ISSOUDUN!!!

Natasja in the air and on the ground.

Weird!!! After looking at the finish of the Formula 1 yesterday ,{ pleased to see Vettel win again}I read
“It’s really a good day, more than 1800m and climb rates up to 3,5m/s.”
An hour later….outlandings ???? and not from the lower placed women, no women as Helen Hingley in club class who was already 2d and first on days and Amelie Audier in standard class.
Soaring can be cruel!!!!
Then there was TENNIS, Wimbledon,… and after 77 years the UK friends have a new Fred Perry  now named Andy Murray! And the Tour de France with 2 Dutch cyclists on spot 3 and 4 , long time ago that this happened.
Then back to soaring, strong wind on the last leg,…who is going to finish who not????
Long days for the girls!!!
Then finally the results:
The German club-girls were just GOOD. Chrissie on top this day , with Uli, who is not only her   TC,  but her husband as well and father of their gorgeous little son Fin, surely waiting for her.
Swaantje on a second spot analysing the day by saying
“I was rather surprised when I looked at the scores today. It did not feel THAT good, probably because I had to take a rather weak climb to get final glide. I am happy but no celebrations yet. Many more days to come!”
And French- Leatitia and USA -Sarah both sharing a 3d place!
Very pleased how consistent Sarah flies , so far from home and impressed by the support from her Chilhowee mates! Good on them. Sarah started as the last pilot in this class at 14.07!
All girls between 750 and 1000 points except for the unlucky Helen who got 145 points. That hurts!!!As Melissa writes in her blog:”Helen unfortunately got lured to a nice field by a series of climbs that were totally absent. ”
The rest you can read on; http://www.glidingteam.co.uk/?q=blog/womens-day-5-review
The first 14 pilots in this class are within 4130 and 4474 points in the overall scores. So a lot can still happen and Swaantje sees that well, being on the first spot at the moment.
Can’t say anything else than GOOD ON HER!!!!

In standard class as said an early message about the out-landing from Amelie, who got “only” 140 points. Also in this class Germany in the top , not 2 but 4 girls, Cornelia, Sue, Meike and Kirsten!!!
A bad day for Gill loosing more than 300 points on the German ladies, dropping from 3 to 9 overall. A pity!
It looks good for the German ladies,  but it is only a fact how good, when the last day has been flown.

In 15 m. it was France , Germany and the UK yesterday. Jutta is in great spirit and has her 2d daily win!!! Katrin Senne is on her heels and Anne [Fr] and Susanne the current WWGC champion were on a 3d spot.
Overall after 5 days it is Katrin with 29 points more than Jutta and than Anne and Susanne not 100 points behind her team mate Katrin. It’s not over yet!!!!
6 Girls in this class did not finish!

Today the girls have the next task direction S. where there should be more cu’s than over the “blue” field;
Racing Task Club
Dist.: 288.6km.

Speed Task, 03:00:00 Standard class
Dist.: 214.6km/368.7km

Racing Task 15 m.
Dist.: 327.8km

OSTROW.

What great photographers in Ostrow!
Courtesy

Day 2 yesterday for the pilots flying the EGC in Poland. Pretty long tasks , pretty good weather and pretty good results , certainly for Poland where in standard class Sebastian had his 2d day-win , so 2000 points!!! He started together with his mates Pawel and Lucasz and occupied the first 3 places! No out-landings in this class.
My Belgium friends Bert jr. and Tijl did well by being 4th and 6th. And also Young Aussie Matthew had a good day by finishing as number 6/7 but HC, so no score but 905 points for him.
He “saw” Sebastian en route , but lost him as quick as he saw him.
This is part of what he wrote in his blog;
“Ran down the Poms on the first leg, and hung off them until we were joined by Kawa near the first turn (he’d started again, 5 minutes later than us). The Poms and I tried to hang off Kawa but he lost us less than 50k down the next leg. Kawa managed to scrape us off – we followed him down to 1500ft, and from the same height in the same thermal, he effortlessly climbed away in perhaps 4kts while the Poms got 3kts and I found 1-2kts.”

Club class had like standard  an AAT of 3.45!!! Lot’s of Standard Cirrus’ in this class! Roman Mracek took the 1000 points by flying 390 km. in time 3.51.
A good day for Dutch JWGC champion Tim Kuijpers, after an outlanding on day 1 he reached spot 7 yesterday. Good on him.
The German pilots had a good day , not as good as day 1 but still on spot 5 both.

Interesting to follow is the 20 m. class. Most of the early starters had a good day and here it was Germany on top, followed by Wolfgang.
Also in this class Holland did well, with Jelmer and Robbie [once both juniors in my team in Husbos]  in the DG 1001 on spot 4 and Peter and Ard on spot 6. Peter flew till now always open class . After a not-so-good-day-1 , they are back!!

They share some fantastic pictures on the site ,I share 4 with you for the rest you can look at day 2 on their FB site.

Tasks for today;
—Racing Task Club
Dist.: 329.1km
—Racing Task Standard
Dist.: 394.2km
—AAT Task, 03:45:00 2-seaterclass
Dist.: 293.4km/568.0km

Weather for today on the picture below, as shared on FB 2 minutes before launching.

The 15 m and open class pilots from Hobbs , can’t get enough of soaring. Gary Ittner flew yesterday from Inyokern, 925 km. [682.6 FAI triangle] in the discus 2A and gained 1.046 OLC points.
Ken Sorenson flew from Houston  842 in the Ventus 2cxa [643 Fai triangle] .
And as said the weather in Europe is good , so Patrick Puskeiler flew from Hahnweide a 1000 in the Nimbus 4.
Talking about 1000 km. John Williams flew one from Kinnross [UK , Scotland ] in the Antares on Friday.

That’s it for today.
Cu on Wednesday
Ritz on Monday July 8 2013
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.soaringcafe.com      www.glidinginternational.com

ISSOUDUN

Launch on day 4 as seen on the German site!

Yesterday the 3d day of the WWGC was flown, with pretty long tasks after rainy days. In the past organisers  said; “after rain the area is still wet,  so we don’t set too long tasks”. But La Douce France is HOT and it dries quickly over there!
That was correct as the girls had a fun-day, certainly the UK pilots  Ayala and Helen. Ayala won the 3.15 speed task  in club class with 263.3 km. in 3.39,07 in the St. Libelle. With the 1000 points added to the scores from the first 2 days she is overall in the lead now. Helen was runner up and cumulative she is on spot 11. [in LS4]
The German girls had a pretty good day too , no first places yet, but that might come . Christine and Doerte  flew 300 km.  in the ST Libelles with winglets but needed 4 hours 33/34.
I was very pleased to see Elena from Italy on a nice 4th spot yesterday and 5th overall.
In standard class French Amelie won the day followed by the German girls and Gill on 5.
That’s about the order overall as well. The 2 German girls Cornelia and Sue on top with Amelie and Gill on spot 3 and 4. Enough days to go however!!!
In 15 m. it was France, Germany and Poland with the best 9 daily places. Overall 3x LA FRANCE and 2 times Germany.

Day 4 was A DAY!!!! The tasks said it all; 15 m. goes for an AAT with a min. of 4.30 and the standard and club girls have to fly a racing task from 434.5 km. and 413 km.
The weather was OK, with a cloud base of 1250 m. lift about 2 m. average and 3/8 of cu’s.
What happened?
In Club class the girls flew between 5 and 6 hours and 3 of them outlanded.
Best was the runner up from the day before,  UK pilot Helen Hingley , starting FIRST in this class.
Swaantje went 7 minutes later and she finished on a 2d spot.
Sarah ended on spot 3 for the day.
In standard class also a UK lady on spot 1 for the day; Kay Draper, with 85.4 km./h. The German girls Cornelia and Sue have an overall lead of more than 200 points on Gill who is at this stage on spot 3 overall. EVERYTHING can still happen!
In 15 m. the ladies had an AAT and 4.30 was the min. time. The German girls started at 13.41 so did Orsolya from Hungary. Katrin and Stefanie flew 426 km. in 4.40. 4 Outlandings in this class.

Tasks for today;
Speed Task Club, 04:30:00
Dist.: 301.2km/502.8km

Standard class
Racing Task
Dist.: 408.0km

15 m. class
Racing Task
Dist.: 440.8km

Standard class starts,  followed by 15 m.  and last on the grid are the CLUB-  ladies! Every day one class at least , will have an AAT. So to hear everybody still has a lot of fun , even after outlandings. Every day is a new one with new possibilities!!!

OSTROW

 The EGC in Ostrow was opened last Friday in town. What I see till now is that they are very well organised over there.

4 Busses brought all pilots ,crews and TC’s to the town where they , after a short walk through the streets , arrived at the main square.
Good to see Matthew Scutter from Australia has arrived as well. Matthew is going to fly the JWGC in Leszno, but sees this EGC where hew flies HC, as great practise.

Matthew keeps a blog and you can read what happens to a young Aussie boy in Europe at all the different soaring fields , his happy moments and less happy ones.
https://www.facebook.com/MatthewScuttersGliding?directed_target_id=0

The town square and the Polish team. Sebastian had to read the official oath and as I read the excellent TC from Poland got the Tanski medal , the most significant award  in Polish gliding. I can only say. WELLDESERVED!!!!!
Pictures shared on FB .

The Belgium and Dutch team, as shared on FB.

Yesterday they started flying and ,…there was a bit of a complaint from the pilots and crews,…the long waiting for the scales as one pilot said ; “Every glider is weighed every day (even club class). About 50 gliders ahead of me in the queue…”
Some  teams hoped to be finished with weighing before briefing. The organisers postponed the briefing from 10 till 10.30 and “got the point”.

As shared by the Belgium team and Matthew; WAITING!

The first day in Ostrow had the next tasks;
330.1 in club class with 32 pilots ,
standard 383.2 with 33 participants and
the 2 seaters went for 396,5 km., they fly with 23 gliders , so  x 2  pilots.
Finally good weather in most parts of Europe , even here with 25 dgr. and very sunny conditions.
SO,…. gliders ready , pilots ready, weather ready,  crew standby and TUGGIES ready.

Tow planes ready, weather ready , gliders ready.
As shared on FB.

It turned out to be a tough  and for some a disappointing day 1 as there were quite a few outlandings.
Not for Sebastian as he straight away won the day in standard class where he defends his title. It seems he and Christophe Cousseau are having the same ” friendly rivalry” as in Vinon. It was not long ago that Sebastian won and Christophe was the runner up in the 18 m. EGC.

In club class young Aussie Matthew , who flies HC, had not a good day as he comments, but he is very fair about it:
–“Not such a great start 🙁 Outlanded 340/380k around.
Started a bit late thinking conditions would improve and 100kph would be achievable, but I think the new airmass moved in sooner than expected and everything turned to worms at the last turn. The loose gaggle I was running with (HAL, YA, YB, 12F) seem to be scattered across the country side on the last leg too.

Kawa’s book talks about gliding being quite unique in that you can’t just do a time trial and a few laps to see if you’re in form or not, and while flight analysis is useful, without something to compare it to it’s rather meaningless. The best way to improve your form is to fly (high level) competitions, and that’s what I’m trying to do here. Today it felt like I was picking the right routes, taking the right climbs, but whenever things got a bit low and the thermals narrow and choppy, I couldn’t get the D2 full of water to climb like some of the other pilots seem to get theirs to. Climbing away from 1000ft with the Hungarian, from going around tip to tip he somehow pulled 4kts and I was working 1.5kts. More practice needed!

7 Outlandings in this class. For all results you can go of course to www.soaringspot.com

In the 2 seater class  4 outlandings and 4 toppers on the first 4 places ; Former world champion Wolfgand Janowitsch and Andreas Lutz in the ARCUS M deserved/got the 1000 points. Multiple WGC contestant Tomas Rendla was on spot 2 with Ludek Kluger in the Duo Discus . Dutch pilot Wim Akkermans with his future brother-in-law Dennis Huybreckx from Belgium both flying for Belgium, on spot 3 in the ARCUS M  and former world champion Janusz Centka was on spot 4 with Lucasz Grabowski.

Fantastic  pictures on FB from Narcyz Przybylski , I share 3 with you . Tuggies at their best!!

Courtesy and thanks to Narcyz.

Tasks for today:
Club class;   AAT  04:00:00   Dist.: 216.7km/495.5km
Standard class ;  AAT Task, 04:00:00   Dist.: 289.0km/546.4km
2-seater class; AAT Task, 04:00:00   Dist.: 293.4km/568.0km
Later they changed the tasks for standard and 20 m to 3.45.

Last but not least compliments [again] to Maria Szemplinska. The outstanding picture on the centre-spread of the latest Gliding International, from Heinz and Karin Weissenbühler-Schlösser is just so human , romantic and awesome beautiful , as well as the view on the Uvalde strip with the text; Our estimate 12.69 million US dollar, worth of glass, who said we are an inexpensive sport???? I did n’t!!! But it is SOOO much fun!!!!

Enough interesting news for everybody as well;
—the competitive 2 seater market
—The Twinshark
—New motorglider the CROSSOVER
—Latest in instruments by Paul Remde
—Greece,….Glidings hidden paradise
—AERO 2013 in Friedrichshafen
and the evaluation of the Schemmp Hirth ARCUS by Aldo Cernezzi, who flew 250 hours in 2 ARCUS types. As you know the number 100 has been sold already!! In the EGC in Ostrow 10 from 23 two-seaters are Arcus types.
63 Pages full of news.  www.glidinginternational.com

In my  blog today for Soaring café, I [re] introduce you to Manfred Radius the best ever aerobatic glider pilot, still active but not rushing from one show to the other anymore.

See you soon again depending on how much news there is about the WWGC and EGC.
Cheers Ritz

Tow plane / remorquer / tug!!!! Vital for these classes.
Picture send by Hans.

A rest day on Wednesday , with a party in the evening…. BIG event, the INTERNATIONAL Party …and the expectation for better weather and more flying days.
Time for my friends to send me some more pictures so here you are .

 
The crew arrives with the trailer, the farmer has “made room” to reach the glider,…where is the glider ,…oh yes there!
Pictures as received from Hans.

From what I read and heard the PARTY was a great success. Enough to drink and to eat and most important,…to socialize.

On the above pictures all shared on FB, you see the Italian table, the Dutch table and the table from the USA with as special guest Frauke Elber .[with book]
Frauke is the editor of the W[omen] S[oaring] P[ilots] A[ssociation] Newsletter ” Hangar Soaring” in the USA, which is on line nowadays as well. It’s a quarterly publication.

As I read on the UK site , and I did not know that, “one of the traditions at the Women’s Worlds is that each team presents the other pilots with a little gift from their country.
This year the Team GB pilots’ three respective home clubs have all kindly donated some presents for the other teams.
We would therefore like to thank Oxford Gliding Club, London Gliding Club and Lasham Gliding Society for your support!”

As shared from Women Glide by Swaantje on FB.
By the way I liked the way they described their input at the International Event:
“We supplied Pimm’s and Marmite sandwiches. The former was eagerly expected, the latter politely nibbled on.”

Yesterday was cancelled, BUT the expectation is for good weather from now on. They had a task, moved the first launch further and further and then scrubbed the day. So ,..they tried hard, but you can’t do a lot with a cloud base at 450 m.

Today the girls will be busy again for day 3 of the WWGC, with a speed task in 3.30 for club, same but 3.15 for standard and a racing task over 350 km for the 15 m.

The Ostrow pilots had on their first official practise day tasks from 331.8 km. for the 20 m. 2-seaters, 308.3 for the standard class and 274 for Club. Not everybody used the day.
In St. class the Germans practised well occupying the first 2 places in the Discus a and ax.
In club class 2 Polish pilots were on top and in the 2 seater class Denmark with a lot of outlandings on that day as well and a lot of pilots busy with other things.

Yesterday on July 4 the weather was much better , as you can see on the picture below and tasks were set from 3 hours for the standard and 2 seater class and even 3.30 for the “clubbies”, later changed into 3 hours as well!

AAT; 3.30 for club, 3.00 for Standard and 20 m.

And,…… still not all pilots were practising! A good day with 3 hour AAT’s.
In the 20 m. class it was good old Janusz Centka , who won the day . Already in 1991 he won in an ASW 22b the WGC open class in Uvalde with 11.111 points.
In standard class my friends Bert and Tijl Schmelzer did well by being first and 4th. In between a young Czech and German topper Radek Krejcirik and Felipe Levin.
In Club class 2 Rumanian pilots were ahead of Roman Mracek, but with his competition experience , this might change during the comps.
It’s “only” practise, the reality will follow over the next 2 weeks, looking forward to that as it looks like a very interesting and competitive EGC.

In Hobbs, our friend Rick Walters had a good 6th day in the ARCUS , different than the others as he flew a longer distance , in fact the longest of the day,[ 168.30 miles/270 km. ] in a longer time [ 2.09] with 9 TP’s. But he was 3d for the day!, this time it helped to go far in a longer time.
Rick was our FANTASTIC help in Uvalde in 1991. He was not qualified to fly this WGC , and “gave” his glider , a DISCUS, to our Dutch pilot Bear Selen , who won the WGC in it. His glider was HOT, as we heard later the best in the USA!!!! And with Baer in it, already world champion in Chateauroux, the combination could only win. Great times, GREAT memories!!!!!

Day 7  yesterday was less good for him with a 9th place but Rick is still on spot 3 overall. The rest remained more or less the same with Ron winning the day and leading overall with a few more points now. And Dick on 2 for the day and overall.
In 15 m. Gary Ittner won the day and Dave is still in the lead. For both classes a 3.30 TAT was set, with big circles so nobody had to be “forced ” into thunderstorm areas.
Today is the last day in Hobbs, but it was cancelled so the CHAMPIONS  are known now.
In open class;
1.Ron Tabery                 6524 points  ASW 22BLE
2.Dick Butler                 6350              CONCORDIA
3.Rick Walters              5791               ARCUS

In 15 m. class;
1.Dave Mockler            6213                ASG 29.15m.
2.Mark Keene               6026               ASW 27
3.John Cochcrane        6011                ASW 27

Here is the reason of the cancellation and you can read the full story on www.ssa.org blogs written by Karin Schlösser. Thanks Karin.

—-“This morning, July 4th, we rigged and gridded for the last time, wondering if it would get too windy to fly. But that decision was not to be made as shortly before the 10 am pilots meeting the word was spread that the day was cancelled because the town of Hobbs was planning on opening the airport ramp by 4 pm for anyone who wants to watch the July 4th fireworks that is being staged here, and the contest staff was concerned about not being able to provide a unobstructed landing area for the pilots upon return from the task. Guess nobody saw that coming….

There were many unhappy faces and it is unfortunate that a contest that is so well run has to end like this. Many pilots packed up and left, but tonights Award Banquet is still on.—“

Nice competition to follow, a real pity about the last day and  congratulations to the Champions and winners of the 2d and 3d places.

More news tomorrow. With so many  comps going on and to make stories NOT TOO long, I publish a bit more . Cheers Ritz

On July 5 2013
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com      www.soaringcafe.com      www.glidinginternational.com

No worries ALL OK!!!! Soft grass!
Pictures shared by the Dutch team.

 When I came back from Amsterdam on Monday-evening,  I quickly looked at what had happened and I could not believe my eyes , both my friends Natasja [Holland] and Teresa[Sweden]  in a field. What a pity!!

 

With CIRRUS coming in later from the North-West on this Monday , a temperature of 27 dgr. it did not look too bad and in the morning was said;” The metman is positive!” IMPORTANT!
Tasks ;  269.5 km. for the Club ladies and  Pavlina from Czech Rep. “raced” around with 74 km./h. winning the 1000 points. Sarah was 6th and the German girls finished in the middle.

The standard ladies had 320.5 km. on their plate and also here a Czech lady was the best; Dana Novakova with 84.2 km./h. Good to see Jill [UK] settled on a 2d place between all 3 Czech girls. The German ladies also here in this class finished in the middle, not loosing too many points.

The 15 m. girls had to fly 337.7 km and here it was a real French day with Jutta on top! Hungaryan Diofasi who I met at JWGC’s was a good runner up before the other French girls.3 Outlandings in this class.

The French team with Jutta to the left and the rest of the girls in the middle and TC Eric on the right.
As shared on FB by Daniel Audier.

 It seems in the end that it was quite a tough day as all bloggers mentioned that everybody was tired even some bloggers.

Day 3 had AAT’s in each class, with a min. time from 2.30 in club and standard and 3 hours for 15 m. The 15 m. was up in the air, but before opening the startline, they scrubbed the day for all 3 classes.

For today I noticed at the European weather forecast that the weather is not too good in most parts of France, but good in Poland for the first official practise day from the EGC.
Today is called a restday in Issoudun with in the evening the International Party.

Contest day 5 in Hobbs was a good again one after the [sand]-storm the day before, racing was possible and so they did! It turned out to be a good day full of cu’s.
In open class it’s nearly every day about Dick in the CONCORDIA and Ron in the ASW22BLE. Also on day 5, a 3 hour TAT was set and  Ron won the day just before Dick [271.89 mile/437 km. in 3.11] Ron leads now overall with 24 points.
In  15 m. class Mark Keene won the day [223.78 mile/360 km. in 2.59] and is on spot 2 overall now behind David Mockler.
In the evening a warning for a SEVERE thunderstorm was given and even the CONCORDIA and ETA BITER had to be de- rigged. NEVER saw that in Uvalde.

Day 4 heading to some shade under the SUPER CU as seen by Peter Alexander and some shade under the wing, as seen by Kathey Pope. Pictures courtesy SSA gallery.
Peter was by the way the “sniffer” during the WGC in Uvalde.

Day 6 in Hobbs was cancelled maybe due to that BIG storm atleast due to lot’s of rain. The comps continue till the 4th of July.
But there was a new day 6 yesterday, a triggy one , but the CD was right. On the official site [ www.ssa.org ] you can read the story by Karin, here are some parts:
“We woke up to grey skies and got hosed on during rigging – it was so sad to see the first 20 or so gliders sitting on the grid in the rain.”
“CD pulled one out of the hat: a 1.5 hr MAT for both classes.'”
“Gates opened late; 15:10 for Open’s and 15:50 for 15M”
“Some pilots decided it was worth to go over time, and most shook their heads upon return; where did this come from! The CD wondered if he undercalled the day.”
Preliminary results for day 6 Ken Sorenson, the CD from Uvalde won [122.2 miles in 1.37.21]and Dave Mockler is still on spot 1 overall with 166 points on the runner up, John Cochrane.
In open class the ETA BITER won with Heinz flying 9 TP’s,155 miles [249 km.] in time 1.54,52.  Ron was 2d with 4 TP’s, 125.10 miles in 1.35,4.

On the OLC I noticed that the first of July had some great flights. Germany had the best for Europe  , 1000 for Alexander Späth in the Nimbus 4 starting at  Hahnweide and for all reasons he was n’t too happy as it could have been better [ he declared a 1000 FAI triangle , could have flown 975 FAI  but would have had to make an outlanding then, so he gave that away] and ELY for the USA, with Jim Payne topping the list with also nearly a 1000 FAI triangle[ 988.4] .
Good flight in the ASW 27 by Ramy Yanetz,also from ELY,  a total of 1.124 ,3 [853.7 FAI]
—“Fantastic day with some great runs as well as dodging OD and virga.—“ was his comment.
Also yesterday the weather went “on” with 2 more long flights.
In 2011 the OLC had 2 days with more than 1000 flights in JUNE and one over 2000 [ 2817 nearly 3000!!] 2012 had 5 days in JUNE, with over 1000 flights , this year 2 but also one over 2000 a day.[June 8]

It’s getting closer; The EGC in Ostrow. Look at the skies , but they talk about hail and thunderstorms for the night and wind . Anyhow they could still practise and the official practise  starts today. The first official TC meeting is tonight at 8. The comps start on the 6th with an opening ceremony on the 5th. Last day July 20 with also the closing ceremony and prize giving. So now you are totally up to date! Oh, not to forget the President of the jury is Bruno Ramseyer [IRL] and the chief steward is Jaroslav Vach.[Czech Rep]

Ostrow skies yesterday as seen by my Belgium friends.
A lot of the Keiheuvel pilots are there!

That’s it , whenever possible and when interesting for all of you as well, I will be back more over the next couple of days.
The latest digital version of the newsletter from the Perlan Project you can find on  http://perlanproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/The-Perlan-Project-Newsletter-May-June-2013-1.pdf

Cheers Ritz
on Wednesday July 3 2013 , birthday of Dennis who would have been 44 today but only celebrated 18 birthdays. NEVER forgotten!!!

DAY 1 at the WWGC as followed at home.

Briefing day 1 as shared by team USA.

Due to the long winter and the late spring all grass and crops are high in most parts of Europe. Normally it would all have been cut down already, not this year, so there is some concern about going ” aux vaches” for the ladies flying the WWGC.
Luckily France has a lot of small airfields so that will help .
Also the pretty complicated airspace might be a problem for some who have never been in that region . Loosing points due to airspace infringements is such a waste and you never do it on purpose. Mostly you hear the beep and it’s too late.
It was all discussed at length during the briefings, so let’s hope there will be no outlandings due to fantastic weather and no penalty points by clear instructions and maybe by not setting tasks too close to those forbidden areas.

high crops as shared by the USA team.

Some great pictures from day 1 on the official French FB site ; 47 Have a look, I selected a few for you.
7th FAI Women’s World Gliding Championships – Issoudun, France 2013‘s album: Race 1.

 
The UK girls and the girls from the USA [ with TC Francois] and Australia.

And before the first launch.

 
Difficult to see with hair under scarf and sunglasses but pretty sure this is Elena’s smile [Italy] and one of the French ladies with TC Eric.

Quite a blue day but that was forecasted certainly to the W and S,  other areas should have some cu’s , but there was lift enough in the blue as well.After a small delay  the girls were launched by 8 tuggies at 12.45!
Within half an hour the start lines were open last for 15 m. class at; 13.47.
During the day more and more cu’s were to be seen as you can see on the picture , from Frouwke, even at the finish line.

And it turned out a good day, certainly for Sarah who won the Club class in the St. Libelle and got the first 1000 points. With handicap 98 she won from the French girls  Magali and Laetitia flying in the St. Cirrus with a handicap of 100. All scores still preliminary, don’t forget!
So a good first day for our USA friend flying the Libelle, so far away from home.
As the TC Francois said; Yope, our very own Sarah took the day.
I am sure her mates in Chilhowee and all guests from her airfield in Tennessee, are “over the moon”, with the very first daily win in a WGC or WWGC for Sarah.
Swaantje did well loosing only 38 points in the LS 1f and also Elena [LS1f] had a great day being 5th . All those girls started at the same time at 14.21.
UK pilot Ayala [St. Libelle] started also at that time and was 6th.
The German girls Chrissie and Doerte , starting at 14.13, are also still in the 900 points ranch.

In standard class the German ladies showed straight away why they are good. Sue as the current world champion, leads on day 1. Only  LS 8 gliders in this class except for a Discus 2A and ASW 28. Natasja was last but she finished and got 698 points! Good on her. Nobody outlanded in both classes.

In 15 m. the German ladies with Susanne, who is the current WWGC champion upfront ,set the pace in this class as well. All 3 on the top positions 1000,999,997 points. Guess TC Uli is happy.
2 Outlandings in this class. My friend Teresa finished last at 6.30 PM. but,..made it home!!!
Pleased to see Diofasi did well with a 4th place.

German TC Uli.

Courtesy French FB site[one of the 47 pictures!]

It seems the next couple of days will be weather-wise pretty good, so we can follow more interesting soaring. Will be busy over the next 3 days , but try to keep up with the achievements.
Hope you all follow it too, they do their utmost best, ALL of them, to bring  WWGC- soaring in the best way to us!
This was only the beginning, day 1 was interesting to follow!

CU on Wednesday. Cheers Ritz