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Task 4 (Open)

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

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Analysis computed

Pilots analysed
49
Sampling
every 10s
Shared thermals
70 of 222multi-pilot
Working band
914–2269 m
Phase coverage
100%

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.

MetricρStrengthnVerdictFamily
Track efficiency (actual ÷ optimized leg distance)0.84
44strongGliding
Glide speed (post-start)-0.77
44strongGliding
Search fraction of the speed section0.76
45strongDecision-making
Climbs per 100 km flown0.73
43strongDecision-making
Altitude margin over final glide at ESS0.62
35strongRace craft
Glide L/D vs field (per leg)-0.57
44strongGliding
Gaggle departure win rate-0.56
37strongGaggle
Dolphin climb fraction0.49
43moderateGliding
Altitude floor (band % at climb decisions)-0.49
43moderateDecision-making
Share of circling encounters accepted as climbs-0.48
44moderateClimbing
Thermal departure altitude as % of the working band-0.46
44moderateClimbing
Start delay (gate to crossing)0.44
45moderateRace craft
Gaggle affinity (post-start time in a gaggle)-0.43
45moderateGaggle
Climb rate over the last 30 s of each thermal-0.32
49moderateClimbing
Marker usage (climbs entered on another pilot's climb)-0.32
43moderateGaggle
Circle fit error relative to circle radius0.30
49weakClimbing
Climb rate vs field in shared thermals-0.29
48weakClimbing
Low saves (climbs from the bottom of the band)0.26
45within noiseDecision-making
Time in non-sinking air0.19
48within noiseDay profile & wind
Time to core a thermal0.13
49within noiseClimbing
Speed-to-fly proxy-0.04
43within noiseGliding

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.

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 = 0.84 (strong, n = 44). Less is expected to be better here, and it was: top ranks gather to the left. 5 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.

MetricρStrengthnVerdict
Time behind the leader at ESS1.00
35strong
Time lost on speed-section legs0.68
44strong

The whole field at a glance

1. Scott Barrett
2. Rory Duncan
3. Jochen Zeischka
4. Guy Hubbard
5. Jon Durand
6. Olav Opsanger
7. Gordon Rigg
8. Rich Reinauer
9. Dustan Hansen
10. Rohan Holtkamp
11. Tony Cross
12. Mitch Butler
13. Trent Brown
14. Vic Hare
15. Nils Vesk
16. Steve Docherty
17. Steve Blenkinsop
18. Peter Adriaans
19. Ken Millard
20. Peter Burkitt
21. Neale Halsall
22. Pawel Cedro
23. Enda Carrigan
24. Neil Hooke
25. Todd Wisewould
26. David Drabble
27. Bruce Atkinson
28. Grant Tatham
29. Troy Horton
30. Paul Bissett-Amess
31. Adrian Connor
32. Michael Free
33. Ward Gunn
34. Ian Miller
35. Ben Torrance
36. Andrew Sutton
37. Gavin Nicholls
38. Neill Hollingsworth
39. Gary Herman
40. Diego Mendonca
41. Bobby Gillham
42. Mark Jeffree
43. Cedric Joyce
44. Brett Davis
45. Ryan Brown
46. Stuart Cathcart
47. Peter Garrone
48. James McKirdy
49. Tushar Pokle
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 — Bold leavers

13 pilots · ranks 1–16 · median 7 · middle half 4–10

  • High — Gaggle departure win rate group median P88 in this field (100 percent)
  • Low — Track efficiency (actual ÷ optimized leg distance) group median P16 in this field (1.21 ratio) · usually a strength
  • High — Glide speed (post-start) group median P81 in this field (72.9 kilometres per hour) · usually a strength
  • Low — Search fraction of the speed section group median P20 in this field (19 percent) · usually a strength
  • 1. Scott Barrett (most typical of this group)
  • 2. Rory Duncan
  • 3. Jochen Zeischka
  • 4. Guy Hubbard
  • 5. Jon Durand
  • 6. Olav Opsanger
  • 7. Gordon Rigg
  • 8. Rich Reinauer
  • 9. Dustan Hansen
  • 10. Rohan Holtkamp
  • 11. Tony Cross
  • 12. Mitch Butler
  • 16. Steve Docherty

Group B — Escape artists

31 pilots · ranks 13–44 · median 29 · middle half 21.5–36.5

  • High — Low saves (climbs from the bottom of the band) group median P70 in this field (1.0 count)
  • Low — Gaggle departure win rate group median P32 in this field (25 percent)
  • Low — Altitude floor (band % at climb decisions) group median P35 in this field (33 percent) · usually costly
  • Low — Thermal departure altitude as % of the working band group median P35 in this field (55 percent)
  • 13. Trent Brown
  • 14. Vic Hare
  • 15. Nils Vesk
  • 17. Steve Blenkinsop
  • 18. Peter Adriaans
  • 19. Ken Millard
  • 20. Peter Burkitt
  • 21. Neale Halsall
  • 22. Pawel Cedro
  • 23. Enda Carrigan
  • 24. Neil Hooke
  • 25. Todd Wisewould
  • 26. David Drabble
  • 27. Bruce Atkinson
  • 28. Grant Tatham
  • 29. Troy Horton (most typical of this group)
  • 30. Paul Bissett-Amess
  • 31. Adrian Connor
  • 32. Michael Free
  • 33. Ward Gunn
  • 34. Ian Miller
  • 35. Ben Torrance
  • 36. Andrew Sutton
  • 37. Gavin Nicholls
  • 38. Neill Hollingsworth
  • 39. Gary Herman
  • 40. Diego Mendonca
  • 41. Bobby Gillham
  • 42. Mark Jeffree
  • 43. Cedric Joyce
  • 44. Brett Davis

Not clustered: 45. Ryan Brown — only 9 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 46. Stuart Cathcart — only 5 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 47. Peter Garrone — only 5 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 48. James McKirdy — only 3 of 21 metrics available (needs ≥ 60%); 49. Tushar Pokle — only 5 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: 44 pilots on 21 behavioural metrics formed 2 groups (k searched 2–6); mean silhouette 0.18 — near 0 means soft group boundaries, near 1 tight well-separated groups.

The metrics in detail

strongest |ρ| 0.19

strongest |ρ| 0.48

strongest |ρ| 0.84

#PilotGlideSpdL/D vs fSTFproxyTrackEffDolphin%
1Scott Barrett78.0 (11 glides, 34 min gliding)1.04 (4 legs compared)1.1 (10 glide→climb pairs)1.11 (4 legs completed)4 (130 of 3510 m gained outside thermals)
2Rory Duncan73.8 (9 glides, 37 min gliding)0.98 (4 legs compared)-4.1 (8 glide→climb pairs)1.09 (4 legs completed)6 (209 of 3770 m gained outside thermals)
3Jochen Zeischka75.7 (10 glides, 36 min gliding)1.13 (4 legs compared)6.4 (9 glide→climb pairs)1.15 (4 legs completed)6 (184 of 3189 m gained outside thermals)
4Guy Hubbard73.5 (8 glides, 38 min gliding)1.08 (4 legs compared)-0.8 (7 glide→climb pairs)1.12 (4 legs completed)3 (125 of 3738 m gained outside thermals)
5Jon Durand72.2 (12 glides, 46 min gliding)1.21 (4 legs compared)-4.1 (11 glide→climb pairs)1.14 (4 legs completed)5 (142 of 3009 m gained outside thermals)
6Olav Opsanger75.0 (14 glides, 45 min gliding)1.06 (4 legs compared)13.2 (13 glide→climb pairs)1.21 (4 legs completed)9 (314 of 3497 m gained outside thermals)
7Gordon Rigg77.6 (10 glides, 42 min gliding)0.99 (4 legs compared)1.4 (9 glide→climb pairs)1.19 (4 legs completed)6 (247 of 4169 m gained outside thermals)
8Rich Reinauer72.9 (11 glides, 47 min gliding)1.11 (4 legs compared)-1.3 (10 glide→climb pairs)1.24 (4 legs completed)6 (275 of 4430 m gained outside thermals)
9Dustan Hansen68.4 (13 glides, 57 min gliding)1.09 (4 legs compared)0.9 (12 glide→climb pairs)1.35 (4 legs completed)9 (403 of 4409 m gained outside thermals)
10Rohan Holtkamp69.2 (16 glides, 49 min gliding)0.98 (4 legs compared)4.1 (15 glide→climb pairs)1.33 (4 legs completed)19 (814 of 4258 m gained outside thermals)
11Tony Cross69.1 (17 glides, 46 min gliding)0.96 (4 legs compared)0.5 (16 glide→climb pairs)1.22 (4 legs completed)7 (318 of 4868 m gained outside thermals)
12Mitch Butler70.6 (17 glides, 54 min gliding)1.04 (4 legs compared)-0.3 (16 glide→climb pairs)1.33 (4 legs completed)8 (382 of 5006 m gained outside thermals)
13Trent Brown64.4 (13 glides, 50 min gliding)1.01 (4 legs compared)5.6 (12 glide→climb pairs)1.27 (4 legs completed)6 (286 of 4845 m gained outside thermals)
14Vic Hare75.5 (17 glides, 50 min gliding)1.05 (4 legs compared)-1.0 (16 glide→climb pairs)1.53 (4 legs completed)14 (691 of 4846 m gained outside thermals)
15Nils Vesk63.5 (7 glides, 43 min gliding)1.02 (4 legs compared)4.6 (6 glide→climb pairs)1.17 (4 legs completed)2 (78 of 4270 m gained outside thermals)
16Steve Docherty62.8 (13 glides, 51 min gliding)1.13 (4 legs compared)-2.5 (12 glide→climb pairs)1.35 (4 legs completed)8 (356 of 4300 m gained outside thermals)
17Steve Blenkinsop62.1 (8 glides, 52 min gliding)1.12 (4 legs compared)9.1 (7 glide→climb pairs)1.29 (4 legs completed)10 (430 of 4451 m gained outside thermals)
18Peter Adriaans60.5 (13 glides, 57 min gliding)0.94 (4 legs compared)-5.1 (12 glide→climb pairs)1.37 (4 legs completed)10 (490 of 5051 m gained outside thermals)
19Ken Millard65.1 (17 glides, 61 min gliding)1.10 (4 legs compared)-0.9 (16 glide→climb pairs)1.61 (4 legs completed)35 (2372 of 6822 m gained outside thermals)
20Peter Burkitt64.8 (16 glides, 63 min gliding)1.09 (4 legs compared)-4.8 (15 glide→climb pairs)1.54 (4 legs completed)10 (578 of 5580 m gained outside thermals)
21Neale Halsall65.9 (16 glides, 57 min gliding)1.02 (4 legs compared)0.6 (15 glide→climb pairs)1.40 (4 legs completed)17 (758 of 4527 m gained outside thermals)
22Pawel Cedro71.6 (23 glides, 59 min gliding)0.95 (4 legs compared)3.5 (22 glide→climb pairs)1.71 (4 legs completed)10 (627 of 6380 m gained outside thermals)
23Enda Carrigan66.2 (22 glides, 60 min gliding)1.08 (4 legs compared)9.1 (21 glide→climb pairs)1.44 (4 legs completed)15 (667 of 4592 m gained outside thermals)
24Neil Hooke53.2 (14 glides, 64 min gliding)0.96 (4 legs compared)-1.8 (13 glide→climb pairs)1.38 (4 legs completed)11 (544 of 4927 m gained outside thermals)
25Todd Wisewould68.5 (19 glides, 63 min gliding)1.01 (4 legs compared)-0.6 (18 glide→climb pairs)1.56 (4 legs completed)12 (673 of 5436 m gained outside thermals)
26David Drabble67.5 (20 glides, 68 min gliding)0.95 (4 legs compared)-2.5 (19 glide→climb pairs)1.69 (4 legs completed)12 (643 of 5448 m gained outside thermals)
27Bruce Atkinson48.6 (16 glides, 65 min gliding)0.88 (4 legs compared)0.8 (15 glide→climb pairs)1.23 (4 legs completed)2 (125 of 5293 m gained outside thermals)
28Grant Tatham53.0 (14 glides, 70 min gliding)0.96 (4 legs compared)-1.8 (13 glide→climb pairs)1.42 (4 legs completed)10 (544 of 5534 m gained outside thermals)
29Troy Horton56.9 (14 glides, 68 min gliding)0.91 (4 legs compared)0.4 (13 glide→climb pairs)1.50 (4 legs completed)10 (593 of 6224 m gained outside thermals)
30Paul Bissett-Amess59.9 (15 glides, 76 min gliding)1.27 (4 legs compared)-1.5 (14 glide→climb pairs)1.63 (4 legs completed)8 (373 of 4749 m gained outside thermals)
31Adrian Connor50.3 (15 glides, 75 min gliding)1.16 (4 legs compared)-1.0 (14 glide→climb pairs)1.32 (4 legs completed)6 (300 of 4787 m gained outside thermals)
32Michael Free54.2 (17 glides, 75 min gliding)0.96 (4 legs compared)-3.3 (16 glide→climb pairs)1.75 (4 legs completed)19 (1276 of 6575 m gained outside thermals)
33Ward Gunn74.8 (20 glides, 63 min gliding)1.03 (4 legs compared)-5.6 (19 glide→climb pairs)1.86 (4 legs completed)10 (657 of 6797 m gained outside thermals)
34Ian Miller55.7 (23 glides, 75 min gliding)1.01 (4 legs compared)0.2 (22 glide→climb pairs)1.72 (4 legs completed)14 (745 of 5503 m gained outside thermals)
35Ben Torrance53.8 (27 glides, 95 min gliding)0.84 (4 legs compared)4.2 (26 glide→climb pairs)1.85 (4 legs completed)11 (870 of 7771 m gained outside thermals)
36Andrew Sutton57.3 (12 glides, 52 min gliding)0.92 (3 legs compared)5.1 (11 glide→climb pairs)1.59 (3 legs completed)12 (521 of 4484 m gained outside thermals)
37Gavin Nicholls62.4 (22 glides, 71 min gliding)1.10 (2 legs compared)-1.4 (21 glide→climb pairs)2.01 (2 legs completed)13 (801 of 6103 m gained outside thermals)
38Neill Hollingsworth52.1 (23 glides, 78 min gliding)0.71 (2 legs compared)1.5 (22 glide→climb pairs)2.12 (2 legs completed)20 (1133 of 5583 m gained outside thermals)
39Gary Herman61.6 (10 glides, 45 min gliding)0.90 (2 legs compared)2.1 (9 glide→climb pairs)1.39 (2 legs completed)9 (325 of 3649 m gained outside thermals)
40Diego Mendonca64.9 (18 glides, 62 min gliding)0.81 (2 legs compared)8.5 (17 glide→climb pairs)1.91 (2 legs completed)11 (845 of 7604 m gained outside thermals)
41Bobby Gillham55.8 (13 glides, 59 min gliding)0.81 (2 legs compared)-5.5 (12 glide→climb pairs)2.18 (2 legs completed)2 (153 of 6636 m gained outside thermals)
42Mark Jeffree56.4 (14 glides, 40 min gliding)0.94 (1 leg compared)1.1 (13 glide→climb pairs)2.01 (1 leg completed)25 (558 of 2245 m gained outside thermals)
43Cedric Joyce51.8 (12 glides, 39 min gliding)0.54 (1 leg compared)2.4 (11 glide→climb pairs)2.33 (1 leg completed)18 (602 of 3423 m gained outside thermals)
44Brett Davis44.5 (2 glides, 6 min gliding)0.92 (1 leg compared)—1.49 (1 leg completed)—
45Ryan Brown—————
46Stuart Cathcart—————
47Peter Garrone—————
48James McKirdy—————
49Tushar Pokle—————

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 64.6 km/h · p90 74.9 km/h (44 pilots)

strongest |ρ| 0.76

#PilotFloor%LowSavesClm/100kmSearch%
1Scott Barrett57 (6 dips, lowest 18% of band)0.024.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 60%)16
2Rory Duncan64 (6 dips, lowest 28% of band)0.022.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 57%)18
3Jochen Zeischka62 (5 dips, lowest -7% of band)0.025.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 52%)19
4Guy Hubbard55 (6 dips, lowest 27% of band)0.018.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 52%)18
5Jon Durand67 (5 dips, lowest 51% of band)0.027.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 55%)18
6Olav Opsanger46 (6 dips, lowest 34% of band)0.034.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 46%)19
7Gordon Rigg44 (6 dips, lowest 0% of band)1.0 (deepest save from -1% of band)32.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 56%)19
8Rich Reinauer46 (8 dips, lowest -21% of band)1.0 (deepest save from -16% of band)27.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 60%)21
9Dustan Hansen54 (8 dips, lowest 24% of band)0.030.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 54%)18
10Rohan Holtkamp51 (9 dips, lowest -23% of band)0.053.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 53%)27
11Tony Cross50 (10 dips, lowest 16% of band)0.041.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 48%)22
12Mitch Butler51 (9 dips, lowest -14% of band)1.0 (deepest save from 6% of band)41.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 49%)20
13Trent Brown-0 (7 dips, lowest -11% of band)3.0 (deepest save from -11% of band)29.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 55%)20
14Vic Hare42 (7 dips, lowest 13% of band)0.059.9 (mean shared-climb pctile 52%)28
15Nils Vesk26 (8 dips, lowest -8% of band)0.015.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 26%)13
16Steve Docherty37 (7 dips, lowest 22% of band)0.047.9 (mean shared-climb pctile 51%)24
17Steve Blenkinsop36 (7 dips, lowest 12% of band)0.024.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 53%)18
18Peter Adriaans33 (6 dips, lowest 22% of band)0.042.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 49%)27
19Ken Millard36 (8 dips, lowest -12% of band)0.065.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 65%)33
20Peter Burkitt22 (7 dips, lowest -20% of band)1.0 (deepest save from 7% of band)44.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 47%)31
21Neale Halsall49 (7 dips, lowest -2% of band)0.051.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 47%)28
22Pawel Cedro26 (7 dips, lowest -5% of band)2.0 (deepest save from -5% of band)65.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 56%)33
23Enda Carrigan63 (8 dips, lowest -9% of band)0.063.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 42%)26
24Neil Hooke30 (6 dips, lowest -2% of band)2.0 (deepest save from 2% of band)39.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 39%)21
25Todd Wisewould41 (9 dips, lowest -11% of band)1.0 (deepest save from -11% of band)51.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 46%)32
26David Drabble32 (8 dips, lowest 0% of band)1.0 (deepest save from 2% of band)58.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 45%)29
27Bruce Atkinson39 (10 dips, lowest -19% of band)2.0 (deepest save from -19% of band)29.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 32%)15
28Grant Tatham36 (7 dips, lowest -21% of band)1.0 (deepest save from -19% of band)51.3 (mean shared-climb pctile 49%)21
29Troy Horton29 (8 dips, lowest -14% of band)1.0 (deepest save from -14% of band)49.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 52%)30
30Paul Bissett-Amess29 (9 dips, lowest -11% of band)1.0 (deepest save from -8% of band)35.9 (mean shared-climb pctile 43%)29
31Adrian Connor62 (6 dips, lowest 27% of band)0.042.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 44%)19
32Michael Free2 (10 dips, lowest -26% of band)1.0 (deepest save from -2% of band)80.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 48%)36
33Ward Gunn18 (9 dips, lowest -4% of band)0.066.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 53%)31
34Ian Miller26 (8 dips, lowest -12% of band)1.0 (deepest save from 12% of band)68.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 48%)34
35Ben Torrance51 (14 dips, lowest -15% of band)0.082.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 47%)32
36Andrew Sutton36 (6 dips, lowest -11% of band)1.0 (deepest save from -11% of band)49.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 49%)34
37Gavin Nicholls44 (10 dips, lowest -9% of band)1.0 (deepest save from -9% of band)77.8 (mean shared-climb pctile 54%)36
38Neill Hollingsworth-5 (9 dips, lowest -26% of band)3.0 (deepest save from -8% of band)88.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 61%)45
39Gary Herman29 (5 dips, lowest -7% of band)0.038.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 65%)27
40Diego Mendonca34 (8 dips, lowest -16% of band)2.0 (deepest save from -12% of band)68.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 50%)36
41Bobby Gillham23 (10 dips, lowest -18% of band)4.0 (deepest save from -18% of band)49.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 36%)21
42Mark Jeffree76 (6 dips, lowest 23% of band)0.0102.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 40%)48
43Cedric Joyce5 (7 dips, lowest -20% of band)0.090.2 (mean shared-climb pctile 89%)40
44Brett Davis—0.0—63
45Ryan Brown—0.0—72
46Stuart Cathcart————
47Peter Garrone————
48James McKirdy————
49Tushar Pokle————

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 34/37/39% · glide 31/36/41% · search 19/27/33%

strongest |ρ| 0.56

strongest |ρ| 0.62

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.