This year's Barberton Open was a memorable competition for me for several reasons. It was the biggest Barberton competition I've flown, with around 86 pilots, and I've been flying comps for around 10 years now. We were also fortunate enough to fly five taskable days in a row — something that's not guaranteed in paragliding and was also a first for me.
Day 2 was particularly interesting. The weather made conventional task setting difficult, so the organisers opted for an elapsed time format instead. It created a very different style of racing and made for an enjoyable challenge.
From a personal perspective, this was my best competition yet. I made goal on the first four tasks, and although I made a costly mistake on the fifth day — which, like many other pilots, put me on the ground — I still finished second in the EN D class. Only a handful of pilots reached goal on that final task.
What made this competition especially rewarding was seeing the impact of the work I've been doing on Parametrics over the past year.
Turning Data Into Better Flying
Whilst building the app I naturally tested and analysed both my own flights and those of other pilots. The data highlighted weaknesses that I hadn't fully appreciated while flying. In 2025, my thermalling technique — particularly my turn rate and circle duration — had gradually drifted away from where it had once been. Comparing my data with that of stronger climbers made it obvious that there was room for improvement.
That analysis led to deliberate changes. Over the months that followed, I worked on becoming more efficient in thermals. I also noted lessons from others' flights which this year led to improved start gate strategy, better glide decisions, and becoming less conservative when conditions allowed. In previous competitions I often stopped to thermal simply because it felt safe, even when I had sufficient altitude. This year I focused on flying more decisively, only stopping when it genuinely made sense.
I also noticed line choices, glide performance, wind effects, and the decisions made by pilots who flew well in 2025. Instead of relying on intuition alone, I could identify the better decisions made by some pilots which resulted in better performance.
This competition was the first real opportunity to see whether those lessons translated into better performance. I believe they did.
The Reports
Below are the reports generated from the competition trackers. This year we used automated live trackers, which added some challenges to the data analysis — trackers were constantly on throughout the day. In a few cases, the app incorrectly identified flying whilst pilots were on the ground or driving up for a relaunch, but the in-flight analytics are highly accurate and provide a fascinating insight into how each task unfolded.
I hope you find the reports as interesting and useful as I have. Whether you're looking to improve your thermalling, refine your racing strategy, or simply understand how the top pilots approached each task, there's plenty to explore.
All task IGC files are also available to load directly in the app via the Task Library on the Setup page — so you can run your own analysis. Official results are available on CIVL Comps.
| Task | Category | Report |
|---|---|---|
| Task 1 | Overall | Open |
| Task 1 | EN A | — |
| Task 1 | EN B | Open |
| Task 1 | EN C | Open |
| Task 1 | EN D | Open |
| Task 2 | Overall | Open |
| Task 2 | EN A | Open |
| Task 2 | EN B | Open |
| Task 2 | EN C | Open |
| Task 2 | EN D | Open |
| Task 3 | Overall | Open |
| Task 3 | EN A | Open |
| Task 3 | EN B | Open |
| Task 3 | EN C | Open |
| Task 3 | EN D | Open |
| Task 4 | Overall | Open |
| Task 4 | EN A | — |
| Task 4 | EN B | Open |
| Task 4 | EN C | Open |
| Task 4 | EN D | Open |
| Task 5 | Overall | Open |
| Task 5 | EN A | Open |
| Task 5 | EN B | Open |
| Task 5 | EN C | Open |
| Task 5 | EN D | Open |