POCUINAI , venue of the 34st FAI WGC.

With Dutch pilots Frank and Robin ready for day 3.
As shared by the Dutch Team.

Wednesday August 3 with task 3.
In the end the B task was set on Wednesday, so another flying day.
Standard class; Task 3 was a prey for German pilot Felipe Levin. The 666 points were his.He started together with Robert [Schroeder] who won already day 1 and was runner up on day 2. Somewhere “on the road” something must have gone wrong as Felipe was the best [176 km. in 2.09] ] and Robert finished on spot 26 together with Sebastian. Robert flew the most km. 182,57, but must have had problems to come home , digging himself out??, survive??? as it took him nearly 30 minutes more .He dropped from 1 to 3 overall and Louis [Bourderlique] is now the number 1 overall after 3 tasks.
36 From 39 finished!
Club class; Tom Arscott [St Cirrus] from the UK had a pretty bad day on Tuesday,  but promised to do better. So he did. Together with Ge Dale [Std. Libelle 201 Bwl]   they occupied spot 2 and 1. They flew 157 km. in 2.01.
Polish pilots Jakub [SZD-48-3M1 Brawo]  and Lucasz  [ ASW 19 B] flew 173/174 km. but needed 15 minutes more.
From 48 a total of 45 finished. One of the out-landers was Alex from NZ .He was so ready to go for this WGC together with his mate Nick , but he got only 54 points for the day and it was his 3d out-landing. He surely dreamed in a different way of this WGC . Over the last years I kept an eye on them , young and enthusiastic and both real good pilots. BUT,…it is not over yet!!!!
They say it very positive in their daily wrap-up:” Alex landed in a paddock near the first turn point and expanded his cultural experience by making some more new Lithuanian friends. Nick got around at a reasonable pace and managed a place in the top 20.” From Australia I received another update about all this from Ulrich dad of Eric [Australian team junior]:
 “I have a bit of background info on how the team NZ Brolly Dolly Updates came about:
Alex (“Bobo”) and later Nick (“Nuk”) have been coming to the Aussie Junior Nationals (JoeyGlide) for quite a few years. From the start they have been teasing my daughter Jess every year that she should be their Brolly Dolly which she vehemently refused. As you know she has been very actively involved in organizing competitions over the years, often as Beryl’s left and later right hand and most recently at the Junior Worlds in Narromine.
Through various circumstances (and much begging from the boys) she has now ended up as their Team Captain (an Aussie  with German heritage mind you) and as such couldn’t really be their Brolly Dolly (although I’m sure that if necessary she’ll see to it that HER pilots get shade). The Brolly Dolly duty in the NZ team has been officially passed on to the very attractive crew chief Ross who is writing the BD updates.”
So now you are totally updated!!! And yes I met Jess in Narromine a real nice out-going girl.
20 m class; Argentina  on TOP!!!! Something different today. Team ARG ,flying an ARCUS M with 192  km. in time 2.14.From 22 pilots 19 finished the The Broquevilles only just [dropping from 6 to 10 overall]  but the Triebels not.
A great day for my Dutch mates Hans and JWGC-runner-up-junior Robin on spot 2!!

Thursday August 4, with NO task 4. The day was cancelled. NO rain, BUT also no possibility to fly.

Friday August 5, task 4.
Standard class; 315 km. was the set task and already quickly they could see that it would be going to be a difficult day with lot’s of alto cumulus, still some cu’s under it though.
But what a FABULOUS day for my young Belgium friend who I know since he was born; Dennis Huybreckx!!! He was the only finisher!!!!! He got the 1000 daily points and “catapulted”  himself from spot 13 overall to spot 4!!!!! WOW that’s something!!! The runner up from Germany Felipe got 762 points. So 38 out-landings.
Close overall ranking after task 4; 1. Louis from France ,3.105, 2. Robert from Germany, 3.055, 3. Girard from France 3.029 and on spot 4 Dennis from Belgium with 3.015 !!!

  Here Dennis,during the Dutch Nationals.
Courtesy Willemijn de Lange.

club class;269 km.  and in this class more pilots flew the task. Best was South African pilot Nico Le Roux in a St Jantar 3. The 947 points were his. Great to see Henrik Breidahl from Denmark on spot 2. German pilot Jan Rothhard was on 3.
23 From 48 finished.
20 m. class;338 km. and a “big bone to chew” for most of the pilots.18 Pilots in this class flew with trackers.Only 3 from 22 finished and not the least, as it was team 54 from the UK, the Jones brothers , defending their WGC title on spot 1 , as runner up team GT2 from Italy with Stefano Ghiorzo [former WGC champion in Szeged 2010] and the French pilots from team FP with Lourent Aboulin.[former world champion Uvalde 2012]

One week over and here is steward Terry Cubley from Australia, later this year CD in Benalla, where he lives now too since nearly one year.

STEWARD IN LITHUANIA
Well, we have been in Lithuania for over a week now at the Pocunai world gliding championships. A big event with 111 gliders.

Vicki and I were sick from the moment we arrived with cold/flu. I am fairly well over it now but Vicki has a day or two to go yet.

A lovely place, very green, a lot like Finland with trees and fields, but not as many lakes. That didn’t stop the French pilot on the only practice day who managed to land in a lake in the middle of a forest. No damage, but it took two days to dry it out and clean it. There was only the one practice day so the organisation was fairly un-prepared by the time the competition started last Sunday.

The opening ceremony was very nice, in the central square in town. Quite a small square so the 111 pilots and their crew really filled the place up. There were some folk dancers (looked like an old fashioned barn dance) and some great singers, a lovely display all round. The speeches weren’t too long, and they got shorter as the thunderstorm which had been looking on, finally moved into the square and we had heavy rain.

Day 1 was tricky with cycling weather. We spent the next non flying day sorting out all of the complaints about the launching. A number of the 20m class motor gliders were naughty, flying directly to the better looking climbs rather than following the required launch pattern. By the time we gave some warning and some penalties and managed a number of complaints everyone was clear on what the right procedure should be.

Two days later we had day 2 which was the most consistent day for the competition. Fixed tasks of 320-360km and quite reasonable speeds. Heights were quite low with typically 1500-4000 feet so nothing too flash.

Day three was really tricky. High cloud with overcast stable conditions and lower heights. Somehow CD Vytas managed to arrange a task of 2:00 hours for each class. Cloud base was mainly around 2500-3500 feet ,so a close look at the ground for the pilots. It ended up being a very successful day. Most of the fields still have long crops but still no damage in the outlandings.

We had another day off with rain and overcast conditions. Vicki and I drove into the old city of Vilnius. Hard work finding the centre of the city because no signs in English and my Lithuanian is quite poor (non existent). We all had a great time in a beautiful place. The drive home was even worse. We were lost in the city during peak hour but eventually appeared back on the main road.

Today was another tricky day. It was hot (28 degrees) and sunny so great hopes. It promised to be a blue day but we had a lot of cu on the standard and club class tasks. All three classes went in different directions. 20m drew the short straw and went NE between the airspace into more blue and lower thermals. Club class went to the south with good cu and Standard class went more west with good cu and then approaching high cloud. Only 4 20m managed to come home without starting the engine. Only one standard class achieved speed points, and half of club class ended up in paddocks.

The special mention today goes to the Hungarian pilot who crashed his glider into the roof of a house. No injuries to him or the owner, but it looks a real mess. There are some good photos somewhere but I can’t find them.
Tomorrow doesn’t look that good but we will see.” 

“Only harm to [ the nice] house and glider”
As shared by Henrique  who out-landed about 20 m. from  the Hungaryan pilot who ” landed” his LS 1f, on the roof.
Henrique [JM] landed/ rolled out “far” in the field  so emergency crews could be close by to help out.
He has a story to tell when he flies back home.

August 6  was cancelled. What can you do on non-flying-days!? Enough…..
Here is some news from Aussie girl Jess, TC from team NZ  but also crew and in charge of more jobs as washing, cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, updating the many Kiwi fans and much more .
She mentioned” the Worlds are all good fun! There are so many people here to meet and chat with during the day or night.”
And
“ The weather here is crazy. Nothing like Australia. We have only flown 4 out of 7 days now because the weather has been so bad. There’s really no way of predicting it either, one day is gorgeous summer and great for flying and then the next is like it’s the middle of winter and freezing. On these days we have been having little team sight seeing expeditions. The first day off we went to the second largest city in Lithuania called Kaunas. It’s 40mins away from where we are staying. We spent most of our time looking at an old atomic bomb bunker. It was crazy! They had old relics there from the cold war, including old KGB spy equipment – fancy a camera for your buttonhole?
The second scrubbed day we visited the old town of Trakai. In the middle ages it was the capital of Lithuania… and it certainly has the castle to prove it! The castle is situated on an island in the middle of a lake. Now it is a tourist hotspot though and around the lake there are lots of little market stalls and touristy shops. “

August 7   NO…task 5.
On Sunday the focus was on flying again. After a rest,  or working on the gliders, or a sight seeing trip , pretty good tasks to continue. All 3 classes got a 3 hour AAT. As there would be a concert in the hangar that night, maybe a reason for pilots who love to ” hurry home ” to be there.
Picture courtesy Antti Lehto.

 

THOUGH, first a big shower passed by , then the base did not want to go up,  first start 12, then 12.15 , then 12.45, then they expected and waited for the  shorter B task from 1.5 hour.  Difficult , difficult.This picture was shared by Per Carlin from Sweden before start.
Then they  start ,….with the A task in the pocket….and with strong cross wind ????? And 40 km/h. wind. The meteo is SURE; the weather will be better!!!Off they go,…………At least club class.
It turned out difficult as they sometimes had to wait for the cross wind to ease down, whilst some pilots returned to the field not able to stay up. And then you still have 3 hours to fly…….

No words needed.
BUT….. they started for the A task with a strong 45 dgr.  cross wind!!!!
??? Such a big field?????

In the end with club already in the air the day was cancelled. Some club class pilots even had out landed, the rest had to come back.Too much showers!!!
Here is the story from steward Terry:
“Cold and wet Steward in Lithuania:

Well it gets colder and wetter in Lithuania. They have 4 contest days so far (over 2 weeks) and I am hoping they get to fly a few more times before next weekend – but not so sure. Typically the cloudbase is 2500-4000 feet, long crops in the field and occasional rain. Definitely a warm clothes day today, only about 15 degrees.

Despite an awful forecast they set a task today and actually launched club class. 2500foot cloud base, rain, 20-25 knot winds. The launching was quite exciting – 90 degree cross wind, gliders ground looping, tugs on converging course on the ground run, lots of relights. I was quite nervous and at one stage stopped the launch. Club class was launched and they opened the start gate with rain clouds apparently blocking the track. About half a dozen gliders outlanded near to the start point. They reduced Standard and 20m class task to 1.5 hours (club were flying 3 hours). The rain became a little more ominous and so they cancelled the day before launching the other two classes and even called the club class gliders back – task cancelled. A good call.

August 8 task 5,…. let’s try again. AND,…yes after a few de-motivated/angry pilots shared their opinions about the “poor”  WGC organization on the day before, they straightened their backs and prepared for new set tasks into Poland.For sure better conditions looking at the skies on the picture shared by the Belgium team ……and no rain[yet] and nice tasks.
“A mix of clouds and sun. High 24C. Winds SW at 15 to 25 km/h.” was the news on the official site.
The first start was moved from 12 PM to 1 Pm. , pilots got instead of A a B task and the wind was ” BLOWING”.Start-lines opened at 1.42 PM, 2.05 PM [St.] and 2.15 PM. The weather improved during the day, but they had to deal with blue areas as well and “dead air” in the end. Some pilots  entered wave above the field at the start time. A tough day as a lot landed in Poland.

Standard class ; A;344 km. but,….B task was flown from 302 km. and surprise surprise flown by 23 pilots . Best result for the Belgium pilot Oliver Sevrin who started with the current WGC champion Bert Schmelzer. Oliver got a penalty for a wrong circuit but still was on one. The French team  Guillaume and Louis were on sport 2 and 3.
The French are on spot 1 and 2 overall as Guillaume is runner up now behind Louis.Behind the 2 German boys and then the 2 Belgium pilots.

Daily win for Olivier Congratulations!!!
As shared by the Belgium team.

 

club class; A;311 km. but  B task with 256 km.was on and 3 FINISHERS…..Dutch pilot Frank Hiemsta, Austrian pilot Peter Hartmann in his Libelle and Danish pilot Henrik Breidhal in the LS 4. Henrik jumped from 5 to spot 3 overall!!!!! Peter from 12 to 8 !!!!! Frank was the best , but his finish was too low so he got penalty points and instead of being number 1 for the day he was 5, but,…he moved up from 21 to 13!!! What a day!!!
Some were only 4 km. out!!!!It means that 45 had to out-land!!!!
20 m. class;A;366 km. but B task was 309 km. and they were last on the grid!.  12 pilots finished!! Including the overall number 1 Stefano Ghiorzo in the ARCUS M. So 10 “aux vaches” better said ” in on engine” .Daily winners team FP from France.

As said the skies were DEAD in the end of the day and lot’s could not make it home. Polish police even check’s pilots after landing on booze!!!?? This picture shared by the UK team shows Tom after landing.

Several landings shared by several pilots.

    

Courtesy Per Carlin.    Courtesy Kristian Roine.   Courtesy British gliding team

Not a lot of gliders back; shared by Team Belgium

August 9 task 6.
Another lottery-day???? 25 % of the pilots has to fly over the 100 km.
Standard had to go for a 2 hour AAT. Not weather my Aussie mates are used to , but they won the day with 131 km. BUT NOT finishing. Nobody did, but a total of 6 from 40 flew over 100 km!!!For fighting in this miserable weather they got 77 points!!! They seem to have a valid day according to soaringspot this morning, but I doubt that.I am SURE it’s invalid; 6 from 40 says enough.
Club was ready to go for the same task, but only ONE pilot Henrik , flew over 100 km. so a not valid day!!!
20 m. pilots had to go for 2 hours as well. NO finishers, but 6 from 22 , flew over 100 km and for them ,the Lindell’s from Sweden, waited for ALL their efforts the great amount of 68 points!!!! but,…..No valid day is what I see on soaringspot. I doubt that too!!To my knowledge they have a VALID day!!!

More about that next Sunday this is still all preliminary. And they seem to have not only problems with the weather , of course that’s not their fault, but also with the scores. It’s only a few points ,but comps have been won with ONE point difference so all points count.
On the other hand setting tasks with this weather forecast,…….

The UK team shared this picture with the message:”Launching into a classic looking sky… 2hr AAT all classes. Wish us luck!”

Well, I believe this is not really fun anymore!! Sorry!
Hope the fun returns tonight with the INTERNATIONAL PARTY. Should be fun indeed!
Last news about the WGC on SUNDAY!!!

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LASHAM GLIDE !

With the message” With the best day of the comp so far, here”s the view from the tower” a picture from Saturday August 6.Shared by Lashamglide

2 Days of flying, then 2 days not,  but day 5 gave good soaring weather again.

Open class; Task 3.Shaun Lapworth , well known for his comments on the SGP series won the 325 km with a speed of 104,92 km.h. in open class in his JS 1C; 1000 points for him.
Russell with a very late start lost about 200 points and dropped from 1 overall to 5 after this task 4.
18 m. class; From 14 only 5 finished the 2.30 AAT,  among them number 1 Wolfgang and Andy , so 2 Austrians , 2 Germans [Michael and Sebastian] and Mike Young. These 5 pilots are in the lead overall with quite some margin.
15 m.;4 did not fly in this class and from the 25  “left-overs”, only 5 finished. Gary [Stingmore] won the day with a speed of 77.14 km./h over 262.41 km.
A very bad day for the French pilots , both Didier and Denis . Didier started VERY late at 15.44 and flew 92 km. Denis only 11.85 km. with a start at 15.03 whilst daily winner Gary started at 13.58.Denis dropped from 1 to 13. Ouch that hurts!!!!

Day 6; they fly from Lasham,….. so task 4 is a fact!!!
Open class;2.30 AAT. A UK day as the first 3 were from there; Ken, Richard and Pete and all 3 flew JS 1c. On spot 4 the Swedish team Acketoft in the ASH 25 EB 28. Sylvain Gerbaud moved to 2 overall and Pete [Harvey]  is now 1.
18 m. class;203.26 km. set task.A good Austrian day again with Wolfgang and Andy on the best spots; one point difference in favor of Andy.
15 m. class; 164.36 km set task.SO VERY pleased to see that Patrick [Naegelie] won the day in his ASG 29 e. One of his mates Roy unfortunately out-landed. Both flew with us in Australia in the far past. Overall the Germans are “close” in scores Thomas 2883 after 4 days and Michael 2881. Few days to go though. On spot 3 Irish pilot Paul Crab [2841] and never to underestimate Leigh [Wells] on spot 5 with 2699 points.

    

Impressions from Lasham shared by the organizers.

Day 7 task 5. And,…another BIG ONE!!!!
open;  Ken Barker had his 2d daily win in a row in the JS1 c with a speed of 102 km./h. over 437.19 km. Only 1 out-landing;20 k short.
18 m: 399 km and the 2d daily win for Mike Young. Good on him!!! The 2 German pilots Sebastian and Michael are going strong as well as runner up. Behind Wolfgang and Mike they are on spot 3 and 4 overall.
15 m: a 3.30 AAT for this class. I told you ,…don’t underestimate Leigh. Today he was number 1 together with Tim Scott, both 1000 points. 402 km. was flown by Leigh in time 4.05 .
Excitement enough as with 2 day ‘s to go the overall scores look like this; 1 and 2 the 2 German pilots Thomas and Michael with TWO points difference[3752/3750]  and 3 and 4 Leigh and Tim with 15.[3715/3700]

Day 8 task 6. And…..another GOOD one.
Open; 471 km. Richard Browne, who started as last pilot  [1 PM] from the 21 flying pilots and r” rolled them up ” all of them. With a speed of 107 km./h over 483.40 km. he raced over the circuit to receive 1000 points with arrival.With one day to go the overall scores are; 1. Pete Harvey [UK] with 4.722 points. 2. Sylvain Gerbaud [FRance]  with 4.654 and on 3, team Acketoft from Sweden;4.650!!!
18 m; 3.30 AAT. The German pilots Michael Streit and Sebastian Huhmann are in a great flow and won the day.999/1000 p. With one day to go they are on an overall spot behind Wolfgang; [5423, 5217 and 5198]
20 m; 399 km; Chris Starkey was a new face on the daily podium though he flies already for a long time, so for sure not a new face in soaring. 1000 points for him,… good to see. Also good with 50 points less good old Dave Watt.
VERY close overall scores now with ONE day to go;Thomas Wettemann  ,[4675] Michael Eisele [4673] and Leigh Wells 4643 !!!! EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE so hopefully they fly.

Day 9 task 7. Last day AND,…they fly!!! So with 7 out of 9 days, [ one cancelled , one without a task]  a great event there at Lasham. Certainly when the weather in Europe has been pretty poor for soaring this season.
open;a 2.30 AAT to finish these comps. Winner was Ken Barker ,..again already 3 x. A pity he out-landed during task 4 and task 2, as he was also one day runner up and on spot 3.Overall he finished on spot 10. Ken flew 280 km. in time 2.49.
Winner in the JS 1C is Pete and not for the first time. Congratulations!!!A clear win with 5389 points. Runner up was Russell who moved from spot 4 to 2 as he had a good last race. [5355] An even better race was from Dan Pitman with a daily spot 2, bringing him in the overall scores to spot 3 from 5.[5302]
18 m; 227 km. was set for the pilots and Andy Lutz in the brand new Ventus 3 was the last-daily- best. Only 6 from 13 finished. Wolfgang won LashamGlide with 6374 points.Well done. Sebastian stayed on spot 2 [6177] but don’t know what happened to Michael Streit; he did not fly and dropped from 3 to 5. Mike Young was on spot 3.
15 m; 17 pilots flew the 249 km.- task. Though the German boys and Leigh did not have their best day they still remained in the lead.So 1. Thomas Wettemann[5385] 2. Michael Eisele [5382] 3. Leigh Wells [5313]

    

LASHAMGLIDE winners Pete, Thomas and Wolfgang surrounded by Andy and his wife.

Great comps there in the UK with 7 out of 9 days!!!!!! Hope they have the same weather or better next year during the EGC. The facilities are superb , as you can see on the picture shared by LashamGlide FB.
And,…who said ” it’s always raining in the UK,???….and the UK has no  “soaring-competition- weather” ???!!!!

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CIM 2016 at Rieti.

Great field there at Rieti.
Picture shared by Clara Bartolino

In Rieti , the annual top competition CIM [Coppa Internazionale del Mediterranio] is in progress.[August 1-August 12]  and a lot of pilots again, 65,  even with WGC and LASHAMGLIDE in the same period. 4 Classes and in the first week 3 out of 6 days were flown.
In club , 3 from the awfully nice family Fergnani, Nicola, Elena and Michele. After 3 tasks they are on spot 2-3 and 4 overall out of 7.
In the mixed class 22 pilots and after 3 tasks Gintas Zube is on spot 1 less than 100 points ahead of Thomas Gostner.
In 18 m. class also 18 pilots and on top after 3 flights Sandro Montemaggi.in the ASG 29 E. He is 41 points ahead of Italian pilot Pino Dal Garde and followed by 3 Austrian pilots among them Heimo Demmerer who I met there several times when I attended the CIM. Giorgio [Galetto] won 2 days but on the first soarable day he out-landed.
Open; 4 TOP pilots from Germany. Michael Sommer, [EB 29R] Tassilo Bode [EB 29],  Bruno Gantenbrink in the ETA and kilometer-eater Alexander Mueller.Till now Michael won EVERY day, task 3 with an average speed of 140 km./h..

    

An impression as shared by Clara.

Sunday August 7; tasks were set AAT’s in each class. Weather as in most parts of Europe,…. windy with possible showers.
In the end the day was cancelled.

Monday; August 8.
Club; Fergnani-day!!! On spot 1 Elena, on 2 Nicola and on 3 Michelle. Good on them. 249 km. was flown with a speed of just under and above 100 km./h.
Mixed ; 375 km.Nobody finished in this class but Vittorio Pinni flew with his mate in the Duo Discus XLT a distance of 302 km.
18 m. ; 387 km and Giorgio Galetto, who knows the area VERY well, got the 1000 points for an excellent flight with 116 km./h. Next pilot “only ” flew 110 km./h.
open; 464 km;and,the day was again for Michael a class apart!!! Tassilo was runner up.

Tuesday August 9;
Club; 295 km and only 2 finishers but still 1000 points for  Franco Poletti.
Mixed;377 km and 1000 points for Gintas 3 points more than Luca [de Marchi] 11 from 20 finished.
18 m;316 km,. and Alberto [Testa[] was the winner.15 from 20 finished.
open: 445 km. and ,…it’s getting boring again but Michael and Tassilo were the best with 1000 and 998 points, starting together and finishing together.He won each single day!!!! 5 in a row!!!!!

Today club has a 3 hour AAT, mixed has a 2.40 AAT, 18 m. a 3.15 AAT and open 2.45 AAT.

These are also the Italian 15 m. Nationals . NOT handicapped the overall scores are at this stage, with 2 days to go and 5 flown ;
1.Thomas Gostner 4551
2.Luca de Marchi 4175
3.Luca Urbani 3928

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The Olympic Games in Brazil.

After a lot of positive and less positive news over the last years, the GAMES have started with a great opening in ECO STYLE. Good on them. We as Dutch people hope for 25 medals or more. Let’s wait and see.Only 1 gold and 1 bronze at the moment,……..

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AND…..news from Australia.

TWO SEAT NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS AT NARROMINE IN FEBRUARY 2017

 YES it’s on again! The Narromine Gliding Club is delighted to have been chosen for the 5th consecutive year to host the Two Seat National Gliding Competition in 2017.

The competition runs from Sunday 12th February 2017 to Sunday 19th February 2017 inclusive.

Practice day is Sunday 12th February and the first Competition day is Monday 13th February 2017.

Subject to sufficient entries the Competition will be run in two classes,

2 SEAT OPEN CLASS and

20m 2 SEAT CLASS.

Same Rules, same Tasks, same Starts, separate scores and winners.

 REGISTER YOUR ENTRY NOW. To complete the ONLINE ENTRY FORM just CLICK HERE

 Cheers Ritz , sorry this blog is VERY long , but so much to say.
CU back on SUNDAY.