Metric details

Every pilot's reading on every behaviour, family by family.

Analysis computed

best: could be chance (0.20)

#	Pilot	NonSink%
1	Hughbert Alexander	59
2	Steven Crosby	58
3	Jon Durand	66
4	Michael Smith	67
5	Jason Kath	62
6	Troy Horton	59
7	James Wynd	69
8	Steve Docherty	50
9	Paul Bissett-Amess	59
10	Neale Halsall	60
11	Todd Wisewould	60
12	Peter Burkitt	61
13	Mitch Butler	57
14	Dustan Hansen	65
15	Donny Gardner	63
16	Mick Lamb	60
17	Richard Martin	65
18	Neil Hooke	67
19	Jay Kubeil	45
20	Peter Adriaans	61
21	Scotty Ireland	50
22	Hossain Tefaili	65
23	Paul Lawrence	72
24	Jason Carman	63
25	John Harriott	62
26	Jason Lannstrom	62
27	Adrian Connor	54
28	Ward Gunn	58
29	Marcus De Vecchi	69
30	Pete Bolton	57
31	James Atkinson	43
32	Bruce Atkinson	48
33	Keith Lavers	63
34	Tushar Pokle	25

The day’s wind, hour by hour and leg by leg

Measured in kilometres per hour · no expected direction

What the air did, read from the field itself. We estimate the wind from the circling of every pilot. The first method is the drift of the circle centre, and the second method, used when the first is not available, is the modulation of the ground speed. We then combine the estimates two ways. The table by hour of day shows how the wind increased and changed direction through the day. The table by speed-section leg shows the wind on each part of the course. This metric describes the day, so it has no value for each pilot.

Wind by hour

Period	Speed (km/h)	Dir (°)	n
Whole task	8.0	264	2498
13:00 AEDT	7.1	276	408
14:00 AEDT	8.1	267	1054
15:00 AEDT	8.5	279	614
16:00 AEDT	7.8	210	327
17:00 AEDT	7.6	286	86
18:00 AEDT	5.6	192	9

Each circle gives one wind estimate. GlideComp uses centre drift where it can, and ground-speed modulation where it cannot. The direction is the vector mean of the estimates, in degrees the wind blows FROM (0° = north). The speed is the median of their magnitudes, because the length of a vector mean falls toward zero when the directions scatter.

Hours are shown in the competition’s time zone.

Wind by leg

Leg	Flown	Pilots	Circling	Speed (km/h)	Dir (°)	n	From pilots
ELLIOT (SSS)→LIGHTH	13:38–17:11 AEDT	20	13:46–17:10 AEDT	8.6	222	267	17
LIGHTH→DWYERS	13:51–15:44 AEDT	5	13:52–15:42 AEDT	8.1	294	392	5
DWYERS→CUDG	14:56–16:17 AEDT	5	15:04–16:15 AEDT	7.8	112	88	5
CUDG→CORRY (GOAL)	15:10–16:26 AEDT	4	15:14–16:10 AEDT	7.9	71	24	2

“Flown” is when the field was ON the leg — the first pilot entering to the last leaving — over the “Pilots” who started and flew the whole leg.

“Circling” is the narrower window the wind was actually measured in: first to last circle estimate any pilot logged while on the leg, from “From pilots” pilots. Glides produce no estimate, so a leg the field mostly glided shows a sliver of its flown window (or “—” where no one circled at all) — and a late leg the leaders glided can be measured EARLIER than the leg before it without either being wrong.

How strong the day’s climbs were, hour by hour

Measured in metres per second · no expected direction

When the day started, reached its peak, and ended. We group the thermal climbs of all pilots by the hour in which each climb started, labelled in the time zone of the competition. The median and the 90th-percentile average climb rate for each hour show how the lift developed. The first row is the whole task, measured over every climb of the day in one set, and not as an average of the hourly rows. This metric describes the day, so it has no value for each pilot.

Climb by hour

Period	Median (m/s)	p90 (m/s)	n
Whole task	0.9	1.5	631
13:00 AEDT	1.0	1.8	86
14:00 AEDT	0.9	1.5	284
15:00 AEDT	0.9	1.6	144
16:00 AEDT	0.8	1.3	100
17:00 AEDT	1.2	1.5	16
18:00 AEDT	0.7	0.7	1

The average climb rate of every thermal use across the field, grouped by the start of the climb. The hours are in the time zone of the competition. The whole-task row is measured over all of those climbs together, not averaged from the hours.

Share of the flight spent in air that wasn’t sinking

Measured in percent · no expected direction

How much of the flight was in air worth being in. The value is the share of the airborne time of a pilot, on the shared grid, with a 30 s-smoothed vario at or above −0.5 m/s. The time they flew, the line they steered and the way the flight ended all feed this value. It is therefore a reading of the day as much as of the pilot. There is no expected direction, and the sign of the correlation is the finding. The timing table compares the window of the day’s best climbs against the time when the field launched.

Day timing

	Time
Best conditions	13:00–14:00 AEDT
Earliest takeoff	13:14 AEDT
Median takeoff	14:08 AEDT
Latest takeoff	16:20 AEDT

Best conditions is the one-hour window with the strongest median climb (1.0 m/s), among hours with enough climbs to be representative (≥20% of the busiest hour).

best: clear pattern (0.66)

#	Pilot	Out-climb	Core s	LeaveRate	Kept%	TopOut%	Round
1	Hughbert Alexander	76 (34 shared climbs)	35 (12 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (7 climbs ≥ 90 s)	100 (11/11 circling bouts led to climbs)	59 (mean on-course altitude 57% of band)	0.16 (148 circles, 80% left)
2	Steven Crosby	87 (8 shared climbs)	34 (17 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.2 (7 climbs ≥ 90 s)	80 (12/15 circling bouts led to climbs)	67 (mean on-course altitude 54% of band)	0.16 (171 circles, 85% left)
3	Jon Durand	66 (26 shared climbs)	45 (17 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.6 (13 climbs ≥ 90 s)	75 (9/12 circling bouts led to climbs)	35 (mean on-course altitude 31% of band)	0.21 (68 circles, 32% left)
4	Michael Smith	82 (15 shared climbs)	79 (12 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (10 climbs ≥ 90 s)	67 (8/12 circling bouts led to climbs)	62 (mean on-course altitude 51% of band)	0.13 (224 circles, 71% left)
5	Jason Kath	74 (27 shared climbs)	52 (12 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.0 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	80 (12/15 circling bouts led to climbs)	64 (mean on-course altitude 53% of band)	0.13 (203 circles, 75% left)
6	Troy Horton	81 (7 shared climbs)	51 (12 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (6 climbs ≥ 90 s)	64 (9/14 circling bouts led to climbs)	49 (mean on-course altitude 31% of band)	0.15 (148 circles, 99% left)
7	James Wynd	47 (16 shared climbs)	55 (11 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.5 (7 climbs ≥ 90 s)	43 (3/7 circling bouts led to climbs)	0 (mean on-course altitude 19% of band)	0.27 (19 circles, 32% left)
8	Steve Docherty	75 (9 shared climbs)	42 (7 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.6 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	75 (3/4 circling bouts led to climbs)	77 (mean on-course altitude 45% of band)	0.26 (20 circles, 85% left)
9	Paul Bissett-Amess	56 (18 shared climbs)	41 (9 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (7 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (3/6 circling bouts led to climbs)	64 (mean on-course altitude 43% of band)	0.15 (67 circles, 97% left)
10	Neale Halsall	82 (17 shared climbs)	54 (6 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	33 (2/6 circling bouts led to climbs)	73 (mean on-course altitude 47% of band)	0.15 (104 circles, 48% left)
11	Todd Wisewould	72 (14 shared climbs)	33 (6 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (4 climbs ≥ 90 s)	44 (4/9 circling bouts led to climbs)	68 (mean on-course altitude 51% of band)	0.14 (65 circles, 77% left)
12	Peter Burkitt	62 (20 shared climbs)	10 (5 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (1 climb ≥ 90 s)	43 (3/7 circling bouts led to climbs)	29 (mean on-course altitude 21% of band)	0.16 (70 circles, 67% left)
13	Mitch Butler	57 (17 shared climbs)	—	—	50 (2/4 circling bouts led to climbs)	46 (mean on-course altitude 24% of band)	0.14 (67 circles, 57% left)
14	Dustan Hansen	71 (43 shared climbs)	26 (9 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (3/6 circling bouts led to climbs)	30 (mean on-course altitude 28% of band)	0.18 (159 circles, 56% left)
15	Donny Gardner	50 (10 shared climbs)	60 (11 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.4 (8 climbs ≥ 90 s)	56 (5/9 circling bouts led to climbs)	38 (mean on-course altitude 32% of band)	0.19 (15 circles, 53% left)
16	Mick Lamb	72 (23 shared climbs)	46 (6 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	33 (2/6 circling bouts led to climbs)	44 (mean on-course altitude 27% of band)	0.13 (39 circles, 100% left)
17	Richard Martin	60 (19 shared climbs)	60 (3 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	17 (1/6 circling bouts led to climbs)	45 (mean on-course altitude 33% of band)	0.18 (101 circles, 66% left)
18	Neil Hooke	46 (18 shared climbs)	17 (4 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.0 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	14 (1/7 circling bouts led to climbs)	19 (mean on-course altitude 2% of band)	0.15 (109 circles, 94% left)
19	Jay Kubeil	87 (5 shared climbs)	124 (2 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.7 (1 climb ≥ 90 s)	0 (0/3 circling bouts led to climbs)	—	0.12 (23 circles, 96% left)
20	Peter Adriaans	65 (19 shared climbs)	25 (6 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	17 (1/6 circling bouts led to climbs)	24 (mean on-course altitude 15% of band)	0.18 (71 circles, 96% left)
21	Scotty Ireland	75 (8 shared climbs)	74 (3 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	83 (5/6 circling bouts led to climbs)	22 (mean on-course altitude 18% of band)	0.20 (41 circles, 78% left)
22	Hossain Tefaili	71 (19 shared climbs)	2 (2 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.3 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	13 (1/8 circling bouts led to climbs)	29 (mean on-course altitude 8% of band)	0.14 (58 circles, 74% left)
23	Paul Lawrence	49 (20 shared climbs)	36 (8 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	—	0.16 (111 circles, 99% left)
24	Jason Carman	31 (10 shared climbs)	104 (11 climbs ≥ 60 s)	-0.1 (11 climbs ≥ 90 s)	50 (3/6 circling bouts led to climbs)	32 (mean on-course altitude 12% of band)	— (7 circles, 86% left)
25	John Harriott	63 (16 shared climbs)	49 (2 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.5 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	—	0.19 (37 circles, 89% left)
26	Jason Lannstrom	36 (6 shared climbs)	70 (6 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.4 (5 climbs ≥ 90 s)	33 (1/3 circling bouts led to climbs)	-12 (mean on-course altitude 1% of band)	0.22 (12 circles, 83% left)
27	Adrian Connor	75 (11 shared climbs)	5 (3 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.6 (1 climb ≥ 90 s)	—	—	0.15 (33 circles, 100% left)
28	Ward Gunn	62 (11 shared climbs)	5 (4 climbs ≥ 60 s)	1.1 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	—	0.17 (37 circles, 100% left)
29	Marcus De Vecchi	54 (30 shared climbs)	14 (7 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (3 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	-15 (mean on-course altitude -3% of band)	0.12 (209 circles, 99% left)
30	Pete Bolton	65 (12 shared climbs)	17 (3 climbs ≥ 60 s)	0.9 (2 climbs ≥ 90 s)	—	—	0.14 (34 circles, 100% left)
31	James Atkinson	42 (4 shared climbs)	—	—	—	—	0.12 (16 circles, 88% left)
32	Bruce Atkinson	—	—	—	—	—	— (2 circles, 100% left)
33	Keith Lavers	40 (4 shared climbs)	—	—	—	—	— (4 circles, 100% left)
34	Tushar Pokle	—	—	—	—	—	— (7 circles, 100% left)

Share of lift turned in that was kept as a climb

Measured in percent · no expected direction

How selective the pilot is about the lift they stop for. Each period of circling of 30 s or more after the start counts as lift that the pilot sampled. If the period overlaps a detected thermal, the pilot kept that lift. If it does not, they turned a few circles and left it. The value is the percentage kept. A low value means they are selective. A high value means they keep almost every climb they turn in. There is no expected direction: selection wins on a strong day and wastes time on a weak one.

Acceptance by hour

Hour	Median accepted (%)	pilots
13:00 AEDT	50	2
14:00 AEDT	50	20
15:00 AEDT	55	14
16:00 AEDT	50	10
17:00 AEDT	25	3
18:00 AEDT	33	1

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

How round and consistent the circles were

Measured in ratio · no expected direction

Whether the pilot flies clean, repeatable circles, or moves around the thermal. We fit each detected circle by least squares. The RMS fit error divided by the fitted radius measures how round the turn was. The value is the median over all of the circles of the pilot. A lower value means smoother and more consistent turns. There is no expected direction: a rough trace can be a pilot chasing a drifting or broken core rather than a pilot circling badly.

Turn direction across the field: 79% left (2499 circles).

best: clear pattern (0.66)

#	Pilot	GlideSpd	GlideL/D	Wide%	Dolphin%
1	Hughbert Alexander	59.1 (18 glides, 59 min gliding)	1.14 (4 legs compared)	15 (4 legs completed)	15 (681 of 4406 m gained outside thermals)
2	Steven Crosby	57.8 (16 glides, 63 min gliding)	1.05 (4 legs compared)	18 (4 legs completed)	20 (721 of 3552 m gained outside thermals)
3	Jon Durand	55.4 (12 glides, 55 min gliding)	0.87 (4 legs compared)	6 (4 legs completed)	5 (217 of 4240 m gained outside thermals)
4	Michael Smith	63.1 (15 glides, 82 min gliding)	0.98 (4 legs compared)	15 (4 legs completed)	18 (702 of 3820 m gained outside thermals)
5	Jason Kath	61.6 (21 glides, 66 min gliding)	1.10 (3 legs compared)	19 (3 legs completed)	16 (561 of 3518 m gained outside thermals)
6	Troy Horton	47.7 (12 glides, 57 min gliding)	0.97 (1 leg compared)	-22 (1 leg completed)	20 (510 of 2494 m gained outside thermals)
7	James Wynd	50.4 (6 glides, 36 min gliding)	1.03 (1 leg compared)	-38 (1 leg completed)	25 (211 of 839 m gained outside thermals)
8	Steve Docherty	53.6 (2 glides, 18 min gliding)	0.99 (1 leg compared)	-38 (1 leg completed)	6 (38 of 682 m gained outside thermals)
9	Paul Bissett-Amess	50.2 (5 glides, 30 min gliding)	1.10 (1 leg compared)	-26 (1 leg completed)	27 (148 of 543 m gained outside thermals)
10	Neale Halsall	57.7 (6 glides, 25 min gliding)	0.79 (1 leg compared)	-31 (1 leg completed)	16 (180 of 1128 m gained outside thermals)
11	Todd Wisewould	57.6 (7 glides, 28 min gliding)	1.14 (1 leg compared)	-30 (1 leg completed)	31 (171 of 558 m gained outside thermals)
12	Peter Burkitt	54.1 (5 glides, 22 min gliding)	0.97 (1 leg compared)	-36 (1 leg completed)	49 (288 of 594 m gained outside thermals)
13	Mitch Butler	52.2 (4 glides, 25 min gliding)	1.09 (1 leg compared)	-38 (1 leg completed)	63 (322 of 509 m gained outside thermals)
14	Dustan Hansen	43.0 (12 glides, 39 min gliding)	0.61 (1 leg compared)	5 (1 leg completed)	39 (729 of 1885 m gained outside thermals)
15	Donny Gardner	37.5 (8 glides, 43 min gliding)	0.74 (1 leg compared)	-0 (1 leg completed)	11 (167 of 1536 m gained outside thermals)
16	Mick Lamb	52.8 (4 glides, 16 min gliding)	0.95 (1 leg compared)	-26 (1 leg completed)	21 (90 of 434 m gained outside thermals)
17	Richard Martin	52.3 (4 glides, 16 min gliding)	1.02 (1 leg compared)	-37 (1 leg completed)	50 (101 of 203 m gained outside thermals)
18	Neil Hooke	50.8 (4 glides, 24 min gliding)	0.93 (1 leg compared)	-38 (1 leg completed)	71 (250 of 354 m gained outside thermals)
19	Jay Kubeil	—	0.75 (1 leg compared)	-39 (1 leg completed)	—
20	Peter Adriaans	52.1 (1 glides, 11 min gliding)	1.01 (1 leg compared)	-37 (1 leg completed)	—
21	Scotty Ireland	54.2 (4 glides, 11 min gliding)	—	—	—
22	Hossain Tefaili	53.4 (5 glides, 20 min gliding)	—	—	42 (155 of 368 m gained outside thermals)
23	Paul Lawrence	—	—	—	—
24	Jason Carman	42.5 (2 glides, 15 min gliding)	—	—	29 (103 of 350 m gained outside thermals)
25	John Harriott	—	—	—	—
26	Jason Lannstrom	50.1 (1 glides, 4 min gliding)	—	—	—
27	Adrian Connor	—	—	—	—
28	Ward Gunn	—	—	—	—
29	Marcus De Vecchi	48.3 (1 glides, 6 min gliding)	—	—	—
30	Pete Bolton	—	—	—	—
31	James Atkinson	—	—	—	—
32	Bruce Atkinson	—	—	—	—
33	Keith Lavers	—	—	—	—
34	Tushar Pokle	—	—	—	—

Glide speed between climbs

Measured in kilometres per hour · higher is better

How fast the pilot moves down the course when they are on a glide. The value is the duration-weighted mean ground speed over every glide after the start, which is the glide distance divided by the glide time. A higher value means more ground covered in each minute between climbs.

Field glide speed: median 52.6 km/h · p90 58.7 km/h (24 pilots)

best: some pattern (0.46)

#	Pilot	Floor%	LowSaves	km/climb	Search%
1	Hughbert Alexander	19 (9 descents, lowest -46% of band)	0.0	1.9 (mean shared-climb pctile 57%)	27
2	Steven Crosby	6 (5 descents, lowest -7% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 11% of band)	1.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 82%)	31
3	Jon Durand	1 (4 descents, lowest -32% of band)	2.0 (deepest save from 7% of band)	2.6 (mean shared-climb pctile 39%)	20
4	Michael Smith	25 (5 descents, lowest -9% of band)	0.0	2.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 54%)	41
5	Jason Kath	43 (7 descents, lowest -19% of band)	0.0	1.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 54%)	35
6	Troy Horton	11 (6 descents, lowest -11% of band)	1.0 (deepest save from 8% of band)	1.5 (mean shared-climb pctile 47%)	47
7	James Wynd	—	0.0	2.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 34%)	43
8	Steve Docherty	—	0.0	6.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 52%)	17
9	Paul Bissett-Amess	62 (2 descents, lowest 58% of band)	0.0	4.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 49%)	40
10	Neale Halsall	—	0.0	3.0 (mean shared-climb pctile 55%)	38
11	Todd Wisewould	—	0.0	3.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 49%)	59
12	Peter Burkitt	20 (2 descents, lowest 16% of band)	0.0	2.4 (mean shared-climb pctile 48%)	53
13	Mitch Butler	—	0.0	3.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 55%)	55
14	Dustan Hansen	5 (2 descents, lowest -9% of band)	0.0	0.7 (mean shared-climb pctile 59%)	53
15	Donny Gardner	18 (4 descents, lowest 3% of band)	0.0	2.1 (mean shared-climb pctile 40%)	36
16	Mick Lamb	—	0.0	—	30
17	Richard Martin	—	0.0	—	59
18	Neil Hooke	—	0.0	—	72
19	Jay Kubeil	—	0.0	—	44
20	Peter Adriaans	—	0.0	—	54
21	Scotty Ireland	-18 (2 descents, lowest -39% of band)	0.0	—	53
22	Hossain Tefaili	—	0.0	—	71
23	Paul Lawrence	—	0.0	—	45
24	Jason Carman	—	0.0	—	48
25	John Harriott	—	0.0	—	38
26	Jason Lannstrom	—	0.0	—	50
27	Adrian Connor	—	0.0	—	11
28	Ward Gunn	—	0.0	—	29
29	Marcus De Vecchi	—	0.0	—	60
30	Pete Bolton	—	0.0	—	16
31	James Atkinson	—	—	—	—
32	Bruce Atkinson	—	—	—	—
33	Keith Lavers	—	—	—	—
34	Tushar Pokle	—	—	—	—

Share of race time spent hunting for the next climb

Measured in percent · lower is better

Time that goes into neither a climb nor progress down the course. This is the time spent to find lift, to stay up, and to decide what to do next. The value is the share of the speed-section time, from the start to ESS or to the landing, in which the pilot neither climbed in a thermal nor glided with real net speed. A lower value means less time lost between climbs.

Speed-section phase shares, field p25/median/p75: climb 7/15/27% · glide 29/36/48% · search 32/44/53%

best: could be chance (0.11)

#	Pilot	InGaggle%	Marked%
1	Hughbert Alexander	17	28 (8/29 climbs marked)
2	Steven Crosby	0	12 (4/34 climbs marked)
3	Jon Durand	29	19 (4/21 climbs marked)
4	Michael Smith	14	19 (5/27 climbs marked)
5	Jason Kath	22	40 (12/30 climbs marked)
6	Troy Horton	6	5 (1/19 climbs marked)
7	James Wynd	45	30 (3/10 climbs marked)
8	Steve Docherty	34	50 (2/4 climbs marked)
9	Paul Bissett-Amess	46	17 (1/6 climbs marked)
10	Neale Halsall	28	50 (4/8 climbs marked)
11	Todd Wisewould	55	71 (5/7 climbs marked)
12	Peter Burkitt	70	70 (7/10 climbs marked)
13	Mitch Butler	86	57 (4/7 climbs marked)
14	Dustan Hansen	77	45 (14/31 climbs marked)
15	Donny Gardner	82	30 (3/10 climbs marked)
16	Mick Lamb	19	0 (0/6 climbs marked)
17	Richard Martin	87	75 (3/4 climbs marked)
18	Neil Hooke	43	0 (0/5 climbs marked)
19	Jay Kubeil	0	—
20	Peter Adriaans	68	0 (0/3 climbs marked)
21	Scotty Ireland	52	67 (4/6 climbs marked)
22	Hossain Tefaili	34	20 (1/5 climbs marked)
23	Paul Lawrence	0	—
24	Jason Carman	14	—
25	John Harriott	17	—
26	Jason Lannstrom	49	—
27	Adrian Connor	38	—
28	Ward Gunn	37	—
29	Marcus De Vecchi	0	—
30	Pete Bolton	0	—
31	James Atkinson	—	—
32	Bruce Atkinson	—	—
33	Keith Lavers	—	—
34	Tushar Pokle	—	—

Time spent flying with a gaggle

Measured in percent · no expected direction

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

24 gaggle episodes detected (peak size 10 pilots).

best: could be chance (0.59)

#	Pilot	StartDly	TimeLost	Behind	Spare m	FinalGl
1	Hughbert Alexander	0	44	0.0	91	7.77 (left last climb 10.4 km out at 1633 m)
2	Steven Crosby	0	410	9.8	-47	8.96 (left last climb 5.0 km out at 846 m)
3	Jon Durand	0	923	21.2	90	7.11 (left last climb 9.2 km out at 1581 m)
4	Michael Smith	0	680	24.4	348	7.52 (left last climb 10.6 km out at 1697 m)
5	Jason Kath	0	0	—	—	15.17 (left last climb 7.4 km out at 778 m)
6	Troy Horton	0	534	—	—	14.39 (left last climb 9.8 km out at 969 m)
7	James Wynd	0	17	—	—	15.61 (left last climb 9.5 km out at 899 m)
8	Steve Docherty	0	0	—	—	—
9	Paul Bissett-Amess	0	52	—	—	—
10	Neale Halsall	0	345	—	—	—
11	Todd Wisewould	0	228	—	—	—
12	Peter Burkitt	0	0	—	—	19.34 (left last climb 13.2 km out at 971 m)
13	Mitch Butler	0	0	—	—	41.71 (left last climb 10.0 km out at 531 m)
14	Dustan Hansen	0	1618	—	—	—
15	Donny Gardner	0	1695	—	—	—
16	Mick Lamb	0	24	—	—	—
17	Richard Martin	0	0	—	—	—
18	Neil Hooke	0	0	—	—	—
19	Jay Kubeil	0	0	—	—	—
20	Peter Adriaans	0	0	—	—	—
21	Scotty Ireland	0	—	—	—	—
22	Hossain Tefaili	0	—	—	—	13.82 (left last climb 11.4 km out at 1118 m)
23	Paul Lawrence	0	—	—	—	—
24	Jason Carman	0	—	—	—	13.81 (left last climb 12.5 km out at 1198 m)
25	John Harriott	0	—	—	—	—
26	Jason Lannstrom	0	—	—	—	—
27	Adrian Connor	0	—	—	—	—
28	Ward Gunn	0	—	—	—	—
29	Marcus De Vecchi	0	—	—	—	—
30	Pete Bolton	0	—	—	—	—
31	James Atkinson	—	—	—	—	—
32	Bruce Atkinson	—	—	—	—	—
33	Keith Lavers	—	—	—	—	—
34	Tushar Pokle	—	—	—	—	—

How long after the gate opened the pilot started

Measured in seconds · lower is better

Every second between the opening of the gate and the crossing of the start line is a second lost for nothing. The value is the seconds from the start gate taken to the scored SSS crossing. On an elapsed-time task, the pilot’s own crossing is the reference, so the delay is 0 by definition. The start table adds the crossing altitude, and the distance behind the leading pilot who had already started.

Start execution

Pilot	Delay	Alt m	Band %	Behind km
Hughbert Alexander	0:00	1568	73	2.2
Steven Crosby	0:00	1761	90	0.0
Jon Durand	0:00	1786	93	7.3
Michael Smith	0:00	1763	91	6.1
Jason Kath	0:00	1890	102	6.6
Troy Horton	0:00	1300	48	0.0
James Wynd	0:00	1872	101	7.2
Steve Docherty	0:00	1664	81	2.8
Paul Bissett-Amess	0:00	1718	86	6.2
Neale Halsall	0:00	1534	70	4.8
Todd Wisewould	0:00	1733	88	4.7
Peter Burkitt	0:00	1398	57	5.6
Mitch Butler	0:00	1807	95	7.1
Dustan Hansen	0:00	1757	90	0.2
Donny Gardner	0:00	1808	95	0.0
Mick Lamb	0:00	1495	66	6.4
Richard Martin	0:00	1816	95	7.2
Neil Hooke	0:00	1406	58	4.5
Jay Kubeil	0:00	1681	83	7.4
Peter Adriaans	0:00	1598	75	4.5
Scotty Ireland	0:00	1777	92	7.0
Hossain Tefaili	0:00	922	13	0.2
Paul Lawrence	0:00	1781	92	5.7
Jason Carman	0:00	1136	33	1.1
John Harriott	0:00	1194	38	6.9
Jason Lannstrom	0:00	1328	51	4.2
Adrian Connor	0:00	1134	33	8.0
Ward Gunn	0:00	1120	32	8.1
Marcus De Vecchi	0:00	1439	61	7.0
Pete Bolton	0:00	927	14	7.7

Delay = gate taken → SSS crossing. Behind km = extra distance to the next turnpoint vs the furthest-along already-started pilot at the moment of this start (time grid).

Race time lost against the fastest pilots, leg by leg

Measured in seconds · lower is better

For each completed speed-section leg, we compare the leg time of the pilot with the mean of the top 10 pilots by rank who completed that leg. Only the losses count, and we add them together. The sum of the leg times is the race time, and the rank defines the reference, so this metric follows the result by construction. Read the waterfall table, which shows every leg against the task winner, for the diagnosis. Do not read the correlation as a finding.

Steven Crosby, over 4 compared legs: +9:50 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→LIGHTH	LIGHTH→DWYERS	DWYERS→CUDG	CUDG→ESS	Total
Hughbert Alexander	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00	+0:00
Steven Crosby	-2:01	+4:53	-3:34	+10:34	+9:50
Jon Durand	-7:11	+11:00	+15:41	+1:45	+21:15
Michael Smith	-0:46	+14:06	+8:31	+2:36	+24:27
Jason Kath	-6:21	+4:25	+1:27	—	-0:30
Troy Horton	+8:10	—	—	—	+8:10
James Wynd	-0:27	—	—	—	-0:27
Steve Docherty	-3:52	—	—	—	-3:52
Paul Bissett-Amess	+0:08	—	—	—	+0:08
Neale Halsall	+5:01	—	—	—	+5:01
Todd Wisewould	+3:04	—	—	—	+3:04
Peter Burkitt	-1:23	—	—	—	-1:23
Mitch Butler	-6:53	—	—	—	-6:53
Dustan Hansen	+26:14	—	—	—	+26:14
Donny Gardner	+27:31	—	—	—	+27:31
Mick Lamb	-0:20	—	—	—	-0:20
Richard Martin	-6:15	—	—	—	-6:15
Neil Hooke	-2:54	—	—	—	-2:54
Jay Kubeil	-7:27	—	—	—	-7:27
Peter Adriaans	-7:56	—	—	—	-7:56

Each cell is the leg time of this pilot minus the leg time of the winner. A + value is slower than the winner, and a − value is faster. A — means that the pilot or the winner did not complete the leg.

The scalar metric instead adds the losses against the mean of the top 10 pilots who completed each leg. A leg flown faster than that reference contributes 0.

Race time behind the leader at ESS

Measured in minutes · lower is better

At each speed-section turnpoint, we compare the elapsed race time of the pilot, which is the reaching time minus their own start, with the fastest pilot to that turnpoint. The value is the minutes behind at ESS. It follows the final rank almost exactly, because this metric is the sanity check of the evaluation.

A line that stops early is a pilot who landed. The top 5 are coloured; the table below has every pilot.

Horserace — minutes behind the leader at each turnpoint

Pilot	LIGHTH	DWYERS	CUDG	CORRY
Hughbert Alexander	7.9	1.9	0.7	0.0
Steven Crosby	5.9	4.8	0.0	9.8
Jon Durand	0.8	5.7	20.2	21.2
Michael Smith	7.2	15.3	22.6	24.4
Jason Kath	1.6	0.0	0.2	—
Troy Horton	16.1	—	—	—
James Wynd	7.5	—	—	—
Steve Docherty	4.1	—	—	—
Paul Bissett-Amess	8.1	—	—	—
Neale Halsall	13.0	—	—	—
Todd Wisewould	11.0	—	—	—
Peter Burkitt	6.6	—	—	—
Mitch Butler	1.1	—	—	—
Dustan Hansen	34.2	—	—	—
Donny Gardner	35.5	—	—	—
Mick Lamb	7.6	—	—	—
Richard Martin	1.7	—	—	—
Neil Hooke	5.0	—	—	—
Jay Kubeil	0.5	—	—	—
Peter Adriaans	0.0	—	—	—
Scotty Ireland	—	—	—	—
Hossain Tefaili	—	—	—	—
Paul Lawrence	—	—	—	—
Jason Carman	—	—	—	—
John Harriott	—	—	—	—
Jason Lannstrom	—	—	—	—
Adrian Connor	—	—	—	—
Ward Gunn	—	—	—	—
Marcus De Vecchi	—	—	—	—
Pete Bolton	—	—	—	—

The elapsed race time, from the pilot’s own start, minus the fastest elapsed time to that turnpoint. A — means that the pilot did not reach the turnpoint.

Arriving at ESS with height to spare

Measured in metres · lower is better

Height still available at ESS that the pilot no longer needed. That altitude was available for more speed, and the pilot did not use it. The value is the altitude at ESS minus the altitude needed to glide to goal at the standard glide ratio of the sport, which is 5.0 for HG and 4.0 for PG (S7F §13.4.6). A large positive margin means the pilot arrived too high. A margin near zero means they flew the final glide with little height to spare.

ESS altitude margin over final glide: top-10 median 90 m (n=4).

Metric details

Day profile & windbest: could be chance (0.20)

Climbingbest: clear pattern (0.66)

Share of lift turned in that was kept as a climb

Acceptance by hour

How round and consistent the circles were

Glidingbest: clear pattern (0.66)

Glide speed between climbs

Decision-makingbest: some pattern (0.46)

Gagglebest: could be chance (0.11)

Race craftbest: could be chance (0.59)

best: could be chance (0.20)

best: clear pattern (0.66)

best: clear pattern (0.66)

best: some pattern (0.46)

best: could be chance (0.11)

best: could be chance (0.59)