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CONCLUSION
Czech Open was a sucessful competition, which fairly ranked pilots in tricky Balkan conditions (hurry slowly!). David Ohlidal and Renata Kuhnova are the Czech champions for 2011.
Again the sport proved to work for the peace between the nations and also sparked new friendships and relations.
Final results:
Open class, Serial, Standard, Female, Tandem
Photos

Competition safety:
There were 4 accidents:
1. Jayoti Thakur stalled his glider (Axis/Mercury) in soft weather conditions and felt in the forest on steep slope between trees and was difficult to be found for a while. Because of the difficult terrain and steep slope it took the mountain rescue 3 hours to transport him down. Then he was transported to the university surgery hospital St.George in Plovdiv where he had a successful surgery and now has new titanium implants to support his broken L1 vertebrae. A quick recovery is expected. It is good that the pilot had an adequate insurance (Bupa) which paid for the expensive surgery and titanium implants (total about 5000 euro), otherwise a collection of money could delay even an emergency operation (Bulgarian hospital reality).
The reason for the accident is a pilot mistake and lack of experience. Jayoti moved recently from forgiving EN D glider to open class glider and did not follow the advices for more careful work with the brakes.
2. Olga Bryakotnina had a collapse with immediate cravat and didn't manage to stop the resulting rotation. Just after throwing her rescue, she hit the ground with high speed but probably the impact was with favorable angle and she hit (and broke) a small tree, because the witnesses thought that otherwise she would have survived such a crash. 6 pilots landed near Olga and gave important information about her condition and location. Later they also helped to direct the helicopter for landing and helped the mountain rescue team to carry her. Again, because Olga had an adequate insurance, and because of the prompt info from the pilots who landed near her, it was possible to send helicopter to transport her to the hospital. Probably for the first time in mountain rescue operations, it was possible to activate a helicopter without waiting for the mountain rescue team to reach the victim and decide for helicopter. Olga fell high in the mountain so it would have taken 3-4 hours of hiking until the mountain rescue would climb to her.
The government helicopter was not equipped for rescue purposes and did not have a whinch; that's why it took some time to find a good landing place (100x100m) and transport Olga to it. Later in Pirogov hopsital in Sofia it was found that she had 4 broken ribs and light damage of the plevra (the lung wall). The helicopter transportation was important because otherwise it would have taken 7-8 hours to transport her at night through steep and tough mountain terrain with high risk of damage to the lungs or ribs arterias and loss of blood due to the broken ribs.
The reason for the accident was probably a combination of insufficient experience in flying open class glider (Axis/Mercury) and the turbulent and stable weather which required flying close to the terrain.
3. Johan Wuyts (Swing/Astral6) was flying in the lee of a sharp mountain spine east of take off and had a collapse and 40% cravat. He stalled his glider for a while and then got into fast rotation. Quick rescue deployment with some chance of getting deflated by the rotating glider. The pilot landed softly in the forest but had to wait for the mountain rescue to bring climbing equipment because he was 10 meters above the ground.
The reason for the accident was probably lack of mountain flying experience and insufficient glider control.
4. Vitalyi Miroshnik (Swing/Stratus8) had a collapse and cravat over the flatlands and had to throw his rescue. He landed safe.
The reason of the accident was probably incufficient flying experience and glider control.

Conclusions:
- There were about 50 open class gliders out of 144 participants. Most of the accidents happened with open class gliders, flown by inexperienced pilots.
- The 2 line gliders did not show to be more unstable in turbulence than other open class gliders.
- Task setting for pilots with broad range of skills is more risky and demanding. The high number of participants (144+) did not cause take off window problems but might be a reason for "follow the others" sheep effect (pilots go into dangerous places or exceed their limits). The high reputation of the competition and the attractive prizes can make pilots push their limits excessively. - Radio head sets should be forbidden as every day there was someone blocking the emergency frequency. Exception can be the safety commitee which should have more members to report regularly about the flying conditions.
- Free flyers should be limited and there should be plenty of dedicated wind dummies instead.
- The meet director, who can stop the task if found to be dangerous, should know the micrometeorology very well and should fly himself without competing (or organizing 10 other things :)

12.08.2011 - Task 4 - the last competition day
Fresh post cold front conditions were expected with moderate NNE winds so the organizers set an ambitious task of 107 km: Sopot-Vasil Levski-Anevo-Domlyan dam-Bogdan-Domlyan dam again and landing in Marino pole. The first two legs along the mountain were relatevely easy but then came the surprise: - the flatlands were not working properly due to the last two days of rain and the north wind was not strong enough to create convergences in the flat lands. Additionaly the pilots were puzzled how to make Domlyan-Bogdan-Domlyan legs: flying straight, using Sredna gora or Stara Planina mountain ranges?
Still Renata Kuhnova and Michal Sneiberg made the goal 5 minutes before the closing of the task windows at 19:00!!!
According to the local regulations there were 4 valid tasks, so at the evening there was price giving and final glide party at Chichovtsi restaurant with DJ Yassen.
Task 4

11.08.2011 - After party
The cold front seemed thicker than expected so there was relaxing rain in the morning and beautiful but windy sky in the afternoon.

10.08.2011 - Lets party in the rain
The day was cancelled due to the expected cold front. Some pilots went free flying, hiking or resting ..
In the evening there was a delicious traditional lamb meal followed by a concert of Django Ze. Those who didn't come should be sorry for missing the rising of a new music style - gypsydelic. Imagine the energy of gypsy music resonanced with Jimmy and Doors, flavoured with rich timeless folkore harmony rhythms and magnetic improvisation. No wonder why many dance in trance where rain and wind does not exist. Absolute glory of spirit and soul, where everything is possible and nothing else matters. Maybe the dancing para shamans were not the reason for the end of the rain, but it was the vital stress relieve from flying and competition concentration. The ability to focus and switch on is as important as the ability to switch off and reset. Lift and sink. Rain and dry. Day and night. Summer and winter. Life and death. Freedom and love.

No need to mention the dirty naked dances at 3 in the night.

.. and meanwhile the innocent Renata became 26

09.08.2011 - Task 3
The difference today compared to yesterday was that the higher winds above were from SW instead of NW (probably the sinking N wind was stabylizing aditionally the airmass on the south side of the mountain yesterday). The wind of the top of the mountain - Botev was also weaker - 4 m/s N. The increased humidity melted the inversions from yesterday and created juicy cumulus clouds above the mountains. Still their bases were not flat and for a long time there weren't usable thermals. At 2:30 pm the Meet Director was about to cancel the day when one competitor took off as a wind dummy and showed the start of the conditions. Probably the sun heating at the peak of the day melted the inversion from bellow and connected it to the instable layer around the cloud level.. ..and then it become easy, nice and fast.
Due to the late start, short task was set: Sopot-Vasil levski-Karlovo-Vasil Levski-Moskovets airfield. About 80 pilots made the goal where 40 l of beer waited them. Those who flew faster had it colder!
Marc Wensauer won again.
Task 3 provisional results
Overal open results after Task 3
Overal serial class results after Task 3
Overal standard class results after Task 3
Overal female class results after Task 3
Overal team class results after Task 3
Overal tandem class results after Task 3

08.08.2011 - Task 2
The sky was more blue than yesterday, but later it turned out that the airmass is just getting older. 80 km task along the mountain was set: Sopot-Vasil Levski-Karnare-Vasil Levski-Dabene-Sopot. Before the start the conditions were turbulent and later it became smoother but weaker. The Karnare turnpoint was with 2 km radius but it still required exiting the mountain and going into the not working flatlands. Still 13 pilots (mostly with serail class gliders) made the goal and first is Marc Wensauer (Ozone/R11).
The russian pilot Olga Bryakotnina had a collapse with cravat and felt high in the mountain. Several pilots landed next to her and just before sunset a rescue helicopter came to take her to Pirogov emergency hospital in Sofia (3 broken ribs). Pavel Kulikov had to stay in a mountain challet for the night because it was too dark to walk the long way down from the mountain.
Task 2 provisional results
Overal provisional results

07.08.2011 - Task 1
The day started with many but low cumuluses and forceast for light NE winds. 80 km triangle task was set: Sopot-Pavel Banya crossroad-Banya airfield-Sopot. Unfortunately the expected improvement of conditions and lifting of cloudbase didn't happen and the hidden inversion around take off level made flying difficult. Still 5 pilots proved that the task is possible and Michal Vrabenec (Axis/Venus 3) became first.
The indian pilot Jayoti Thakur stalled his glider and fall on the forest slope west of Sopot take off: broken vertebrae (L1) but good condition and full movements.
Task 1 provisional results

06.08.2011 - Registration
After the night rain and the price giving of Skynomad Open, the weather became nice and many pilots flew the area. 144 pilots registered for Czech Open and this makes it the biggest competition in Sopot ever.

18.07.2011
  The world championship in Piedrahita, Spain was closed due to two fatalities with pilots flying 2 liner prototypes. CIVL Bureau temporary forbid the participation of Competition class paragliders in Category 1 events and strongly advices the organizers of Category 2 events (such as Czech Open) to consider wether the Competition Class paragliders will be allowed to fly.
  After advising with Czech NAC, the event organizer - the meet director - Nikolay Yotov have decided to allow the participation of competition class paragliders in Czech Open:
There were no problems with the 2 liners competing in Bulgaria Open which we organized in May 2011. There will be extra care of task setting and competition safety. We also believe that pilot is a pilot when he decides himself how much risk he can take.

30.06.2011:
No more registrations! No more payments! List of pilots is full!

22.06.2011:
93 pilots paid so far. 37 places left!

18.05.2011: Dear pilots,
there are more than 120 registered pilots! So it's time to pay the entry fee for Czech Gradient Open competition. The maximum number of participants is 130 and will be selected according to the date of payment. So please pay earlier to secure your place in the competition!

The entry fee is 110 euro!

Czech pilots can pay to:
Renata Kuhnova:
CZECH BANK ACCOUNT:
3200834054/6800
IBAN: CZ3868000000003200834054
BIC (SWIFT): VBOECZ2X

Foreign pilots can pay to:
Renata Kuhnova:
Bank: VOLKSBANK
Adress: Na Paknráci 129, Praha 4, 140 00, Czech Republic
ICO: 25083325 (identification bussines code)
EURO BANK ACCOUNT: 1200156661/6800
IBAN: CZ9868000000001200156661
BIC (SWIFT): VBOECZ2X


The names of pilots who paid the entry fee will be in bold letters in the pilots registration list!

Registered pilots