Wanaka Hike & Fly

By Kinga Masztalerz

New Zealand’s first Hike & Fly competition; Wanaka Hike & Fly, took place on the weekend of march 13-14 2021.

It took hundreds of work hours to create a fun, safe and challenging event for pilots at any skill level which would comply with all NZ regulations.

Rules: the athletes can decide which turnpoints from the official list they cross and in which order. Easily accessible turnpoints give an athlete 1 point, further or more tricky ones 2 points and to make it more fun there is a 5 points bonus for sleeping at a designated Night Turnpoint.

The athletes can stay close by or go for those far turnpoints but they need to be careful, there is an 8 point penalty if they don’t arrive at the finish cylinder before the end of the race! 40 spots filled quickly with a long waiting list. Finally because of travelling restrictions and other obstacles, 25 pilots participated in the race. After a registration and main briefing in Edgewater Resort in Wanaka, Saturday greeted us with a perfect, calm and sunny morning.

As we saw it was about to get more windy later in the day, we moved the race start to 8:30am, to give our pilots as much flying time as possible. From the start at Edgewater Resort, most of the athletes paced toward Waterfall Creek and Roy’s Peak with a few hiking in the opposite direction.

From Roys Peak turnpoint the group spread again, some hiking the ridge toward Mt Alpha and taking off from there, others quickly gliding toward Wanaka and

Below right; Doug, Sanae and Kieran celebrating reaching the first turn point

Below; elanie hiking toward Roy’s Peak turn point

Photo Timmy Heather Above; Pilots working lift at Treble Cone

Right; The end of the first day from the Night Turnpoint

photo Kinga Masztalerz

Below; Jesse and Nico on the last stretch to the finish line

Above; Sanae celebrating at the finish

Below; Female winner Vicki accompanied by race director Kinga at the finish

line photo; Timmy Heather

Above; Bradley hiking Waterfall Creek Photo Aaron Ford

Lower Right; Getting airborne

Mt Iron turnpoint. Those who waited for thermals to quicken, were rewarded with longer flights over Mt Barker or toward Mt Maude or in the opposite direction, into Matukituki Valley to tag Rocky Mountains and Treble Cone turnpoints.

Later in the afternoon the nor’wester entered the Wanaka-Hawea basin, making flying impossible. Still, 7 pilots managed to make it to the official Night Turnpoint, Pakituhi Hut on the east bank of Hawea, and score a 5 pts bonus and spend a fun evening sharing emotions of the day.

On Sunday the nor’wester was in full swing and except for a few early morning glides, the day had become a hiking fest. Still, most of the athletes, including all who spent a night in Pakituhi (45km away!) managed to make it to the goal in Glendhu Bay before the race finished at 6pm and even tackled some extra waypoints on the way. They pushed really hard and for the rest of the evening wobbled around proudly showing their blistered feet.

The prize giving and after party was short and sweet. We were all way too tired to celebrate late into the night!

Our first edition went smoothly, with no incidents, watching a bunch of pilots just having fun or pushing themselves beyond their limits and finishing the weekend absolutely exhausted and totally glowing! and already asking if next year we can make the race longer!

Results:

Overall & Men: 1. Fraser Monteith 2. Robber Boyle 3. Robert Hughes-Games Women: 1. Vicki Zadrozny 2. Melanie Heather 3. Paula Race

Thanks to our sponsors for the great prizes!

Stodeus Solar Paragliding Instruments: LeBipBip Pro vario plus various solar panels and battery packs.

Cross Country Magazine: vouchers to every pilot’s favourite xcshop.

AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand: vouchers for their awesome freestyle jumps in Queenstown.

Special thanks to talented pilots, Josh Douglas who carved a fantastic trophy and Penelope Barnhill who hand-made beautiful medals.

Team:

Kinga Masztalerz (Race Director) envisioned this event and made it happen.

Doug Patterson (Technical Officer) took care of the private land access and airspace.

Dave (Safety Officer) kept our athletes in check.

Jenna Hughes-Games (Race Secretary) and little Ollie managed athletes registration.

Below; Start line at Edgewater Resort, mere minutes before kicking off the race

More pictures and a couple of little movies: https://we.tl/t-wphI7q9sNF www.wanakahikefly.nz FB: https://facebook.com/ wanakahikefly/ IG: @wanakahikefly

Below right; Vicki; 1st Female, Kinga, and Fraser; 1st Male and Overall Winner, exhausted and happy!

Below; Trophy and medals hand made by our talented pilots,

Josh and Pen Photo Kinga Masztalerz