Task 3 (Open)

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

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

Analysis computed

Pilots: 33
Airtime: 83h (13:49–18:00 AEDT)
Thermals: 15343 shared by 2+ pilots
Working band: 959–2529 m
Airtime split: 38%climbing
28%gliding
34%searching

2 pilots are 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 96 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
13:59 AEDT	5	800–2400 m	+2.5 m/s	N
14:06 AEDT	10	700–2600 m	+1.4 m/s	SW
14:07 AEDT	12	600–2600 m	+2.5 m/s	NW
14:07 AEDT	5	800–2600 m	+1.3 m/s	NE
14:10 AEDT	13	800–2600 m	+1.5 m/s	SW
14:23 AEDT	4	1600–2600 m	+1.7 m/s	E
14:28 AEDT	7	800–2300 m	+1.0 m/s	N
14:29 AEDT	15	800–2600 m	+2.0 m/s	S
14:33 AEDT	7	800–1200 m	+0.8 m/s	N
14:35 AEDT	7	1900–2600 m	+1.9 m/s	SW
14:38 AEDT	7	2200–2600 m	+1.6 m/s	N
14:41 AEDT	7	2100–2500 m	+1.2 m/s	NE
14:51 AEDT	8	2200–2600 m	+1.0 m/s	E
14:55 AEDT	13	2200–2600 m	+1.2 m/s	S
14:57 AEDT	5	1100–2100 m	+1.5 m/s	S
15:01 AEDT	6	900–2600 m	+1.9 m/s	E
15:04 AEDT	10	1000–2600 m	+1.7 m/s	NE
15:06 AEDT	5	1900–2600 m	+1.8 m/s	SE
15:09 AEDT	12	1300–2000 m	+1.0 m/s	NW
15:14 AEDT	5	1300–2600 m	+2.4 m/s	SW
15:16 AEDT	4	900–2200 m	+1.2 m/s	N
15:16 AEDT	10	1500–2400 m	+1.3 m/s	NW
15:18 AEDT	8	1300–2200 m	+1.7 m/s	W
15:18 AEDT	5	900–2400 m	+1.4 m/s	W
15:18 AEDT	6	1400–2300 m	+1.1 m/s	N
15:19 AEDT	6	1700–2600 m	+1.5 m/s	W
15:19 AEDT	6	1700–2600 m	+1.7 m/s	W
15:23 AEDT	5	1800–2100 m	+1.0 m/s	SW
15:27 AEDT	4	900–2100 m	+2.3 m/s	N
15:27 AEDT	4	1500–2500 m	+1.3 m/s	SE
15:29 AEDT	4	1500–2600 m	+1.4 m/s	SW
15:30 AEDT	4	2000–2600 m	+1.5 m/s	NW
15:39 AEDT	7	1100–2600 m	+0.9 m/s	SW
15:40 AEDT	10	1100–2600 m	+1.4 m/s	SE
15:51 AEDT	5	1100–1500 m	+1.0 m/s	NE
15:56 AEDT	10	1000–2600 m	+2.2 m/s	W
16:09 AEDT	6	1700–2600 m	+1.4 m/s	NW
16:30 AEDT	5	2000–2400 m	+1.3 m/s	NW
16:41 AEDT	6	1300–2300 m	+1.4 m/s	N
16:56 AEDT	6	1900–2600 m	+2.0 m/s	E

Thermal at 14:29 AEDT — 15 pilots, 37 climbs

Wind 11.1 km/h from 266° (W), measured from 430 circle estimates in the pilots' own tracks.
Model wind cross-check loading…
Leans 19° from vertical toward 112° (ESE), within 26° of downwind.
Strongest on the S side of the core at +2.3 m/s against +1.8 m/s on the N side.
Multiple cores in 4 of 18 bands between 1000 and 2400 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
Ward Gunn	-0.8 m/s	+2.5 m/s	+5.8 m/s
Troy Horton	-2.3 m/s	+2.5 m/s	+5.5 m/s
Neil Hooke	-1.0 m/s	+2.3 m/s	+4.8 m/s
Rohan Taylor	-2.0 m/s	+2.0 m/s	+5.3 m/s
Rohan Holtkamp	-1.5 m/s	+2.0 m/s	+4.8 m/s
Olav Opsanger	-11.6 m/s	+2.0 m/s	+14.5 m/s
Stuart Cathcart	-3.0 m/s	+2.0 m/s	+7.3 m/s
Steve Docherty	-1.0 m/s	+1.8 m/s	+4.7 m/s
Peter Adriaans	-1.8 m/s	+1.8 m/s	+5.3 m/s
Jon Durand	-0.3 m/s	+1.5 m/s	+4.0 m/s
Adam Stevens	-3.5 m/s	+1.5 m/s	+5.3 m/s
Neale Halsall	-1.0 m/s	+1.0 m/s	+2.5 m/s
Scott Barrett	—	—	—
Steven Crosby	—	—	—
Corinna Schwiegershausen	—	—	—

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
2500–2600 m	-144 / -288	69 m	125 m	+1.3 m/s	+2.3 m/s	63	1	1
2400–2500 m	-190 / -216	379 m	854 m	+1.5 m/s	+3.3 m/s	75	2	1
2300–2400 m	76 / -43	504 m	709 m	+1.8 m/s	+5.8 m/s	190	5	2
2200–2300 m	126 / -7	363 m	874 m	+2.0 m/s	+5.3 m/s	153	5	1
2100–2200 m	168 / 5	170 m	478 m	+2.0 m/s	+5.3 m/s	225	5	1
2000–2100 m	124 / 13	87 m	136 m	+2.1 m/s	+9.0 m/s	283	7	1
1900–2000 m	67 / -6	117 m	242 m	+1.9 m/s	+13.0 m/s	359	9	1
1800–1900 m	84 / -4	151 m	246 m	+1.7 m/s	+9.3 m/s	517	10	3
1700–1800 m	64 / 42	139 m	212 m	+2.1 m/s	+14.5 m/s	412	10	2
1600–1700 m	-23 / -3	115 m	183 m	+2.4 m/s	+9.9 m/s	346	9	1
1500–1600 m	-71 / -26	82 m	125 m	+2.7 m/s	+13.0 m/s	297	9	1
1400–1500 m	-109 / -27	70 m	110 m	+2.5 m/s	+5.9 m/s	309	9	1
1300–1400 m	-165 / 4	86 m	124 m	+2.4 m/s	+4.5 m/s	288	7	1
1200–1300 m	-217 / 55	97 m	143 m	+1.9 m/s	+4.8 m/s	373	7	1
1100–1200 m	-269 / 116	111 m	182 m	+1.6 m/s	+4.8 m/s	381	7	1
1000–1100 m	-331 / 182	113 m	179 m	+1.8 m/s	+4.0 m/s	171	4	2
900–1000 m	-335 / 156	74 m	115 m	+1.7 m/s	+5.0 m/s	102	2	1
800–900 m	-286 / -3	90 m	197 m	+0.9 m/s	+2.3 m/s	23	2	1

How to read this: each thermal pools every pilot's fixes through the same climb into 100 m altitude bands; a band's core is the lift-weighted centre of its fixes, so the rose and the sector readings are already normalised for the thermal's lean and drift. Wedge length is relative climb by side of the core; the dashed ring is the measured working radius and the dotted ring the widest the field ranged. The solid arrow is the wind measured from the pilots' circles; the dashed arrow is the weather model's wind for the same place, time and altitudes — a model run, not an observation.

Which behaviours went with better results

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

Share of lift turned in that was kept as a climb

Label every pilot

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = -0.77 (clear pattern, n = 30). 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 6. 3 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

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

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

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

Metrics with a clear pattern, plotted against rank

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.

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 = 0.70 (clear pattern, n = 33). 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 5 to about rank 32.

Speed-section phase shares, field p25/median/p75: climb 31/33/35% · glide 31/37/41% · search 26/32/37%

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.

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = -0.65 (clear pattern, n = 29). 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 30 to about rank 1. 4 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Field glide speed: median 60.2 km/h · p90 66.7 km/h (29 pilots)

Time spent flying with a gaggle

Measured in percent · no expected direction

Whether the pilot raced with other pilots or alone. The value is the share of their flying time after the start inside a detected gaggle, that is, clustered with one other racing pilot or more on the shared time grid. There is no expected direction. A gaggle increases the power to search for lift, but it also holds a pilot to its own speed. The sign of the correlation says which of the two occurred here.

Each dot is a pilot. ρ = -0.65 (clear pattern, n = 33). 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 31 to about rank 6.

58 gaggle episodes detected (peak size 12 pilots).

Outcome checks

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

Outcome	Strength	What it means	Pilots measured
Race time behind the leader at ESS		clear pattern
Race time lost against the fastest pilots, leg by leg		could be chance

The whole field at a glance

1. Scott Barrett

2. Olav Opsanger

3. Rohan Taylor

4. Rohan Holtkamp

5. Adam Stevens

6. Steve Docherty

7. Stuart Cathcart

8. Paul Bissett-Amess

9. Corinna Schwiegershausen

10. Jon Durand

11. Steve Blenkinsop

12. Steven Crosby

13. Hughbert Alexander

14. Neale Halsall

15. James Wynd

16. Ward Gunn

17. Richard Martin

18. James Atkinson

19. Neil Hooke

20. Mitch Butler

21. Sam Prest

22. Peter Adriaans

23. Guy Hubbard

24. Troy Horton

25. Peter Burkitt

26. Peter Tolhurst

27. Andrew Sutton

28. Vic Hare

29. Jason Carman

30. Adrian Connor

31. Peter Garrone

32. Dustan Hansen

33. Jay Kubeil

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 — High-band operators

14 pilots · ranks 1–27 · median 11.5 · middle half 8.3–18.8

High — How low the pilot gets between climbs group median P76 in this field (46 percent)
High — Time to core thermals group median P75 in this field (52 seconds) · usually costly
High — Distance covered between climbs group median P75 in this field (2.5 kilometres) · usually a strength
Low — Climb rate at thermal exit group median P26 in this field (0.9 metres per second)

1. Scott Barrett
4. Rohan Holtkamp
7. Stuart Cathcart
8. Paul Bissett-Amess
9. Corinna Schwiegershausen
10. Jon Durand
11. Steve Blenkinsop
12. Steven Crosby
14. Neale Halsall
15. James Wynd
20. Mitch Butler
23. Guy Hubbard (most typical of this group)
25. Peter Burkitt
27. Andrew Sutton

Group B — On-the-limit finishers

15 pilots · ranks 2–29 · median 18 · middle half 9.5–23

Low — Arriving at ESS with height to spare group median P21 in this field (-49 metres) · usually a strength
Low — How round and consistent the circles were group median P24 in this field (0.14 ratio) · usually a strength
Low — Distance covered between climbs group median P27 in this field (1.4 kilometres) · usually costly
High — Share of the height gain made outside thermals group median P72 in this field (17 percent)

2. Olav Opsanger
3. Rohan Taylor
5. Adam Stevens
6. Steve Docherty
13. Hughbert Alexander
16. Ward Gunn (most typical of this group)
17. Richard Martin
18. James Atkinson
19. Neil Hooke
21. Sam Prest
22. Peter Adriaans
24. Troy Horton
26. Peter Tolhurst
28. Vic Hare
29. Jason Carman

Not clustered: 30. Adrian Connor — only 10 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 31. Peter Garrone — only 5 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 32. Dustan Hansen — only 5 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 33. Jay Kubeil — only 6 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%).

GlideComp groups the pilots by flying style, and not by score. It transforms the rank of every behavioural metric to a percentile inside the field. It then compares two pilots by the mean percentile gap over the metrics that both pilots have, and never fills in a missing value. Ward-linkage agglomeration forms the groups, and the best mean silhouette selects the number of groups. Each group carries the spread of the GAP ranks of its members, which shows where a style paid and where it did not. On this task, 29 pilots on 21 behavioural metrics formed 2 groups, with k searched from 2 to 6. The mean silhouette is 0.16. A value near 0 means soft group boundaries, and a value near 1 means tight, well-separated groups.

The metrics in detail

best: could be chance (0.06)

#	Pilot	NonSink%
1	Scott Barrett	54
2	Olav Opsanger	57
3	Rohan Taylor	58
4	Rohan Holtkamp	54
5	Adam Stevens	61
6	Steve Docherty	59
7	Stuart Cathcart	58
8	Paul Bissett-Amess	65
9	Corinna Schwiegershausen	57
10	Jon Durand	60
11	Steve Blenkinsop	60
12	Steven Crosby	57
13	Hughbert Alexander	55
14	Neale Halsall	59
15	James Wynd	63
16	Ward Gunn	61
17	Richard Martin	61
18	James Atkinson	61
19	Neil Hooke	64
20	Mitch Butler	62
21	Sam Prest	62
22	Peter Adriaans	57
23	Guy Hubbard	57
24	Troy Horton	58
25	Peter Burkitt	55
26	Peter Tolhurst	63
27	Andrew Sutton	63
28	Vic Hare	65
29	Jason Carman	54
30	Adrian Connor	58
31	Peter Garrone	9
32	Dustan Hansen	48
33	Jay Kubeil	25

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	3.8	286	5051
13:00 AEDT	9.3	248	34
14:00 AEDT	4.8	256	1537
15:00 AEDT	4.6	307	1696
16:00 AEDT	3.1	297	1408
17:00 AEDT	3.2	302	376

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)→HALFWY	14:35–16:09 AEDT	29	14:42–16:01 AEDT	6.0	315	365	23
HALFWY→CUDGWE	14:47–16:52 AEDT	25	14:49–16:49 AEDT	4.8	314	1048	25
CUDGWE→PINEMT	15:31–17:32 AEDT	22	15:38–17:27 AEDT	3.3	300	837	22
PINEMT→KHANCO (ESS)	16:06–17:51 AEDT	18	16:16–17:42 AEDT	3.1	288	754	18
KHANCO (ESS)→KHANCO (GOAL)	16:56–17:52 AEDT	18	—	—	—	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	0.8	1.6	8
14:00 AEDT	1.0	2.1	330
15:00 AEDT	1.0	1.9	466
16:00 AEDT	1.1	1.9	379
17:00 AEDT	0.9	1.7	118

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	16:00–17:00 AEDT
Earliest takeoff	13:49 AEDT
Median takeoff	14:31 AEDT
Latest takeoff	16:11 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 (0.77)

One lane per behaviour, one dot per pilot, placed by percentile within the pilots that behaviour could be measured on — so a dot's position says where a pilot sat, never how spread the field was. Hover a pilot to light them up in every lane at once. Lanes run strongest separator first, the ones that separated nobody last; the table below keeps its usual order. Right is the end the behaviour is expected to be better at — whether it paid on this task is the ranking's question, not this chart's. † No good or bad direction: right is simply the larger value. A lane's count is the pilots it applied to; the rest have no value for it, which is not a score of zero.

#	Pilot	Out-climb	Core s	LeaveRate	Kept%	TopOut%	Round
1	Scott Barrett	52 (15 shared climbs)	66 (15 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.2 (12 climbs ≥ 90 s)	85 (11/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	63 (mean on-course altitude 43% of band)	— (7 circles, 29% left)
2	Olav Opsanger	75 (64 shared climbs)	2 (8 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.7 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	93 (13/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	52 (mean on-course altitude 51% of band)	0.17 (210 circles, 7% left)
3	Rohan Taylor	71 (43 shared climbs)	35 (19 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.4 (18 climbs ≥ 90 s)	87 (13/15 circling bouts led to climbs)	51 (mean on-course altitude 54% of band)	0.14 (173 circles, 48% left)
4	Rohan Holtkamp	74 (33 shared climbs)	37 (14 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (7 climbs ≥ 90 s)	71 (10/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	48 (mean on-course altitude 46% of band)	0.15 (196 circles, 25% left)
5	Adam Stevens	67 (60 shared climbs)	33 (22 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (14 climbs ≥ 90 s)	79 (11/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	64 (mean on-course altitude 56% of band)	0.13 (287 circles, 64% left)
6	Steve Docherty	66 (42 shared climbs)	38 (21 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (13 climbs ≥ 90 s)	75 (12/16 circling bouts led to climbs)	52 (mean on-course altitude 55% of band)	0.13 (201 circles, 60% left)
7	Stuart Cathcart	64 (49 shared climbs)	53 (22 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (15 climbs ≥ 90 s)	93 (13/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	61 (mean on-course altitude 52% of band)	0.17 (177 circles, 55% left)
8	Paul Bissett-Amess	64 (36 shared climbs)	44 (18 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	87 (13/15 circling bouts led to climbs)	80 (mean on-course altitude 63% of band)	0.17 (204 circles, 26% left)
9	Corinna Schwiegershausen	53 (12 shared climbs)	170 (13 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.1 (13 climbs ≥ 90 s)	86 (12/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	70 (mean on-course altitude 29% of band)	0.38 (24 circles, 71% left)
10	Jon Durand	68 (38 shared climbs)	50 (20 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (18 climbs ≥ 90 s)	92 (12/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	44 (mean on-course altitude 46% of band)	0.15 (278 circles, 45% left)
11	Steve Blenkinsop	63 (53 shared climbs)	38 (24 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (14 climbs ≥ 90 s)	92 (12/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	53 (mean on-course altitude 56% of band)	0.23 (246 circles, 25% left)
12	Steven Crosby	71 (8 shared climbs)	107 (12 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.2 (12 climbs ≥ 90 s)	55 (12/22 circling bouts led to climbs)	49 (mean on-course altitude 25% of band)	0.39 (15 circles, 60% left)
13	Hughbert Alexander	77 (29 shared climbs)	12 (18 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (15 climbs ≥ 90 s)	77 (10/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	40 (mean on-course altitude 44% of band)	0.15 (181 circles, 36% left)
14	Neale Halsall	61 (63 shared climbs)	38 (19 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (14 climbs ≥ 90 s)	65 (11/17 circling bouts led to climbs)	81 (mean on-course altitude 56% of band)	0.16 (274 circles, 15% left)
15	James Wynd	52 (30 shared climbs)	55 (29 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.4 (24 climbs ≥ 90 s)	67 (14/21 circling bouts led to climbs)	58 (mean on-course altitude 55% of band)	0.23 (16 circles, 38% left)
16	Ward Gunn	69 (52 shared climbs)	34 (18 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	62 (13/21 circling bouts led to climbs)	57 (mean on-course altitude 51% of band)	0.19 (217 circles, 4% left)
17	Richard Martin	76 (23 shared climbs)	39 (23 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (17 climbs ≥ 90 s)	59 (13/22 circling bouts led to climbs)	53 (mean on-course altitude 44% of band)	0.13 (335 circles, 39% left)
18	James Atkinson	68 (81 shared climbs)	35 (22 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (10 climbs ≥ 90 s)	81 (21/26 circling bouts led to climbs)	55 (mean on-course altitude 44% of band)	0.16 (273 circles, 47% left)
19	Neil Hooke	71 (39 shared climbs)	43 (19 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.0 (15 climbs ≥ 90 s)	75 (15/20 circling bouts led to climbs)	34 (mean on-course altitude 34% of band)	0.13 (249 circles, 46% left)
20	Mitch Butler	64 (30 shared climbs)	53 (19 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (10 climbs ≥ 90 s)	77 (10/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	51 (mean on-course altitude 47% of band)	0.14 (238 circles, 42% left)
21	Sam Prest	73 (52 shared climbs)	39 (22 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (12 climbs ≥ 90 s)	63 (10/16 circling bouts led to climbs)	37 (mean on-course altitude 32% of band)	0.13 (288 circles, 26% left)
22	Peter Adriaans	75 (53 shared climbs)	16 (17 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.4 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	63 (12/19 circling bouts led to climbs)	32 (mean on-course altitude 36% of band)	0.13 (226 circles, 3% left)
23	Guy Hubbard	55 (20 shared climbs)	67 (14 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.6 (12 climbs ≥ 90 s)	73 (8/11 circling bouts led to climbs)	65 (mean on-course altitude 57% of band)	0.29 (55 circles, 16% left)
24	Troy Horton	79 (28 shared climbs)	5 (10 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.4 (6 climbs ≥ 90 s)	58 (7/12 circling bouts led to climbs)	46 (mean on-course altitude 41% of band)	0.19 (112 circles, 38% left)
25	Peter Burkitt	72 (21 shared climbs)	32 (11 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (6 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (6/12 circling bouts led to climbs)	69 (mean on-course altitude 43% of band)	0.20 (104 circles, 32% left)
26	Peter Tolhurst	62 (28 shared climbs)	2 (6 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	25 (1/4 circling bouts led to climbs)	56 (mean on-course altitude 32% of band)	0.13 (73 circles, 11% left)
27	Andrew Sutton	66 (27 shared climbs)	38 (7 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	67 (2/3 circling bouts led to climbs)	38 (mean on-course altitude 17% of band)	0.16 (88 circles, 19% left)
28	Vic Hare	72 (22 shared climbs)	37 (8 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	0 (0/5 circling bouts led to climbs)	—	0.14 (215 circles, 7% left)
29	Jason Carman	47 (13 shared climbs)	90 (13 climbs ≥ 60 s)	-0.1 (13 climbs ≥ 90 s)	38 (5/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	37 (mean on-course altitude 27% of band)	— (8 circles, 38% left)
30	Adrian Connor	70 (14 shared climbs)	41 (8 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (6 climbs ≥ 90 s)	0 (0/4 circling bouts led to climbs)	—	0.14 (77 circles, 0% left)
31	Peter Garrone	—	—	—	—	—	—
32	Dustan Hansen	—	—	—	—	—	— (3 circles, 67% left)
33	Jay Kubeil	100 (1 shared climb)	—	—	—	—	— (1 circles, 100% left)

Share of lift turned in that was kept as a climb

Measured in percent · no expected direction

Acceptance by hour

Hour	Median accepted (%)	pilots
14:00 AEDT	100	7
15:00 AEDT	83	27
16:00 AEDT	79	28
17:00 AEDT	25	21

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: 32% left (5051 circles).

best: clear pattern (0.65)

#	Pilot	GlideSpd	GlideL/D	SpeedToFly	Wide%	Dolphin%
1	Scott Barrett	69.1 (10 glides, 57 min gliding)	1.12 (5 legs compared)	-1.8 (9 glide→climb pairs)	14 (5 legs completed)	1 (59 of 4912 m gained outside thermals)
2	Olav Opsanger	69.7 (32 glides, 66 min gliding)	1.00 (4 legs compared)	-5.7 (32 glide→climb pairs)	19 (5 legs completed)	44 (4527 of 10220 m gained outside thermals)
3	Rohan Taylor	70.8 (13 glides, 61 min gliding)	1.08 (4 legs compared)	-9.7 (12 glide→climb pairs)	22 (5 legs completed)	13 (718 of 5464 m gained outside thermals)
4	Rohan Holtkamp	65.7 (17 glides, 68 min gliding)	1.04 (5 legs compared)	1.2 (16 glide→climb pairs)	18 (5 legs completed)	9 (482 of 5311 m gained outside thermals)
5	Adam Stevens	66.1 (19 glides, 76 min gliding)	0.92 (5 legs compared)	4.4 (18 glide→climb pairs)	17 (5 legs completed)	16 (835 of 5193 m gained outside thermals)
6	Steve Docherty	61.4 (23 glides, 80 min gliding)	1.01 (5 legs compared)	-1.8 (22 glide→climb pairs)	18 (5 legs completed)	13 (634 of 4971 m gained outside thermals)
7	Stuart Cathcart	58.0 (19 glides, 79 min gliding)	1.03 (4 legs compared)	2.9 (18 glide→climb pairs)	19 (5 legs completed)	8 (378 of 4903 m gained outside thermals)
8	Paul Bissett-Amess	62.6 (20 glides, 89 min gliding)	1.17 (5 legs compared)	-1.4 (19 glide→climb pairs)	37 (5 legs completed)	15 (657 of 4464 m gained outside thermals)
9	Corinna Schwiegershausen	61.7 (10 glides, 66 min gliding)	0.92 (5 legs compared)	0.7 (9 glide→climb pairs)	11 (5 legs completed)	8 (489 of 5979 m gained outside thermals)
10	Jon Durand	60.0 (24 glides, 73 min gliding)	0.88 (4 legs compared)	-0.5 (23 glide→climb pairs)	25 (5 legs completed)	10 (574 of 5869 m gained outside thermals)
11	Steve Blenkinsop	60.9 (25 glides, 92 min gliding)	1.03 (4 legs compared)	-5.3 (24 glide→climb pairs)	27 (5 legs completed)	12 (581 of 4939 m gained outside thermals)
12	Steven Crosby	60.2 (9 glides, 77 min gliding)	1.03 (4 legs compared)	-6.7 (8 glide→climb pairs)	17 (5 legs completed)	6 (388 of 5993 m gained outside thermals)
13	Hughbert Alexander	56.9 (24 glides, 99 min gliding)	1.01 (4 legs compared)	-1.5 (24 glide→climb pairs)	34 (5 legs completed)	21 (1260 of 6035 m gained outside thermals)
14	Neale Halsall	58.9 (24 glides, 99 min gliding)	1.11 (4 legs compared)	-0.4 (23 glide→climb pairs)	36 (5 legs completed)	17 (1052 of 6027 m gained outside thermals)
15	James Wynd	61.5 (14 glides, 79 min gliding)	0.98 (5 legs compared)	0.6 (13 glide→climb pairs)	18 (5 legs completed)	4 (195 of 5434 m gained outside thermals)
16	Ward Gunn	58.3 (26 glides, 100 min gliding)	1.01 (5 legs compared)	0.7 (25 glide→climb pairs)	28 (5 legs completed)	20 (1135 of 5684 m gained outside thermals)
17	Richard Martin	59.8 (26 glides, 102 min gliding)	0.91 (5 legs compared)	4.5 (25 glide→climb pairs)	29 (5 legs completed)	13 (934 of 7065 m gained outside thermals)
18	James Atkinson	59.2 (36 glides, 108 min gliding)	1.04 (4 legs compared)	3.0 (35 glide→climb pairs)	38 (5 legs completed)	26 (1732 of 6577 m gained outside thermals)
19	Neil Hooke	55.4 (26 glides, 92 min gliding)	0.83 (3 legs compared)	0.9 (25 glide→climb pairs)	47 (3 legs completed)	20 (1114 of 5496 m gained outside thermals)
20	Mitch Butler	64.7 (13 glides, 61 min gliding)	1.12 (3 legs compared)	-1.2 (12 glide→climb pairs)	46 (3 legs completed)	13 (449 of 3570 m gained outside thermals)
21	Sam Prest	61.3 (17 glides, 75 min gliding)	0.87 (3 legs compared)	2.7 (16 glide→climb pairs)	47 (3 legs completed)	17 (793 of 4713 m gained outside thermals)
22	Peter Adriaans	56.5 (21 glides, 76 min gliding)	0.79 (3 legs compared)	1.4 (20 glide→climb pairs)	56 (3 legs completed)	18 (930 of 5270 m gained outside thermals)
23	Guy Hubbard	60.8 (8 glides, 42 min gliding)	1.22 (2 legs compared)	-2.6 (7 glide→climb pairs)	32 (2 legs completed)	6 (126 of 2099 m gained outside thermals)
24	Troy Horton	49.7 (9 glides, 47 min gliding)	0.80 (2 legs compared)	-0.6 (8 glide→climb pairs)	38 (2 legs completed)	16 (459 of 2899 m gained outside thermals)
25	Peter Burkitt	60.2 (6 glides, 30 min gliding)	1.07 (2 legs compared)	-3.0 (5 glide→climb pairs)	24 (2 legs completed)	6 (122 of 2084 m gained outside thermals)
26	Peter Tolhurst	48.2 (2 glides, 19 min gliding)	0.94 (1 leg compared)	—	60 (1 leg completed)	17 (156 of 895 m gained outside thermals)
27	Andrew Sutton	50.8 (3 glides, 22 min gliding)	1.02 (1 leg compared)	—	17 (1 leg completed)	10 (60 of 600 m gained outside thermals)
28	Vic Hare	61.7 (1 glides, 30 min gliding)	1.06 (1 leg compared)	—	13 (1 leg completed)	—
29	Jason Carman	43.9 (4 glides, 18 min gliding)	0.71 (1 leg compared)	—	40 (1 leg completed)	6 (79 of 1354 m gained outside thermals)
30	Adrian Connor	—	—	—	—	—
31	Peter Garrone	—	—	—	—	—
32	Dustan Hansen	—	—	—	—	—
33	Jay Kubeil	—	—	—	—	—

Glide speed between climbs

Measured in kilometres per hour · higher is better

Field glide speed: median 60.2 km/h · p90 66.7 km/h (29 pilots)

best: clear pattern (0.70)

#	Pilot	Floor%	LowSaves	km/climb	Search%
1	Scott Barrett	35 (5 descents, lowest 23% of band)	0.0	6.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 37%)	11
2	Olav Opsanger	40 (31 descents, lowest -41% of band)	0.0	1.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 70%)	37
3	Rohan Taylor	42 (7 descents, lowest 22% of band)	0.0	2.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 51%)	21
4	Rohan Holtkamp	46 (8 descents, lowest -19% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -7% of band)	2.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 50%)	24
5	Adam Stevens	38 (7 descents, lowest 23% of band)	0.0	2.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 49%)	31
6	Steve Docherty	44 (9 descents, lowest 19% of band)	0.0	2.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 48%)	25
7	Stuart Cathcart	48 (9 descents, lowest 19% of band)	0.0	2.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 33%)	17
8	Paul Bissett-Amess	48 (8 descents, lowest -11% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 8% of band)	2.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 39%)	29
9	Corinna Schwiegershausen	45 (8 descents, lowest 16% of band)	0.0	6.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 45%)	9
10	Jon Durand	35 (13 descents, lowest 2% of band)	0.0	1.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 48%)	18
11	Steve Blenkinsop	51 (10 descents, lowest 9% of band)	0.0	1.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 50%)	34
12	Steven Crosby	24 (7 descents, lowest -6% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from -6% of band)	7.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 55%)	17
13	Hughbert Alexander	19 (10 descents, lowest -50% of band)	0.0	1.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 55%)	28
14	Neale Halsall	53 (10 descents, lowest -27% of band)	0.0	1.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 48%)	32
15	James Wynd	43 (9 descents, lowest 21% of band)	0.0	3.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 33%)	27
16	Ward Gunn	39 (12 descents, lowest -4% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 0% of band)	1.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 48%)	36
17	Richard Martin	37 (11 descents, lowest -15% of band)	3.0 (deepest save from -3% of band)	1.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 54%)	38
18	James Atkinson	39 (12 descents, lowest -10% of band)	0.0	1.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 51%)	37
19	Neil Hooke	17 (10 descents, lowest -10% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 14% of band)	1.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 50%)	36
20	Mitch Butler	46 (6 descents, lowest 7% of band)	0.0	2.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 42%)	26
21	Sam Prest	14 (7 descents, lowest -4% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from -4% of band)	1.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 52%)	39
22	Peter Adriaans	11 (8 descents, lowest 0% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 6% of band)	1.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 59%)	34
23	Guy Hubbard	57 (5 descents, lowest 0% of band)	0.0	3.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 41%)	27
24	Troy Horton	44 (3 descents, lowest 16% of band)	0.0	1.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 61%)	35
25	Peter Burkitt	58 (3 descents, lowest -1% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -1% of band)	3.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 55%)	31
26	Peter Tolhurst	—	0.0	—	31
27	Andrew Sutton	—	1.0 (deepest save from 6% of band)	—	34
28	Vic Hare	—	0.0	—	62
29	Jason Carman	28 (3 descents, lowest -4% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -4% of band)	—	42
30	Adrian Connor	—	0.0	—	37
31	Peter Garrone	—	0.0	—	100
32	Dustan Hansen	—	0.0	—	89
33	Jay Kubeil	—	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 31/33/35% · glide 31/37/41% · search 26/32/37%

best: clear pattern (0.65)

#	Pilot	InGaggle%	Marked%	LeaveWin%
1	Scott Barrett	70	45 (5/11 climbs marked)	50 (1W–1L (2 departures))
2	Olav Opsanger	33	33 (19/58 climbs marked)	100 (2W–0L (2 departures))
3	Rohan Taylor	66	88 (30/34 climbs marked)	50 (1W–1L (2 departures))
4	Rohan Holtkamp	50	62 (18/29 climbs marked)	75 (3W–1L (4 departures))
5	Adam Stevens	74	83 (30/36 climbs marked)	—
6	Steve Docherty	94	88 (30/34 climbs marked)	—
7	Stuart Cathcart	91	82 (28/34 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
8	Paul Bissett-Amess	44	50 (17/34 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
9	Corinna Schwiegershausen	90	82 (9/11 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
10	Jon Durand	27	33 (13/40 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
11	Steve Blenkinsop	44	40 (17/42 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
12	Steven Crosby	33	30 (3/10 climbs marked)	50 (2W–2L (4 departures))
13	Hughbert Alexander	9	8 (4/51 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
14	Neale Halsall	26	57 (30/53 climbs marked)	0 (0W–3L (3 departures))
15	James Wynd	53	62 (13/21 climbs marked)	50 (1W–1L (2 departures))
16	Ward Gunn	24	38 (20/53 climbs marked)	33 (1W–2L (3 departures))
17	Richard Martin	25	36 (16/44 climbs marked)	—
18	James Atkinson	43	52 (40/77 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
19	Neil Hooke	48	43 (23/54 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
20	Mitch Butler	13	0 (0/25 climbs marked)	—
21	Sam Prest	64	62 (21/34 climbs marked)	33 (1W–2L (3 departures))
22	Peter Adriaans	35	55 (23/42 climbs marked)	33 (1W–2L (3 departures))
23	Guy Hubbard	59	64 (7/11 climbs marked)	—
24	Troy Horton	62	84 (16/19 climbs marked)	33 (1W–2L (3 departures))
25	Peter Burkitt	37	63 (5/8 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
26	Peter Tolhurst	14	0 (0/8 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
27	Andrew Sutton	13	0 (0/5 climbs marked)	—
28	Vic Hare	39	—	—
29	Jason Carman	17	100 (4/4 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
30	Adrian Connor	0	—	—
31	Peter Garrone	0	—	—
32	Dustan Hansen	0	—	—
33	Jay Kubeil	0	—	—

Time spent flying with a gaggle

Measured in percent · no expected direction

58 gaggle episodes detected (peak size 12 pilots).

best: some pattern (0.35)

One lane per behaviour, one dot per pilot, placed by percentile within the pilots that behaviour could be measured on — so a dot's position says where a pilot sat, never how spread the field was. Hover a pilot to light them up in every lane at once. Lanes run strongest separator first, the ones that separated nobody last; the table below keeps its usual order. Right is the end the behaviour is expected to be better at — whether it paid on this task is the ranking's question, not this chart's. A lane's count is the pilots it applied to; the rest have no value for it, which is not a score of zero.

#	Pilot	StartDly	TimeLost	Behind	Spare m
1	Scott Barrett	172	0	0.0	28
2	Olav Opsanger	109	71	1.4	-6
3	Rohan Taylor	72	292	3.9	-40
4	Rohan Holtkamp	149	118	4.5	-33
5	Adam Stevens	156	546	22.8	-134
6	Steve Docherty	155	592	22.9	-74
7	Stuart Cathcart	195	551	26.5	59
8	Paul Bissett-Amess	39	1408	27.3	259
9	Corinna Schwiegershausen	180	636	27.6	359
10	Jon Durand	248	1305	31.4	54
11	Steve Blenkinsop	528	1343	35.5	230
12	Steven Crosby	160	1665	37.0	34
13	Hughbert Alexander	340	1734	43.8	43
14	Neale Halsall	33	2338	46.7	127
15	James Wynd	171	2290	51.7	-34
16	Ward Gunn	348	2314	54.8	121
17	Richard Martin	495	2622	65.8	-105
18	James Atkinson	196	3026	67.2	-58
19	Neil Hooke	298	2486	—	—
20	Mitch Butler	3312	885	—	—
21	Sam Prest	153	2071	—	—
22	Peter Adriaans	157	3186	—	—
23	Guy Hubbard	147	127	—	—
24	Troy Horton	128	857	—	—
25	Peter Burkitt	208	0	—	—
26	Peter Tolhurst	2714	492	—	—
27	Andrew Sutton	2656	377	—	—
28	Vic Hare	3299	0	—	—
29	Jason Carman	709	1092	—	—
30	Adrian Connor	452	—	—	—
31	Peter Garrone	6	—	—	—
32	Dustan Hansen	4821	—	—	—
33	Jay Kubeil	139	—	—	—

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
Scott Barrett	2:52	2370	90	9.4
Olav Opsanger	1:49	2320	87	9.0
Rohan Taylor	1:12	2244	82	8.6
Rohan Holtkamp	2:29	2211	80	9.2
Adam Stevens	2:36	2178	78	9.2
Steve Docherty	2:35	2255	83	9.2
Stuart Cathcart	3:15	2229	81	9.4
Paul Bissett-Amess	0:39	2297	85	8.3
Corinna Schwiegersha	3:00	2218	80	9.3
Jon Durand	4:08	2554	102	9.0
Steve Blenkinsop	8:48	2393	91	8.7
Steven Crosby	2:40	2261	83	9.3
Hughbert Alexander	5:40	2342	88	0.0
Neale Halsall	0:33	2452	95	8.8
James Wynd	2:51	2188	78	9.4
Ward Gunn	5:48	2363	89	9.8
Richard Martin	8:15	1670	45	2.4
James Atkinson	3:16	2112	73	8.9
Neil Hooke	4:58	1963	64	9.5
Mitch Butler	55:12	2477	97	4.5
Sam Prest	2:33	2322	87	9.4
Peter Adriaans	2:37	1980	65	9.2
Guy Hubbard	2:27	2298	85	9.0
Troy Horton	2:08	2002	66	9.3
Peter Burkitt	3:28	1982	65	8.9
Peter Tolhurst	45:14	1677	46	8.8
Andrew Sutton	44:16	1727	49	9.1
Vic Hare	54:59	2577	103	4.4
Jason Carman	11:49	2386	91	8.9
Adrian Connor	7:32	2104	73	1.7
Peter Garrone	0:06	352	-39	12.2
Dustan Hansen	80:21	603	-23	12.3
Jay Kubeil	2:19	352	-39	12.8

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.

Olav Opsanger against the winner, leg by leg: bars hanging below the line are time lost, bars above are time gained; over the 4 compared legs, +2:28 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→HALFWY	HALFWY→CUDGWE	CUDGWE→PINEMT	PINEMT→ESS	Total
Scott Barrett	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00
Olav Opsanger	-0:23	-4:44	+0:47	+6:48	+2:28
Rohan Taylor	-7:28	+8:56	+0:02	+4:00	+5:30
Rohan Holtkamp	+2:02	-1:59	-0:35	+5:23	+4:52
Adam Stevens	+0:29	+12:36	+4:15	+5:46	+23:06
Steve Docherty	+1:48	+11:47	+7:54	+1:41	+23:10
Stuart Cathcart	+1:39	+11:34	+7:11	+5:42	+26:07
Paul Bissett-Amess	+3:19	-6:49	+27:42	+5:17	+29:29
Corinna Schwiegersha	+1:22	+11:55	+7:07	+7:04	+27:27
Jon Durand	-2:08	-2:35	+20:25	+14:26	+30:08
Steve Blenkinsop	-3:53	-1:59	+17:26	+18:02	+29:36
Steven Crosby	+7:18	-3:41	+15:27	+18:10	+37:14
Hughbert Alexander	-4:57	+11:21	+7:20	+27:14	+40:59
Neale Halsall	-4:14	+24:09	+4:39	+24:29	+49:03
James Wynd	+13:44	+0:23	+14:20	+23:15	+51:43
Ward Gunn	-0:45	+0:58	+43:37	+8:03	+51:52
Richard Martin	+8:46	+3:30	+39:34	+8:31	+60:22
James Atkinson	-0:51	+10:23	+8:53	+48:20	+66:45
Neil Hooke	+12:25	+8:12	+32:26	—	+53:03
Mitch Butler	-6:16	+13:58	+12:20	—	+20:02
Sam Prest	-1:08	+15:45	+30:18	—	+44:55
Peter Adriaans	+19:55	-7:32	+40:44	—	+53:07
Guy Hubbard	+2:11	-2:03	—	—	+0:08
Troy Horton	+14:21	+2:11	—	—	+16:32
Peter Burkitt	-3:21	-2:45	—	—	-6:06
Peter Tolhurst	+8:16	—	—	—	+8:16
Andrew Sutton	+6:21	—	—	—	+6:21
Vic Hare	-6:35	—	—	—	-6:35
Jason Carman	+18:16	—	—	—	+18:16

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	HALFWY	CUDGWE	PINEMT	KHANCO	KHANCO
Scott Barrett	2.8	9.1	6.2	5.4	0.0	0.0
Olav Opsanger	1.7	7.7	0.0	0.0	1.4	1.3
Rohan Taylor	1.1	0.0	6.0	5.2	3.9	3.8
Rohan Holtkamp	2.4	10.8	5.8	4.5	4.5	4.2
Adam Stevens	2.5	9.3	19.0	22.4	22.8	22.5
Steve Docherty	2.5	10.6	19.5	26.6	22.9	22.6
Stuart Cathcart	3.1	11.2	19.8	26.2	26.5	26.6
Paul Bissett-Amess	0.5	10.2	0.4	27.4	27.3	27.0
Corinna Schwiegersha	2.9	10.6	19.6	25.9	27.6	27.4
Jon Durand	4.0	8.3	2.7	22.3	31.4	31.3
Steve Blenkinsop	8.7	11.2	6.2	22.9	35.5	35.3
Steven Crosby	2.6	16.2	9.6	24.3	37.0	37.0
Hughbert Alexander	5.6	7.0	15.4	21.9	43.8	43.7
Neale Halsall	0.4	2.6	23.7	27.6	46.7	46.9
James Wynd	2.7	22.9	20.3	33.8	51.7	51.5
Ward Gunn	5.7	11.3	9.3	52.1	54.8	54.8
Richard Martin	8.1	23.3	23.8	62.6	65.8	65.8
James Atkinson	3.2	8.7	16.1	24.2	67.2	67.4
Neil Hooke	4.9	23.6	28.9	60.5	—	—
Mitch Butler	55.1	55.2	66.2	77.7	—	—
Sam Prest	2.4	7.7	20.5	50.0	—	—
Peter Adriaans	2.5	28.8	18.3	58.2	—	—
Guy Hubbard	2.3	10.9	5.9	—	—	—
Troy Horton	2.0	22.7	22.0	—	—	—
Peter Burkitt	3.4	6.4	0.7	—	—	—
Peter Tolhurst	45.1	59.8	—	—	—	—
Andrew Sutton	44.2	56.9	—	—	—	—
Vic Hare	54.9	54.7	—	—	—	—
Jason Carman	11.7	36.3	—	—	—	—
Adrian Connor	7.4	—	—	—	—	—
Peter Garrone	0.0	—	—	—	—	—
Dustan Hansen	80.2	—	—	—	—	—
Jay Kubeil	2.2	—	—	—	—	—

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 11 m (n=10) vs rest median 38 m (n=8).

Footnotes

2 pilots in the standings but not in this analysis

Andrew Sutton — scored from a manual flight report — no tracklog to analyse
Mark Jeffree — 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 3 (Open)

What the weather did

From the weather model

From the pilots' tracks

The day's thermals

Thermal at 14:29 AEDT — 15 pilots, 37 climbs

Which behaviours went with better results

Share of lift turned in that was kept as a climb

Metrics with a clear pattern, plotted against rank

Share of lift turned in that was kept as a climb

Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb

Glide speed between climbs

Time spent flying with a gaggle

Outcome checks

The whole field at a glance

Pilot style clusters

The metrics in detail

Day profile & windbest: could be chance (0.06)

Climbingbest: clear pattern (0.77)

Share of lift turned in that was kept as a climb

Acceptance by hour

How round and consistent the circles were

Glidingbest: clear pattern (0.65)

Glide speed between climbs

Decision-makingbest: clear pattern (0.70)

Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb

Gagglebest: clear pattern (0.65)

Race craftbest: some pattern (0.35)

Footnotes

2 pilots 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: could be chance (0.06)

best: clear pattern (0.77)

best: clear pattern (0.65)

best: clear pattern (0.70)

best: clear pattern (0.65)

best: some pattern (0.35)