful new 160l SupAir backpack, saying that if he likes it, he can buy it back. After returning, you feel as if you have covered 15 km, but the perfect backpack turns the feelings around.
Drny then comes up with the idea that they could go on a trip somewhere. He picked out the rocks where it would be possible to climb, but the rain forecast throws a fork in the plan and he goes to the town of Pancas to visit the black rocks. The main road, as shown by Google, is the main road only occasionally - only on short asphalt sections, in the intermediate parts it is a rather broken dirt road - the road is still under construction. Nevertheless, Pancas is a very nice city with 23 inhabitants. The inhabitants, surrounded by huge granite rocks, jungle and everywhere there are coffee plantations.
They drive around in the jungle in a tiny Fiat. It's certainly no offroad, but experienced pilot Honza Jareš takes it for granted. Photos of this beauty will tell you more. The group is never hit by the rain, it more or less precedes the boys, as its remains can be seen on the ground.
Pleasantly tired, he returns to gather strength for today's task, which is already approaching.
Petr Kostrhun, alias Bone, to date 16th in the world ranking.
Interview and performance Bones
Jan Jareš – 101st in the world ranking
Jonáš Horacek – 109th place in the world ranking
Tomáš Drnec – 116th place in the world ranking
Vit Pékarek
- place in the world rankings https://civlcomps.org/pilot/40081/ranking
Olda Brož
- instead of the world cup https://civlcomps.org/pilot/61700/ranking