“It’s all over” Part 2.

HURRAY FOR THE UK !!!!!!!

The very successful UK team shared some nice pictures from the champions and indeed with a gold for Russell and the team Cup and a bronze for Mike and Andy , they did extremely well. Looking forward to their performances at the EGC in Lasham.

The team effort. Excellent!

THE TEAM CUP
WAS FOR
Germany with Walter , UK as winner with Max and for France Eric.

and

The champions in 18 m. CONGRATULATIONS !!!

15 m. class  with Mike [3] , Killian [1] and Mario [2] ,……and still BLUE skies!!!!

AND

THE VERY HAPPY WINNERS from the other side.

AND

THE CHAMPIONS IN OPEN CLASS.

With Andy [3], Russell [1] and Michael [2] , well done guy’s.

AND

the 15 m. CHAMPIONS CONGRATULATIONS.

courtesy Maria Szemplinska one of the best photographers in the world
With Lucasz, Sebastian and Mac [Makoto]
and shared on FB by Gliding Team Klinika Kolasinski.

AND

the “10 best players of the WGC game in 15 m.”  as shared by the French.

Good to see French pilot Anne on spot 9 and   UK pilot Derren on spot 6!!
Loved the comment of young Aussie Andy Maddocks who wrote;
“Firstly congratulations to the team for a great overall result. This post however I would like to talk about one of the happiest guys at the competition, Derren. Derren managed to come 6th place at his first WGC and as he told everyone that would listen at the final night party, in a 20+ year old glider. I’m sitting here this morning seeing people upset about 2nd or 3rd etc and you have this guy that makes this sport so amazing to be around. Congratulations Derren. You are a great of this sport and I look forward to seeing you on that top step one day soon.”

AND

in OPEN CLASS

AND

unfortunately I did not find one from 18 m. class.

AND

The BRUCE BROCKHOFF SPEED TROPHY FOR THE FASTEST SPEED IN 15 m. was for UYS JONKER
Uys flew this speed in the JS 3 RAPTURE and,… no they did not win,… but proofed again that they built an excellent glider with a few very high scores.

AND

Party time first yesterday for Bruce, so it should be relaxing first and then re-flecting . Here is his promised comment ;

It’s all finished. We are mostly packed, and now waiting to fly one of the new gliders which appeared here.
Yesterday was another tough day, which began with the15m class circling over the airfield so low we could have thrown some lunch packages up to them. Slowly it improved, and all of us were launched on the final task. I almost fell down for a relight, but crawled away, and it improved a bit more through the afternoon. The people like me who were down the list started as early as possible to make sure we got back, while the leaders played the terrible games they have to play. Mostly we used 4 knot climbs to 4500 feet, sometimes better, but as we came south towards home it got steadily worse. By the time we arrived over the Warby hills east of Benalla it was desperate, with conditions deteriorating rapidly as we struggled to find enough height to get back. Finally I left my last thermal a few hundred feet low, sneaked around the final checkpoint and set off towards the airfield. It was not until I flew through some friendly air around 8-10 km from the finish that I considered it a possibility that I might make it back, which I did. The leaders who started late all had a real struggle and finished slowly… just.
It is a sad measure of how this competition has been for me, that yesterday I made no real decisions of my own, and finished in third place! I just followed the pack, and for me, that is not a measure of skill. We need to do something about this. The answer is not simple, but many pilots I have spoken to feel very jaded about this problem.
Many thanks to all the followers through these past weeks, and for the many very kind and supportive comments. I enjoyed the time here, mostly for the beautiful people that are all part of this soaring community. I will miss them all until we meet wherever next time may be. Thank you one and all.”

THANK YOU BRUCE, for sharing this WGC in your view with the world.

AND

The final words from WGC PR man Sean

Final Competition day at WGC Benalla

Low, blue, windy, yup, a really poor flying day, Australia-style. In Europe, it may be more straightforward – rain. But not at this comp. However, no matter how crummy the day was, it was still sparable. It was proven to be sparable by the pilots who made it around the course, complaining that they had to start at only 600 metres AMSL. Yes, it looked tough from the ground, and the look on the faces of the pilots when they landed said it, too. A bad day. All pilots had the same look – except for young Marcus Nouwens from South Africa, who says he had a good, challenging day.

Still, the pilots made around the course and finished the championships. Please have a look at the numerous videos I have posted with pre-launch interviews with many of the pilots as well as their reactions after they landed. What they said and how they looked at the sky, will tell you more than I ever could about the most difficult flying day of the championships.

At the end of it all, we have three new World Gliding Champions. Russell Cheetham in Open Class, Killian Walbrou in 18m Class, and a not so new champion, but a champion nevertheless after holding off his great rival Mac Ishikawa – Sebastian Kawa.

More from me in the morning. I know most of you are just waking up on wintry Saturday morning. Make a pot of coffee, forget the newspaper, just look at the videos from the final day of WGC Benalla.

Sean Young sean@wgc2017.com

More later with the last pictures of the 1987’s.

2 thoughts on ““It’s all over” Part 2.

  1. Dear Ritz,
    Thank you so much for the great effort you made about the WGC in Benella every single day. Your mix of actual reporting and former episodes and pictures from the WGC in 1987 was excellent and very enjoyable.
    Bert Sr. Schmelzer- Antwerp/Belgium

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