Hang Gliding and Paragliding Volume 44 / Issue 1: January 2014 | Page 54

A Few Extra Words with the “Italian Dream Team”...

B

esides winning the Race of
Champions 2013, Christian
(C) and Davide (D) have
flown as a team—with four
or five other national team members—many times during FAI Cat. 1
competitions, but never on a “buddy
team” system. I thought it could be
interesting to share their insight and
different perspective of team flying
and a little more…

Compared to a regular XC race,
was the flying style very different and
did you have to adjust it for this type
of competition?
C: Yes, certainly, the flying style
was very different. In this type of
competition, you try your best never to
leave your teammate behind, and the
exchange of information is much more
precise and often. The decisions you
make are influenced almost completely
from the fact that you must stay to-

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

gether. Only when mistakes are made
that lead to the team’s separation,
might it sometimes be worthwhile to
go back to a “regular” flying style. The
information exchange, though, truly
remains essential.
D: Well, I’d say absolutely yes. In
classical XC you are looking to give the
best of yourself; unless, you are able
to select the buddies you fly best with
or if you are helping out your team
members as much as you can—as in
the case of a competition with national
team results—but with this format
everything changes. Your being bound
to your buddy’s results and vice-versa
constrains you to make decisions that
are very different from your usual
ones…
Was this new flying style more
difficult or demanding?
C: Making decisions to optimize
your own performance is one thing,
while making decisions to optimize
the performance of the pair is much
more demanding. You must assess, not
only your own position regarding the
adversary, but your partner’s position
as well and decide accordingly.
D: I wouldn’t say more difficult, but
the decision-making process is more
demanding indeed.
Did you learn or discover anything
during the ROC?
C: I discovered how valuable wellconveyed information can be. On the
first task, at about 12km from goal,
somewhat low, I had stayed behind the
leading group. Luckily, nobody had the
altitude to glide directly to goal; therefore, we decided that instead of waiting
for me, Davide, should go further and
send back information for me to catch
up. With his info, Davide was able to
“depict” a map of the lift and the lift

lines, which allowed me, as a matter of
fact, to win the task! This is also how I
discovered that Davide is able to talk a
lot, when he wants to ;-)
D: I discovered that when your
buddy’s success is closely tied to your
results, you are more motivated and
there is more commitment.
Did you like flying in this format?
Any pros or cons?
C: Yes, I liked it a lot!
From a tactical standpoint, I found
it to be more educational.
D: Yes, I liked it quite a lot, besides,
with a buddy like mine… On the positive side, I was able to realize that, if
you want to, you are able to help out
much more than what you usually do
in a classical race, for obvious reasons.
Furthermore, the flying was much
more interesting because, while you
are trying to do well yourself, you also
have to figure out what the others are
doing.
On the last day, you crossed the
goal cylinder almost 20 minutes
apart; Christian climbed back
up to 1350m and flew around
approximately 13km looking for
Davide. So, what happened?
C: Uff, that last day was a missed
disaster! Just before launch we realized
Davide’s radio was not transmitting,
just receiving. After the first three
thermals, Davide, Pedro, Tullio and I
had a certain advantage regarding our
pursuers and so, seeing that I was a bit
higher, I tried to go forward and see if
we could get ourselves out of an area
where we were not climbing that well.
BIG mistake! I ended up pretty low—
720m while Davide climbed up to
1500m. I was forced to fly back while
the others kept climbing and, 1000m
above me, left. I told Davide to go on