27/05/2026
I broke my own distance world record yesterday. Last year it felt easy, this year it took all I had.
On Sunday I flew a fun triangle from Bassano with a surprisingly committing crossing to Levico, 8h, 141km. Drive to Anterselva, short sleep, hike-in, windy and rough 10.5h and 244km of an unfinished triangle. Headwind and airspace confusion made me land in the heart of the Dolomites. Retrieve (thank you Chris!!!), too short sleep, another early morning hike up Grente. So tired, not even sure it was worth it with overdevelopment in the forecast.
But of course I went. I'm a border collie chasing a ball.
It worked from 9am the way South Tirol does on its best days. Vipiteno and Vedetta threw their leesides in, then high and easy across Pusteria. 4200m at Luson. And then it all shifted.
Big clouds overdeveloping around Puez, sun already low, shadows over everything, so I didn't dare push deeper south. Coming back was pure flow state. From Cunturines I worked residue thermals while good pilots around me dropped into the valley. Fifth gear to first.
I didn't have enough altitude to clear Tre Dita. My instrument said no way, cross-headwind, dark side, numbers didn't add up. But all those years of weird mountain flying, bivvies, hike-and-fly racing, it all came together. I knew I'd sneak through. A flow from Braies gave just enough convergence to slide over and toward that last sunny rock and onto the neverending glide across Val Pusteria.
This is the flying I love. There is only as much as I can do on a little C glider when it comes to average speed over an obvious triangle on a big day, but this, when you make it work against all the odds... And then, after 11 hours, still way too low to close, Mother Nature handed me a gift. She truly said "you worked for it, you deserve it". And I got 8:30pm thermal on the dark east side, 400 meters up in the mix of katabatic flows and magic. Just enough to close it.
I couldn't make it up.
~~~
FAI Triangle
(Free distance over a triangular course)
287.95km
Female World Record, to be ratified
Superseeding my previous world record of 272.52km
30h and 675km within the last three days.
