NorCal Hike and Fly Contest aims to bring folks together for friendly competition in the sport of hike and fly.
Pilots submit and are scored on hike and fly tracklogs.
At the end of the year, each pilot’s top 4 scores are combined to give their season score.
Winners will be announced in EN-B, EN-C and EN-D classes.
Prizes to be determined. Beer is likely to be involved.
Pilots are incentivized through scoring to join up and fly with others, but no formal events are planned.
The 2026 Season will run from April 4th through October 31st!
>> Register Here <<
Winners of the NorCal H&F Contest Prologue:
NorCal H&F Contest Prologue
The Prologue ran from March 1st to 31st. The prologue was run the same as the main season contest, with the following rule changes:
- Only a pilot’s top two scores contribute to their total score
- Only the top three will be crowned. Divisions will exist but not be used.
- The fly-with-friends bonus is not be used.
- There is no minimum hike distance.
- Start time is 8am, end time is 5pm.
- There are no wing class divisions, nor hiking distance/vertical categories.
Guiding Principles
- A 200km flight is roughly equivalent to running 100km on the ground.
- Triangles are cool.
- If there is time in the day and you’re on the ground, the best direction to go is back towards your car.
- Hike and Fly is better with friends.
Contest Rules
Divisions
Upon registration, a pilot will select a division. This should correspond to the highest wing class the pilot plans to fly throughout the season (EN-B/C/D). Divisions can be bumped up during the season (I.E. EN-B to EN-C) but not down. Send an email to norcalhf@gmail.com if you would like to jump up a division.
Tracklog Submission for Scoring
All scoring is done using IGC or GPX tracklogs. These tracklogs must contain a single track for the whole day of scoring. Tracks must start after 6am, and must conclude by 6pm. If a track begins before 6am or ends after 6pm, it will be truncated to be within these bounds.
Tracklogs must be submitted within 7 days. Tracklogs can be submitted on the Tracklog Upload tab.
Geographic Region
All tracks must be completed within California or the surrounding area.
Hiking
All hiking must be performed with a full equipment set (wing, harness, reserve(s), etc.). The same equipment set must be used for the whole tracklog, including all flying portions. All tracklogs must include at least 3km of hiking (Sorry, this isn’t XContest).
Triangles
All tracks are scored as either a flat triangle or a FAI triangle. There is no open distance scoring type. Any triangle where no leg connecting vertices is shorter than 28% of the total distance is considered a FAI triangles. Any triangle that does not conform to the FAI specification is considered a flat triangle.
Triangles are calculated as 5 different points: The two closing points, and triangle vertices. The closing points are not necessarily the start and end of the tracklog, but instead are the two points on the tracklog where the triangle is closest to connecting.
Triangles are calculated from tracklogs using the triangle solver from the igc-xc-score library.
The score is initially established as 1 point per km of the total perimeter of the triangle calculated from the tracklog.
Closing Distance, Triangle Closing, Triangle Closing Penalty
The closing distance is calculated as the distance between the start point and the end point. Any triangle with a closing distance less than 5% of the total distance of the sum of the legs connecting vertices is considered “Closed”.
A penalty of 2 points per km of closing distance is assessed to the score.
Note that this penalty is significantly higher than normal XContest scoring
Hiking Bonus
The total distance hiked is computed from the tracklog during portions when the pilot was on the ground. One point is added to the score for each km hiked. All distance hiked counts towards the score, not just hiking that contributes towards triangle turnpoints.
Triangle Multiplier
After triangle perimeter is calculated, closing penalty is assessed, and the hiking bonus is added, the resulting score is given a multiplier based on the triangle type and whether the triangle was considered closed.
- Open flat triangle are given a 1.2 multiplier
- Closed flat triangle are given a 1.4 multiplier
- Open FAI triangle are given a 1.4 multiplier
- Closed FAI triangle are given a 1.6 multiplier
Hike and Fly with Friends Bonus
An additional multiplier of 1.5 is added if at least four tracklogs are submitted for a single day that start at the same place at the same time. I.E. go hike and fly with your friends.
Special Categories
Total Hiking Distance
Total distance hiked is aggregated across all tracklogs for a pilot. At the end of the season, the pilot with the most hiking distance will win the hiking category.
Total Vertical
Total vertical elevation gain while hiking is aggregated across all tracklogs for a pilot. At the end of the season, the pilot with the most vertical will win the vertical category.
Scoring Examples
Example 1: Long Hike Closed FAI (tracklog)
32.50km Hiking Distance
29.30km Triangle Perimeter
3.21km Closing Distance
Scoring:
Triangle Perimeter: 29.30
Closing Distance Penalty: -(2 * 3.21)
Hiking Distance Bonus: +32.50
Closed FAI Multiplier: x1.6
Final Score: 88.61
Note: This track began before 8am, so it was truncated to begin at 8amExample 2: Flying Open FAI (tracklog)
8.17km Hiking Distance
29.96km Triangle Perimeter
7.05km Closing Distance
Scoring:
Triangle Perimeter: 29.96
Closing Distance Penalty: -(2 * 7.05)
Hiking Distance Bonus: +8.17
Open FAI Multiplier: x1.4
Final Score: 33.64
Example 3: Open Distance (tracklog)
15.54km Hiking Distance
136.43km Triangle Perimeter
64.31km Closing Distance
Scoring:
Triangle Perimeter: 136.43
Closing Distance Penalty: -(2 * 64.31)
Hiking Distance Bonus: +15.54
Open Flat Triangle Multiplier: x1.2
Final Score: 28.03
Tracklog Recording
Please do not use the SportsTrackLive app to record tracklogs!
Android — XCTrack (Recommended)
XCTrack setup for Hike and Fly Tracks:
- Go to Preferences menu
- Find Automatic Actions
- Set the following:
- Landing Detection: No Detection
- Takeoff Speed: 1 km/h
iOS
Options:
- SeeYou Navigator (Great hike and fly mode)
- Gaia (may require subscription)
Dedicated Vario / Flight Computer
Most varios and flight computers record IGC tracklogs natively. Some (Naviter) support Hike and Fly tracklogs. Export the IGC file via USB or the manufacturer’s companion app after your flight day.
Dedicated GPS Tracker, Smartwatch, Etc.
GPX tracks are allowed, so you can record your day’s flight with any device which generates a timestamped GPX tracklog file with GPS position.
Tips
- Remember to record for the entire day. Start recording before you leave your car and stop after you return. The scoring system will truncate tracks to the 6am–6pm window automatically.
- Do not stop and restart the recording mid-day. All scoring is done from a single continuous tracklog.
- Submit within 7 days via the Tracklog Upload tab.
The NorCal Hike and Fly Contest is run by Rob Barlow.
Please send all questions or comments to norcalhf@gmail.com, or submit a pull request on the GitHub repo.
Last update: April 2026