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Event info

We are pleased to invite you to the annual edition of Shumen XC Open Cross Country competition. It will be held from 22 July till 28 July.
As we like the endless flatlands surrounding the plateau of Shumen, we decided not to put limits on our competition tasks!
Shumen XC Open is not the traditional competition with a pre-defined route.

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Flying site

Shumen plateau is situated in the northeast part of the Bulgaria and is known as the most thermic country part. The place used to be a National Gliders education center in the years of communism. The plateau with it`s 3 take offs for wind directions from North through East to South, surrounded with endless flatlands is a really good point to start your long open distance flight or in the days with less wind your big triangle.

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Event info

We are pleased to invite you to the annual edition of Shumen XC Open Cross Country competition. It will be held from 22 July till 28 July.
As we like the endless flatlands surrounding the plateau of Shumen, we decided not to put limits on our competition tasks!
Shumen XC Open is not the traditional competition with a pre-defined route. A suitable vector (direction) is chosen each day according to the wind forecasts. The winner is the pilot who manages to fly furthest before the deadline. Race the wind, chase the clouds, and reach the furthest horizon!

Flying site

Shumen plateau is situated in the northeast part of the Bulgaria and is known as the most thermic country part. The place used to be a National Gliders education center in the years of communism. The plateau with it`s 3 take offs for wind directions from North through East to South, surrounded with endless flatlands is a really good point to start your long open distance flight or in the days with less wind your big triangle.
Every year plateau welcomes pilots from all around Bulgaria and the world for the annual edition of Shumen-XC Open to enjoy big distance stresses flying in the flats.
All take offs are located on top of a plateau with average altitude of 440m ASL and average displacement of 250m. Located 100 km west from the seaside it is well protected from the sea breeze of Black Sea and gives you plenty options for flying to the west. To the north there are 100 km of flatlands till the river of Dunau. On the south there are 20 km of flatlands until you reach the lower part of Stara Planina mountain ridge, which you can easily pass and extend your flight as far as to the Turkish or Greece border.
Average flatlands altitude is between 100m and 200m ASL. Prevailing winds for the area during the winter and early spring are west and northwest. During the summer till the late autumn they vary from northeast to south.
Active flying season starts from April till the late September. As in the beginning of the spring thermal activity time is ~4-5 hours from 13:00 till 17:00.
In June and July the average flyable time increases to 7-7.5 hours from 12:00 till 19:30. Cloud base stays pretty much the same from the spring to the autumn, varying between 1800-2600m ASL. Average thermal strength is 2-3 m/s in the spring and early summer and 2-4 m/s in the summer. Best takeoff time is ~12:30. It is possible to takeoff earlier and work the small thermals and bubbles, but the risk of bombing out is bigger.
Winter is generally non-flyable. Only ridge soaring is possible along the plateau.

The longest Open distance flight in Shumen was done by Yavor Plashilski – 242.6 km in August of 2008.
Here you can check some of the best flights made from Shumen.
There are 3 existing take offs plus 1, which is still in progress. All take-offs are accessible by car or a taxi. It is possible to make top landing on each of the takeoffs available.

East take off - 446m ASL (
N 43.258377 
E 26.926317
)
Exposure: ENE,E,ESE directions with up to 6-7m/s wind speed
The place is suitable for east, north-east and south-east winds with dominant east component. If the north or south component is stronger there’s risk to stick into the airflow and go down.

South take off - 440m ASL (
N 43.251452 
E 26.925203
)


Exposure: SSE,S,SSW directions with up to 6-7m/s wind speed
Suitable for south, south-east and south west winds with dominant south component. There’s a rotor before the takeoff when the wind is southeast.

North take off - 450m ASL (
N 43.242365 
E 26.921227

)
The place is situated exactly above the visitors’ place of monument “1300 years Bulgaria”. Suitable only for north winds, the place is featured with its “step-shape”. It is not recommended to try taking off in light winds and it is not possible to do it in windless conditions. The closest landing places are the school yards situated from the right.

Selection and entry fee

Entry fee is 60 Euro.
Can be paid via:
Cash on registration

Entry fee includes
- T-Shirt
- Water
- Transport from HQ to Takeoff (Shumen plateau)
- Drivers with cars and buses for retrive
- Retrieval coordinator
- Scoring
- Live tracking

Prize fund and scoring categories

1,2,3 in Overall

General schedule

Saturday, 21 July
12:00– 18:00 Training flights
18:00 – 23:00 Registration

Sunday, 22 July
9:30 – 10:00 Mandatory Safety Briefing
10:00 – 11:00 Transport to the take-off

22 July - 28 July
Contest flying days

Saturday, 28 July
Prize giving and Closing ceremony+

For security reasons, there is a possibility to enter one day off,
in case if many flight hours accumulate during the first 4-5 days.
This will be decided during the race with the vote of all participants.

Daily schedule

09:00 Headquarter opens
10:00 Deadline for the previous day protests
10:00 Transportation to Take off (Shumen)
19:00 Scoring office opens
22:00 Provisional results

Accommodation and Activities

Main accommodation hotel is Hotel Rai (where the HQ is located at).
Additional hotels:
- Hotel Neon
- Hotel Zoti

How to get here

Shumen, Bulgaria

Libya
Shumen Bulgaria

Plane

The nearest airports are in Sofia and Varna.
From Sofia Airport: 
Taxi from Airport to Central Bus/Railway stations: ~7 Euro (max. 10 Euro)
- by train with Bulgarian Railways: ~400 km, ~13 Euro
- by bus from central bus station: ~400 km, ~18 Euro
From Varna Airport:
Taxi from Airport to Central Bus/Railway stations: ~7 Euro (max. 10 Euro)
- by train with Bulgarian Railways: ~100 km, ~6 Euro
- by bus from central bus station: ~100 km, ~6 Euro

Car

Shumen is located on the main road Sofia – Varna.

Downloads

Waypoint files

Organizers

Yavor Plashilski
General Organizer
Benio Petkov
Organizer
Filip Lubomirov
Retrieval coordinator
Yavor Plashilski
Weather and XC tactics guru

Contacts

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