One week home now , but still suffering from jetlag!!!

The Namibian season is over , containers are packed and most will look back on a good/great holiday, depending on what time they were there.
WHY IS IT OVER ….good question ……these pictures shared by SkySight show why!!!
“Matthew’s picture shows us how Namibia changes to green with the rainy season and why we end the season in Namibia towards the end of January. But don’t be mistaken, this year the third week in January was one of the best week of the season, with a lot of flights well over 1000km !!!
The next season starts on Oktober 31, 2020 with “Flying with the Champions” and ends with the last day of the flight on January 22, 2021 ” Kiripotib Soaring.

KIRIPOTIB stopped their season on January 16 with another impressive flight from Wolfgang in the ARCUS M.; 1.200 km.Those gliders from rent- a -glider/Flying with the Champions, really did well.

Here some statistics about this outstanding Kiripotib gliding season

We brought 14 gliders down to Namibia, 9 of them Arcus M, 2 Ventus 3M, 1 EB29DR, 1 Antares 23 E, 1 Shark MS.

117 pilots from 20 nations used our gliders, it was the most ever, both pilots and nations.
99 of them registered 596 flight with 383.918km on OLC, not the most km due to the bad conditions in December, but the most flights ever from Kiripotib.
Thanks again to our guests who visited Kiripotib and helped to reach this results, it was great fun to be there for you.
If you are thinking of coming the first time or of coming again, please get in contact with Ludwig on soaring@kiripotib.com as soon as possible. Bookings are coming in already, if you wait to long you might be late.

Last season they had 384.308,84 flown by 86 pilots during 534 flights!!!

BITTERWASSER is very involved also in flying with the younger pilots.
I support that and LIKE that!!!!!
” One day better than the other
At the moment the weather in Namibia is weakening somewhat. But Maximilian Dorsch, the winner of the Bitterwasser Cup 2019, found it super when he visited the Center early January. The winner of the OLC Discus 2015 learned how to fly a 1000 k in the training camp 2018 with Wilfried Großkinsky. Last year Max showed that the dream flight is also possible with an LS4 in Germany. And now from Bitterwasser he striked out farther with the Ventus 3M “4i”: twice over 1100 kilometers and then over 1250 kilometers! Again and again there was a convergence over the border between Kalahari and Namib.
Every young pilot (up to the age of 25) in Europe can win the invitation for a week of gliding in Bitterwasser. The cup is hold every year. Six flights are rated in the OLC. With his victory last year Maximilian has achieved a small feat: in addition to studying and training for an ATPL Max competed in the Junior World Championships in Hungary. He won bronze in the club class. “

Bitterwasser continued a bit longer,…in the past the season was over mid January,… now they continue till nearly the end of the month.[24th]
Looking at the OLC , Reinhard and Daniel Schramme flew nearly 1000 k ;991 k. [750 triangle] on January 23 in the EB 28.
One day earlier still 6 x a 1000 k .In the ARCUS M they even flew a 1000 triangle this late in the season.
Bitterwasser top’s the OLC airfield list with a huge margin.
They flew 602.041,61 km with 142 pilots during 818 flights!!!
On January 24 it was over in Bitterwasser as well:
” Last ride to the airfield
The last flights have been made, the containers are packed. The previously fully parked palm alley is deserted. Before the disassembly of the gliders big flights were on the agenda .
Actually there is still no end of the good gliding conditions in sight, but the sea transport of the planes back to Europe takes time. And most pilots want their glider back in March to match the spring thermals.
Life goes on in the lodge. In the next months bus tourists will visit Bitterwasser for a night and a game drive on their round trips through Namibia – until the new gliding season begins in November. “

The other Namibian destinations had reasonable seasons too, though December, normally the best month was not so good this time.There are clearly differences between season 2019 and 2020, specially in kilometers flown.
After Bitterwasser and Kiripotib it was
Pokweni with 305.264,44 km. flown by 55 pilots during 433 flights.
In the 2019 season they had 365.387,83 flown by 54 pilots during 492 flights. So also less kilometers, I presume, due to the December weather.
Veronica, had 292.493,72 km. with 67 guests making 391 flights,... BUT …they had last season 385.920,36 km’s.with 82 pilots making 508 flights.

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News on the new-aircraft-site;
The BRANDNEW AS 33 is FLYING!!!!! Another “beauty” for our skies.
Interesting to see what will happen with this glider, the JS 3 and the Ventus 3 in the upcoming future and at comps.
Heard they will all 3 fly in Stendal at the WGC.
The “rumour” is that one pilot who owns a Ventus 3 ,…will fly in a JS 3 and another owner , this time of a JS 3, will fly the AS 33.
I know Sarah, who won Lake Keepit, will fly in the back of a 2-seater with Karl Striedeck in Stendal.

THE CHILE SGP/
the 58th National Championship in 15 m. /
The Andes Open.
January 17-January 25….. 2020.

Winner of these comps is Thomas Gostner.
With 2 cancelled day’s and 4 flown, from which Thomas won 2, he was just a tad better than Marius.
He was also runner up on 3 day’s and had a bit of an off-day on race 3 where he was 6th but he still had 1 point and was the last finisher on this 349 km task. The rest was out.
The same amount of points as Marius Pluscauskas [Lithuania] both 39!!
Thomas is mentioned as number 1, Marius as number 2 and Rene Vidal was 3d with 31 points.
For the 15 m Nationals Thomas had 5.551 points …about 60 more than Marius.[5.493] Rene had 5.432 p. All pretty close!!!

Talking about Italy at the top ….. the Italian media are “full” of Elena!!! Campione,… campione is now,…. the “queen of the skies“!!!Like that.
AND,…”Campionessa del mondo ” sounds so much better as world champion, is n’it?
” The transition from second place to the first occurred following a penalty imposed on all the Australian pilots for an irregularity made by their team captain. Initially, therefore, it was a somewhat strange feeling, but then the joy erased everything “.
2 more pictures from Elena after she was thrown in the pool with her tracker still in the pocket.
Jacques did his best over night and it worked again.
Did I ever tell you already how SORRY I felt for Jacques , that an old mate “entered” his tracker. Jacques,…Such a FINE guy!!!!

Talking about Lake Keepit,….some of the TC’s stayed there and enjoy soaring at the WWGC field, as TC Jeremy from the UK and TC John from the USA. At the moment the Keepit Grand Prix is in full swing.
Yesterday Jeremy flew a 500 FAI triangle [564 OLC km’s] in the 18 m. ASG 29E and John and his USA mate Nicholas flew 533 on the 22d in the ARCUS M and yesterday 512 again!!
” Circumnavigated the Pilliga forest. [Dangerous area as you CANNOT LAND THERE!!!!}Clouds all day. It was surprisingly weak in the beginning so we flopped around on the high ground until we got a climb and headed on course to the WNW where conditions were much better. Good run south. Softer going home but there were still some good climbs “

And talking about one world champion , we have to talk about the other ones too. Loved the “head” in the Chattanooga Times Free Press;
” Polk county woman wins gold in Australia Gliding Event.”
Event,…bit of an euphemism. BUT,…what a stylish picture!!!!!

No new pictures from the French girls from open class but here is one I published already

———————————————————–

Great to see that Tomas Suchanek flew SO LATE IN THE SEASON a 1000 k. from Narromine in the 15 m Ventus 2ax, which belonged to Adam. The first 1000 for glider G1 , I am sure not for Tomas.

Whilst I was in Keepit, the GLIDING INTERNATIONAL “arrived”digital on my laptop but I had no time to read it.
Now I had . The January/February issue starts with a very interesting article about the
—–EUROGLIDER; 16 competent Frenchmen/girls lend their skills to an exciting project that goes beyond the idea of a concept glider.
—--Ultra light gliders,…the enthusiasm for them seems to accelerate.
—–The Glider pilots from the 2020thies have to know all about,…..electric motors specially the artificial intelligence, to adjust and manage the electrical out put,..all to be read on page 17.
—–For records,….try Brazil next….
—–Why do experienced pilots crash???
—–a new approach to tasks and scoring in Gliding Competitions by Peter Ryder who was ICG president between 1990 and 1991.
—–All kinds of International Aviation news for glider pilots and “Things with Wings”.
60 Pages of “pure” gliding news. You can subscribe on the Magazine or receive the digital version by email.
glidinginternational.com

Horsham coaching week is in progress now,… next week the Horsham comps.
Diana will fly there.

And to finish another 3 generations-picture this time from Belgium with dad Ken [Evens] , his son Thibo and dad/ opa Jan.Very nice mates.

CU next Wednesday for more newsy news.
Cheers Ritz

Back home again after a long trip.
14,25 hours was the trip from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi and,…I was really lucky.
Nobody came to sit in my row ,so I had 3 chairs for myself and slept for 7 hours!!!Must have needed it.

The 2d part was 7 hours and 35 minutes. Longer than normal but KLM did not fly over Iran and had to fly via Saudi Arabia and Egypt to fly from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam.AND,…on top of that the captain told us they had a 300 km./h upper wind, so delay.
Not too bad though half an hour in total.

Great to see my daughter and granddaughter at Schiphol airport. They came before going to school and work.
Grandson and son in law were at home and Rodger brought me home…. a 1.30 drive.

With 0 dgr. C it is not too bad here, but quite a difference with the 45 in Tocumwal and the 43 in Lake Keepit.

Have to still read a lot of mails from people who have shared their thoughts over the track-debacle.So I come back on that later.

The flag is travelling as well. You know, “it” went with Liz to the UK for the next WWGC in HusBos via Sydney.

For now it is unpacking and trying to think correct with a head full of ” cotton”.

So …Thanks again for all your interest in that great soaring heaven Lake Keepit and this WWGC 2019/20; one to never forget, for many reasons.

P/S
Got more mails and I want to share one with you to make the picture complete.It’s from the president of the GFA, with a reaction on what happened written to all current GFA members .

“You may have heard that the Australian Womens team at the Womens World Gliding Championships recently held at Lake Keepit did a fantastic job, only to have a penalty imposed as a result of a protest that took 250 individual points off all the pilots, losing podium positions for two.

While we have only just seen the formal jury report, I do know that none of our team would intentionally act in an unsportsmanlike manner.

In an attempt to remove the stigma of cheating and protect and clear both our team, and the GFA’s good name, we are conducting an urgent review into the process. The protest was about the use of non delayed tracking information in the contest.

The investigation will be conducted by a Barrister who has a history in the Police force. The terms of reference will focus on who and how the information was obtained and if it, in fact, was against the rules. It will ensure that the correct processes were applied.

Lest you think this is a whitewash, it is not. If we find that an appeal is appropriate we will do that, if not we will do whatever is the correct thing for our organization, our pilots, and Australia.

If we decide to appeal the loss of points the appeal must be made through the Australian Sport Aviation Confederation (ASAC) which is the Australian National Airsport Control member of the International Gliding Committee, which meets in early March.

The investigator has been asked to present his report to the GFA Executive and Board within three weeks. Those in any way involved in the process will not be part of the investigation or decision making process, this is both to protect them as individuals and to ensure the integrity of the process.  

Please give our team the credit they deserve, they did some fantastic things, and don’t need to be pilloried for giving their all.

Peter Cesco

President

Gliding Federation of Australia.         

21^st January 2020

Coming back on the last sentence!
I like all Aussie girls and indeed they did fantastic things and I think they could have actually won WITHOUT external aid!!!
BUT,….the worst thing is,….We will never ever know NOW, how they won and that’s going from heaven into hell for the girls , specially Jo and Lisa.
Only those who gave them the external aid are to blame in my eyes!!

Here is a short story , from somewhere mid week at the mobile bar with a lot of mates, by one Aussie crew member:
” We have access to g-track without delay“
“Impossible you mean OGN [open glider network], I guess”
“No , what I say, if the Europeans would be smart they could find it at internet as well, it’s legal you only have to be smart enough to find it. We are going to tell everybody after the comps, how we did it.”

I guess this crew did not know it was illegal and then still was in good faith.
Just to let you know.

And one other reaction by Mike;
” I’d have thought when you find a security flaw in a system you report it and have it fixed, not exploit it for advantage. “

John Good wrote a long story here is part of it the rest , the more technical site, you can find on:
https://ussoaringteams.org/john-goods-final-report-for-wwgc-2019/

“This contest naturally wanted to make tracking displays available to interested spectators around the world.  For this, they chose to use what are known as GFA trackers – self-contained cell-based trackers supported by the Gliding Federation of Australia, and well proven at many Australian contests.  With the exception of the occasional battery failure, these trackers and the online software that displays their data do a beautiful job, and the tracking for this contest has been popular around the world (most notably, in the USA). Pilots naturally have some concern about carrying a tracker that continually discloses their position, but this concern is addressed by the rule (noted above) requiring a 15-minute delay on the display of such data. So far so good.

But at a special meeting of Team Captains on Friday morning, we were stunned to learn that the Australian team found a way to receive undelayed data from all GFA trackers.  They thus had full real-time coverage of all gliders all the time, and were freely using this data to help their pilots. 

Along with almost everyone here, I do not believe this was a plan to intentionally do something underhanded.  The Australian team position is that they found a web page that required no password or other access restrictions, making the GFA tracking data available there fair game.  They further believe that what they were obtaining (real-time positions for all gliders) is the same data available to any team that went to the trouble of deploying private Flarm stations in the contest task area.  They though of it as a clever and easy way to obtain the same information others would be able to get.

It won’t surprise you to hear that the other 9 Team Captains (of which I am one) did not endorse this view.  The first point is that the contest is required by rule to impose a 15-minute delay on the tracking display, so a website that offered undelayed data ought to have been secured, something anyone with knowledge of the rules would surely have known. Next, even if was not secured, any scheme that uses such data undermines the 15-minute delay requirement, thus creating a rules violation.  Pilots accepted the GFA trackers (as the rules required them to do) on good faith; they must now digest the fact that, in effect, their gliders were “bugged” during this contest.

The initial ruling from the contest organizers was that the receipt of this illicit data was unsporting behavior, but because the Australian pilots had been told – and sincerely believed – this scheme was acceptable, no penalties would be applied. 

This did not sit well with the 9 Team Captains.  If the data was illicit (as the contest had stated), extra speed and distance obtained from the use of it could not be handwaved away, even if pilots weren’t aware of the underlying problem.  The response to this objection was a revised ruling: each Australian pilot would be penalized 250 points.  This was protested, both by some teams who argued that the correct penalty was disqualification, and by the Australian team (who probably argued – correctly – that there is no specific rule against using the unsecured GFA tracking data).  The final determination was that the penalty would be amount to 25 points per day per pilot, so a total of 225 points in this 9-day contest.

This is perhaps approximately just – and certainly devastating to our contest.  Jo Davis, flying beautifully in Club class, was knocked from first to fourth place; Elena Ferganani now has a gold medal that must always be bittersweet.   Lisa Trotter (a good friend of mine) lost her third place medal in Standard Class.  The contest organization here, just at the end of an impressively well-run event representing several years of work, must now digest the fact that the most persistent memory of this contest is likely to be one distasteful to everyone.

What should happen as a result of this?  The contest organization has promised to produce a full and complete description of exactly what happened.  The IGC (International Gliding Commission, responsible for WGC rules, procedures and policies) should confront the fact that their decision to abandon the level playing field contributed to this.”
Thanks John!

And on a MORE HAPPY and very PROUD NOTE!!!

And from France and Germany the 3 JS 3 winners in 18 m. ,…one gold one silver and one bronze.

AND ….for Elena the Italian soaring world has only one word ;
CAMPIONE DEL MONDO! CAMPIONE DEL MONDO! CAMPIONE DEL MONDO!
Nice!!!!

And on another VERY SAD NOTE!!!!
3 Firefighters from the USA died after their plane crashed in Australia!!

CU next Wednesday.
Ritz

It’s time to go home again. Tomorrow morning they bring me to Shepparton where I take the train to Melbourne.
From there via Abu Dhabi back to Amsterdam.
As always, Australia is my second home, always difficult to leave again. But,..home makes me happy too, so in fact I am a lucky girl to have 2 great homes.
We had the worst thunderstorms and loads of rain last night. The drought here, seems to be broken too!!! Good for the farmers.

I am still following all updates about the tracking-“scandal”. I am glad the jury has reached a decision and stated this in writing now.
TC’s who are not happy with the final result can take action after this written statement if they wish.
It remains 225 penalty points not the 250 as set by the CD and her staff.

There are a lot of “emotional” reactions, but the point is to let the FAI take care of this ,as it really hurts our sport!!!

Here is a statement NOT BY ME, but I just received it by mail and it shows pretty clear what has happened there. I got several mails but this one, how harsh it maybe sound , clarifies a lot.
That’s why I share it.

“The home team (Australia) had a (support) team member who had been involved, some years ago, in the creation of the tracking system used in the WWGC 2019. He was in possession of an url (address) that gave him access to the raw data (without the 15 minute delay) of all the participants in the competition. This information was used to coach the home team with respect to starting times, the location of thermals and their strength etc. It created a huge advantage for the pilots of the home team. It was not possible for other teams to find this url (address) so the disadvantage for them was real and could not be undone.
Was it illegal for the home team member to type in the specific url? No, probably not, but the data “found” was not owned by him. It was owned exclusively by the competition management. Seeing those data was one thing but using it to cash in on a competitive advantage for the home team pilots, was not only unethical but nothing less than plain embezzlement. A gliding version of insider trading as a matter of fact.

The team captain of the home team allowed the use of this “stolen” information on a daily basis, misleading to a certain extent his pilots with respect to the legality of the data used to coach them. They all knew it was “zero delay” tracking info but they conveniently (or ultra naively) overlooked the fact that it was in fact cheating on a monumental scale.
The 250 pt (later 225 pt) penalty issued to each home team pilot was basically a smooth over. You get 50 pts penalty for missing the barrel around a turn point by a few hundred meters, even when you round it on the outside of the barrel. That is a pretty stiff penalty…., but for unsporting behavior the price is a measly 25 pts a day. It apparently pays to cheat if the penalty is so light!!! According to the rules, as I interpret them, the whole home team should have been disqualified following this affair. 
You wonder how the kingpin of this affair, the home team captain, who is also a leading executive in the Gliding Federation of Australia and a long time IGC delegate, can keep his position after this debacle..!
This occurrence has severely tarnished the image of gliding in general, the GFA in particular and has damaged the reputation of FAI. A very thorough investigation by FAI into this affair seems a necessity. ”

Also TC John from the successful team of the USA will get back to it
” This ought to be my final report from this contest, ending on a very high note.  But for an unfortunate reason I’ll need to add another later.  Briefly, the contest was engulfed in controversy today concerning access  by one team to real-time tracking information that by rule was required to be delayed by 15 minutes (so as to blunt its value for tactical guidance).  In my report, I’ll describe what I know of this, and the effect it already has had (hint: not good, nor welcomed by anyone). “

You can find his report later at ussoaringteams.org

These are the last words from Australia.
It was MY PLEASURE!!!!!
Thanks for all support, THANKS FOR READING WITH SO MANY.
Keep all the good things from Lake Keepit in mind,…they deserve that!!!!

Cheers Ritz

First the last day of the WWGC which was a bit damp due to the tracking business.

I left at 4.30 PM to be in time for the FLY PAST from the F 18 on Friday afternoon. We were waiting and from one into the other moment , it was there… a huge plane cause it was LOW and I will never forget the noise TERRIBLY LOUD.
Was 1 second late to put my fingers in my ears and it hurt!!!
It me tremble as well!!!!
Before we knew it was gone, but made a nice beat up on the way back.
Quite spectacular.
Heard from the Air Force – lady that the pilot was a young girl ,..in her early twenties… , called Jessica. She seems a natural talent.She showed it!!!!

After we had the BBQ, and Chris , who organized every days food for the volunteers and guests, felt terrible because there was not enough salad. For the full 2 weeks , there was a “load of food” mostly too much , now they missed out on salad. No worries ,..they found some and everybody had enough to eat again.

Then it was waiting for the results. It took till 9 PM before Gisela the juror send a message that the jury had reached a decision….”expect podium at 9.”

When we saw the Italian flag under at the flag pole ,we knew the result in club class.
There was never any doubt about the CHAMPIONS in 18 m and standard class. Here they are again

Have some more pictures about the prizes as well
Here you are;

Sean from Australian Gliding was AT the field on the last day:
“FINAL DAY
Tasks were set on the the final day of the championships and the competitors and crews dutifully gridded all the gliders. However, it seemed unlikely due to the weather that the fleet would actually be able to be launched. After waiting on the grid for an extra hour and half after the official launch time of 11:30am the day was finally cancelled.

In the meantime, a festival atmosphere took hold, with music and dancing. The mood was friendly and happy. When the day was cancelled relief and sadness were felt by all that the great event had come to its conclusion.”

And “real” ladies in dresses as the USA team arrived very female.

A thank you message from Sarah on FB:
“The thing about realizing a goal or dream is it means the most when it is difficult to accomplish. Coming into the competition I felt that it was my time. From the first practice days I felt like I had come to a place of maturity in my flying and that it would work out, but I knew those French girls would be hard to beat!

Thank you Aude Grangeray and Aude Untersee for keeping the competition so fierce! Lisa Trotter was on fire, and I loved our flights together with Claire Scutter. Ayala Truelove too! So many strong amazing women with whom I’m privileged to associate.

To my teammates Kathryn Fosha and Sylvia Grandstaff, thanks for being my gaggle! Your friendship is a precious thing which buoyed me up in so many key moments.

Jason Arnold, husband, partner, friend, and best crew in the world. We really did it!!!

John Good has invested so much in so many ways for so long – coaching, scheming, drumming up support, acting as crew and captain. Thank you.

These last two days I’ve been reading a long and happy congratulatory card which has come in the form of many emails, comments, posts and likes. This couldn’t have happened without the support of every one of you. I am continually thankful for my soaring (and extended) family.”

And a nice picture from the Italian girls.

So that’s the end of this WWGC.
What a sterling job the organizers , local club-pilots and volunteers did!!!!
A BIG THANK you counts for ALL.
Specially in my case for Lyndy and Chris, who took me everywhere I wanted to go. Nothing was too much for them.
And to Mandy , who added me last minute to “her” volunteers”.
I loved every minute except maybe the last days when the “track-shadow over these comps” dropped the spirit a bit.
Will be back one day. Found nice new friends and a welcoming CLUB.
THANK YOU LAKE KEEPIT!!!!

AND,….finally the drought has been broken!!!!! Hurrah. Travelling from Lake Keepit to Tocumwal showed how terrible that part of NSW has been hit!!!!!
It’s already getting greener here again.

The controversies;
Will be here soon ; thunderstorms, guests , laundry and Tomas who should be back soon here with the trailer and car used in Lake Keepit.
George will bring the car back to Benalla and Ian will take Tomas to Albury, Lots of logistic’s.
By the way, Tomas just arrived safely after driving parts with only 40 k /h due to heavy rain and thunderstorms.
He is on his way now to Albury!!!

The controversies:

The Aussie girls;
9 of them,….. and some really practiced hard to “shine” here in Lake Keepit in their own country.
Will we ever know how good they were???
Loved seeing all their good results…loved seeing their happiness,…but were they so good because of all practice ,…. or by listening to those who gave them un-delayed data ????

The complaint;
“On the final day of competition, a complaint was lodged by Team Captains of all teams with the exception of Australia. The complaint alleged that the Australian Team had gained unauthorized access to undelayed data from the official competition tracking system – which has a mandated 15 minute delay. This was a system that all competitors were compelled to use. The complaint stated this information gave Australian team pilots a competitive advantage. Following an investigation, a Team penalty of 250pts was applied to all Australian Team pilots..  

Four protests were subsequently lodged in both support (3 asking for further penalties including disqualification) and defence (removal of the penalty).  The jury committee deliberated for over 5 hours and called on the assistance of a number of IT experts that included the system designer.  The ultimate decision being a penalty of 25 points per day.  The penalty was levied as a Team penalty and was therefore applied to all pilots equally.”

Mandy Temple CD

News from the TC’s is still pending.
They await the next step !There are still processes to follow, and they are all waiting to see how this proceeds.
It seems to be a long way from being over.

Official written jury report is still pending as well.

Let’s wait and see how this unfolds.

After 10 hours of driving ,we are back in Tocumwal. The last hours from yesterday were a bit sad as a “shadow of bitterness ,anger and sadness” fell over the comps.
It was such a great competition!!!
And then ….we were all shocked , when we heard via the organizers and TC’s, that the Australian team did not use the track system the way it should have been done, thus having had advantage.
After the jury , several remote jurors and Gisela in Keepit, discussed the subject for hours ,…25 points for 9 day’s was 225 points lost in total for the team.
For some countries that was not enough. They think of the next step.

There are a lot of stories, the REAL story will be here tomorrow. One from me personally ,one from a combination of 9 TC’s.
I need one more night to sleep over it.
Don’t jump to conclusions TOO quick by looking at FB stories or “colored” stories.

All pictures and the full story will be here tomorrow too.
Here are a few already

As said,….MORE pictures and stories tomorrow,

Do you know how loud an FA 18 is??? Will tell you tomorrow!!!

AND,…VERY PLEASED to find out that I broke the UVALDE_ RECORD of unique viewers per day.
Uvalde was the best since 2012, yesterday is now the BEST EVER DAY!!! THANKS!!!!!!
Still remember how glad they were with that in Uvalde!!!
Don’t even want to know how many “clicks” that are.
Hope it reflects on Lake Keepit!!!!

Ritz

8 AM :
We had rain yesterday, you might remember that after so many years of dry weather, I could not believe that there would be rain.
BUT,…it rained ALL DAY!!!!!A real good drop!!!
GOOD NEWS…it was dry at 6.30 PM and nearly all “soaring-ladies” and their crews arrived for a great BBQ evening.
When you do your best as a club , and put ALL YOUR FRIENDLY EFFORT in setting a great WWGC , you get back too!!!

Look at the pictures;

Everybody used the club house kitchen as their own. Meaning all guests feel very welcome here.
Must say the hospitality from this club is overwhelming.

Do they fly …yes or no?????
Welcome to day 11…… take 2.
There is a problem with the weather server,…no weather yet!!!
they are waiting for an update.
in between I got news from the USA and they are going to send me weather updates!

Meanwhile gridding will be after briefing and starts at 10 AM this because the runway is soft.
club up front for 2 hour AAT
standard for 1.30 AAT
18 m. for 1.30 AAT

FIRST LAUNCH AT 11.30….PLEASE GRID PROMPTLY.

I guess for a few pilots , crews and tuggies a bit of a surprise that we have another day,…BUT that’s why the girls are here.
So day 10 from 14, good average.

Off to briefing, cleaned a bit first, so running late. Sorry.

10 AM:
LAST briefing of this WWGC.
Due to radar problems in the USA they had no weather, but SkySight-Matthew made a new arrangement, I believe via New Zealand and on base of that tasks have been set . Small ones as you have read already.

WHEN …they fly today,…closing ceremony will be tomorrow as was planned. BUT……if not it is tonight at 5 at Sport and Rec.
10.05 AM;
It’s OK to grid now.Please take care to make gentle turns with the car.
Order is same as yesterday.

Dave with the weather;
Yesterday and today had a low pressure through, with clouds and rain.
For today they expect;
—cu’s at 10.30
—temperature 38 dgr C
—Short window
—4000 ft at 11
—5000 at noon -plus
—rain arrives 2.30 /3 PM.
—SW and SE wind might “collide/meet” over the field at around 3, Could be nasty,…could be interesting…

Bruce with the tasks:
The last day’s have been really challenging.
We will monitor the weather. Yesterday we could see it close by, today it’s further away.
Day should give a fair chance to ALL.
“All I can say ” and ” we do our best today!” by Bruce.

The German team has a video reporter here for production [ most probably TV ….when they like it,…”they WILL like it !” and later YouTube] for the South part of Germany .
Alex ..Alexander Triebel …is making the film. It will be most probably be on in March, when Serena his sister is back in Germany as she will show up then there for a TV interview.
I have his email, so when it is on I’ll inform you in my regular blog.

At the table today:

In the briefing room today:

10.30 AM; Tasks today!!!

Interesting. Only Club class has a B task too from 1.30.
Does it mean that only one class flies today???
Let’s wait and see.
It’s sunny here with overcast, but clouds under it.

Slowly starting to look back at this WWGC. Will do so “phased”.
What a pleasure it was.
Very unexpected I arrived here,,… with lot’s of new “mates” ,….I leave here.
Really lovely club members and atmosphere here. More about the club a bit later. I can strongly advise you to fly here.
Before I forget; Thank you for reading all over the world. Got lovely reactions from all parts of this world.
IT WAS MY PLEASURE!!!

Let’s wait and see how the day and this WWGC unfolds. Back later.

11.15 AM;
Worried faces from TC’s at the moment.
First launch at 11.45!!! In half an hour.

12.30 PM:
Skies to the SSW looking from the field here.
Looking pretty “scruffy” is what John [USA] mentioned.

12.40 PM:
Launch delayed to 12 noon. Sniffer goes soon.
Tug’s still here.
Tension grows.

12.50 PM:
TC’s called to the grid.
2 Of them were busy with a protest shared by ALL TC’s!!!!
Still stay out of it ,though it is a protest in ALL openness, they told me.
Will give you the official news about it later, when it’s there.
More delay 12.15 NOW.
Still no tugs to the grid!!!!

12.05 PM:
Delayed till 12.30!!! Club class has Task B now. 1.30 AAT.
whilst waiting pictures from Pôle France Planeur about the weather yesterday just after it was cancelled.

12.20 PM:
more delay now till 12.45 BUT,…they see clear skies coming.

12.35 PM;
Delayed till 1 PM. Is there still hope for a day???
Tuggies still here.

12.40 PM:
Sniffer launched by Nina.
Star tuggie master Val , “controlled” the 5 male tuggies without any problem. They even all adore her.

12.50 PM:
Weather man Dave mentions;”no blue holes, no patches of sun.”Would n’t be launching now!!!” But,..NW is a line of clouds.
We wait!!!!
CANCELLED!!!!!!! WE HAVE CHAMPIONS!!!!

With still a protest going on , we have WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!
18 m. class:
1. Mélanie Gadoulet from France in her JS 3 with 8.137 p. CHAMPION!
2. Anne Ducarouge from France in JS 3 with 8.123 points.
3. Katrin Senne from Germany in JS 3 with 7.829 p.

Standard class:
1. Sarah Arnold from the USA in her Discus 2 with 7.798 p . CHAMPION.
2. Aude Grangeray from France in Discus 2A with 7.932 p.
3. Ayala Truelove from the UK in LS 8 with 7.601 p.

Club class;
1. Elena Fergnani from Italy in Discus with 7.859 p …CHAMPION.
2. Chrissie Grote from Germany in LS 4 with 7.735 p.
3. Celine Rault from France in LS 4B with 7.708 p.

The Australian team got 250 penalty points for “unsporting behavior” .
Look at the scores on TASK 10. Protest is still ongoing.
Sad for the team but as some call it, ” cheating” is NOT allowed.
Will come back on that later, when there is an official statement.

It puts a bit of a “damp” , a “shadow”, on this so well organized WWGC.
Such a pity!!! Organizers of course,had NOTHING to do with it. This WWGC DID NOT DESERVE such an end!
AND,…I do feel sorry for Jo loosing a club class title like this. It’s all about culture of the sport and being fair,..I know,…but what did she know about this “cheating.”
I count on the fair judgement of all 10 TC’s talking about it and wait for an official statement.
Mind you,…I love to see Elena win too!!!! Got to know her when she was still a teenager,… now she is WORLD CHAMPION. WOW!!!!

TEAM FRANCE is happy with 4 pilots in the top 9 looking at 3 classes!!!
CHAPEAU!!!!Melanie and Anne as CHAMPION and runner up in 18 m. class with just a few points difference.
Aude Grangeray in Standard class on spot 2 in Standard and be sure when day 1 would have been OK, the other Aude would have been in the top 3 too. It is as it is!!!
Celine on spot 3 in club completes the French success story!!!!

Team Germany has 2 winners ,one number 2 Chrissie and one number 3 Katrin.
The USA has SARAH , a world champion who was about ready to be it!!!
Elena from Italy ,…for me a bit unexpected, but a GLORIOUS Champion in Club class!!!
The UK has with Ayala a great number 3 in Standard class.
About Chrissie;
When she arrived here she was sick, it got worse with fever. Doctors in Tamworth Hospital diagnosed her with pneumonia in one lung.
With medicines she quickly was on the meant again.
Just in time to fly good, …better,… best!! With as result a nice runner up spot in Club class.
Well done Chrissie!!!

NO Secret that
TEAM FRANCE won the TEAM CUP….904.15 p.
TEAM UK was runner up with 894.81 points.
TEAM ITALY was 3d with 859.11 points.

In between tuggies are bringing their tugs to their home fields.

2.30 PM:
A bit more about Lake Keepit! All the rest you can find on www.keepitsoaring.com …or if you wish to speak to the manager manager@keepitsoaring.com ..or… bookings@keepitsoaring.com
“We are the friendliest gliding club in Australia , { I totally agree!!!}operate 365 day’s a year, with training courses running weekly.
We have our own dedicated airfield… Gliding only..no power training or commercial aviation traffic.
No airspace restrictions for the majority of our flying area. Little other aviation traffic in the vicinity.
Our club operates within Lake Keepit State Park. Gliding is just one of the many activities in the park[ boating, fishing, tennis,biking, walking.bird watching,children’s water park and just relaxing in a stunning rural area.”

Lake Keepit has NSW’s only fully immersive gliding simulator.
They have a dedicated staff on site,… a full time manager,… a midweek instructor and tow pilot along 25 volunteer instructors.

I loved it here so have a look when you pass by or always wanted to learn gliding by your self!!!
It’s worth a visit!!!

Well that’s it from me . We leave tomorrow very early. Don’t know if I have time to publish the last story and pictures to night, but the epilogue might come from Tocumwal after a 10 hour drive.
CU then. It was my pleasure!!!!

THANK YOU LAKE KEEPIT FOR AN UNFORGETTABLE WWGC.[ in many way’s!]
What ever,…I loved it here!!!Except for the problems in the end!!!

Cheers Ritz


P/S
There will be 2 Fly Pasts over the pool at sport and rec.
the first at 4.30 is a reconicense flight then the F18 is at 5 pm sharp.
the bar will be open from 5 pm and we’ll start cooking at 6 pm.
The podium is delayed until after dinner due to 4 protests that must be considered.

8 AM:
WHAT A DAY yesterday!!!Those who really wanted to go for it, did so showing some big “shake up’s” in the overall scores.
Some tried SO hard, they just “lost” it, on maybe the last day of these comps, which is sad!
A “normal” morning here with the message that briefing is at 9.30 gridding at the normal time and this day club is first then standard ans 18 m. last.
Looking outside does not yet mean rain , but looking at the West is dark blue, not a good sign.
The TV shows at the weather news, that the east coast from NSW shows big showers even going in to the S of Queensland.

Looking at scores and the 18 m., it was current WWGC champion Katrin Senne who flew her JS 3 to 1000 points. The French girls “hold “on and were the runners up.
Stefanie outlanded and Diana decided to fly back home with a headache worsening by smoke.
Total scores at this stage with maybe 2 day’s to go: 1. Melanie, [8.137 p] 2. Anne, [8.123 p] 3. Katrin.[7.829 p]

In standard class it were the French girls Aude G and Aude U, who were the best with Claire as number 3. [ 391 km in time 3.39….399 km. in time 3.48 and 392 km in time 3.53] Young Claire is doing a real good job.
One outlanding and …..it remains a bad day for Anna from Poland. She dropped from 4 to 15, pretty sad. She missed the first TP by 0.5 km.
Sarah still leads with 7.998 p. At 2 is Aude Grangeray [7.932]and at 3 it is Aussie Lisa Trotter.[7.643]

In club class there was some “noise” about Jo [Davis] starting, late getting in trouble etc. IF she did she recovered perfect with a 6th place.Elena [Italy] had a REAL good run, she was 6 km. faster than runner up Jenny in her Mosquito. Elena flew 398 km in time 3.52 for 1000 points.
One outlanding from Amelie ,she flew 341 km. but could not finish here. She was rather pleased with the aerotow retrieve as in France that’s not possible. She liked it!!!Some kind of “adventure” for her, making “the pain” of an outlanding softer. She dropped from 7 to 13 overall.
Overall scores:1. Jo in her ASW 20 7.928 p, 2. Elena in her Discus climbing from 5 to 2 [7.859 p] and Chrissie staying wither LS 4 at spot 3.[7.735]

Off to briefing soon now. Just said good bye to Daniel and Lise who travel for another 10 day’s around in their van. We will be gone ,when they come back.
Tasks have just been put up on soaring spot.
18 m; 1.30 AAT
standard; 1.30 AAT
club; 2 hour AAT.
First launch at 11.30!!!
Pre start altitude; 5000ft MSL.
Different than before we have had mostly 6000 and one day 7000 ft.

Later today a bit more about the book: Pilots Touring Guide from Ian Barraclough …as promised.

10 AM:
Briefing is over and at all tables were really nice meringue cookies from team France.
Sponsor today is Jules Art, by July Maddocks. She has an art galley in Andy’s work shop. She sells her own art there and is a very talented artist.
She creates the most beautiful vases . Julie is a ceramicist, painter, crafts person and teacher living in Ipswich .
Here is a link to her site enjoy it, so much to see!!!!
https://julesart.net.au

A long list from volunteers was showed and all got a big applause!!!
Prize giving from yesterday.

An extra picture this morning from team Italy with Elena winning the day.
She is a member of a real soaring family and I met all of them over the years visiting Rieti in Italy or at junior WGC’s where her brother Nicola participated as well.

Some domestic news;
BBQ evening tonight and a huge ” 2-seater- BBQ” has been bought and is installed whilst I am writing. Final result tonight.

Safety by Anita.
–about limitation of vision
— the blind spot
—optical illusions
all with pictures.

Weather by Dave in co operation with SkySight.
—Low pressure trough brings rain from the East
—temperature 33 dgr. C
—90 % chance of rain
—Possible storms with maybe downdrafts.
Here in Lake keepit
—-very short window of opportunity
—4000 ft soarable
—bands of heavy cloud
—rain by 2.30
As Dave said ” not a particular pleasant outlook”.

Bruce as task setter mentioned, that the East has the best weather but there is NO possibility for out-landings there. So a “no-go”.
Not much to talk about. “We have to try” ,even a small window, a “hole “between showers…”it’s possible” but it did not sound very convincing..
GOOD LUCK, were the last words from him today!

This competition is long and has been hot and at some day’s very trying, one pilot [MM] is still sick and not flying today. It is after 11 day’s also some kind of competition who has the strongest /best condition/stamina as well.

Should I bother about the tasks??? Yes I should.
Here they are;

One more thing ; Peak Pictures has added 189 new pictures to the ALBUM  10th Women’s World Gliding Championships — met Káďa LY
Great pictures!!!!!All pilots are covered whilst launching and finishing.

And a request from Petra from the Czech Team .
“We are looking for someone to take a car and glider to Tocumwal…car with glider will be ready to leave no later than on Jan 18 in the early morning.
Can leave anytime after that but should be in Tocumwal on Jan 20.
Of course money for fuel will be provided in full amount. We can can add some snack and treat for the driver as well.
If any good soul would take this job for us it would help us so much.
Petra team JO.

Really nice trip for a young person to have a sponsored trip to Tocumwal.

11 AM;
Gusting wind over the field.
Message from organizers. STRONG WIND take care of gliders!!!
AND,…much faster than I expected ,..the new BBQ is ready. Top Job!!!

11.10 AM: A sniffer goes up.

11.15 AM; Tuggies go to the runway. Weather man Dave in a plane, advises big cell, could’t hear where and heavy rain south as well.
Launch delayed 10 minutes.
4400 ft and 3 kts. reports Dave, but also “a storm is getting closer”.
He is coming back to land. Strong gusting wind ‘s ,…..no fun..but “street” worked

11.25: DAY IS CANCELLED in all classes:
STORM COMING…take care with gliders….wind could be very strong.
Message from the organizers.
And…..Bruce recommendations; de-rigging if you are able. Please take care of the wind!!!
Thank you for your optimistic approach this morning ;Anita.

11.30 AM: Wind picking up. Had a look outside and there is a SW wind and a big “cell” is hanging to the NW of us.
HUGE activity at the field to bring gliders back to the tie-down area and or in the trailer.
Lightning to the W. and thunder to the NW. The “gap” / window , they hoped to use, is already “closed” ,as the bad weather came in earlier than expected.

11.45 AM; Dust storm over field now! Lightning and thunder.

11.50 AM: Lightning hit the ground just N of the field on the other side of the Lake and started a fire. Smoke rises. They called those who have to be called. But the big cell will “kill” it as it moves to it.

12.15 PM: RAIN!!!!! FINALLY REAL RAIN!!!!!!

12.40 PM: Kangaroos are happy with the rain and hopping around through the muddy puddles.It’s dry now. Still thunder and lightning!!!
One more day to go????? Let’s wait and see.

We just got a great idea from the organizers.
” It is not certain…and of course we try to fly tomorrow…if we do NOT fly, we make a plan to organize the closing ceremony tomorrow evening so everyone can leave early on Saturday morning if they would like to.”

1.15 PM:
I like John’s reports, so I hope you do too, a bit more inside info from the “weird/challenging ” day yesterday.
“A tricky day today.  The morning weather forecast made it sound simple: a weaker version of yesterday, with good conditions confined to the area south and west of home. There were some warning signs in the form of northeasterly winds and mid-level clouds intruding by mid-afternoon, but lift was predicted to stay good until 6:30pm.  This proved optimistic – in reality we had lots of high and mid-level cloud, storms to dodge (or work the edges of, as you saw fit), and an early end to the day that made things very challenging for late finishers.

The trouble – in the form of high cloud shading the sun and virga in the northeast – showed itself early in the day, and there was some thought the tasks might be shortened, but this didn’t happen.  Launches began at 12:30, and all classes were off on tough-looking area tasks.  This at least had the effect that most pilots started fairly promptly.

Trouble continued with storms that developed in the south and southwest.  Fortunately, they never grew beyond a “manageable” size, and all pilots were able to navigate around them, in some cases with significant detours, and in others by using storm-generated lift to make fast progress.  Some pilots climbed to over 10,000’ in the best of this lift.

The march north got increasingly difficult, with thick high- and mid-level cloud shading the ground.  For many, the final 70 km on the way home was done in “survival mode”, taking any available weak lift in conditions that looked as if none should soon be expected.  Not all succeeded.

Two who did – and without much strain – were Kathy and Sylvia in Club class.  They foresaw the weather trouble, started early, flew together and made good progress around the task.  Like many, they arrived near home needing one last climb when these were becoming scarce.  But they found a good one on hills to the north, promptly climbed to a comfortable height, and finished without difficulty.

Sarah had a final glide bordering on desperate.  She found a weak climb about 60km out that gave about 1000’ less than she needed.  Some promising hills on the route home, that often have lift late in the day, on this one now had next to nothing.  At the final steering turnpoint, 23 km from the finish, she was some 500’ below what is reckoned to be the minimum necessary height, and it looked as if her chances of finishing were fading.  But in dead air she somehow made this work, crossing the finish just slightly below the required minimum height (which incurs a small penalty).  She gave some thought to a landing in the dry bed of Lake Keepit (a friendly option due to the current drought) but found she had just enough energy to make the runway and roll to a stop near her hangar.“

And last for today: THE PILOTS TOURING GUIDE.
is for planning flying adventures. It seeks to answer the questions”why go there” and “what you will find when you do”.
It has info on destinations.. over 2000… , where a touring pilot is welcome.You can find info on www.pilotstouringguide.com.au where there is a PDF and at the same address is a link to the book.
The guide is updated continuously and is published every 2 year.
When you have suggestions for future editions please send them to Ian the editor.
I have already 2; Corowa and Tocumwal.
Was a bit surprised they were not in it.

Tonight BBQ. Will make pictures for tomorrow!!!
CU.

9 AM:
No internet this morning!!!!So I am late!!!!
BUT,…I had time to download the pictures from yesterday evening.
With 3 day’s to go ..HOPEFULLY.. but as said there MIGHT be rain. Still have to see that, as there was no good rain here for years.
Yesterday the Aussie girls did well again with Jo and Ailsa winning their class .
The BABAJAGA was a great success . No way they could run around a fire ,but the DID run around a sprinkler.

More pictures later.
In club it was as said Jo Davis ..again..for only 900 points. She was too fast for the distance. Speed was glorious…129, 56 in an ASW 20 at a WWGC.
Here is the better explanation shared by
10th FAI Women’s World Gliding Championships:
“Ever wonder why certain days are devalued?
Max Kirschner explains: “There are several devaluing factors, in this case the Winners time is 2:45, to get 1000 points the winners time needs to be over 3:00. It can also be devalued by the number of competitors that do less than Y where Y is 100 km. And the number of speed points compared to distance points can change depending on the number who finish the task. All designed to stop a ‘lucky’ day having a disproportionate effect on the overall results.”

Amelie and Elena followed with Chrissie , Claudia ,Celine , Sabrina and Klara all in the 800 points-range.
In standard the girls starting half an hour later , were the daily winners with Sarah at the top, [speed 137 km./h!!] followed by Ayala, Aude G and Aude U.
In 18 m. there were 6 girls with 156/155/154 as speed !!!! Ailsa for 1000 points and the 2 French girls Anne and Melanie with Liz and Jana for 996,994,993 ,985,968 points. Starting with 100 points for the rest of the girls.

Today is day 10 and 18 m. is upfront followed by club and standard.
Briefing at 9.30!!!
Tasks for today:
18 m;4 hour AAT.
standard ;3.30 AAT.
club; 3.45 AAT.

10 AM:
Briefing is over!!!!
Good morning welcome to day 10!!!
2 Sponsors today…GWCA [Global weather climate analytics they offer meteorological expertise to weather sensitive industries through innovation and application of value add products and risk matrices.
GWCA developed and maintains its own forecast systems,ranging from now-casting to seasonal scales.
T Soaring XX.

Winners from yesterday:

Brief messages;
—Do not bring a BBQ…ha ha,…only meat and salad for tomorrow night. Drinks will be available.
—An extra THANK YOU to Jacques involved these weeks with the trackers. A HUGE, AMAZING job from the morning till the evening!!!
His picture is in another blog “down under”.
Yesterday he managed also to fly here 715 km. [671 k FAI triangle] in his JS 1C. Good on him.

Safety by Anita;
–They are grateful that the TC’s and pilots use now the “flight tool” to report in and effective way issues from importance for safe flying.
–Give room to a “leader-pilot” when you follow her!!!!
Steward Frouwke added that maybe today or tomorrow MIGHT be the last day.
Of course we wish lot’s of rain for this dry-as-a-bone- country but,..when it could start on Friday evening it would be even better. If not,..no worries!
We had great weather, can’t be selfish!!!
BUT,….she added that during the last day’s the pilots, who still have chances MIGHT fly in a more aggressive way. SO KEEP IT SAFE!!!!!

Weather by Dave;
More or less the same day, but a bit weaker, as it will have a slower start.
For that reason first launches at 12.30.
Thermals up to 7000/8000 ft.
Light SSE wind.
smoke haze..similar as yesterday ,but they fly in another direction today.

Tasks by Bruce;
Airspace no real issue today.
Flights to the SW.
“Chance of seeing each other”
Tasks pretty similar, as that’s the best area to fly in.

YESTERDAY EVENING’s BABA JAGA:
Juror Gisela has been very busy planning this event and Lindy was busy renting hats etc.racing up and down to Gunnedah and Tamworth.
It was not for nothing, as all had a great evening after dinner in Sport and Rec.
10 new Witches were supposed to be new members from this exclusive Society of the Flying Broomstick.
Only 8 were there as Poland called off.
Here is a picture story;

11.15 AM;
still waiting for more than an hour now.
This is how TC John from the USA looked at the event:
” Tonight’s big event was the “Babajaga” ceremony, where all WWGC pilots are made members of an international society of witches.  Tradition dictates that an existing member (i.e. one who has been inducted at a previous WWGC event) act as “godmother” to a pilot flying in her first WWGC.  An oath is administered (in the godmother’s native language), a drink is consumed, lipstick is applied to the novice who then kisses a registry book, and the godmother and inductee together ride a broom around a fire.  In view of the total fire ban that now applies in much of Australia, a sprinkler was made to do duty instead, which seemed oddly apt.  Ten new witches were made tonight, to the approval of all. (Men are allowed at this ceremony, provided they stay quiet and out of the way.)  Afterwards, a some of the witches – and a few others – ended up in the nearby pool. “
For more news about the day and the USA girls you can read the rest of his blog at
https://ussoaringteams.org/john-goods-report-day-11

12.PM;
Everybody looked at the skies this morning. All kind of weather info passed by. Norwegian model’s, alert model’s , local weather by Christian and many more.
For now I think we might have a good day again.
Tuggies are going to 32 for launching in 15 minutes.
Skies are a bit “weird” with high clouds covering the blue skies but also cu’s!!!

12.30 PM;
Don’t want to be too dramatic about it, but as more people think, this might be the last flying day of this WWGC. Rain and over development are forecasted for Thursday and Friday the last day.
We will wait and see. For some of the girls the “pressure” is on.
For now the tuggies are going to launch 18 m. first ,for their 4 hour AAT and with Greg’s “full power, full power “, it is 1 B [Katrin] who is behind the tug now.
Followed by PT [Stefanie] and the rest.

12.47 PM;
All 18 m. launched now. OG as the last one with Ailsa.
Club class in progress now. AJ the first to be launched.

1.15 PM:
Club class all up in the air now……
Standard in progress now. ET just passes by with Aude Grangeray followed by team mate Aude Untersee in JPA. Such a pity ,she “got” zero points on day 1, otherwise she might have been in the top 3/5.
1.35 PM:
P1 , LOT , EU and FX , W 8, as the last ones behind the tug’s.
Will they be the last ones at this WWGC ??????

Line 18 m opens at 13.10.
Line club opens at 13.40.
Line standard opens at 14.05.

2.30 PM;
Most pilots are on track.
When 18 m. goes over the line straight away they can be back after 4 hours at 5.10 PM.
Same with club…who leaves straight away can be back at 5.25.
For standard it will be 2.05 plus 3.30 so 5.30.
But,…I know ….NOT all left straight away.

4 PM:No internet for a short while.
Still clouds under the more grey than blue skies here at the field. Gliders in 18 m are between 7 and 8000 ft and most are at the 2d TP.
To my surprise Diana [MM] just walked in!!!
She had a headache already , which got worse with the smoke on track and decided to fly back home.
Courageous decision. We had already one pilot fainting during this competition, but she recovered very quickly.
57 is on her way to the 3d TP having flown nearly 300 km. already.
Standard is on their way to the 3d TP as well. Some fly E. some fly W. from track.Their 3d TP has a 35 km cylinder.Going pretty slow!
There seem to be showers as well in the mountains
Club is doing well. They are racing to the 5^th TP having had already the most km’s behind them. When at the 5t TP they have 100 km. to go.
Some are at 10.000 ft!!!
They clearly seem to have the better weather .
“First spotter” Jo, seems to have started late and is in the back of the race at the moment, finding less good weather conditions. She is just in the sector from TP 3 now, as the last of the pilots. Does n’t mean anything yet!!!
Kathy Fosha leads the pact at the moment and is nearly in the 5th TP [cylinder 30 km.]

5 PM;
The first 18 m pilot, Margot, has reached the 4th TP Tura [cylinder40 km] Speed 116 km./h.
Speed of the French girls is the best at the moment;137 km. /h. Also Katrin and Ailsa have good speed at this time; 136 km./h and 131 km./h.
Have my radio on!!!!
Standard still has a few k’s to go. They are half way to the 4th TP ,where the weather should be better as, club is flying there as well going to the most N. borders of the cylinder. After using the cylinder” to the fullest” they only have 60 k to go ‘home’.Jo [Davis] is in the circle as well, she had good run to it so to see.

Better late than never …the tasks,..just realized I did not put them on. Sorry!!!
” end-of-competition-fatigue”??????

The tracking shows “weird” situations for some of the top pilots. I just wait and see.
Does n’t take long anymore.

5.30 PM;
For sure not the same weather as yesterday at 5 …not as ” SHINING or BOOMING” !!!!
First radio call from 10 km by AJ.
Wind is calm …runway 14…long landing.
Go outside for you to see who is also coming in.

5.37 PM;
The first club class gliders are back;AJ…40…
And P…[18 m]
Only the scores will say what they exactly did.

6 PM;
B1…CQL…57…XJY…J1….KW…MF…

6.20 PM;
From all classes gliders came in, in between the kangaroos were chased, it all went without problems. Nice landings as well.
Wind is 070 dgr. 6 kts.
KW…J7…CQO…SW…1B…FM…FQ…P1…ET…UKE…JO…WH…LOT…JPA…IIC…W8….XM…51…ZE…PO…K7…EU…FX…T1…
WH still had time to say that she copied, that the “kangaroos were in their corner again.”

6.45 PM;
Sarah landed at 6.30. A few more landed but the blog was so much read that I could not get in it anymore.”Had to write in word .”
ZF is still out ,but she is still fighting and still at 6000 ft. in the last circle!!!! She just announced her arrival.Good on her.
There seems to be outlandings as well. 4 or 5.
In the end at 6.30 the wind changed to the NE, so they had to land with wind in the back and cross wind as well, but the girls did a great job. WELL DONE!!!

One tuggy /pawnee leaves to the N……on a retrieve…yes .

They are at www.soaringspot.com

I looked already;There are some upsets today!!!
In 18 m. Liz dropped a spot and Katrin went to 3. Katrin won the day ,preliminary and has 1000 points.
The French girls did well with a 2d and 3d place.Still on top with Melanie at 1 overall at this stage,[ 8.135 p] Anne as runner up with 8.122 p.
Katrin now 7.829 points, moving from 5 to 3!!!!

In Standard class; not enough scores in now to say something about it.
More scores now: It looks preliminary that the 2 Aude’s won the day with Sarah at 6. But she still has enough points to be honest …less than 30 points …on the runner up Aude.
The number 3 and 4 are not yet scored or missed a TP , so Anna drops from 4 to 15 . All according to the preliminary scores.
Claire moved from 9 to 4!!!! Great job!!!

Club class; Jo [Davis] indeed had a later start but “fought ” herself to a 6th daily place at this stage so is still number 1 overall. Elena won the day….1000 points!!!! Good on her.
Jenny Ganderton is runner up today and the 2 Polish girls are 3 and 4.
Jo is number 1 with 7.913 p. Elena is runner up with 7.859 points.At 3 Chrissie with 77.16 points. Celine dropped from 2 to 4.
Looking more serious at this all with unofficial scores tomorrow!!

WHAT A DAY!!!!

8 AM:
What an EXTRAORDINARY flying day the “girls ” had yesterday.
“No Ritz,this is the normal Keepit weather“.
Glad we have ALL seen and felt it now too.
A great “drink” after at the bar ,with lot’s of pilots and the total German team had dinner here in front of the club house.
We had dinner here as well.
The men cooked us a great curry!!! Dave is not only a good weatherman but also a great cook with help from Jay and Nick.

They had a great flying day. The most unlucky person was MM, Diana. She had to fly the whole task with the wheel out. NO way she could get it in. Lost a lot of points [got only 422] and dropped from 10 to 14. She loves her brand new JS 3, but flying with the wheel out is no fun!!!
It’s to be seen if she can fly today.
Best in her class, 18 m, was again Ailsa. She is really in some kind of winning mood/flow now!!!
The first 8 flew over 140 km./h!!!!! Ailsa and Lisa [Turner] did 147 km./h for 1000 and 995 points.
With 4 day’s to go the overall scores are :1.Melanie and 2. Anne with 6.177 and 6.159 points with at 3 Liz with 5.991.
But others are getting closer: Katrin with 5.966 and Ailsa with 5.909.

In Standard class it was AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI.!!!! With Lisa and Claire on the top spot’s!!They started together and finished nearly at the dot!!! Time 3.46 at the 3.45 AAT !!!1000 and 994 points!
Sarah, unfortunately, miscalculated her time and was home too early with a time of 3.26. She said she had a great flight, fast and smooth till then.
With 4 day’s to go ;1. Sarah with 6.128 points, 2, Lisa and Aude both 5.966 and Anna is now at 4 with 5.904 p.[She was 8th yesterday!]

In club class 2 German racers in yesterday’s top!!! Chrissie in the LS 4 and Sabrina in the same glider but with winglet’s, flying together and finishing together for 1000 and 990 points. Speed 114 km./h.
Barbora and Elena did very well too. [ 112 and 114 km./h….. handicap Discus is 1.045]
Till spot 8 the points were between 916 and 1000.
With 4 day’s to go; 1.Jo with 6.260 p. 2. Celine 6.232 and 3 Chrissie with 6.158. VERY close scores here as Sabrina is only 50 points behind her.

Welcome to day 9 was the message this early morning.
Grid order standard, 18 m and club class.
Briefing at 9.30.
So breakfast now and off to the briefing.NO need for airco today , as there is a nice cool wind going straight through one door to the other.
Having a few goose bumps ??????? now.

Today’s task’s;
18 m…..501 km.
standard…..511 km.
club…4 hour AAT

10 AM;
Briefing over.
Today’s sponsor is Glasfaser Flugzeug service from Hansjoerg Streifeneder. Thanks!!!
Domestic news:
—Problems with internet , this morning, but seem over now.
—Competition shirts for sale 45 dollar.
—Babajaga this evening at 8 after dinner in the Sport and Rec. Tell Chris if you attend for dinner.

News from the FAI flag. It’s “owned” by somebody now who writes in name of the flag “For me there was too much sun ,so I had to find a shadow place” And that happened to be over Elena’s glider in their hangar.

They might have to change runway before starting the launches.
If they do:
—first the back row moves
—Then the next row
—in order
They will allow enough time and go then to the B task, so ONLY IF….

Safety report by Anita:
Another good one also for the readers who fly.
it seems that club class has consistently more encounters than other classes. 18 m have rarely any encounters.WHY?
Do they have a different gaggle culture?
It seems so.
A gaggle is a delicate balance, it relies on everyone behaving predictably.
Looking at video’s they observed ….
— lot’s of adjusting in thermals [ in a gaggle you can’t have the best climb]
—Atypical thermal entry [enter the way you are meant to]
—Atypical thermal leaving [leave the way you are meant to]
Recommendations:
—Enter thermals from outside not from middle.
—Fly the same circles as the others or find your own thermal[not circling inside but also not at the outside]
—When leaving the gaggle,…leave it.
—scan complete field of vision in straight flight and in the thermals.
—put your FLARM antenna in the best position and do not switch it off.

The weather by Dave from Sky Sight.
High in Tasman sea has moved S. and a mini-low off to the E.coast directing winds from SSE.
cooler drier air and lessening dew point, fewer cu’s.

Forecast for Thursday and Friday….RAIN!!!!
Today’s weather;
5000 ft. soarable height by 12
day finishes at 6.30/7 PM, so a rather long day.
Thermals..5 kts.
up to 7 8000 ft.
SSE winds 10 kts.
Landing wind 10 kts BUT
Possibility of stronger winds coming in from the S in the end of the day ….maybe bringing in smoke….hope not!!

We only know at 11.30 if they have to change runway.

Task setter Bruce is optimistic about the day but advises:
“Don’t take too many risks!”
USA shared nice chocolates with the message “kisses” and a bottle opener at all the tables and The UK ,sticker’s and a pen .

“Kangaroo-chase-toy” is ready for action later in the day.

Back later.
Don’t know if I should publish this picture by SkySight ,but it could help the mind set for tomorrow Wednesday and maybe Thursday ,when they find a “window”. Not loosing points might be more interesting now.

11.45 AM;
Tuggies are going to the grid. It seems no change of runway and change of task. So runway 32 is THE runway.
Update on wheel story MM.
With 2 hands she can get the wheel in today. “An unidentified object” …the only thing they could think of….a snake maybe….had moved the break cable…hanging in on it…. and blocked the cable of the wheel.
IF it was a snake it could not get into her cockpit, as said before it is totally closed,…. if TOO hot an oven , but in this case rather safe.
IF it was a snake it dropped out somewhere….without a parachute…not good for him/her.
Good luck for her today.
Jacques has gone up in K1 , 15 minutes before the launches start, but did not find a good thermal yet.

12 PM;
So launches delayed with 15 minutes! Jacques reports now 3 kts. to 3500. …then 4 kts up to 4000 ft. Time to share the tasks.

12.15 PM;
Jacques is going down,…2800 ft, but found something NOW.
Tuggies ; 2 minutes standard class first .by Greg.
AND,……off they go!!!
EU is the first to be launched.[Hana]…full power, full power… followed by FX [Dana]… W8.[Jana ]..XBY [Sarah]…. ET [ Aude G] …..JPA [Aude U.]
First 6 tuggies on the way.
Another plane, passing by , disturbs a bit,…must be shocked to fly in an area with 6 tuggies and 47 gliders. NOTAM???????
12.30 PM;
CC is next [Claire] ….XZ [Kathy] …LT….[Lisa] L7 [ Ayala]…1A [Akemi] …PO [Serena] …4 to go in this class!!
FQF [Cornelia]…..S7 [Ulrike] …..P1 [Agata]….LOT [Anna]
12.25 standard class is UP and has to “travel” 508 km.

12.37;
18 m in progress ..now for 501 km. task..
Wind at field, still OK for towing!!! No wind here by the way..
HS [ Lisa] …J 7 [ Jenny] …OG [Ailsa] …1B [Katrin] …PT [Stefanie]…XM [Alena]…ZF [Eva] …..half way….. …ZE [Jana] …57 [Margot]….MM [Diana] …P [Joanna] …FM [Anne] …51 [ Liz] …FQ [Melanie]….

12.59 PM;
Club class, J1 is the first to be launched.[Judyta] This class is much lighter ,…. passes by higher….. and then the shade- cloth is in “my ” way, …..so I can’t spot the call signs. Sorry……..but I still listen.

Line standard opens at 13.05.
Line 18 m.opens at 13.25
line Club opens at 13.50.

Back later. Still have to share a picture from Jordan the 22 year old instructor at Lasham and having already been here 2 seasons and now here just for a few day’s to see his old mates , who are very complimentary about him.

4.15 PM;
The skies still look fabulous specially to the NW and W. No wind here, but at the terminal, where the flags are you can see there is quite some wind from the W. at this stage.
The far S. looks a bit “Iffy” “Smoky” “Hazy” , but checking with Allan, nothing bad shows up yet at the radar.GOOD!!!
The “standard girls” are happily flying around between 5 and 8000 ft. according to G-Track and they are with 15 min. delay close to the 3d TP.
Meaning they have flown already, around 305 km. with 200 k to go .A few km to leg 4 and the final 23 km.
The long leg still is 158 km. from TP 3 to 4.

The” club girls” are nearly at TP 4, some have passed it already and on their way to “conquer” their longest leg of 103 km. and for the first on track they only need about 100 k. A few however still have to reach TP 4.
On the way to Mount Kaputar the leaders surely find some good clouds.
The “18 m. ladies,” are flying in a nice long row behind each other. They have had 2 TP’s already and are in ” this nice row” flying to TP 3.
Jenny should be nearly there.
Then a leg of 160 km with the final glide from 23 km to home.

Skies this afternoon at the field .

5 PM;
Anna did n’t look in the best mood this morning, but for sure is “on fire” now leading her class. [standard]
In club Amelie, has passed Mount Kaputar already and is “only” 40 k out I guess ,so I put my radio on!!!
18 m. slowly moves to the TP 5 the last one .

5.05 PM:
170/180 dgr…. 8 kts…. landing 14…nicely in time to see them…
The first have landed here, a nice bunch of gliders with Elena in 40 as the first to be back here.
Followed by CQL…SC…WH…V57…BM…
Then a few minutes …silence,…..IC comes at 10 k out….

5.40 PM;
In between more gliders IN,so to hear on the American voice Kathy landed on 20. Wind 180 dgr…8 kts.
CQO…XJY…KW…UKE…T1…FX…EU…coming now.

6 PM;
3 classes mix now. Ailsa is also in but landed 20 because of too much gliders and kangaroos.
W8…ZE…51…FQ…PV…EY…J7…LOT…FX…OG…ZF…FM…XZ…LT..MM…HS…XZ…1 B …CC…PT…XM…

6.10 PM;
57…PO…PT…XBY…XM…ET…PA…S7…L7…P1…JO..

In club class all pilots are back as JO just landed.
Jo Davis from Australia won the day but she does n’t get 1000 points as she just was too fast!!!”Spectacular ” she said about the day and added there was nice” streeting” as well. Very happy with her performance. Also Celine who was 6th today is happy with the task and weather.

6 pilots in 18 m. have flown around with a speed of 154/156 km./h.
Ailsa seems to win the 1000 points and 996,994,993 points for Anne, Melanie and Liz.

Not too many scores yet in Standard. Will be back on that tomorrow. Sarah took a, I guess calculated risk, in leaving half an hour after the other pilots. She leads at this stage with a speed of 136 km./ h, just a tad faster than Ayala who started at the same time.

For all scores; www.soaringspot.com

8.15 AM:
Monday ,….and it’s the last week of flying here at the WWGC.
WELCOME.
A cool morning and ,…actually cold water comes out of the cold water tap. Before,… it was warm to hot.
No flying yesterday as the wind blew over the field. Not even instruction was permitted due to gusts up to 35 kts.
They got a “new” instructor here as well. One who has been here already for 2 seasons.
Jordan is his name, he is from Lasham , looks very young , is not old, but older than he looks.
He is my new home mate and what I heard he is as an ace-instructor,….GOOD!!!
Kurt, born in Switzerland and living in the Sydney area has left us after a week of hard work at the field and helping out here in the club house.

Today is day 8 “take 3”!!!
Gridding is busy when I write at 32 and club is up front, then standard and 18 m.
Briefing at 9.30 as usual. No tasks yet.
Breakfast now, after a delicious dinner yesterday at the cottage from Jean and Bob, where I was in the morning as well. SUPERB!!! Carroll Gap Farm house. Don’t forget to make an appointment.

Looking at the overall scores with one week to go, we see that in
18 m. Melanie Gadoulet and Anne Ducarouge from France are leading with 5.219 and 5.209 points!!!
At 3 is Liz Sparrow {UK}with 5.125. So all very close and everything is possible. Katrin Senne [Germany} and Ailsa McMillan [Australia] follow with 4.980 and 4.909. They are still in the race as well.
standard class; Sarah Arnold [USA] still leads this class with 5.230 points. Followed by Anna Piotrowska from Poland with 5.075 p.
At 3 at this stage Aude Grangeray [France] with 5.066 and a tad lower Ayala Truelove from the UK with 5.057 p. Also the 2 Czech girls Dana and Hana are still in the race with 4.992 and 4.985 points.
Club; Aussie Jo still leads in this class with 5.344 points. She did so for all day’s except for day 1, when team mate Jenny Ganderton was at the top.
Celine Rault from France is runner up at this stage with 5.292 and Chrissie Grote from Germany is 3d with 5.158 p.
Pretty close behind is her team mate Sabrina Vogt with 5.118 and Elena Fergnani from Italy 5.040. p.

So in ALL classes are possibilities for a lot of girls!!!!
Off to briefing soon.

10.30 AM;
Briefing is over .Tasks WERE set and might be still on but they expect at 11 news from the fire bombers to see how the smoke from the fires at Mount Kaputar will effect those tasks.
18 m; 456 km
standard ;452 km.
club;4 hour AAT.
After 11 we know what’s going to happen.It will be TASK C see below!!!!

More news at briefing.Liz from the UK started with the presentation for the WWGC in 2021 at Husbands Bosworth called as well HUSBOS.
She will be the competition director at this WWGC. Date has been changed it is ; AUGUST 14 to 28 2021.
They fly in 3 classes; 18 m..standard…club.
–They have an easy airspace….ideally placed
–analyses on weather over last 10 years…best weather and most racing day’s.
—practice; be quick they kept some places [50] for guests to be part of the pre-worlds. wwgc2021.co.uk

briefing; Prize giving from day 7

Today’s sponsor; LX NAV.

Domestic news:
BABAJAGA ;
—Members of the International Society of the Flying Broom stick invite to the BABAJAGA ceremony …10 pilots will become members of the Club at 8 PM.
Ceremony is tomorrow after dinner at the Sport and Recreation .
—-For Thursday there will be a BBQ at “my” /the club house. Bring your own meat and salad.
—TEAM CUP:
1. UK ….912.06 p.
2. France…906.58 p
3. Germany…865.02 p.
4. Poland…859.17
5. USA …851. 17

Weather; SE weather over the next couple of day’s. Pretty long day today between 11/11.30 AM and 6 /6.30 PM.
Will share the picture from the 7 day forecast for the Gunnedah Area when I have it. Got it straight away!!!!

CU’s at 3 PM; 9 to 10.000 ft in NW task area.
Wind at 5 PM light S SE. Landing 14.

Task; Bruce said with a smile from ear to ear that he was tempted to set a 1000 k today,…Laughter!
Influence from smoke will define task today A or B or C or D.
Extra info; The West side of Mount Kaputar is very landable.

Tasks; C.
18 m; 3.30 AAT. ……With 3 big circles from 50..30 and 30 km.
standard; 3.45 AAT…… With also 50..30 and 30 km. circles.
club; 4 hour AAT. ……With 40..30 and 30 Circles.
First start at 12 !!

11.35 AM;
Tuggies start their engines. We are half way trough , so last week beginning soon.

12 PM;
Clubbies are leaving now for the first flight of the last week with task C.
First one to be launched, is 40 with Elena ….”full power,full power”….from Italy in her Discus. Followed by MF with USA pilot Kathryn in her LS 1f.
15 To go!!!!
12.10; Sylvia in XJY announces her arrival at 20 right for a relight and was back here at 12.12.

12.22 PM;
all clubbies are up.
Relight XJY happens straight away at 12.26.

12.28; standard class launches in progress now.
P1 Agata from Poland is the first to go , followed by team mate Anna in LOT.
Also BY [Sarah] is back for a relight at 20.
1 A [Akemi] passes by so does PO,[Serena], FQF with Cornelia , S7 [Ulrike] is the last one in st class.

12 .48; Standard is up in the air, so is Sarah .
First FQ with Melanie , followed by team mate FM with Anne and Liz from the UK in 51 and HS , with Lisa.
10 to go.

1.12 PM
MM and P , Diana and Johanna, are the last to be launched. After 1 hour and 10 minutes they are all up in the air.
Good luck ladies!!!

Line club class opened at; 12.55
Standard class at; 13.15
18 m. at; 13.40.

Bruce has been up to Mount Kaputar to see how the fire and the smoke is and he said, “it’s going to be real nice day“. It won’t effect the tasks.

Back later.

3 PM;
Great cu’s , LOOKING GOOD!!!!
Most of 18 m. are , after passing Mount Kaputar, on their way to circle 1. Leg is 171 km.
Club shows that the Czechs have started early and they are in the first circle. After 140 km.
Standard ‘s first leg is 169 km.some have reached the border of the circle.

5 PM;
18 m is in the one but last circle, whilst I “nearly ” die from the smell of the amount of garlic in the kitchen here. They did around 262 km and some are on their way to the last big circle with one smaller to go and the last small circle on final glide.
Minding the 15 minutes it will be less than 200 k to go!!!With height between 4 and 8000 ft.
Standard;339 k. for a few “in the pocket” a bit more than 100 to go. An average of 7000 ft. and lot’s of flown k’s by the Aussies and Aude G and Cornelia.
Club ;is with the first starters in the Narrabri circle, 315 done about 100 to go. They are between 5 and 8000 ft and the best have flown over 300 km.

Radio on ,…but still a bit too early
The first in Club COULD have gone straight over the start line at 12.55 and should be back after 4 hours.So around 5.
Standard line was open at 13.15 with a 3.45 AAT the first could be back soon too.
18 m…line opened at 13.40 for a 3.30 AAT. The first might come soon too.
No noises at the radio yet!!!
Keep an eye on it.
5 .10 PM:
Skies still look fabulous so I guess they fly as much kilometers as possible.
Bit more wind than this morning looking at the wind sock from the SE.

5.30;
Wind is variable and light runway 14 long landing….
The first to land was Sarah in XBY.
More announced their arrival all from standard class and from club class;
Still extraordinary weather.;
S7…CQO…W8….FQF…UKE…WH…XM…AJ…P1…L7..FX…
5.50;
1B…P1…CC…LT…PO…P…51…ZF…Jo…1A…PA…41…
Missed a few with running up and down.
57…40…BM…ET…SC [straight in] …LOT…XJY…XZ…BM…L7…V57…CQL…HS…OG…WH…T1 …KW….IIC….MM
MM flew the whole task with the wheel out, as there was no way to get it in!!!!
Fast ladies today!!!! More tomorrow. FOOD and drinks now!!!!! The other way around.
All ladies back!!! GOOD!!!!!!!
BUT,…as you know scorers are fast so have a look at
www.soaringspot.com