COMPETITIONS, INEXPERIENCED PILOTS, & SAFETY This article is aimed at inexperienced pilots that are interested in entering serious competitions. An inexperienced competition pilot has never been in a thermal with twenty other pilots. Has not done numerous cross countries involving multiple thermals. Has not flown a diversity of inland sites where there hasn't been someone telling you where to avoid and how to approach the bombout etc. At the Canungra Cup something approaching fifty percent of the inexperienced pilots in the comp had accidents. Not all were injured as the two that had the mid-air collision descended without injury under their reserves even though still entangled. There were also a couple of broken feet and a broken arm. No doubt the Canungra Club will be considering how they can improve safety for next years comp. However I would like to point out that your personal safety must always ultimately be your own responsibility. You can't expect the organisers of a serious competition to hold the hand of every inexperienced pilot and protect them against themselves. If you are not wearing the specially designed paragliding boots and you break your foot or your ankle, you have no one to blame but yourself. When I was in my early twenties and right into hang gliding, I thought that I was very focused on flying safely. It wasn't until I had an accident that put me out of the air for a few months that I realized that I was fooling myself. I wasn't flying safely at all. I was a classic example of intermediate syndrome, where you think your ability is improving faster than it actually is. The mind has an amazing capacity for self-deception. If experienced pilots offer advice, thank them and consider it, don't make an excuse. Nothing stops experienced pilots giving you advice like giving the appearance that the advice is unwanted or unnecessary. The advice might not be correct as no one knows it all (me included), but you should consider that it could be you that is wrong. You should understand that in serious comps the seriously competitive will want to fly even in conditions that are very dangerous for the inexperienced. There is unlikely to be anyone there who is familiar enough with your skill level to be able (or want to take the responsibility) for telling you if it is safe for you to fly or not. You will have to make this decision for yourself. Just because most other pilots are launching should have nothing to do with your decision. You should feel under no pressure to fly. Remember that you are probably flying an unfamiliar site, in possibly unfamiliar conditions, with more pilots sharing a thermal than you have ever experienced before. This is a lot of new things to take on at once. There can only be one reason for an inexperienced pilot to enter a serious comp and that is to learn. Well you can learn a great deal by just sitting on the hill. You can watch the decision making of the guns and how they go about getting away. You can do this more effectively from launch than you can in the air. You can improve your site and conditions assessment skills, because you will see where pilots are getting away from, where pilots are staying away from, where & when it gets rough, how well gliders are penetrating, how pilots are making landing approaches etc. Just sitting on the hill or in the bombout at a serious comp can be very educational.    Your first decision will be whether to enter the comp in the first place. Be aware that there are a number of groups with vested interests in convincing you to enter. The HGFA seems to think that competitions are important and that it is therefore important to get people interested and learning to compete early. The comp organisers want to maximise entrants (up to a point) so that the comp will be more economically viable, be bigger and more important (more kudos), and they will make more money for the club running the comp. Your friends or instructor may be going and want you to come along for the company or to share the driving etc. In the air you should be aware of thermalling safety and etiquette. Firstly you have to be watching around you like you never have before. Before you do a turn, make sure there is no one likely to come close to intersecting with your intended track. Don't fly straight at people circling in a thermal, instead make it obvious that you intend to enter the thermal on a tangent. When entering a thermal give way to those already in it. Don't make sudden and radical course changes. Give the people around you time to see what you are doing and to allow for it. Remember it is not enough for you to know what you are doing, you should also be allowing others to see what you intend to do. Watch the faces of those near to your intended flight path to make sure that they have seen you. Their heads will also turn before they initiate a turn, so you have an extra couple of seconds warning. Don't force others to change course to avoid you. If you are flying parallel to someone don't be in a position where if they hit lift they will want to turn right into where you are. Nothing pisses off pilots more than wanting to turn into a thermal and finding someone on their heels and in the way. This is also one of the most likely causes of mid-airs. ie someone hits lift, looks around, but doesn't look quite far enough to see you, then cranks it into a turn right into you, before you have time to react. If it gets too crowded for you, leave the thermal. The other pilots are probably much more skilled at close in flying than you are. Leave it to them. There will be other days when pilots are getting away quickly and so the air is less crowded. Remember that in a competition, people will often push the limits further than is safe. Don't be one of them. Remember you are doing this for fun. If it ceases to be fun, head for the bombout.