Post 1.430 on July 5 2023

WWGC 2023….Soria-GARRAY.
2 July 2023 – 14 July 2023

Spain is the host this year and the airfield of Soria-Garray the place to be.
On the practice days not a lot was flown. Best result over those 4 days was 89 km on a 3 hour AAT task by Dutch pilot Lizzy van Zomeren.
A north- wind was bothering them and on the first official day it had a bad influence on soaring, so no scores, difficult landings from those who dared to start and tent’s “going with the wind”.

The opening was on July 1 .

And,….On July 2 the WWGC started, what better way to show you the full action, than with this great picture from Jerolamo Radman !!!

Club class;
Task 1; 2 hour AAT.….won by French Louise Rodriguez in an LS7, [220.10 km…speed 102.53 km./h !!!] and Claudia with 208.78 km in time 2.07, speed 98.40 km./h. was a great runner up. Pretty good day for the UK as Alison Mulder was 5th
19 started and 17 finished .Team USA was last on the grid and had a difficult day . They finished on spot 16 and 17.
Kevin from their team reported:
“Today the wind has finally slowed down, but the trick is the day is predicted to have thunderstorms in the high counrty, (not that far from the airport) beginning early and possibly causing difficulty getting home. Minimum distance for 1000 point day is 250 km, 100 km for completed task in club class. According to the forecast it will not likely be a 1000 point day.”
Task 2; cancelled due to expected thunderstorms. So time for a picture from the opening.

Standard class;
Task 1; 2.15 AAT….Barbora Moravcova [Czech Rep] in her LS 8 was the best 273.16 km in time 2.25; speed 112.93 km./h. Runner up from Switzerland, Barbara Kuttel also in LS 8. …great performance . And on spot 3, 2 Czech girls equal with 755 points….perfect start, flying and finish.
Our Dutch Lizzy did VERY well all by herself, no team mates, no pair flying….she was on spot 9 .
Weird/Interesting start times as some started at 15.06 as the winner did others at 16.36, surely the weather had everything to do with it.
Cornelia Schaich the WWGC champion from 2003 and 2022, was last for the day.
Task 2 ;cancelled

18m. class;
Task 1; 2.30 AAT.…The Czech girls really trained hard for this WWGC and they were already GOOD. They showed straight away their intentions with a 1-2 and -3- first- day. They started and flew together but finised on different times so the scores are; 872, 832 and 828 for a speed of 132.45 km./h for Alena Netusilova, [ she was WWGC champion in 2003 in Jihlava , 129.09 km./h] for Michaela Rendlova and 128.82 for Hana Treslova.
No I don’t forget the French girls, flying in a team as well and on spot 4,5 and 6.
12 started and 12 finished.
Task 2; cancelled

July 4; Task 3 on flying-day 2 .
British Gliding Team mentioned; “The conditions are challenging today according to our very own reporter who was assistant sniffer today. Cloud base is quite low and turning blue later.”

Club class; 303.72 km....Aude Grangeray in her LS7 was the daily best! Aude was already world champion TWICE; in 2015 in Herning and 2017 in Zbraslavice.
Followed by Elena the WWGC champion from Lake Keepit in 2020; 1000 and 995 points for a speed of 84.86 km./h for Aude and 86.05 for Elena in her Discus.
Grandissima Elena was an Italian comment.
All 19 started and one was out.

Standard class; 386.77 km….As always they started together, flew together each in a DISCUS 2 A and finished within 7 minutes from each other, ……indeed the top 3 French girls!
Marilyne Abadie-Bérard was the daily winner for 1000 points with a speed of just over 100 km./h and with that she was the only one in this class. She was followed by Anais and Aude.
I was most impressed with our Dutch Lizzy, who started just a minute earlier than the French girls [ 14.50 ] She flew her LS 8 to a 4th place!!!
16 started and 14 finished.

18 m. class; 424.90 km.…AGAIN ….the Czechian girls topped the daily list though they “lost” one of the girls “en- route .” Hana was 8th. But Daily winner was Michaela Rendlova in her AS 33es.113,63 km./h!!!
Alena in her JS 3 was runner up.
The French did well too with a spot 3 and 4 for Melanie and Anne both former WWGC champions. Anne even 3x in 2013, 2015 and 2022 and Melanie in 2020.
One of the French girls did not start so 11 left over and 1 was out.

No tasks yet for today.

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AUSTRIAN NATIONALS 2023.
23 June 2023 till 1 July 2023

On June 27 and 28 the message was; NO TASK.
But on June 29 they got another BIG ONE!!!!
15m;
Task 3; 451.92 km….David Richter-Trummer in his “little” Libelle won also the third task; 1000 points and overall after 3 days…3000 points. The Libelle flew already 1.277.19 km in 3 days!!!!
Eduard Supersberger in the Ventus 2B is, with 2x a 3d and 1x a runner up spot ,still in the running too. Still 3 days to go though ,so a lot can happen.
17 Started and 12 finished.
Task 4; NO TASK. At that stage they did not know the weather did n’t allow them more flying.

18m:
Task 3; 587.35 km….23 started and only 1 was out missing out on 50 k, such a pity. Peter Hartmann [JS1c] had his 2d daily win;106.09 km./h.
3x an AS33 in this class and they are “going” well on a daily spot 3,4 and 5 with some good pilots in them as Guido Achleitner and Werner Amann.
Task 4; 2 hour AAT...THEY COULD FLY!!!! And they did. All 23 went up and later down at the airfield they started,…. good. The best for the day was Tilo [Holighaus] his 2d win. He flew 231.55 km in time 2.04; speed 111.77 km./h.
Reinhard [Haggenmüller] was runner up and Peter was 11th and lost around 150 points. Peter still leads but “only” with 41 points.
Uys was 9th.

2-seaters and open class;
Task 3; 537.30 km....the Pirkers won the day in their ARCUS. 105,74 km./h. A tad faster than team Rass /Werlberger in their ASG 32;105.52 km./h.;1000 and 998 points.
Wolfgang and Andy were on spot 3.
Looking at the 2 seaters; 13 started and 6 were in.
Looking at open; 16 started and 9 were in.
Task 4;1.30 AAT... means trying hard! BUT,….no hope…cancelled.

Unfortunately the last day had to be cancelled too.18 m was lucky with one EXTRA day.
So with 3 out of 8 days in 15m and 2-seaters/open and 4 in 18 m

15 m;
1. David Richter-Trummer in H-301 Libelle with 3000 points, the full score so a well deserved champion .
2. Eduard Supersperger in Ventus 2 with 2,832 p.
3. Friedrich Hofinger in Discus 2CT/15m. with 2,692 p.

18m;
1. Peter Hartmann in JS1C with 3,272 points and Austrian champion.
2. Tilo Holighaus in Ventus 3 with 3,231 p.
3. Bernhard Leitner in AS 33/18m with 3,090 p.
Heimo missed out on 15 points so was 0n spot 4 and Uys missed out on 5 points on Heimo with a total of 3060. AND….Guido Achleitner needed 10 points more to equal Uys. So all very close.

2-seaters and open class top 3;
1. Lutz & Janowitsch in ARCUS M with 2,971 points.
2. Rass & Werlberger in ASG 32 with 2,874 p.
3. Pirker & Pirker in ARCUS with 2,841 p.

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Whilst Uys was flying in Austria, his business was in the news;
“After almost a year-long delay from the original schedule, the JS3 RES aircraft has finally been granted Type Certification (TC) by EASA. This achievement marks a significant milestone for the JS/M&D and SOLO teams!“
“The journey to obtain EASA certification for the JS3 RES aircraft was incredibly challenging and complex, and the impact of the Covid pandemic did not help either.
The decision to choose the propulsion system from SOLO was driven by its classification as a certified stand-alone Class 1 product.  Consequently, the JS3 certification program was developed around this certified propulsion system.”
“However, the development and certification process for the propulsion system took significantly longer than expected. The program delays can be attributed to the relative novelty of electric propulsion systems and also EASA faced internal challenges involving the formulating approval processes for Class 1 electric propulsion systems. To the best of our knowledge, this may be the first time that EASA has certified a Class 1 electric propulsion/self-launch system.“
“As a result, the JS3 RES certification process could not be finalised without a certified propulsion system. Ultimately, on the 14^th of June, the SOLO system was awarded TC by EASA, enabling the signing and submission of the statement of conformity for the JS3 RES aircraft. Taking into consideration that the Statement of Conformity was only submitted on the 16^th of June, the LBA and EASA demonstrated commendable efficiency in completing the final administrative activities. Kudos to the LBA/EASA team for their commendable work!”
“During the certification process, one significant challenge was to demonstrate compliance with the battery fire propagation requirements. It was required to amend the battery design with reinforcement fire-resistant layers and additional insulation layers to prevent the spread of fire from a single burning cell.”
“Overall, the successful Type Certification of the JS3 RES aircraft represents a remarkable achievement for the teams of SOLO, Emectric, M&D Flugzeugbau, and JS, showcasing their dedication and perseverance throughout this demanding certification journey.“
A JS NewsFlash.

–—–A few” perfect ” flights last weekend.
Very special was the flight from Minden in Nevada by James Lee in a JS 1C/21m. last Sunday. He flew a GOAL flight from 1.360.71. Chapeau!!! Speed 153 km./h.
”   It was a straight out flight from Minden NV to Moriarty, NM.  It is the second time that I have flown the longest straight out thermal flight in the world.”
WOW!!!!!!!
That day Keith Essex went, of course high-up too, he flew from Ely, [East from Minden] in his EB29R a distance of 1.458.85 km … FAI triangle 1.261.39….so 1.250 triangles on one day.
9 hours and 29 minutes and for the triangle 8.13.20. AND…..flown in THERMAL conditions!!!!
““Finally a good Ely day! Went for a declared 1250 but didn’t load the task correctly. flew the task anyway.”
Why not???!!!
WeGlide welcomed him in the “1400 club” !https://www.weglide.org/flight/298001
“Keith is now together with Simon Schröder (1445km, Namibia ), Max Schäfer (1408km, Namibia ), Alexander Müller (1422km, Germany ) Matthias Arnold (1434km, Namibia ) and James G Lee (1459km, USA) in the Club of 1400k.”

More news next week.
Interesting but in fact pretty awful; some countries in Europe had the hottest June since record keeping.
I heard that the water of the seas and ocean are so warm that the fish can’t survive in the future.
Last Monday was according to experts from the USA the hottest day EVER in this WORLD!!!! 17.01 drg. C [old one 16.09] Since record keeping.
Experts think the reason is El Nino and the climate chance.
We have today here in The Netherlands code RED in the NW with summer storm Poly with winds up to 120 km./h.
We are in July now, always a bit of a sad beginning of this month as our son/brother Dennis had his birthday on July 3. He would have been 54 now [when he would not have died when he was 18!]

Ritz, more about the WWGC “maybe” on Sunday . For sure next Wednesday.