Task 1 (Open)

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

Analysis computed

Pilots analysed: 45
Sampling: every 10s
Shared thermals: 37 of 193multi-pilot
Working band: 905–2144 m
Phase coverage: 100%

2 pilots are in the standings but not in this analysis:

Kerry Bradley — scored from a manual flight report — no tracklog to analyse
Wayne Johnston — scored from a manual flight report — no tracklog to analyse

Correlations are measured against the published ranks, which include these pilots; their behaviour simply cannot be measured without a tracklog.

What separated the field

Each metric's Spearman correlation against the published rank. Rank 1 is best, so a metric where more is better shows a negative ρ. Bigger bars mean the metric separated the field more sharply on this task. Select a row to see that metric plotted against rank.

Metric	ρ	n	Verdict	Family
Glide speed (post-start)	-0.82	42	strong	Gliding
Track efficiency (actual ÷ optimized leg distance)	0.80	38	strong	Gliding
Gaggle affinity (post-start time in a gaggle)	-0.76	45	strong	Gaggle
Thermal departure altitude as % of the working band	-0.73	42	strong	Climbing
Search fraction of the speed section	0.68	45	strong	Decision-making
Start delay (gate to crossing)	0.66	45	strong	Race craft
Marker usage (climbs entered on another pilot's climb)	-0.62	40	strong	Gaggle
Climbs per 100 km flown	0.60	36	strong	Decision-making
Dolphin climb fraction	0.54	39	strong	Gliding
Share of circling encounters accepted as climbs	-0.51	41	strong	Climbing
Gaggle departure win rate	-0.49	20	moderate	Gaggle
Time in non-sinking air	0.47	45	moderate	Day profile & wind
Altitude floor (band % at climb decisions)	-0.46	37	moderate	Decision-making
Climb rate vs field in shared thermals	-0.34	44	moderate	Climbing
Climb rate over the last 30 s of each thermal	-0.20	45	within noise	Climbing
Circle fit error relative to circle radius	0.16	38	within noise	Climbing
Glide L/D vs field (per leg)	-0.16	38	within noise	Gliding
Low saves (climbs from the bottom of the band)	0.13	45	within noise	Decision-making
Time to core a thermal	-0.09	45	within noise	Climbing
Speed-to-fly proxy	0.06	38	within noise	Gliding
Altitude margin over final glide at ESS	-0.03	22	within noise	Race craft

Verdicts: strong |ρ| ≥ 0.5, moderate ≥ 0.3, weak below — but only after clearing the noise floor for that metric's n. within noise means shuffled ranks produce a coefficient that size more than 5% of the time, so it is indistinguishable from luck whatever its magnitude.

With 21 metrics ranked on this one task, the top rows are partly selection luck — trust the metrics that repeat across tasks in the competition-level analysis.

Glide speed (post-start)

Measured in kilometres per hour · higher is better

Duration-weighted mean ground speed over post-start glide segments (glide distance ÷ glide time). Higher means the pilot covers ground faster between climbs.

Label every pilot

Each dot is a pilot: across is the metric's value, up is a better rank. ρ = -0.82 (strong, n = 42). More is expected to be better here, and it was: top ranks gather to the right. 3 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Field glide speed: median 57.3 km/h · p90 66.5 km/h (42 pilots)

Metrics with a strong verdict, plotted against rank

Glide speed (post-start)

Measured in kilometres per hour · higher is better

Duration-weighted mean ground speed over post-start glide segments (glide distance ÷ glide time). Higher means the pilot covers ground faster between climbs.

Field glide speed: median 57.3 km/h · p90 66.5 km/h (42 pilots)

Track efficiency (actual ÷ optimized leg distance)

Measured in ratio · lower is better

Route distance flown on each completed speed-section leg — full path outside climbs, each climb counted as its net drift — ÷ the leg's optimized distance, averaged with optimized-distance weights. Closer to 1.0 means less deviation from the optimal course line; circling path is excluded, so stopping to climb does not read as bad line choice.

Each dot is a pilot: across is the metric's value, up is a better rank. ρ = 0.80 (strong, n = 38). Less is expected to be better here, and it was: top ranks gather to the left. 7 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Gaggle affinity (post-start time in a gaggle)

Measured in percent · no expected direction

Share of a pilot's post-start flying time spent inside a detected gaggle (clustered with at least one other racing pilot on the shared time grid). Neutral: the correlation sign says whether sticking with company paid on the day.

Each dot is a pilot: across is the metric's value, up is a better rank. ρ = -0.76 (strong, n = 45). No expected direction — the sign is the finding: larger values went with better ranks here.

66 gaggle episodes detected (peak size 9 pilots).

Thermal departure altitude as % of the working band

Measured in percent · no expected direction

The altitude at which the pilot left each post-start thermal, as a percentage of the day’s working band (0% = field floor, 100% = field ceiling); the value is the median. High means topping out every climb, low means leaving early with climb still available.

Each dot is a pilot: across is the metric's value, up is a better rank. ρ = -0.73 (strong, n = 42). No expected direction — the sign is the finding: larger values went with better ranks here. 3 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Search fraction of the speed section

Measured in percent · lower is better

Share of speed-section time (start to ESS, or landing) spent searching — neither climbing in a thermal nor gliding with real net speed. Lower means less time leaks away between climbs.

Each dot is a pilot: across is the metric's value, up is a better rank. ρ = 0.68 (strong, n = 45). Less is expected to be better here, and it was: top ranks gather to the left.

Speed-section phase shares, field p25/median/p75: climb 29/33/36% · glide 27/36/42% · search 23/33/42%

Start delay (gate to crossing)

Measured in seconds · lower is better

Seconds from the start gate taken (or the pilot’s own crossing on elapsed-time tasks, where the delay is 0 by definition) to the scored SSS crossing. The start table adds crossing altitude and how far behind the leading already-started pilot each start was.

Each dot is a pilot: across is the metric's value, up is a better rank. ρ = 0.66 (strong, n = 45). Less is expected to be better here, and it was: top ranks gather to the left.

Marker usage (climbs entered on another pilot's climb)

Measured in percent · no expected direction

Share of a pilot's post-start climbs where another pilot was already established (at least 30 s) and still climbing in the same thermal when they joined. High = climbs on others' markers; low = finds their own lift.

Each dot is a pilot: across is the metric's value, up is a better rank. ρ = -0.62 (strong, n = 40). No expected direction — the sign is the finding: larger values went with better ranks here. 5 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Climbs per 100 km flown

Measured in count · lower is better

Post-start thermal count per 100 km of scored flown distance — how often the pilot stops to circle. Each pilot's note adds their mean climb percentile within shared thermals, so few stops can be read together with climb strength.

Each dot is a pilot: across is the metric's value, up is a better rank. ρ = 0.60 (strong, n = 36). Less is expected to be better here, and it was: top ranks gather to the left. 9 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Dolphin climb fraction

Measured in percent · no expected direction

Share of post-start altitude gain (10 s-smoothed) made outside detected thermals — climbing on the run instead of stopping to circle. Neutral: the correlation sign shows whether dolphin climbing paid on this day.

Each dot is a pilot: across is the metric's value, up is a better rank. ρ = 0.54 (strong, n = 39). No expected direction — the sign is the finding: larger values went with worse ranks here. 6 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Share of circling encounters accepted as climbs

Measured in percent · no expected direction

Post-start circling bouts of at least 30 s are lift encounters; one that overlaps a detected thermal was accepted, otherwise the pilot circled and rejected the lift. The value is the percentage accepted — low means picky, high means they take almost everything they turn in.

Each dot is a pilot: across is the metric's value, up is a better rank. ρ = -0.51 (strong, n = 41). No expected direction — the sign is the finding: larger values went with better ranks here. 4 pilots have no value and are not plotted.

Outcome checks

These metrics are derived from the race outcome itself, so they correlate with rank by construction — a low |ρ| here questions the eval, not the flying. Their per-pilot diagnostics stay in the Race craft section below.

Metric	ρ	Strength	n	Verdict
Time behind the leader at ESS	0.99		22	strong
Time lost on speed-section legs	0.62		38	strong

The whole field at a glance

1. Scott Barrett

2. Rohan Holtkamp

3. Rohan Taylor

4. Jon Durand

5. Steven Crosby

6. Peter Burkitt

7. Mitch Butler

8. Steve Docherty

9. Adam Stevens

10. Peter Adriaans

11. Olav Opsanger

12. Paul Bissett-Amess

13. Guy Hubbard

14. Steve Blenkinsop

15. Vic Hare

16. Neale Halsall

17. James Wynd

18. Jay Kubeil

19. Adrian Connor

20. Troy Horton

21. Richard Martin

22. Andrew Sutton

23. Neil Hooke

24. Dustan Hansen

25. Corinna Schwiegershausen

26. Stuart Cathcart

27. Peter Tolhurst

28. James Atkinson

29. Sam Prest

30. Hughbert Alexander

31. Ward Gunn

32. Randall Clotworthy

33. Dean Bayly

34. Andrew Taylor

35. Mark Jeffree

36. Magnus Ronningen

37. Alexander Kot

38. John Harriott

39. David Jackson

40. Jason Lannstrom

41. Ted Sadowski

42. Donny Gardner

43. Peter Garrone

44. Jason Carman

45. Richard Hughes

Pilots in rank order against every metric: darker = a better percentile in this field (empty = not applicable). Column order follows the family sections below, which carry the exact values. † No good/bad direction — shade is position in the field, not quality.

Pilot style clusters

Groups are flying style, not score — the rank spread on each shows where that style did and did not pay. Each group is named after its strongest signature; ★ marks the pilot most typical of their group.

Group A — Gaggle flyers

15 pilots · ranks 1–25 · median 8 · middle half 4.5–14.5

High — Gaggle affinity (post-start time in a gaggle) group median P82 in this field (62 percent)
Low — Dolphin climb fraction group median P18 in this field (6 percent)
High — Glide speed (post-start) group median P80 in this field (66.0 kilometres per hour) · usually a strength
Low — Search fraction of the speed section group median P20 in this field (21 percent) · usually a strength

1. Scott Barrett
2. Rohan Holtkamp
3. Rohan Taylor
4. Jon Durand
5. Steven Crosby
6. Peter Burkitt
7. Mitch Butler (most typical of this group)
8. Steve Docherty
10. Peter Adriaans
13. Guy Hubbard
14. Steve Blenkinsop
15. Vic Hare
16. Neale Halsall
17. James Wynd
25. Corinna Schwiegershausen

Group B — Stop-often flyers

25 pilots · ranks 9–43 · median 28 · middle half 21–34

High — Climbs per 100 km flown group median P71 in this field (59.6 count) · usually costly
High — Track efficiency (actual ÷ optimized leg distance) group median P70 in this field (1.65 ratio) · usually costly
Low — Marker usage (climbs entered on another pilot's climb) group median P31 in this field (20 percent)
High — Dolphin climb fraction group median P67 in this field (17 percent)

9. Adam Stevens
11. Olav Opsanger
12. Paul Bissett-Amess
18. Jay Kubeil
19. Adrian Connor
20. Troy Horton
21. Richard Martin (most typical of this group)
22. Andrew Sutton
23. Neil Hooke
24. Dustan Hansen
26. Stuart Cathcart
27. Peter Tolhurst
28. James Atkinson
29. Sam Prest
30. Hughbert Alexander
31. Ward Gunn
32. Randall Clotworthy
33. Dean Bayly
34. Andrew Taylor
35. Mark Jeffree
36. Magnus Ronningen
37. Alexander Kot
38. John Harriott
39. David Jackson
43. Peter Garrone

Not clustered: 40. Jason Lannstrom — only 8 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 41. Ted Sadowski — only 9 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 42. Donny Gardner — only 10 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 44. Jason Carman — only 8 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 45. Richard Hughes — only 11 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%).

Pilots are grouped by flying style, not by score: every behavioural metric is rank-transformed to a within-field percentile, pilots are compared by the mean percentile gap over the metrics both have (missing values are never imputed), and Ward-linkage agglomeration forms the groups, with the number of groups chosen by the best mean silhouette. Each group is annotated with the GAP-rank spread of its members — where a style did and did not pay. Here: 40 pilots on 21 behavioural metrics formed 2 groups (k searched 2–6); mean silhouette 0.25 — near 0 means soft group boundaries, near 1 tight well-separated groups.

The metrics in detail

strongest |ρ| 0.47

The day at a glance

Wind (by hour and by leg). Wind estimated from every pilot’s circling (centre drift preferred, ground-speed modulation as fallback), vector-averaged two ways: by hour of day (how the wind built and shifted through the day) and by speed-section leg (the wind each part of the course saw). Field-level only — no per-pilot value.

Climb by hour. All pilots’ thermal climbs bucketed by the hour the climb started (labelled in the competition’s time zone): median and 90th-percentile average climb rate per hour show how the day’s lift developed. Field-level only — no per-pilot value.

Time in non-sinking air. Share of a pilot’s airborne time (on the shared grid) spent in non-sinking air — 30 s-smoothed vario at or above −0.5 m/s. Reflects how much of the flight met usable air: when flown, where the pilot steered, and how the flight ended all feed it, so the correlation sign is the finding. The timing table relates the day’s best climbs window to when the field actually launched.

All charts share one time axis (AEDT). Arrows fly WITH the wind — the tables' direction figures are degrees the wind blows from; arrow length and opacity track speed and sample count. Exact numbers are in the tables below.

#	Pilot	NonSink%
1	Scott Barrett	51
2	Rohan Holtkamp	53
3	Rohan Taylor	54
4	Jon Durand	56
5	Steven Crosby	49
6	Peter Burkitt	56
7	Mitch Butler	55
8	Steve Docherty	55
9	Adam Stevens	60
10	Peter Adriaans	51
11	Olav Opsanger	56
12	Paul Bissett-Amess	51
13	Guy Hubbard	57
14	Steve Blenkinsop	57
15	Vic Hare	57
16	Neale Halsall	57
17	James Wynd	61
18	Jay Kubeil	55
19	Adrian Connor	61
20	Troy Horton	59
21	Richard Martin	58
22	Andrew Sutton	58
23	Neil Hooke	60
24	Dustan Hansen	54
25	Corinna Schwiegershausen	57
26	Stuart Cathcart	57
27	Peter Tolhurst	59
28	James Atkinson	54
29	Sam Prest	63
30	Hughbert Alexander	62
31	Ward Gunn	60
32	Randall Clotworthy	55
33	Dean Bayly	59
34	Andrew Taylor	60
35	Mark Jeffree	63
36	Magnus Ronningen	61
37	Alexander Kot	64
38	John Harriott	56
39	David Jackson	57
40	Jason Lannstrom	57
41	Ted Sadowski	52
42	Donny Gardner	50
43	Peter Garrone	59
44	Jason Carman	63
45	Richard Hughes	71

Wind (by hour and by leg)

Measured in kilometres per hour · no expected direction

Wind estimated from every pilot’s circling (centre drift preferred, ground-speed modulation as fallback), vector-averaged two ways: by hour of day (how the wind built and shifted through the day) and by speed-section leg (the wind each part of the course saw). Field-level only — no per-pilot value.

Wind by hour

Period	Speed (km/h)	Dir (°)	n
Whole task	4.6	245	4443
13:00 AEDT	6.5	244	242
14:00 AEDT	4.3	240	1559
15:00 AEDT	3.8	246	1857
16:00 AEDT	7.2	251	721
17:00 AEDT	4.2	251	64

Vector mean of per-circle wind estimates (centre-drift preferred over ground-speed modulation); direction is degrees the wind blows FROM (0° = north).

Hours are shown in the competition’s time zone.

Wind by leg

Leg	When	Speed (km/h)	Dir (°)	n
ELLIOT (SSS)→TINTAL	14:21–16:26 AEDT	3.2	188	696
TINTAL→CUDG	14:31–17:03 AEDT	2.7	237	808
CUDG→TOWONG	14:57–17:00 AEDT	6.0	257	799
TOWONG→CORRY (ESS)	16:13–16:58 AEDT	10.3	254	107
CORRY (ESS)→CORRY (GOAL)	—	—	—	0

Vector mean of per-circle wind estimates (centre-drift preferred over ground-speed modulation); direction is degrees the wind blows FROM (0° = north).

“When” is the whole field’s circling window for the leg — from the first to the last circle wind-estimate any pilot logged while on it (the exact times behind that leg’s wind). Glides produce no estimate, so a leg no one circled on shows “—”.

Climb by hour

Measured in metres per second · no expected direction

All pilots’ thermal climbs bucketed by the hour the climb started (labelled in the competition’s time zone): median and 90th-percentile average climb rate per hour show how the day’s lift developed. Field-level only — no per-pilot value.

Climb by hour

Hour	Median (m/s)	p90 (m/s)	n
13:00 AEDT	1.1	2.2	51
14:00 AEDT	1.2	2.2	432
15:00 AEDT	1.1	1.9	506
16:00 AEDT	1.0	1.7	226
17:00 AEDT	1.0	1.6	31

Average climb rate of every thermal use across the field, bucketed by climb start; hours shown in the competition’s time zone.

Time in non-sinking air

Measured in percent · no expected direction

Share of a pilot’s airborne time (on the shared grid) spent in non-sinking air — 30 s-smoothed vario at or above −0.5 m/s. Reflects how much of the flight met usable air: when flown, where the pilot steered, and how the flight ended all feed it, so the correlation sign is the finding. The timing table relates the day’s best climbs window to when the field actually launched.

Day timing

	Time
Best conditions	14:00–15:00 AEDT
Earliest takeoff	13:34 AEDT
Median takeoff	14:22 AEDT
Latest takeoff	17:08 AEDT

Best conditions is the one-hour window with the strongest median climb (1.2 m/s), among hours with enough climbs to be representative (≥20% of the busiest hour).

strongest |ρ| 0.73

#	Pilot	SharedPct	Core s	ExitDecay	Accept%	ExitBand%	Smooth
1	Scott Barrett	65 (13 shared climbs)	56 (13 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.2 (12 climbs ≥ 90 s)	78 (7/9 circling bouts led to climbs)	81 (mean on-course altitude 42% of band)	— (6 circles, 67% left)
2	Rohan Holtkamp	78 (19 shared climbs)	31 (9 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (8 climbs ≥ 90 s)	88 (7/8 circling bouts led to climbs)	76 (mean on-course altitude 58% of band)	0.17 (95 circles, 81% left)
3	Rohan Taylor	74 (29 shared climbs)	55 (11 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (8 climbs ≥ 90 s)	82 (9/11 circling bouts led to climbs)	85 (mean on-course altitude 58% of band)	0.16 (112 circles, 81% left)
4	Jon Durand	76 (19 shared climbs)	34 (14 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (13 climbs ≥ 90 s)	90 (9/10 circling bouts led to climbs)	68 (mean on-course altitude 50% of band)	0.15 (125 circles, 86% left)
5	Steven Crosby	41 (9 shared climbs)	91 (9 climbs ≥ 60 s)	-0.4 (9 climbs ≥ 90 s)	63 (5/8 circling bouts led to climbs)	101 (mean on-course altitude 40% of band)	0.37 (12 circles, 75% left)
6	Peter Burkitt	73 (34 shared climbs)	36 (10 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (8 climbs ≥ 90 s)	65 (13/20 circling bouts led to climbs)	80 (mean on-course altitude 55% of band)	0.17 (130 circles, 97% left)
7	Mitch Butler	70 (26 shared climbs)	59 (13 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (12 climbs ≥ 90 s)	82 (9/11 circling bouts led to climbs)	81 (mean on-course altitude 66% of band)	0.16 (150 circles, 67% left)
8	Steve Docherty	53 (13 shared climbs)	61 (13 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.1 (10 climbs ≥ 90 s)	65 (13/20 circling bouts led to climbs)	72 (mean on-course altitude 55% of band)	— (4 circles, 100% left)
9	Adam Stevens	65 (28 shared climbs)	36 (17 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.0 (12 climbs ≥ 90 s)	75 (9/12 circling bouts led to climbs)	72 (mean on-course altitude 57% of band)	0.15 (201 circles, 81% left)
10	Peter Adriaans	76 (30 shared climbs)	51 (9 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (8 climbs ≥ 90 s)	78 (7/9 circling bouts led to climbs)	78 (mean on-course altitude 66% of band)	0.15 (111 circles, 54% left)
11	Olav Opsanger	61 (13 shared climbs)	11 (6 climbs ≥ 60 s)	2.4 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	71 (10/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	19 (mean on-course altitude 21% of band)	0.17 (137 circles, 27% left)
12	Paul Bissett-Amess	73 (20 shared climbs)	62 (13 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	75 (6/8 circling bouts led to climbs)	87 (mean on-course altitude 53% of band)	0.19 (98 circles, 97% left)
13	Guy Hubbard	58 (17 shared climbs)	70 (14 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.6 (12 climbs ≥ 90 s)	73 (8/11 circling bouts led to climbs)	99 (mean on-course altitude 60% of band)	0.22 (35 circles, 89% left)
14	Steve Blenkinsop	62 (19 shared climbs)	90 (12 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (9 climbs ≥ 90 s)	69 (9/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	80 (mean on-course altitude 61% of band)	0.15 (150 circles, 58% left)
15	Vic Hare	68 (39 shared climbs)	36 (16 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	71 (10/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	71 (mean on-course altitude 68% of band)	0.13 (206 circles, 78% left)
16	Neale Halsall	73 (29 shared climbs)	47 (15 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.4 (10 climbs ≥ 90 s)	77 (10/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	71 (mean on-course altitude 53% of band)	0.17 (132 circles, 54% left)
17	James Wynd	48 (15 shared climbs)	63 (16 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.4 (14 climbs ≥ 90 s)	75 (12/16 circling bouts led to climbs)	68 (mean on-course altitude 48% of band)	— (7 circles, 29% left)
18	Jay Kubeil	76 (33 shared climbs)	41 (14 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (7 climbs ≥ 90 s)	69 (9/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	77 (mean on-course altitude 54% of band)	0.16 (87 circles, 69% left)
19	Adrian Connor	68 (45 shared climbs)	11 (19 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.4 (12 climbs ≥ 90 s)	74 (14/19 circling bouts led to climbs)	39 (mean on-course altitude 43% of band)	0.16 (186 circles, 23% left)
20	Troy Horton	69 (43 shared climbs)	51 (16 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (13 climbs ≥ 90 s)	68 (13/19 circling bouts led to climbs)	50 (mean on-course altitude 46% of band)	0.18 (216 circles, 99% left)
21	Richard Martin	78 (21 shared climbs)	42 (13 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.0 (9 climbs ≥ 90 s)	61 (11/18 circling bouts led to climbs)	56 (mean on-course altitude 57% of band)	0.17 (214 circles, 45% left)
22	Andrew Sutton	69 (29 shared climbs)	36 (14 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (10 climbs ≥ 90 s)	79 (11/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	71 (mean on-course altitude 57% of band)	0.14 (170 circles, 99% left)
23	Neil Hooke	58 (29 shared climbs)	41 (17 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (9 climbs ≥ 90 s)	69 (11/16 circling bouts led to climbs)	66 (mean on-course altitude 57% of band)	0.14 (161 circles, 80% left)
24	Dustan Hansen	85 (14 shared climbs)	66 (9 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.4 (6 climbs ≥ 90 s)	56 (9/16 circling bouts led to climbs)	60 (mean on-course altitude 53% of band)	0.14 (118 circles, 72% left)
25	Corinna Schwiegershausen	49 (11 shared climbs)	100 (12 climbs ≥ 60 s)	-0.2 (12 climbs ≥ 90 s)	60 (9/15 circling bouts led to climbs)	80 (mean on-course altitude 55% of band)	0.27 (13 circles, 77% left)
26	Stuart Cathcart	57 (17 shared climbs)	57 (15 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.6 (13 climbs ≥ 90 s)	56 (10/18 circling bouts led to climbs)	86 (mean on-course altitude 67% of band)	0.20 (86 circles, 97% left)
27	Peter Tolhurst	59 (26 shared climbs)	29 (18 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (12 climbs ≥ 90 s)	45 (9/20 circling bouts led to climbs)	61 (mean on-course altitude 58% of band)	0.18 (133 circles, 99% left)
28	James Atkinson	79 (23 shared climbs)	44 (13 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	67 (8/12 circling bouts led to climbs)	68 (mean on-course altitude 54% of band)	0.13 (159 circles, 76% left)
29	Sam Prest	61 (35 shared climbs)	34 (17 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (9 climbs ≥ 90 s)	83 (15/18 circling bouts led to climbs)	52 (mean on-course altitude 49% of band)	0.17 (138 circles, 89% left)
30	Hughbert Alexander	72 (26 shared climbs)	37 (11 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.6 (7 climbs ≥ 90 s)	92 (12/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	37 (mean on-course altitude 42% of band)	0.17 (131 circles, 48% left)
31	Ward Gunn	74 (30 shared climbs)	36 (13 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (9 climbs ≥ 90 s)	79 (19/24 circling bouts led to climbs)	64 (mean on-course altitude 45% of band)	0.18 (117 circles, 47% left)
32	Randall Clotworthy	78 (5 shared climbs)	25 (7 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (6 climbs ≥ 90 s)	78 (7/9 circling bouts led to climbs)	46 (mean on-course altitude 36% of band)	0.15 (57 circles, 46% left)
33	Dean Bayly	65 (12 shared climbs)	34 (9 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (6 climbs ≥ 90 s)	83 (10/12 circling bouts led to climbs)	20 (mean on-course altitude 28% of band)	0.13 (133 circles, 85% left)
34	Andrew Taylor	37 (5 shared climbs)	90 (7 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.1 (6 climbs ≥ 90 s)	33 (3/9 circling bouts led to climbs)	57 (mean on-course altitude 44% of band)	— (3 circles, 67% left)
35	Mark Jeffree	66 (13 shared climbs)	37 (14 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.7 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	61 (11/18 circling bouts led to climbs)	69 (mean on-course altitude 53% of band)	0.16 (98 circles, 99% left)
36	Magnus Ronningen	88 (6 shared climbs)	2 (7 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	43 (3/7 circling bouts led to climbs)	33 (mean on-course altitude 37% of band)	0.21 (164 circles, 99% left)
37	Alexander Kot	61 (32 shared climbs)	32 (10 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.4 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (10/20 circling bouts led to climbs)	56 (mean on-course altitude 46% of band)	0.15 (97 circles, 62% left)
38	John Harriott	60 (18 shared climbs)	35 (5 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.0 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	20 (1/5 circling bouts led to climbs)	38 (mean on-course altitude 32% of band)	0.20 (59 circles, 46% left)
39	David Jackson	41 (6 shared climbs)	100 (11 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.2 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	54 (7/13 circling bouts led to climbs)	17 (mean on-course altitude 4% of band)	0.36 (16 circles, 75% left)
40	Jason Lannstrom	—	7 (3 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (1 climb ≥ 90 s)	—	—	0.16 (27 circles, 93% left)
41	Ted Sadowski	53 (3 shared climbs)	80 (3 climbs ≥ 60 s)	-0.0 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	0 (0/3 circling bouts led to climbs)	—	— (5 circles, 100% left)
42	Donny Gardner	54 (3 shared climbs)	78 (4 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.3 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	19 (mean on-course altitude 9% of band)	— (5 circles, 100% left)
43	Peter Garrone	52 (2 shared climbs)	22 (4 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.8 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	60 (3/5 circling bouts led to climbs)	-8 (mean on-course altitude -14% of band)	0.23 (37 circles, 22% left)
44	Jason Carman	26 (5 shared climbs)	76 (6 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.1 (6 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	—	— (4 circles, 100% left)
45	Richard Hughes	54 (3 shared climbs)	45 (4 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	-15 (mean on-course altitude -17% of band)	0.18 (99 circles, 98% left)

Share of circling encounters accepted as climbs

Measured in percent · no expected direction

Acceptance by hour

Hour	Median accepted (%)	pilots
14:00 AEDT	100	25
15:00 AEDT	63	42
16:00 AEDT	54	24
17:00 AEDT	0	7

Median per-pilot acceptance %, bucketed by the hour (competition time zone).

Circle fit error relative to circle radius

Measured in ratio · lower is better

Each detected circle is least-squares fitted; its RMS fit error divided by the fitted radius measures how round the turn really was. The value is the median over all the pilot’s circles — lower means smoother, more consistent turning.

Turn direction across the field: 73% left (4444 circles).

strongest |ρ| 0.82

#	Pilot	GlideSpd	L/D vs f	STFproxy	TrackEff	Dolphin%
1	Scott Barrett	74.0 (6 glides, 26 min gliding)	1.12 (4 legs compared)	-2.8 (5 glide→climb pairs)	1.08 (4 legs completed)	2 (56 of 2734 m gained outside thermals)
2	Rohan Holtkamp	72.7 (10 glides, 32 min gliding)	1.15 (4 legs compared)	-8.3 (9 glide→climb pairs)	1.09 (4 legs completed)	6 (150 of 2512 m gained outside thermals)
3	Rohan Taylor	66.1 (13 glides, 40 min gliding)	1.12 (4 legs compared)	-1.6 (12 glide→climb pairs)	1.14 (4 legs completed)	15 (393 of 2696 m gained outside thermals)
4	Jon Durand	61.1 (14 glides, 44 min gliding)	1.10 (4 legs compared)	3.5 (13 glide→climb pairs)	1.08 (4 legs completed)	8 (239 of 2910 m gained outside thermals)
5	Steven Crosby	66.5 (6 glides, 35 min gliding)	1.03 (4 legs compared)	-9.6 (5 glide→climb pairs)	1.11 (4 legs completed)	2 (76 of 3319 m gained outside thermals)
6	Peter Burkitt	63.1 (13 glides, 42 min gliding)	1.18 (4 legs compared)	-2.3 (12 glide→climb pairs)	1.25 (4 legs completed)	18 (481 of 2635 m gained outside thermals)
7	Mitch Butler	66.4 (8 glides, 45 min gliding)	1.09 (4 legs compared)	-0.2 (7 glide→climb pairs)	1.22 (4 legs completed)	5 (156 of 3022 m gained outside thermals)
8	Steve Docherty	64.6 (10 glides, 43 min gliding)	1.07 (4 legs compared)	1.7 (9 glide→climb pairs)	1.26 (4 legs completed)	4 (115 of 3172 m gained outside thermals)
9	Adam Stevens	64.2 (12 glides, 45 min gliding)	1.14 (4 legs compared)	1.5 (11 glide→climb pairs)	1.26 (4 legs completed)	17 (479 of 2742 m gained outside thermals)
10	Peter Adriaans	59.6 (9 glides, 48 min gliding)	0.97 (4 legs compared)	1.8 (8 glide→climb pairs)	1.21 (4 legs completed)	8 (287 of 3444 m gained outside thermals)
11	Olav Opsanger	67.0 (20 glides, 51 min gliding)	0.95 (4 legs compared)	-5.0 (20 glide→climb pairs)	1.48 (4 legs completed)	29 (1637 of 5606 m gained outside thermals)
12	Paul Bissett-Amess	54.0 (8 glides, 53 min gliding)	1.40 (4 legs compared)	0.3 (7 glide→climb pairs)	1.23 (4 legs completed)	6 (162 of 2694 m gained outside thermals)
13	Guy Hubbard	66.3 (6 glides, 43 min gliding)	0.95 (4 legs compared)	-1.7 (5 glide→climb pairs)	1.24 (4 legs completed)	4 (132 of 3631 m gained outside thermals)
14	Steve Blenkinsop	66.0 (12 glides, 49 min gliding)	0.98 (4 legs compared)	0.3 (11 glide→climb pairs)	1.30 (4 legs completed)	5 (175 of 3462 m gained outside thermals)
15	Vic Hare	66.9 (13 glides, 51 min gliding)	1.03 (4 legs compared)	-2.0 (12 glide→climb pairs)	1.41 (4 legs completed)	9 (292 of 3356 m gained outside thermals)
16	Neale Halsall	63.3 (12 glides, 46 min gliding)	0.88 (4 legs compared)	4.7 (11 glide→climb pairs)	1.28 (4 legs completed)	9 (354 of 3924 m gained outside thermals)
17	James Wynd	62.0 (8 glides, 44 min gliding)	1.02 (4 legs compared)	-6.3 (7 glide→climb pairs)	1.27 (4 legs completed)	3 (99 of 3880 m gained outside thermals)
18	Jay Kubeil	58.3 (14 glides, 52 min gliding)	1.19 (4 legs compared)	-2.3 (13 glide→climb pairs)	1.35 (4 legs completed)	12 (381 of 3314 m gained outside thermals)
19	Adrian Connor	49.1 (24 glides, 80 min gliding)	0.87 (4 legs compared)	3.6 (23 glide→climb pairs)	1.77 (4 legs completed)	19 (944 of 5097 m gained outside thermals)
20	Troy Horton	49.3 (21 glides, 81 min gliding)	0.93 (4 legs compared)	-0.1 (20 glide→climb pairs)	1.73 (4 legs completed)	18 (822 of 4657 m gained outside thermals)
21	Richard Martin	59.3 (14 glides, 68 min gliding)	1.02 (4 legs compared)	2.7 (13 glide→climb pairs)	1.65 (4 legs completed)	14 (574 of 3984 m gained outside thermals)
22	Andrew Sutton	52.2 (15 glides, 67 min gliding)	0.89 (4 legs compared)	-0.5 (14 glide→climb pairs)	1.64 (4 legs completed)	12 (597 of 5121 m gained outside thermals)
23	Neil Hooke	54.2 (15 glides, 64 min gliding)	0.88 (3 legs compared)	0.8 (14 glide→climb pairs)	1.51 (3 legs completed)	19 (686 of 3574 m gained outside thermals)
24	Dustan Hansen	60.4 (15 glides, 62 min gliding)	1.08 (3 legs compared)	-0.4 (14 glide→climb pairs)	1.75 (3 legs completed)	13 (522 of 3951 m gained outside thermals)
25	Corinna Schwiegershausen	56.1 (5 glides, 38 min gliding)	1.15 (3 legs compared)	-12.8 (4 glide→climb pairs)	1.16 (3 legs completed)	8 (245 of 3026 m gained outside thermals)
26	Stuart Cathcart	50.1 (17 glides, 63 min gliding)	0.97 (3 legs compared)	-0.4 (16 glide→climb pairs)	1.49 (3 legs completed)	10 (321 of 3222 m gained outside thermals)
27	Peter Tolhurst	50.3 (18 glides, 72 min gliding)	0.74 (3 legs compared)	-1.2 (17 glide→climb pairs)	1.73 (3 legs completed)	15 (643 of 4246 m gained outside thermals)
28	James Atkinson	56.8 (12 glides, 54 min gliding)	0.92 (3 legs compared)	0.6 (11 glide→climb pairs)	1.40 (3 legs completed)	13 (521 of 3939 m gained outside thermals)
29	Sam Prest	63.8 (23 glides, 55 min gliding)	1.01 (2 legs compared)	1.5 (22 glide→climb pairs)	1.63 (2 legs completed)	17 (690 of 4156 m gained outside thermals)
30	Hughbert Alexander	53.4 (26 glides, 63 min gliding)	0.89 (2 legs compared)	-0.4 (25 glide→climb pairs)	2.14 (2 legs completed)	32 (1357 of 4246 m gained outside thermals)
31	Ward Gunn	54.9 (28 glides, 84 min gliding)	1.18 (1 leg compared)	0.6 (27 glide→climb pairs)	2.08 (1 leg completed)	19 (954 of 5080 m gained outside thermals)
32	Randall Clotworthy	57.9 (7 glides, 30 min gliding)	1.12 (1 leg compared)	-1.5 (6 glide→climb pairs)	1.21 (1 leg completed)	20 (346 of 1714 m gained outside thermals)
33	Dean Bayly	43.8 (16 glides, 55 min gliding)	1.00 (1 leg compared)	0.2 (15 glide→climb pairs)	1.59 (1 leg completed)	17 (463 of 2703 m gained outside thermals)
34	Andrew Taylor	43.8 (5 glides, 46 min gliding)	1.15 (1 leg compared)	-6.3 (4 glide→climb pairs)	1.94 (1 leg completed)	14 (257 of 1862 m gained outside thermals)
35	Mark Jeffree	47.3 (13 glides, 52 min gliding)	0.81 (1 leg compared)	0.4 (12 glide→climb pairs)	2.89 (1 leg completed)	14 (394 of 2721 m gained outside thermals)
36	Magnus Ronningen	45.1 (11 glides, 40 min gliding)	1.17 (1 leg compared)	-3.7 (10 glide→climb pairs)	1.76 (1 leg completed)	27 (379 of 1420 m gained outside thermals)
37	Alexander Kot	54.5 (16 glides, 45 min gliding)	1.20 (1 leg compared)	2.4 (15 glide→climb pairs)	4.34 (1 leg completed)	29 (535 of 1839 m gained outside thermals)
38	John Harriott	51.1 (2 glides, 29 min gliding)	1.00 (1 leg compared)	—	2.42 (1 leg completed)	52 (200 of 388 m gained outside thermals)
39	David Jackson	45.7 (6 glides, 36 min gliding)	—	-5.0 (5 glide→climb pairs)	—	6 (174 of 2783 m gained outside thermals)
40	Jason Lannstrom	—	—	—	—	—
41	Ted Sadowski	—	—	—	—	—
42	Donny Gardner	42.5 (1 glides, 8 min gliding)	—	—	—	—
43	Peter Garrone	47.1 (3 glides, 9 min gliding)	—	—	—	—
44	Jason Carman	—	—	—	—	—
45	Richard Hughes	48.7 (1 glides, 3 min gliding)	—	—	—	—

Glide speed (post-start)

Measured in kilometres per hour · higher is better

Duration-weighted mean ground speed over post-start glide segments (glide distance ÷ glide time). Higher means the pilot covers ground faster between climbs.

Field glide speed: median 57.3 km/h · p90 66.5 km/h (42 pilots)

strongest |ρ| 0.68

#	Pilot	Floor%	LowSaves	Clm/100km	Search%
1	Scott Barrett	49 (4 dips, lowest 19% of band)	0.0	15.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 48%)	10
2	Rohan Holtkamp	55 (4 dips, lowest 19% of band)	0.0	28.9 (mean shared-climb pctile 65%)	15
3	Rohan Taylor	22 (3 dips, lowest 14% of band)	0.0	34.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 57%)	27
4	Jon Durand	51 (8 dips, lowest -35% of band)	0.0	36.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 63%)	18
5	Steven Crosby	73 (6 dips, lowest 31% of band)	0.0	13.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 29%)	7
6	Peter Burkitt	48 (5 dips, lowest 26% of band)	0.0	42.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 50%)	35
7	Mitch Butler	63 (7 dips, lowest 37% of band)	0.0	25.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 50%)	21
8	Steve Docherty	55 (7 dips, lowest 16% of band)	0.0	21.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 36%)	22
9	Adam Stevens	55 (6 dips, lowest 19% of band)	0.0	48.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 52%)	33
10	Peter Adriaans	50 (5 dips, lowest 32% of band)	0.0	28.9 (mean shared-climb pctile 51%)	25
11	Olav Opsanger	14 (6 dips, lowest -30% of band)	0.0	69.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 72%)	41
12	Paul Bissett-Amess	32 (3 dips, lowest 19% of band)	0.0	25.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 59%)	18
13	Guy Hubbard	43 (4 dips, lowest 5% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 12% of band)	17.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 35%)	18
14	Steve Blenkinsop	44 (6 dips, lowest 19% of band)	0.0	28.9 (mean shared-climb pctile 46%)	23
15	Vic Hare	53 (6 dips, lowest 39% of band)	0.0	36.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 51%)	30
16	Neale Halsall	45 (6 dips, lowest -10% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -9% of band)	42.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 55%)	25
17	James Wynd	28 (5 dips, lowest -5% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -4% of band)	25.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 38%)	17
18	Jay Kubeil	26 (6 dips, lowest 12% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 12% of band)	48.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 57%)	24
19	Adrian Connor	10 (7 dips, lowest -19% of band)	0.0	101.9 (mean shared-climb pctile 53%)	34
20	Troy Horton	26 (6 dips, lowest -32% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from -32% of band)	69.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 46%)	38
21	Richard Martin	37 (6 dips, lowest 0% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 4% of band)	48.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 49%)	42
22	Andrew Sutton	58 (9 dips, lowest -15% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -16% of band)	59.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 55%)	29
23	Neil Hooke	36 (5 dips, lowest 24% of band)	0.0	50.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 43%)	33
24	Dustan Hansen	31 (6 dips, lowest 3% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 6% of band)	43.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 57%)	33
25	Corinna Schwiegershausen	45 (4 dips, lowest 30% of band)	0.0	17.9 (mean shared-climb pctile 32%)	16
26	Stuart Cathcart	56 (8 dips, lowest 30% of band)	0.0	39.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 34%)	33
27	Peter Tolhurst	52 (8 dips, lowest 2% of band)	0.0	69.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 39%)	43
28	James Atkinson	36 (7 dips, lowest 16% of band)	0.0	44.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 64%)	29
29	Sam Prest	30 (7 dips, lowest 9% of band)	0.0	115.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 42%)	28
30	Hughbert Alexander	20 (8 dips, lowest -50% of band)	0.0	114.9 (mean shared-climb pctile 56%)	43
31	Ward Gunn	43 (10 dips, lowest -17% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 14% of band)	144.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 53%)	40
32	Randall Clotworthy	34 (3 dips, lowest 13% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 14% of band)	55.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 67%)	34
33	Dean Bayly	-3 (5 dips, lowest -26% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from -3% of band)	82.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 40%)	43
34	Andrew Taylor	10 (2 dips, lowest 6% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 5% of band)	16.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 18%)	25
35	Mark Jeffree	47 (5 dips, lowest 11% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 11% of band)	83.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 54%)	45
36	Magnus Ronningen	—	0.0	75.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 86%)	55
37	Alexander Kot	39 (5 dips, lowest 0% of band)	0.0	—	58
38	John Harriott	—	0.0	—	64
39	David Jackson	-18 (4 dips, lowest -37% of band)	4.0 (deepest save from -34% of band)	—	38
40	Jason Lannstrom	—	0.0	—	21
41	Ted Sadowski	—	0.0	—	44
42	Donny Gardner	—	0.0	—	28
43	Peter Garrone	—	0.0	—	72
44	Jason Carman	—	0.0	—	100
45	Richard Hughes	—	0.0	—	94

Search fraction of the speed section

Measured in percent · lower is better

Share of speed-section time (start to ESS, or landing) spent searching — neither climbing in a thermal nor gliding with real net speed. Lower means less time leaks away between climbs.

Speed-section phase shares, field p25/median/p75: climb 29/33/36% · glide 27/36/42% · search 23/33/42%

strongest |ρ| 0.76

#	Pilot	Affinity	Marked%	DepartWin
1	Scott Barrett	67	50 (4/8 climbs marked)	100 (3W–0L (3 departures))
2	Rohan Holtkamp	81	53 (8/15 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
3	Rohan Taylor	62	56 (10/18 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
4	Jon Durand	70	53 (10/19 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
5	Steven Crosby	47	29 (2/7 climbs marked)	100 (3W–0L (3 departures))
6	Peter Burkitt	45	73 (16/22 climbs marked)	50 (1W–1L (2 departures))
7	Mitch Butler	70	85 (11/13 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
8	Steve Docherty	77	45 (5/11 climbs marked)	33 (1W–2L (3 departures))
9	Adam Stevens	45	28 (7/25 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
10	Peter Adriaans	44	80 (12/15 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
11	Olav Opsanger	14	6 (2/36 climbs marked)	100 (2W–0L (2 departures))
12	Paul Bissett-Amess	20	46 (6/13 climbs marked)	—
13	Guy Hubbard	37	22 (2/9 climbs marked)	67 (2W–1L (3 departures))
14	Steve Blenkinsop	84	87 (13/15 climbs marked)	0 (0W–2L (2 departures))
15	Vic Hare	75	53 (10/19 climbs marked)	50 (1W–1L (2 departures))
16	Neale Halsall	62	55 (12/22 climbs marked)	—
17	James Wynd	39	54 (7/13 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
18	Jay Kubeil	25	32 (8/25 climbs marked)	—
19	Adrian Connor	24	30 (16/53 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
20	Troy Horton	37	42 (15/36 climbs marked)	—
21	Richard Martin	18	16 (4/25 climbs marked)	—
22	Andrew Sutton	28	29 (9/31 climbs marked)	—
23	Neil Hooke	39	65 (17/26 climbs marked)	0 (0W–1L (1 departure))
24	Dustan Hansen	11	5 (1/22 climbs marked)	—
25	Corinna Schwiegershausen	36	67 (6/9 climbs marked)	0 (0W–2L (2 departures))
26	Stuart Cathcart	26	20 (4/20 climbs marked)	—
27	Peter Tolhurst	22	24 (8/34 climbs marked)	—
28	James Atkinson	27	38 (8/21 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
29	Sam Prest	33	42 (18/43 climbs marked)	—
30	Hughbert Alexander	10	0 (0/42 climbs marked)	—
31	Ward Gunn	16	38 (15/40 climbs marked)	—
32	Randall Clotworthy	0	7 (1/15 climbs marked)	—
33	Dean Bayly	1	0 (0/22 climbs marked)	100 (1W–0L (1 departure))
34	Andrew Taylor	16	0 (0/4 climbs marked)	—
35	Mark Jeffree	3	10 (2/20 climbs marked)	—
36	Magnus Ronningen	9	0 (0/17 climbs marked)	—
37	Alexander Kot	9	19 (5/27 climbs marked)	—
38	John Harriott	65	40 (2/5 climbs marked)	—
39	David Jackson	0	17 (1/6 climbs marked)	—
40	Jason Lannstrom	0	—	—
41	Ted Sadowski	11	—	—
42	Donny Gardner	44	—	—
43	Peter Garrone	0	0 (0/4 climbs marked)	—
44	Jason Carman	0	—	—
45	Richard Hughes	0	—	—

Gaggle affinity (post-start time in a gaggle)

Measured in percent · no expected direction

66 gaggle episodes detected (peak size 9 pilots).

strongest |ρ| 0.66

#	Pilot	StartDly	LegLost	Behind	ESSMargin
1	Scott Barrett	97	13	0.0	-53
2	Rohan Holtkamp	142	0	0.2	-132
3	Rohan Taylor	41	0	5.2	-37
4	Jon Durand	154	236	11.4	-2
5	Steven Crosby	130	103	11.7	61
6	Peter Burkitt	104	314	13.4	-40
7	Mitch Butler	131	489	17.5	35
8	Steve Docherty	117	542	20.6	-102
9	Adam Stevens	98	596	21.4	-104
10	Peter Adriaans	162	506	21.5	-205
11	Olav Opsanger	128	1028	23.1	-128
12	Paul Bissett-Amess	172	618	23.5	200
13	Guy Hubbard	111	716	24.1	-80
14	Steve Blenkinsop	127	836	25.4	56
15	Vic Hare	108	881	25.5	-67
16	Neale Halsall	149	987	26.7	-30
17	James Wynd	167	1837	43.8	-8
18	Jay Kubeil	891	1189	44.3	82
19	Adrian Connor	709	4504	97.2	-109
20	Troy Horton	198	3737	75.9	-154
21	Richard Martin	868	2463	65.9	127
22	Andrew Sutton	518	3151	71.5	-177
23	Neil Hooke	241	1682	—	—
24	Dustan Hansen	2008	1925	—	—
25	Corinna Schwiegershausen	127	527	—	—
26	Stuart Cathcart	12	2294	—	—
27	Peter Tolhurst	97	2997	—	—
28	James Atkinson	413	1354	—	—
29	Sam Prest	75	1044	—	—
30	Hughbert Alexander	2609	2460	—	—
31	Ward Gunn	402	1215	—	—
32	Randall Clotworthy	4486	198	—	—
33	Dean Bayly	1634	1168	—	—
34	Andrew Taylor	2131	1748	—	—
35	Mark Jeffree	950	2713	—	—
36	Magnus Ronningen	7	613	—	—
37	Alexander Kot	1013	2621	—	—
38	John Harriott	2174	1068	—	—
39	David Jackson	2124	—	—	—
40	Jason Lannstrom	9068	—	—	—
41	Ted Sadowski	1021	—	—	—
42	Donny Gardner	2034	—	—	—
43	Peter Garrone	802	—	—	—
44	Jason Carman	2837	—	—	—
45	Richard Hughes	3658	—	—	—

Start delay (gate to crossing)

Measured in seconds · lower is better

Start execution

Pilot	Delay	Alt m	Band %	Behind km
Scott Barrett	1:37	2105	97	9.4
Rohan Holtkamp	2:22	1991	88	9.9
Rohan Taylor	0:41	2036	91	9.9
Jon Durand	2:34	2052	93	9.9
Steven Crosby	2:10	2042	92	0.4
Peter Burkitt	1:44	2016	90	9.6
Mitch Butler	2:11	2070	94	0.4
Steve Docherty	1:57	2072	94	0.2
Adam Stevens	1:38	1925	82	9.0
Peter Adriaans	2:42	2002	89	1.0
Olav Opsanger	2:08	2060	93	0.4
Paul Bissett-Amess	2:52	1902	80	9.5
Guy Hubbard	1:51	2083	95	0.1
Steve Blenkinsop	2:07	2129	99	0.4
Vic Hare	1:48	2086	95	0.0
Neale Halsall	2:29	1926	82	0.8
James Wynd	2:47	1661	61	9.9
Jay Kubeil	14:51	1689	63	10.6
Adrian Connor	11:49	1618	58	9.7
Troy Horton	3:18	2031	91	9.0
Richard Martin	14:28	2217	106	9.7
Andrew Sutton	8:38	1788	71	9.2
Neil Hooke	4:01	1850	76	9.4
Dustan Hansen	33:28	1903	81	9.9
Corinna Schwiegersha	2:07	2030	91	9.8
Stuart Cathcart	0:12	2246	108	9.3
Peter Tolhurst	1:37	2106	97	7.9
James Atkinson	6:53	1656	61	9.7
Sam Prest	1:15	1692	64	9.1
Hughbert Alexander	43:29	1681	63	8.9
Ward Gunn	6:42	1596	56	9.9
Randall Clotworthy	74:46	1824	74	9.9
Dean Bayly	27:14	1496	48	10.4
Andrew Taylor	35:31	1907	81	10.0
Mark Jeffree	15:50	2010	89	10.6
Magnus Ronningen	0:07	2125	99	9.2
Alexander Kot	16:53	1882	79	10.9
John Harriott	36:14	1943	84	10.2
David Jackson	35:24	1109	16	9.8
Jason Lannstrom	151:08	1542	51	0.0
Ted Sadowski	17:01	1873	78	10.8
Donny Gardner	33:54	1664	61	9.8
Peter Garrone	13:22	987	7	9.1
Jason Carman	47:17	654	-20	8.5
Richard Hughes	60:58	981	6	9.3

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).

Time lost on speed-section legs

Measured in seconds · lower is better

For each completed speed-section leg, the pilot’s leg time is compared with the mean of the top-10 (by rank) pilots who completed that leg; only losses count, and the losses are summed. Summed leg times are race time and the reference is defined by rank, so this tracks the outcome by construction — read the waterfall table (every leg against the task winner) for the diagnostic, not the correlation for a finding.

Rohan Holtkamp against the winner, leg by leg: bars hanging below the line are time lost, bars above are time gained; over the 4 compared legs, -0:31 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→TINTAL	TINTAL→CUDG	CUDG→TOWONG	TOWONG→ESS	Total
Scott Barrett	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00
Rohan Holtkamp	+0:10	-0:54	+1:14	-1:01	-0:31
Rohan Taylor	+1:29	+2:00	+3:29	-0:47	+6:10
Jon Durand	+3:13	-1:28	+9:07	-0:24	+10:27
Steven Crosby	+4:41	+4:02	+4:21	-1:53	+11:11
Peter Burkitt	+7:02	-0:54	+7:30	-0:18	+13:20
Mitch Butler	+4:48	+10:21	+2:18	-0:33	+16:54
Steve Docherty	+4:23	+9:51	+6:59	-0:54	+20:18
Adam Stevens	+9:41	+2:21	+9:02	+0:18	+21:22
Peter Adriaans	+5:45	+3:31	+7:46	+3:21	+20:23
Olav Opsanger	+2:34	-2:08	+22:16	-0:10	+22:32
Paul Bissett-Amess	+10:11	+3:42	+7:38	+0:45	+22:15
Guy Hubbard	+4:24	+9:27	+10:08	-0:06	+23:54
Steve Blenkinsop	+4:13	+9:14	+12:40	-1:11	+24:55
Vic Hare	+4:23	+17:19	+4:57	-1:19	+25:20
Neale Halsall	+4:55	+1:26	+20:49	-1:20	+25:51
James Wynd	+21:36	+6:29	+13:41	+0:48	+42:35
Jay Kubeil	+17:09	+2:10	+10:06	+1:38	+31:03
Adrian Connor	+32:16	+12:04	+23:19	+19:22	+87:01
Troy Horton	+9:41	+11:08	+24:08	+29:17	+74:14
Richard Martin	+11:12	+22:23	+19:17	+0:08	+53:00
Andrew Sutton	+11:56	+15:12	+17:44	+19:38	+64:28
Neil Hooke	+15:00	+9:41	+15:31	—	+40:12
Dustan Hansen	+22:48	+16:17	+5:11	—	+44:16
Corinna Schwiegersha	+8:31	+1:04	+9:34	—	+19:09
Stuart Cathcart	+18:48	+18:04	+13:33	—	+50:25
Peter Tolhurst	+22:37	+12:22	+27:09	—	+62:08
James Atkinson	+12:19	+8:31	+13:55	—	+34:45
Sam Prest	+10:53	+13:32	—	—	+24:24
Hughbert Alexander	+31:09	+16:51	—	—	+48:00
Ward Gunn	+24:23	—	—	—	+24:23
Randall Clotworthy	+7:25	—	—	—	+7:25
Dean Bayly	+23:35	—	—	—	+23:35
Andrew Taylor	+33:15	—	—	—	+33:15
Mark Jeffree	+49:20	—	—	—	+49:20
Magnus Ronningen	+14:20	—	—	—	+14:20
Alexander Kot	+47:48	—	—	—	+47:48
John Harriott	+21:55	—	—	—	+21:55

Cells: this pilot’s leg time minus the winner’s (+ = slower than the winner, − = faster); — = leg not completed by pilot or winner.

The scalar metric instead sums losses vs the mean of the top 10 pilots who completed each leg (legs flown faster than that reference contribute 0).

Time behind the leader at ESS

Measured in minutes · lower is better

At each speed-section turnpoint, elapsed race time (reaching minus own start) is compared with the fastest pilot to that turnpoint; the scalar is minutes behind at ESS. Expected to track final rank almost perfectly — this metric is the eval’s sanity check.

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	TINTAL	CUDG	TOWONG	CORRY	CORRY
Scott Barrett	1.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Rohan Holtkamp	2.2	0.9	0.0	1.2	0.2	0.2
Rohan Taylor	0.6	0.6	2.5	6.0	5.2	5.2
Jon Durand	2.5	4.2	2.7	11.8	11.4	11.4
Steven Crosby	2.1	5.2	9.3	13.6	11.7	11.7
Peter Burkitt	1.6	7.1	6.2	13.7	13.4	13.4
Mitch Butler	2.1	5.4	15.7	18.0	17.5	17.5
Steve Docherty	1.8	4.7	14.6	21.5	20.6	20.6
Adam Stevens	1.5	9.7	12.0	21.1	21.4	21.4
Peter Adriaans	2.6	6.8	10.3	18.1	21.5	21.5
Olav Opsanger	2.0	3.1	1.0	23.2	23.1	23.1
Paul Bissett-Amess	2.8	11.4	15.1	22.8	23.5	23.5
Guy Hubbard	1.7	4.6	14.1	24.2	24.1	24.1
Steve Blenkinsop	2.0	4.7	13.9	26.6	25.4	25.4
Vic Hare	1.7	4.6	21.9	26.8	25.5	25.5
Neale Halsall	2.4	5.8	7.2	28.0	26.7	26.7
James Wynd	2.7	22.8	29.3	42.9	43.8	43.8
Jay Kubeil	14.7	30.4	32.6	42.7	44.3	44.3
Adrian Connor	11.7	42.5	54.5	77.9	97.2	97.2
Troy Horton	3.2	11.4	22.5	46.6	75.9	75.9
Richard Martin	14.4	24.1	46.5	65.7	65.9	65.9
Andrew Sutton	8.5	18.9	34.1	51.9	71.5	71.5
Neil Hooke	3.9	17.4	27.1	42.6	—	—
Dustan Hansen	33.3	54.7	70.9	76.1	—	—
Corinna Schwiegersha	2.0	9.0	10.1	19.7	—	—
Stuart Cathcart	0.1	17.4	35.5	49.0	—	—
Peter Tolhurst	1.5	22.6	35.0	62.1	—	—
James Atkinson	6.8	17.6	26.1	40.0	—	—
Sam Prest	1.1	10.5	24.0	—	—	—
Hughbert Alexander	43.4	73.0	89.9	—	—	—
Ward Gunn	6.6	29.5	—	—	—	—
Randall Clotworthy	74.6	80.6	—	—	—	—
Dean Bayly	27.1	49.2	—	—	—	—
Andrew Taylor	35.4	67.2	—	—	—	—
Mark Jeffree	15.7	63.6	—	—	—	—
Magnus Ronningen	0.0	12.8	—	—	—	—
Alexander Kot	16.8	63.1	—	—	—	—
John Harriott	36.1	56.5	—	—	—	—
David Jackson	35.3	—	—	—	—	—
Jason Lannstrom	151.0	—	—	—	—	—
Ted Sadowski	16.9	—	—	—	—	—
Donny Gardner	33.8	—	—	—	—	—
Peter Garrone	13.2	—	—	—	—	—
Jason Carman	47.2	—	—	—	—	—
Richard Hughes	60.9	—	—	—	—	—

Elapsed race time (from each pilot’s own start) minus the fastest elapsed time to that turnpoint; — = turnpoint not reached.

Altitude margin over final glide at ESS

Measured in metres · lower is better

Altitude at ESS minus the altitude needed to glide to goal at the sport’s standard glide ratio (S7F §12.3.6: 5.0 HG / 4.0 PG). A big positive margin is altitude — i.e. time — left unspent.

ESS altitude margin over final glide: top-10 median -47 m (n=10) vs rest median -48 m (n=12).

Metric glossary

How every metric on this page is measured. On screen, the ⓘ next to a metric opens the same description in place; in print, this section is the reference for all of them.

Day profile & wind

Wind (by hour and by leg)(“Wind” in tables): Measured in kilometres per hour · no expected direction
Wind estimated from every pilot’s circling (centre drift preferred, ground-speed modulation as fallback), vector-averaged two ways: by hour of day (how the wind built and shifted through the day) and by speed-section leg (the wind each part of the course saw). Field-level only — no per-pilot value.
Climb by hour(“Climb/hr” in tables): Measured in metres per second · no expected direction
All pilots’ thermal climbs bucketed by the hour the climb started (labelled in the competition’s time zone): median and 90th-percentile average climb rate per hour show how the day’s lift developed. Field-level only — no per-pilot value.
Time in non-sinking air(“NonSink%” in tables): Measured in percent · no expected direction
Share of a pilot’s airborne time (on the shared grid) spent in non-sinking air — 30 s-smoothed vario at or above −0.5 m/s. Reflects how much of the flight met usable air: when flown, where the pilot steered, and how the flight ended all feed it, so the correlation sign is the finding. The timing table relates the day’s best climbs window to when the field actually launched.

Climbing

Climb rate vs field in shared thermals(“SharedPct” in tables): Measured in percent · higher is better
In every thermal two or more pilots used, each use is ranked by average climb rate; a use’s percentile is the share of strictly slower uses. The value is the duration-weighted mean percentile over the pilot’s shared climbs — centering skill isolated from thermal selection.
Time to core a thermal(“Core s” in tables): Measured in seconds · lower is better
For each thermal of at least 60 s, the seconds from entering until the 30 s rolling climb rate first reaches 90% of its peak in that thermal. The value is the median across the pilot’s thermals — how fast they centre the best lift after arriving.
Climb rate over the last 30 s of each thermal(“ExitDecay” in tables): Measured in metres per second · no expected direction
For each thermal of at least 90 s, the climb rate over its final 30 s — the "give-up rate". The value is the median: low means the pilot abandons weakening lift early, high means they ride climbs to the end; the correlation sign says which behaviour paid on this task.
Share of circling encounters accepted as climbs(“Accept%” in tables): Measured in percent · no expected direction
Post-start circling bouts of at least 30 s are lift encounters; one that overlaps a detected thermal was accepted, otherwise the pilot circled and rejected the lift. The value is the percentage accepted — low means picky, high means they take almost everything they turn in.
Thermal departure altitude as % of the working band(“ExitBand%” in tables): Measured in percent · no expected direction
The altitude at which the pilot left each post-start thermal, as a percentage of the day’s working band (0% = field floor, 100% = field ceiling); the value is the median. High means topping out every climb, low means leaving early with climb still available.
Circle fit error relative to circle radius(“Smooth” in tables): Measured in ratio · lower is better
Each detected circle is least-squares fitted; its RMS fit error divided by the fitted radius measures how round the turn really was. The value is the median over all the pilot’s circles — lower means smoother, more consistent turning.

Gliding

Glide speed (post-start)(“GlideSpd” in tables): Measured in kilometres per hour · higher is better
Duration-weighted mean ground speed over post-start glide segments (glide distance ÷ glide time). Higher means the pilot covers ground faster between climbs.
Glide L/D vs field (per leg)(“L/D vs f” in tables): Measured in ratio · higher is better
For each completed speed-section leg, the pilot's glide-phase L/D (path distance ÷ net altitude lost while gliding; legs losing under 100 m skipped) is divided by the field's median L/D on that same leg, then averaged over legs. Above 1.0 means the pilot found better glide lines than the field on the same legs.
Speed-to-fly proxy(“STFproxy” in tables): Measured in kilometres per hour · higher is better
A speed-to-fly PROXY — no glider polar data exists. Each post-start glide is paired with the climb rate of the next thermal starting within 5 minutes; the value is the mean glide speed flown before stronger-than-median climbs minus the mean before weaker ones. Positive means the pilot speeds up when the next climb justifies it.
Track efficiency (actual ÷ optimized leg distance)(“TrackEff” in tables): Measured in ratio · lower is better
Route distance flown on each completed speed-section leg — full path outside climbs, each climb counted as its net drift — ÷ the leg's optimized distance, averaged with optimized-distance weights. Closer to 1.0 means less deviation from the optimal course line; circling path is excluded, so stopping to climb does not read as bad line choice.
Dolphin climb fraction(“Dolphin%” in tables): Measured in percent · no expected direction
Share of post-start altitude gain (10 s-smoothed) made outside detected thermals — climbing on the run instead of stopping to circle. Neutral: the correlation sign shows whether dolphin climbing paid on this day.

Decision-making

Altitude floor (band % at climb decisions)(“Floor%” in tables): Measured in percent · higher is better
Finds each pilot's post-start altitude minima (30 s-smoothed, at least 100 m below the surrounding maxima) — the points where they stopped descending and committed to a climb — and reports the median as a percentage of the day's working band. Higher means the pilot keeps more margin in hand before taking a climb.
Low saves (climbs from the bottom of the band)(“LowSaves” in tables): Measured in count · no expected direction
Counts post-start climbs entered below 15% of the working band that went on to gain at least 300 m — genuine low saves. Zero is a real score for a started pilot; the correlation sign says whether digging out or never getting low is what pays.
Climbs per 100 km flown(“Clm/100km” in tables): Measured in count · lower is better
Post-start thermal count per 100 km of scored flown distance — how often the pilot stops to circle. Each pilot's note adds their mean climb percentile within shared thermals, so few stops can be read together with climb strength.
Search fraction of the speed section(“Search%” in tables): Measured in percent · lower is better
Share of speed-section time (start to ESS, or landing) spent searching — neither climbing in a thermal nor gliding with real net speed. Lower means less time leaks away between climbs.

Gaggle

Gaggle affinity (post-start time in a gaggle)(“Affinity” in tables): Measured in percent · no expected direction
Share of a pilot's post-start flying time spent inside a detected gaggle (clustered with at least one other racing pilot on the shared time grid). Neutral: the correlation sign says whether sticking with company paid on the day.
Marker usage (climbs entered on another pilot's climb)(“Marked%” in tables): Measured in percent · no expected direction
Share of a pilot's post-start climbs where another pilot was already established (at least 30 s) and still climbing in the same thermal when they joined. High = climbs on others' markers; low = finds their own lift.
Gaggle departure win rate(“DepartWin” in tables): Measured in percent · no expected direction
When a pilot leaves a gaggle that keeps flying, did leaving pay off? We compare the leaver's arrival at the next turnpoint against the median arrival of the pilots who stayed. Win rate > 50% means their departures beat the gaggle. Only pilots still in the gaggle after the split who reached that turnpoint after it count as stayers.

Race craft

Start delay (gate to crossing)(“StartDly” in tables): Measured in seconds · lower is better
Seconds from the start gate taken (or the pilot’s own crossing on elapsed-time tasks, where the delay is 0 by definition) to the scored SSS crossing. The start table adds crossing altitude and how far behind the leading already-started pilot each start was.
Time lost on speed-section legs(“LegLost” in tables): Measured in seconds · lower is better
For each completed speed-section leg, the pilot’s leg time is compared with the mean of the top-10 (by rank) pilots who completed that leg; only losses count, and the losses are summed. Summed leg times are race time and the reference is defined by rank, so this tracks the outcome by construction — read the waterfall table (every leg against the task winner) for the diagnostic, not the correlation for a finding.
Time behind the leader at ESS(“Behind” in tables): Measured in minutes · lower is better
At each speed-section turnpoint, elapsed race time (reaching minus own start) is compared with the fastest pilot to that turnpoint; the scalar is minutes behind at ESS. Expected to track final rank almost perfectly — this metric is the eval’s sanity check.
Altitude margin over final glide at ESS(“ESSMargin” in tables): Measured in metres · lower is better
Altitude at ESS minus the altitude needed to glide to goal at the sport’s standard glide ratio (S7F §12.3.6: 5.0 HG / 4.0 PG). A big positive margin is altitude — i.e. time — left unspent.
Required glide ratio when leaving the last climb(“FinalGl” in tables): Measured in ratio · no expected direction
At the pilot’s last climb before ESS (or landing): distance to goal divided by height above goal — the glide ratio they committed to. Only counted when that climb ended within 1.5× the final leg’s distance of goal.

Task 1 (Open)

What separated the field

Metrics with a strong verdict, plotted against rank

Outcome checks

The whole field at a glance

Pilot style clusters

The metrics in detail

Day profile & windstrongest |ρ| 0.47

Climbingstrongest |ρ| 0.73

Glidingstrongest |ρ| 0.82

Glide speed (post-start)

Decision-makingstrongest |ρ| 0.68

Gagglestrongest |ρ| 0.76

Gaggle affinity (post-start time in a gaggle)

Race craftstrongest |ρ| 0.66

Metric glossary

Day profile & wind

Climbing

Gliding

Decision-making

Gaggle

Race craft

strongest |ρ| 0.47

strongest |ρ| 0.73

strongest |ρ| 0.82

strongest |ρ| 0.68

strongest |ρ| 0.76

strongest |ρ| 0.66