Alphen aan den Rijn 10-07-2008
First things first! I was supposed to travel today to Luesse to inform you straight from the comps for 3 days, but…..things did not work out, also due to my own “not-being-organized-well-enough”.Next time I will organize my trip again on my own therms.
So from far I try to evaluate a bit what’s happening in Luesse. For sure you read all news by your self so I will forget about that.
Interesting p.e is that the Dutch pilots are flying so well!Normally it is The Germans, the French and the English ….This time the Clockies get a lot of compliments and I do not say the French and the German’s and the English are NOT doing well. They do and I still firmly believe that Michael Sommer will win open class, though I was a bit amazed to see that his first day was not the very best!
Why is Holland just good with all pilots!?
NOT that Holland was NOT good in the past. Baer Selen was world champion in Chatouraux. Kees Musters, who tragically died in France in a hang glider accident in 1987, was world champion in Hobbs [USA].
When I was TC of the Dutch Team I” had “Baer Selen as World champion in Uvalde[Texas]. Silver medal winners I “had” with Erik Borgmann in Borlange[Sweden] and Steven Raimond in Bayreuth [Germany] . Ronald Termaat was”my” bronze winner in Rieti in the European comps. And …Steven Raimond was European champion in Rayskala [Finland] . I celebrated too as steward that year.And Ronald of course was European champion in France, so Holland always had good pilots.But now , this year, we belong to the countries as Germany, GB and France. Why?
First of all, the Dutch team has been guided over the last couple of years by the TC Fouwke and by coach Baer Selen jr. Of course he is a 2 times world champion and his input is of great value. Same companions for many years now, so no invention of the 5th wheel!!!
Did the German team p.e have a doctor, a met -man ,a coach and lot’s of people “en -route” and on the TP’s, in the past, and lot’s of sponsoring, we had to do with our pilots the TC and very small budget.
Nowadays the Dutch team has a sponsor in NSF/NOC, a firm friendship as they see each other regularly, which is ALSO of great value, a coach and an experienced TC, and when on the ground everything is smooth, the team members are friends , the situation is there to “create” a world champion or just below.Of course the “luck-factor” is important too, but when you are good this is automatically to your advantage.
On top of that the Dutch junior team is excellent, also more to expect for the future!
So…that’s my word for the sunday and….my private opinion!
The weather in Luesse is less good as in Rieti, but I guess that’s what everybody expected anyhow. Today they do not fly, 8/8 of Cu but just high enough to not interfere with the airshow which will be today.Perhaps a good idea as they wanted to integrate the airshow IN the comps. I heard some TC’s were already a bit annoyed yesterday as Junckers doing passengers flights,started between the gliders!!!!!!
About 25 pilots , including the German Team, have promised to show the many spectators today, what gliding is all about! They will rig the glider , start…fly around a bit and for sure come back with a REAL finish!!!!No penalty points today!!!They will have LOTS of fun!
A pity gliding is not an official Olympic sport. I really love to see all sports so I am totally NOT bored these coming weeks. Gliding would fit in nicely, but with the smog in China this might be not a good idea!
One more week to go for the WGC and very small differences in the top-places. A lot can happen, so nothing is clear at this stage! I really hope that Georgy Gulyas will win, I still see his face change from happiness to sadness on that last day and during the last minutes in Sweden and I had tears in my eyes!!
Good luck to ALL pilots, may the 3 best in each class WIN!!!!
Ritz