Report by Godfrey Wenness

Pilots from fifteen nations lined up for the slick opening ceremony which showed that the Koreans had what it takes to organise a world class event. The Aussie invasion was buoyed by the fact that we were the number one ranking nation on the WPRS and had the locals worried. With nine of our top pilots present for the week long FAI cat 1 event, we thought we had a good shot at the title.

The host town of Hadong is located in centre of the southern coastal inland area of Korea, a step away from the picturesque Jirisan National Park, but also at the mercy of the seabreeze and with topography not unlike parts of the Kiewa Valley thrown in for variety.
Phil Hystek completes the scene with - "It's difficult to find a dry rice paddock anywhere", and the region was either that, forested hill sides, river beds, or roads and villages crossed with a frenzy of power lines.
The pilot procession through downtown Hadong saw multiple low flying paramotors expertly dodge said power lines and buildings in an effort to show the confused locals what this was all about. The Korean buffet dinner was first class and a traditional drums welcoming had all pilots very impressed.
The event was the first time another FAI Category 1 continental championships has been held apart from the Europeans. Since the 2002 PG competition in the same location, Hadong county had spent mega bucks on concrete access roads and launch expansion/preparation. If only local Australian Councils and the States would spend as much annually we'd have some epic facilities at our major sites within two years!
As usual for such an event, the organisation had dozens of staff on hand to assist and a fleet of mini buses. The HQ was a lavish wedding centre ballroom, complete with crystal chandeliers and ornate decoration - quite surreal!
Brian Webb comments on the transport - " the driving was questionable" - and that was putting it mildly! Some of the mini buses couldn't cope with a bunch of big Caucasians on the steep slopes which resulted in a few walks to launch and some hairy reversing.
Being in the heart of Gin-land no one was surprised to see most of the 85 pilots arrive with Boomerang 3's ready to go - the glider list brought a contented smile to the Korean hero as did his well deserved "merit" award from the local Governor. There was also a sprinkling of Omega's, Avax and Targa's along with some intermediates just to add some extra colour to the Gin soaked sky.
The "Big Three" nations - Japan, Korea and China - sent large (twenty plus) teams. Due to a recent PG federation split in Japan, however, the Aerotact crew (Tadano, Tsuji, Ogi, etc) did not attend, which was a shame.
The HQ and pilots' hotels were all 5-10km out of town, meaning the nightlife was restricted to room and HQ drinking games. Not the usual party atmosphere, but then again the Asians were pretty serious about their comp. Even the well attended and fun Japanese night finished at 9pm, just like the opening ceremony - with free beer for only 2hrs the Aussies were barely in first gear when the buses hurried them back to the hotels!
The first two days were cancelled due to strong winds, but still allowed some controversy to develop. The small three-slot west launch, built from scaffolding on a sharp spine, was to be run PWC style with a Race task, top 15 priority and then a free for all. With memories of the Chaves disaster at the 2003 Portugal Worlds, the organisation was quickly told by some team leaders this was not on and that an ordered launch system and Elapsed Time tasks should be used when conditions don't allow Race starts.
The canned days also provided good entertainment, as some of the more desperate pilots launched from a dodgy road slot over the back. Well known and liked Russian pilot, Nikolay, (WPRS #1 ranked!) managed to put on a show for all and promptly did the koala bear hug routine with a nearby tree. This was the start of the tree landings derby, which, by the end of the week, claimed nearly one in seven pilots.
By Day 3 the punters were getting nervous - a Cat 1 comp must have four valid days to be counted for WPRS (unlike Cat 2's which use a sliding % value scale from 2-4 days), and with typhoon Nina marching up the east coast of Japan the winds looked bad on the forecast. This was also a "short" seven day Cat 1 comp - the usual is for twelve days. The odds were stacked against us.
Being on the east launch, with 10-15 km/h of westerly, seemed wrong again. The opposite happened on the west launch on Day 1, which was an epic XC day with the highest bases of the week. Some of the Koreans presented a pig's head to the weather gods with various offerings placed around and a special ceremony was performed. Even some of the foreign pilots, including assistant meet director Xavier Murillo, got on all fours to ask the pig for forgiveness of past sins (took quite a while for him) and let the wind change for the better. To the astonishment of all, the Hadong Pig Head Wind Miracle occurred a few minutes later as the tailwind abated enough to allow thermals to cycle up the face. The location should now become a shrine and "National Treasure", in keeping with the thousands of others throughout Korea.
The first task was a 43km elapsed time race using a three turnpoint ridge race, then 20km to goal down the main valley via many ridges and spines. Despite a funnelling strong seabreeze kicking in and TP2 in a very dodgy location, thirty-two made goal and many got past half way. Strong wind in the valleys and gullies made for pretty interesting parking on occasion with no glides out. At one point on the goal route, pilots were two to three thermals from a glide to a landing! Cloudbase was between 1200-1400m amongst the hills, which also happened to be that high. The Asian pilots showed how to do it - don't worry be happy - keep flying - trees ARE a landing option!! German, Norman Lausch, the most "Korea" experienced non-Asian won. Gin landed just short as did twenty or so others who were late as the wind got stronger.
The Aussies on the other hand, aside from Andrew who got to goal, didn't fare well at all, with most bombing in front of launch after the first TP. They needed some serious Korea flying re-adjustment.
Say it twenty times before going to sleep: trees are a safe landing option... strong wind and lee-side are okay... you can do a whole task in the mountains by just ridge soaring. This was crazy, but unfortunately true! (Novices note: this is not normal practise unless you are Asian trying to win the Asian Champs!).
Day 4 saw a repeat of over the back conditions on the big east launch. The Pig Head goodwill lasted for another day luckily, and, with cloudbase at launch height, the puffs started up the face as a light seabreeze arrived.
The second task was changed a few times to finally be 48km elapsed time along the ridge to a start TP, then down the main valley for a similar route as Task 1 with goal further on. Launch was fluffy light lee side but most got off okay. Light conditions on course early and not as much wind as Task 1. Lots of cloud flying again as well as up-the-side of cloud flying to gain the all important few extra metres to make the ridge line crossings easier. Visibility was less than 5km in the heavy maritime haze, making it hard to pick out clouds and ridges until they hit you in the face. Thirteen into goal - Norman wins again showing his previous experience in Korea is really counting! Only pilots electing to risk flights into places with no glide out or "real" landing options made goal or the last section just like in Task 1.
The Aussies went a whole lot better, but Adam was heard repeating himself to sleep with "I wanna' get above launch...", after two extended sleddie style shockers in a row.
A few more pilots also had to pay the US$100 tree landing rescue fee - cheap considering the situation involved 5-8 hour extraction times through the dense Korean forests.
Day 5 had predicted Nina's clearing strong west winds to ease: they didn't - day cancelled at 4pm after five hours of parawaiting. By now most of the ANZAC pilots had had enough of the spicy Korean food and seaweed lunch rolls and were ordering in takeaway pizza and fried chicken from Hadong to the HQ for dinner. The hard drinkers were at it as usual, but there is one word of warning from the most seasoned of them all - Enda says, "never skull Soju", the traditional wine (like Sake)... Why? Better ask him the next comp for a very graphic reproduction of what your face will look like after doing so!
Day 6 with the same forecast resulted in an early 1.5 hour drive to a different west launch in the beautiful Jirisan National Park. It obviously wasn't on at the high launch with 30+ km/h and the troops made a quick retreat back via the tourist drive route to the small west launch for more parawaiting a few hours later. Some good weather intel wouldn't have gone astray for most of the week - it made our Aussie forecasting look 100%!
Desperate times with unrealistic FAI rules made for a pressured task decision to get the four days in. A short 27km multiple lap, to and fro, ridge race with a tailwind glide to Hadong was called. The wind dropped momentarily with blocking thermals to allow the window open and the top 15 promptly launched with assistance in a launch open/closed sequence. Speed bar ridge soaring was the name of the game, but after the wind picked up again (as expected by those who can read conditions) and three pilots out of the fifteen were in the trees (no glides out), the day was cancelled.
As the comp now scores zero for WPRS, moves were made by CIVL president, Olivier Brugalle, to change the rules to bring Cat 1's into line with Cat 2's for validity. In a gutsy effort he used his casting vote within the CIVL Bureau to secure the change that night and save the face of the first ever Asian PG Champs in Korea. One would think that this should also now prevent the more regular occurrence of so called Mickey Mouse tasks to validate a comp, but keen organisers will still be desperate to pull extra days to increase the WPRS % value.
After the excellent farewell night at HQ the reserve day was a bit of an anti climax. An anxious early trip up to the scaffolding launch, to watch some beginners ridge soaring happily while the task was set. With increasing winds forecast, an even shorter race was called - a 29km multi leg ridge run then to the river beach goal below. But the turnpoints had 2km cylinders for "safety", which meant the actual distance needed to be flown was only 12km! Now that is Mickey Mouse! Most serious comp pilots were glad to see the wind kick in after a few of the top 15 launched and the day cancelled.
The extended prize giving ceremony had the big three teams (Japan, Korea and China) on the podium twice (Asian and overall) and quite happy with themselves to have beaten off the challenge from their non-Asian counterparts. Gin pronounced that the overall winner and his number one pilot, Norman, was really now Korean and seeking a local girlfriend to consummate his love affair with his new homeland.
Despite the lack of tasks the mood was fine. The hospitality was great - everyone felt very welcome and the Koreans were doing everything to help out. The flying could have been okay with the usual weather (according to Gin) - not much we can do about that - it's been bizarre everywhere the last few years. The organisation did the job well, and CIVL now has a few more things to sort out before the whole system turns into a joke.
For those who ventured to Korea just for the comp week it was a pretty expensive trip on a dollars per flight (or hours) basis - one factor that PG comp pilots must take in their stride though if they are to take their passion into the realm of competition. One of the Aussies (guess who?) also proved that you can't go to Korea to get lucky with the very friendly ladies when the flying is not on, despite the best attempts - drunk and sober.
In the pipeline to promote flying in this part of the world, and not just Europe, is an Asia-Pacific Champs (ASPAC) and ranking system taken from the WPRS including just ASPAC pilots and comps.

One thing is for sure - just to our north there exists a flood of rising stars. The next PG Worlds will be very interesting indeed - expect to see pilots from China, Korea and Japan in the top 20 for sure, based on the skill, determination and "risks" displayed in Hadong.

Overall Results (2 tasks):
1. Norman Lausch (GER) Boomerang 3 1755
2. Nikolay Shorokov (RUS) Boomerang 3 1635
3. Kawachi Masaka (JAP) UP Targa 1621

Aussie Results:
Andrew was a credible 11th overall.
Stewie, Brian, Enda, Fred, Craig, Godfrey, Phil and Adam all were evenly placed in that order from 34th - 82nd, each with their own little task disaster stories...

Nations :
1. Korea 4708
2. Japan 4669
3. China 4090
4. Australia 3656
5. Germany 3256