The Italian’s second run was 1:09.66, almost half a second better than the rest of the field.A men’s World Cup downhill race in Val Gardena yesterday was abandoned because of thick fog. That leaves Knut Frostad in Innovation Kvaerner, whose position has swung between fifth and eighth places, still the most southerly boat.Cayard seems best able to manufacture his own luck, but EF Language is also making little progress “This is one tedious leg,” he said. “Front after front has fizzled out and we are now engulfed by high pressure.”WHITBREAD ROUND THE WORLD RACE (third leg, 2,250 miles, Fremantle to Sydney): 1 EF Language (Swe) P Cayard 813 miles to finish; 2 Silk Cut (GB) L Smith 10.7 miles behind leader; 3 Swedish Match (Swe) G Krantz 11.9; 4 Toshiba (US) P Standbridge 13.4; 5 Chessie Racing (US) G Collins 15.2; 6 Innovation Kvaerner (Nor) K Frostad 31.9; 7 Merit Cup (Monaco) G Dalton 37.4; 8 EF Education (Swe) C Guillou 38.8; 9 Brunel Sunergy (Neth) R Heiner 40.6.. Deborah Compagnoni maintained her winning sequence at Val d’Isere yesterday, while Katja Seizinger lost hers. Having been in fourth place after the first run, Compagnoni rallied to win her eighth giant slalom in succession. “Everything we had been working towards for the last four days seems to be altered by mother nature with a swoosh of her magic wand,” he said.Heiner has decided to cut his losses and has turned north to join the main pack.

“The first boat out of this hole will probably win the leg because there will not be time to catch up again,” he said. They lure you into serious-looking planes stuffed with hi-techery, only to tow you into the air on a cable. As for safety precautions, the word “parachute” wasn’t even mentioned until long after I was strapped into the thing. I thought it was some kind of detachable seat padding, before I noticed the big metal ring-pull up by my left shoulder.But once you’re airborne the sensation is gentle and secure. You sit right in the nose, in front of your instructor, feeling very uncocooned despite the bubble of Perspex.

Relax into the silence and enjoy the view quickly, because in no time at all a voice from behind will say: “Follow me through on the controls”, before demonstrating the basic manoeuvres, while your hand follows the dual-control stick’s movement.Then the voice says “You have control”, to which you think, “What?!” but reply without a flicker, “I have control”, because a glider is no place for histrionics; everything is smooth and glidey. Sensing the shadow of a doubt, the voice tells you that the glider flies better alone than with you steering Great. As a first-timer, you feel that’s not saying much.But under the gentle encouragement of the voice – “Look, no hands!” – it soon becomes apparent that the glider can indeed get by just fine without you. You’re thousands of feet up in the air and, more important, miles away from anything stationary. As you experiment with adjusting the pitch (stick forward to speed up, backward to slow down) and then turning (stick right for right, left for left) you realise the voice is right: you have control. It’s astonishing to find yourself airborne and really flying the thing. At the equivalent stage with Impact School of Motoring you would still be learning de-mister from fog light, and wouldn’t even have turned the key.”I have control,” says the voice “This time, we’ll try some tight turns.

Follow me through on the controls.” And suddenly, though your hand may be following the stick firmly to the right, your stomach goes equally firmly to the left and your mind goes into orbit. The plane banks over so steeply that the landscape sweeps by, towns and villages eaten up under the glider’s nose until you’re heading back the way you came, maybe farther round, maybe into another county – maybe you’ve simply no idea. Nothing could prepare you for the speed, least of all when you are watching these apparently languid aircraft from the ground.”You have control,” says the voice again. “Now it’s your turn.” Tentatively – for all I know, an over-enthusiastic attempt will send us into an unrecoverable spin – I move the stick well to the right and slightly back. We zoom round in response and this time my breakfast and brain are only moments behind, feeling the perfect sensation of raw power without its usual hallmarks of noise, vibration and being on the edge of control. It’s breathtaking.A few more of these, and we’re heading for home.