37th FAI WORLD GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIP
Szeged, Hungary
24 July 2022 – 5 August 2022

With biltong, brandy and a real Braai, the South African Team was one of the first in front of the hangar and for sure the first to share with all of us, what they were doing. Again the Jonker family was very active, flying ,repairing gliders and “Cooking”.

And more South African news;”
“Rest Day – This morning, there is an aerie silence on the airfield. I’m unsure if this is the calm before the predicted storms or the sound of the collective hangover from the international evening last night.
Last night was a great success with fun had by all.
Team SA went through: 10 kg’s of Braai meat, 2 kg’s of Imported Biltong, 14L of brandy and 40L of Coke…
Unfortunately, against our best efforts, the FAI flag did not survive the evening… we spent most of our evening guarding the flag and ensuring the bolts were tight at all times (as can be seen in the below photos)
We suspect the British team had something to do with this as they very suspiciously disappeared early in the evening around a similar time to the flag disappearance.… As always blame has already been pointed to the innocent South Africans…
Once everyone rises from their cabins, we will establish an official flag investigation unit to get to the bottom of this problem.”

What would a WGC be without the “loss” of the FAI flag?

The USA with Sarah and John had typical USA stuff, as you can see on the picture.

The Dutch of course had cheese and orange-bitter, which is a pretty nice liquor and as always the famous stroopwafels [cookies with honey in the middle] and the British Team’s offering of Pimm’s and Eton Mess, were very popular. The Belgium team had there over-delighted Belgian waffles, this time “on sticks”. I even have not seen that before. AND,…as every year they were a huge success. Italy had delicious past with basilica , The Germans “sauerkraut” and the French real French chees , wine and pate.

Some quotes from the pilots after that great race the day before;

“The day went from under-promising to over-performing. It became a true race at 1.500 to 2.500m with groundspeeds often in excess of 220koh. The 437km was done in 2:46.” Arne from Denmark
“Yesterday – Putting the glider to bed after a great day of flying.” S.A. team
“kovanopeuksinen lentopäivä, kansainvälinen ilta ja vapaapäivä” Riku from Finland, my translator says it means huge speed, international night and a day off. So all ingredients from yesterday till today. And then a long story, in which he tells how proud he was to meet Karl.
“After more than a week, tough HEAT,… intensive and fast flights ,… announced heavy thunderstorms for the afternoon,….the international evening could be really enjoyed…to the fullest ” German blogger.

———————————————————

12th Junior World Gliding Championship
Tábor, Czech Republic
 30 July 2022 – 13 August 2022

The 74 competitors in Club AND Standard class have practiced in the area and should be ready to go for good places in this JWGC. I have attended a few, as either TC or as competition editor, and those comps with all those young people are just lovely. They have fun, make friends for life , do their utmost best and learn a lot!!!
“Yesterday the welcome party took place. It was great to see young people from many countries chat together not only about gliding. Today the official opening ceremony which will commence at 16:00 in the historical centre of Tabor town on Zizkovo square. The official program will start with a presentation of teams with an introduction of their team captains and pilots. At 16:30 just after a flyby by a group of tow planes, official guests will begin with their speeches. The official ceremony will be closed by the speech of the president of the international jury and FAI anthem.  ” from the official site.

First times are always difficult but David is in Tabor, as only pilot for his country representing the USA. And he really practiced, by flying, with and behind other pilots in Tabor.
By the way in the USA , he is an instructor as well and studied at the  Ohio State University.
At his home field he flies the ASW 27 from his grand dad!!!!

“Confident not that I’ll place high on the score sheet, but confident that I am ready to compete to the best of my ability, and confident that I’m going to learn a ton. I’m excited to see how much better I can be by the end of this amazing experience! “
David McMaster

The young ones [with respect] are beginning their dream comps, tomorrow. I will try to follow them as much as possible.
Well known glider pilot Tomas Rendla is the CD. There is a Polish jury president and a Dutch chief steward.
You are up to date now.

—————————————————

What happened more out side of the competitions?
Not far from Minden where I was in 1990, is a small airfield Truckee. We visited it one day. It has given pilots lot’s of joy , because of the great flights from there. This time it was well known pilot Ramy Yanetz, who flew to Crater Lake; 1.025 km. with a speed of 144 km./h
“Epic day from Truckee. 18K bases in all directions, including north! The goal was Crater Lake, Oregon. The day started an hour later than expected so an out and return to Crater Lake sounded unrealistic, so the backup plan was to land at Siskiyu and continue back tomorrow, or land at Bend. But when I made it to a crater lake by 4PM even with 10 knots head wind I figured I had a decent chance of making it back, as I did and some more! Extended the flight to Minden at the end of the day. This was my 2nd time to Crater Lake, the first time was a decade ago from Williams but with a stop over at Siskiyu on the way back. This may be the longest O&R north from truckee that I know of. Now I need to visit Crater Lake from the ground.”

And on Friday James Lee flew 1.459,37 km. speed 149.58 km./h in it….An FAI TRIANGLE from 1.218,68 km with a speed of 132.68 km./h!!! 9 hours and 45 minutes total in the air…pffff….Good high famous- Minden-wave all flight.
James flew the triangle in his JS1C./21 m.
Also another 1000 k for Ramy from Truckee.
Nic Bennett is flying from Minden as well. He has his 1000 already , BUT what about 999.73 km!!!!!He flew the ARCUS M.

—————————————————————————

And the next FAI SGP is about to start now in Livno Brda Bosni, Bosnia & Herzegovina. They start today and continue till August 13.
Not too many participants , only 7, but a few good ones, Gintas Zube, Jon Gatfield and kilometer-eater Matthias Sturm and his German mate Stefan Langer, who visited Hungary for a few days as well, making nice video’s.
It’s the 5th event out of 10 with 5 to go in Livno in Bosnia Herzegovina,[30 july/6 Augustus ] in France in Vinon,[4 -10 September] in Australia at Gawler [2-8 January 2023] and in Vitacura in Chile [ 8-15 January 2023] and South Africa from Douglas Cape[ 20-26 January 2023]
THE BIG FINALY will be in Italy flown from Pavullo in 2023 ;August 26- September 2.

The 11th series from the FAI SGP in Germany from Eisenhuettenstadt have ended today, with a no-flying-day….the day was cancelled.
So the results I gave you yesterday stand;
1. Dirk Windmüller in AS 33es with 30 points.
2. Robin Förster in ASG 29e/18 m with 28 points.
3. Andreas Kühl in JS3 jet/18m with 26 points.
Dirk and Robin just got their tickets for the Finale next year in Italy!
www.sgp.aero

With rain in Hungary Max [Formula 1] might do well with his qualification. He likes rain. Tomorrow is the big race on the Hungaroring. Tomorrow also another day/week in Szeged and the first one in Tabor.
Will keep an eye on it!!Now an early evening!!!
Cheers and thanks for reading with so many.
Ritz

37th FAI WORLD GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIP
Szeged, Hungary
 24 July 2022 – 5 August 2022

Looking back first again, this time with news from Belgium.
“Yesterday a few of our pilots in open and 18m class had a good flight. Daan and Koen had another strong day and were among the fastest pilots of their class. They seem to adapt very quickly to flying big winged gliders. Well done guys. Our doubleseater pilot Pierre wasn’t feeling very well, and together with Arnaud he decided not to fly. Very sad, but a good decision with regard to flight safety. Luckily Pierre was feeling well again today and the are ready for new fast flights.
In 18m class Tijl and Bert were caught in huge pre-start gaggles. Tijl elected to start about 15 minutes before the main gaggle and Bert started a couple of minutes in front of the gaggle. In the end, as so often, the gaggle was fast. Tijl lost a couple of places [ 20 to 24 now] and Bert managed to stay in front of most of the gaggle and made a jump forward in the general rankings.[Spot 12 now from 19]

Today was quite a different day: We woke up under a completely covered sky. As it should be, the organizers tried to make the most out of it. In the end only the 18m class was towed, but cancelled in the air due to low and weak thermals. The rest of the day was used to relax” Belgian Gliding Team

John , of course, had his report on yesterday and here is a small part again about the weather;
“We had a favorable weather forecast today, featuring a good airmass that needed only moderate solar heating to produce good thermal lift. We awoke to clouds that were confidently expected to dissipate, allowing the sun to do its work. But the clouds never got the message, and hung around all day.”
more on US Soaring Teams
His story about “engines in gliders” is so true. So I am maybe old fashioned too.

As a few people do not feel well the decision has been made to go on with the INTERNATIONAL EVENING , BUT, everybody should test before going. Of course when NOT feeling well you stay ‘Home” where ever that is.

For today they set tasks, with the announcement that showers would arrive in the early afternoon over Szeged. So waiting again IF the show can go on. For sure it sounds as a short day.
“Similar conditions to yesterday but with the possibility of showers. First launch not before 12noon. Racing tasks have been set and we have our fingers crossed!” British Gliding Team

July 29; day 6 ,task 5, competition day 4... B tasks were on. First start at 12.20.
Trigger temperature today is 31.5 degrees C. At 12 it was 30 and pretty humid.
B tasks; whilst the weather showed some significant overdevelopment.
They flew!!!! This picture is from during the start.
They could see lines of showers as well on their screen.

Off the went.
Start times at 13:20 (18m), 13:34 (20m) und 13:48 (Open)
Baer shared the message that a lot of pilots today USE their tracker.
Good news for ALL who want to follow the pilots. And there will be a few as this competition is pretty popular.
https://glideandseek.com/?

What happened?
18m. 362.07 km....changed in a 2.30 AAT….REALLY fast flights. WOW, 162 km./h by Christophe. He really was in a hurry to win another day. He flew 438 km. in time 2.42. Fabulous for a competition.
A class apart.
With the weather prognoses in the back of their mind the Dutch and Belgian pilots started straight away at 13.24.
Christophe and his French mate Adrien Henry, also flying a JS 3, started at 13.42 and finished together at 16.25. Adrien flew 10 km. less, but was a great runner up.
But it did not matter too much as the early starters flew around with 156 km./h as well.
25 Pilots flew over 150 km./h!!!!!
Overall scores after task 5;
1. Christophe Abadie in JS 3 with 3.452 points
2. Arne J. Boye-Møller in JS 3 with 3.403 p.
3. Davide Schiavotto in JS 3 with 3.401.
SO CLOSE!!!!!!
It will be a great second week!!!!

20 m; 347 km...changed in 2.30 AAT….All pilots are in and 3 flew over 148 km./h!!!!
Daily winner; Austrian team Peter Hartmann / Karel Krobath in the HpH 304 TS Twin Shark,
They flew 382 km in time 2.34.39.
Hungaryan team Igor Volkov / Vladas Motuza in the ASG 32 MI, had about the same distance and time but started 15 minutes earlier.
Equal at spot 2 so runner up was the ARCUS T with Italian team Stefano Ghiorzo / Federico Mangano.
The slowest team had 137.88 on their “clock” and my Aussie mates Allan and Harry had 140 km./h. I guess they are both so pleased to be in Europe!!!
Overall scores after task 5;
1. Jakub Barszcz / Lukasz Kornacki in the SHARK with 3.392 points.
2. Erik Borgmann / Joost Wolff in Arcus T with 3.359 p.
3. Peter Hartmann / Karel Krobath in the other SHARK with 3.354 p.
3. Steve Jones / Garry Coppin in ARCUS with the same amount of points.
I presume the HPH people are in 7th heaven!!!!!
Pierre and Arnaud are fit again, pleased to see them in the air again, certainly on such a day.

open; 371.08 km....changed in 2.30 AAT....At around 5, Felipe was in with a booming speed of 164.08 km./h. Would there be anybody faster????? He flew 440.33 k in time 2.41.
Further than the earlier -set- racing- task.
By the way only 2 km./ h faster than the JS3 from Christophe, in 18 m.
Then there is of course Michael. They flew together BUT, his speed was 164.20. Indeed faster!!! And one more point for him!!!
They all started within 16 minutes.
Great job from young Radek, who flew 449 km. in time 2. 45; speed 163.52 km./h. in the JS 1, so not an EB.
Overall scores in open class after task 5:
1.  Felipe Levin with 3.404 points
2. Michael Sommer with 3. 377 p.
3. Oscar Goudriaan with 3.323 p.
All EB’s. Even the first 7 are EB’s , so to see the glider you need to win a WGC, in open class.

The weather moved in straight after the finishes. I liked the S.A. comment after the fast day :
“Tonight is the international evening, and tomorrow is an official rest day (no flying), so you can only imagine how this party will go down… faster than a flag down a flag pole …. 

I guess only VERY happy pilots at the INTERNATIONAL EVENING tonight. More talking and flying with hands and arms. They should!!!! It was a great day!!!!!
And a drink is allowed too, as due to the weather forecast , …thunderstorms and wind with hail….the “day-after” will be a rest day.
So a day off tomorrow!!!!
Good timing from the weather!!! It really co-operates well in Hungary.

There was one little / minor point today…… the SCALES. Not everybody was pleased this morning, with how that went. Some teams seem to be not very friendly, words were” unsupportive” . I could see on the pictures, a long queue waiting .
It was the topic of the day, BUT the fast flights and a day off tomorrow and ALL is forgotten again.

No a 1000 points day in each class they were just TOO fast.
All scores still preliminary.

CU tomorrow hopefully with some pictures from the party.

——————————————————————–

12th FAI JWGC in TABOR in CZECH REP.

July 28 Report:
“Greetings from Tabor, Czech. Today was a picture perfect soaring day here in Tabor. The Club Class flew a 300 km speed task with light wings, cu filled skies and bases near 6000 ft AGL. Tomorrow looks to be a bit wet so we have decided to take a rest day as we have flown many successful practice flights with the ASW-20. Tomorrow we will be sure to enjoy the welcome party following the mandatory safety meeting“
Captain’s report from @Tom Cassetta US Soaring Teams

July 29; official practice day 3, with the opening tomorrow. I read that not a lot of pilots will fly today. A day for a bit of rest, a trip to Prague and the finishing touch of “things” .
The weather was not that good either.
There were no tasks on soaring spot.
“We are currently waiting for further development of the weather. There may be a chance for a short AAT in the afternoon before rain arrives. In the evening we will have a safety briefing at 19:00 and a welcome party at 20:00.” message on the official site at noon.
Tasks were shared; Club..1.30 AAT and standard the same.
Next message :
“First launch confirmed for 13:45. Team captains please come to collect task sheets at 13:25 to the front of grid and confirm change of start gate opening time to 20 minutes.”
Only 14 club class pilots flew and 6 of them got to know the area better by landing out.
In standard the Aussies tried but got back No day.
Opening tomorrow!!!!

———————————————————————

Series 11 of the FAI Sailplane Grand Prix;

In Eisenhuettenstadt  they were ready for a small task , race 6, on the one but last day; 156 km.
A new face for the 10 daily points. Only Dirk Windmueller , from the top 5, got 8 points and extended his scores to 30. He leads now. Robin has 28 points and Andreas 26.
Best speed today 136 km./h. by Rolf Gerzman. A tad faster than Dirk with 135.7 km./h.
They will be the pilots with the possibility to win this GP.
More tomorrow , after their last day!

———————————————————–

Arne Martin Güettler from Norway just got himself a new glider…an 18m JS 3, and he really is trying it out to it’s best.
” Today I was able to visit all the 3 highest mountain ranges in Northern Europe in one flight!
It was slow and careful, keeping high all the time. But what views!” indeed stunning pictures.
Here is one of them;

https://www.weglide.org/flight/194664

CU, tomorrow!!!
Cheers Ritz, a very busy but very pleasant day.

37th FAI WORLD GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIP
Szeged, Hungary
 24 July 2022 – 5 August 2022

Looking back at yesterday.
This time with the picture collage from the South African team,….they really had a good day…., these are the winners from yesterday in each class.

Here is a small part of John’s report on yesterday, the rest is on US Soaring Teams
“There’s always a sense of relief when it’s actually time to cross the line and race.
Which pilots finally did, mostly around 14:00. All tasks sent gliders east, on zig-zag style tasks. Lift was not as strong nor as high (best climbs were to a bit over 7000’) but still quite good by normal European standards. Compared to yesterday, speeds were down roughly 10%. It was definitely easier to get low, and typically harder to “dig out”.”

The South African team was so kind to publish a list of the tugs ,so I share them also with you, as they always do such a fabulous job!!!!
The nine tow planes of the competition:
1 x Zlin Z-143
2 x Radial Cmelak Zlin Z-37
1 x Turbine Cmelak Zlin Z-37T
1 x Cessna 182
1 x Robin DR400
3 x Piper Pawnee PA25C

AND,….I was really pleased to see my Aussie mates Allan and Harry in 20 m. on spot 9 yesterday!!!!! GREAT EFFORT!!!

Lets go to TODAY!!! Briefing at 10,

Tasks have been set, but the day started different. Not sunny and blue skies ,but cool and clouds….overcast. They even spoke about B-Tasks.
The start has been postponed to 12.30 .At 12 still 7 / 8 clouds . The trigger temperature is still 2 dgr. too low.
My UK mates say it so much better than I, with my Ritz-English. “Currently waiting for cloud to clear & trigger temp of 30c with tasks sets for later. First launch not before 12noon“. perfect!
THEN,……Postponed to 12.45. Clouds were supposed to burn off, but they did not yet.
In the end the pilot and crews got confirmation from the first launch at 13.30.
AND,…with TASK A.
They started with 18 m. Their start line opened at 14.37. Then they STOPPED!!! BUT,…the good thing, the cloud base got slowly higher up to 1100 AG.

July 28; day 5 ,task 4……only the pilots from 18 m will fly………

18m; 301.58 km…..!It was waiting for a long time to get rid of the overcast, but the organizers decided to launch the 18 m and then stop and let them be the only flying class today. They left with 1100 m height AG. But some had problems to get high enough to depart. There are quite a few forbidden zones around the airfield, so pilots have to take care of that too,….and the PEV….and looking around for other pilots.
WELL,…they could n’t stay up, the day was cancelled in the air at 2.30 , so all 42 gliders had to land and also their day has been CANCELLED.

20m; 268.47 km...CANCELLED !!!!
open; 323.89 km...CANCELLED !!!!!
By the way, Felipe who is on spot 1 overall in open, was junior WORLD champion in 2009 in Rayskala in Finland and in 2011 in Musbach in Germany. So an excellent pilot for MANY years!!!!

Tomorrow is another day. A day with the INTERNATIONAL EVENING.

—————————————————————-

Good news from Dutch pilot Peter Millenaar, former junior champion.[2013 in Leszno]
“What a day! Declared 1000km out and return to Reinsdorf from Aachen Merzbrück. The conditions weren’t always so easy, but luckily the day was long. The power plants in the end didn’t really give great thermals anymore due to the wind. Another hop to Bergheim would have made the 1200km, which was possible. However too tired to continue, and my 4 liters of drinking water was finished!”
https://www.weglide.org/flight/193829
Great job Peter! 1.163 km.
Still good weather in parts of Europe where it still is hot. Fuente has so many 1000 km flights already this year , too many to mention BUT, you can find them on the OLC or WEGLIDE.

———————————————————-

THE 12th FAI JWGC
Tábor, Czech Republic
30 July 2022 – 13 August 2022

Talking about the JUNIORS. I told you already that they start on July 30. There will be 2 classes standard and club. Today was practice day 4 , this time the 2d official one, with tasks just over 300 km. in both classes.
Matthew Scutter the junior world champion from Narromine in 2015 is NOW the TC from the UK, with some “strong” pilots . But the French, the Dutch and Aussie pilots are very good too and for sure a few more I don’t know now.
The first official practice day in Club class, yesterday was won by Jelmer Vis from the Netherlands . Over the 1.30 AAT he flew 162.82 km in time 1.29.18; speed 108.55 km./h.
Not everybody went up only 33 and several [11] were “out”.
In standard it was James from Down Under but only a few flew the 1.30 AAT. In the end their day was invalid.

The 2d official practice task today in CLUB CLASS, was won by Simon Siska [SVK] in an ASW 24.Speed 105.36 km./h
Danish pilot Jens Andersen was runner in Mosquito103.87.
43 did fly and 39 finished. 4 Were out.
7 Warnings, so hopefully lessons learned.
9 Pilots flew over 100 km.
USA mate David was on spot 38 , but IN. The UK boys Toby and Finn on 9 and 10, and my Dutch mates Jelmer and Simon on 14 and 15.

In standard class Polish pilot Wiktor Lacinski won the practice in a Discus 2A with 118.61 km./h.
2 Czech pilots , flying together, were on 2 and 3.
My Aussie mates James on 6 and Ryan on 15.
24 from 29 were in and 4 out ,one not scored.
Incorrect PEV and finish altitude were lessons to learn from.
The official site mentioned:
” The weather in Tábor was good the whole day with cloud bases up to 1500 m AGL. Everything for the competition is now prepared and when the last few pilots finish their registration and scrutineering, the only thing left to begin will be the official opening ceremony that will take place in the Tábor centre on Saturday at 16:00.”

Lets see what happens during the comps. I look forward to this JWGC.

—————————————————————-

The FAI Sailplane Grand Prix in Germany was busy with race 5 today ; 374. 99 km.
And with 2 races to go, Pete Harvey had a great day in his Ventus 3TS and won with a speed of 127.8 km./h. Just a tad faster than Christoph Matkowski in the AS 33; 127.7 km./h .
Robin was 8th today with 126.2 km./h
He still leads with 27 points , followed by Andreas Kühl with 24 points, Dirk Windmüller in AS 33 with 23 and Pete now with 22 points.
As said 2 more days to go race 6 and 7.
Exciting!!!

Early evening so CU tomorrow again.

cheers Ritz

37th FAI WORLD GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIP
Szeged, Hungary
 24 July 2022 – 5 August 2022

You might have noticed I published a post yesterday as well. The scores were so quick that I could straight away start with my view on the day.
A picture from the glorious winners , this time from open class, I can share with you now.

Bas from the Dutch team was one of the pilots from open class, landing with severe crosswind yesterday. In total 8 pilots landed after 4.
Bas had light damage on the aileron by touching the ground. How good is it then, that Attie and Uys are flying this WGC as well. They helped straight away and the JS 1 was ready to go this morning. TOP job from Jonker Sailplanes!!!!
The Dutch TC Baer Selen, as said twice world champion, sits alone under the team tent with the radio and maps; he got corona there . He has no symptoms , but must/will be careful till the test is negative. His team is doing well with Jeroen on spot 1 overall in 18 m. at this stage and Erik and Joost runner up in 20 m yesterday.!!!!!

Here is also a short part of John Good on yesterday.
WGC2022 – report for July 26

Today’s forecast predicted challenging condition in the form of a cold front approaching from the northwest.
In the event, the weather was perhaps just a bit better than the forecast. Except in areas well to the west, lift was often strong, climbs went high (sometimes above 9000 ft, and thus close to the contest altitude limit of 2800 m), and some unusual “half cumulus / half wave” clouds provided useful clues. The late starters actually did reasonably well, and the day lasted long enough to get everyone home (though a few finished low enough to earn penalties).
His words about air space and the PEV are also clear;
“An interesting – and, yes, controversial – feature of this contest is the PEV. This stands for Pilot EVent: a time-stamped notation that a pilot can cause to appear in the electronic log of each flight, from which speed and score are calculated. The rule here says that when you choose to cross the start line and begin your task, you should first create a pilot event (by pressing a button associated with your logger). You then must let a defined time (here, 5 minutes) elapse at which point a start “window” of defined length (here, 8 minutes) opens for you. If you cross the start line during this window, all is well; should you start outside such a window, you’ll be hit with a 50-point penalty. And during any one flight, you can create only three such windows for yourself – once the last has closed, the only way to avoid a penalty is to land and re-launch.“
In 18 m and 20 m., one pilot was out the PEV and in open nobody.
This is John by the way if you wonder who he is….The rest you can read on US Soaring Teams

The front that brought strong winds and short showers moved away overnight, another day, other chances…..It created good pictures here is one from the French team with Eric and the just-in-time- in glider 72.

Here are the tasks,……. time to start with TODAY;

July 27 day 4 task 3;
The meteo opened this morning with :” “We have a very good weather today...” So that opens perspective for all pilots. Good tasks as well, so all ingredients to make it a super day! The day will be blue with homogeneous thermals up to about 2000 m. Problem-free weather,…. HURRAY!!!!
First launch at 12.
NOT a good day for Team de Broqueville from Belgium, I got the message ” to day sick no flight “
I wondered already a 17th place out of 19 yesterday was not de Broqueville-like.

Indeed the weather was perfect with 3 m. lift up to 2000 m. I read only happy messages. I get news via FB , from a lot of countries , so I keep myself busy with reading and waiting. And then combining and making a story. I am very pleased with the quick scores by the organization!!!!
So what happened today?
Start line opened at ; 13:07 (18m), 13:20 (20m), 13:36 (Open)
A lot of pilots started after 2PM.

18m; 409.95 km…..The first pilots appearing on the scores-list were Christophe and Uys ; speed 137.3 km./h and 133.46 km./h with starts around 14.03. Christophe remained there,…..good on him.
Danish Arne was GOOD today AND runner up!!!136.79 km/.h.
So Uys was 3 and Attie followed on 4 ; 133.46 km./h and 132.61 km./h
11 Pilots flew faster than 130 km./h Another 2 ,Mac and Wolfgang had 129 km./h.
All 42 pilots finished. LIKE!!!!
The best daily pilot flew 2hours and 59 minutes, the “slowest” one , with respect , 4 hours and 45 minutes. BUT,…he was IN.
the overall’s till now;
1. Christophe Abadie with 2.571 points.
2. Arne J. Boye-Møller with 2.568 p.
3. Davide Schiavotto with 2.565 p.
Close very close here as well.

20 m; 384.84 km...18 started and finished. As you read already Pierre and Arnaud could not fly due to illness. So no scores for them. I wish them WELL, indeed THE VERY BEST !!!!
The winning team was Anton Šibanc / Sandi Kavalič in the ARCUS M; speed 122.41 km./h.
The Swiss winners from the 2 days before were last, so I hope they are not sick either. They dropped from 1 to 5, pfff…that hurts.
Runner up from S.A. Dawid Pretorius / Nico le Roux had a speed of 122.34.
Daily number 3 was Louis Bouderlique / Ulysse Merlin.
Looking at the overall’s till now;
1.  Jakub Barszcz / Lukasz Kornacki in the TWIN SHARK …pretty special…with 2. 585 points.
2. Erik Borgmann / Joost Wolff with 2.555 p
3. Steve Jones / Garry Coppin with 2.540 coming from 7.
It’s all VERY close.
VERY happy Shark-people, so they should; “After 3 competition days Twin Sharks are currently in 1st and 4th places!” HpH Sailplanes UK

open; 407.33 km…with 140.49 km./h. Oscar raced over the track BUT,…Russell started later and finished at the same time…result faster ;141.63 km./h.
He moved from 9 to 6 overall.
Runner up; Oscar and on 3d place Sylvain [140,14 km./h]from France.
The Italian “Alberto’s” had exact the same points [885] flying together to the limit.
When you were 10 km./ h. slower than Russell, you “only” got to spot 17!!!!
Only one was out ….he started as last pilot….and one forgot the PEV.
Looking at the overall’s after 3 competition days;
1. Felipe Levin with 2.534 points.
2. Oscar Goudriaan with 2.507 p.
3. Michael Sommer with 2.506 p.

Celebrations from team UK for Russell …..well deserved!!!!

———————————————————-

THE FAI SAILPLANE GRAND PRIX in Germany had RACE 4 today.
410 km. was set for the 19 pilots.
After 3 days there are 2 pilots leading with 18 points; Tobias Meiler in Ventus 3 T and Dirk Windmüller in AS 33es.
Robin Förster in ASG 29/18 m has 15 and Mark Wering {The Netherlands] in JS 3 jet/18 m. has 13.
Robin flew around today with a speed of 133.2 km./h gaining 10 more points; 25 now and he leads “the pact”.
He got 60 s penalty as well, for an incorrect landing lane.

————————————————————————-

The juniors at the JWGC, are busy with scruteneering and some fly today at the practice day. The JWGC is between July 30 and August 13 from Tábor in the Czech Rep.
There is good security as I read on the site;
“The police is now taking over the security at the airfield. Be prepared to see police cars driving periodically around the airfield, especially at night, including in the glider tie-down area. New CCTV security system is now also installed for your safety. Nonetheless always keep your valuables with you or lock them in a safe place.”
With security I always think of Rieti when during a competition, young guy’s drove with scooters between the gliders at the grid in the middle of the night. Next day police took care of the field straight away.
There are 45 pilots in club class and 29 in standard class. A total of 74 pilots . NOT BAD!!!!
I even noticed James [Nugent] and Ryan [Driscoll] from faraway AUSTRALIA. Not too easy still , to fly over from down under to Europe in this corona world.
Both top pilots!!!

In between the Dutch showed great initiative by asking for wood at a sawmill, to make a table and “other important stuff”. With a trailer full of wood they went back to the airfield.
Look what they have now

That’s it for today……More tomorrow.
All scores still preliminary.

Maybe one more nice picture shared by the organization.

Cheers Ritz

37th FAI WORLD GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIP
Szeged, Hungary
 24 July 2022 – 5 August 2022

Here is part of John Good’s report on contest day 1 , as he is there and I know him as a good writer,…. the rest you can find on US Soaring Teams
“Today’s conditions produced the first scores at WGC2022 – and a high percentage of task completions (two 18-Meter pilots “ran out of day” and came up just short). The absurdly good weather of the practice period may be a thing of the past: today was merely very good. It was a mostly blue day, but with occasional “haze domes” to indicate thermal locations; lift was typically around 5 kts, occasionally extending as high as 7000 ft.”

AND then to the third day…..
Tuesday July 26; DAY 3, task 2….
a sunny day with 30 dgr. C, blue and 1/8 cu’s and the expectation that around 4 PM, a front , [already over the North of Hungary in the morning] , might/will have influence on the task area. For that reason it was announced that the thermals could get less around that time. Something to keep in mind!!! Also the Westerly wind would increase and ‘kill” the thermals. So the goal is a fast flight and being back in time. EXCITING,….you can follow them every day on link.glideandseek.com/wgc2022
AND,……off they went,……..First launches at 11.30.

18m; 354.30 km….A start at the right time was important today, not too early ,but certainly not too late either ,when the forecast would be correct.
Clearly better circumstances after start for 18 m. ,than yesterday ,when it was a bit of a struggle for them. Though,……”en route” some 18 m. pilots got pretty low ,…..500 m. but …….got out.
Hungarian pilot Péter Szabó started with a few others, early at 12.45 and at around 14.30 they had passed already TP 2. They passed Bekescsaba and who flew the comps there in the past, 1992, might remember the area and take advantage of the memories of that EGC. Then they start a long leg of 107 km.
Around 3 PM, some only had to fly less than 70 km.
And around 15.27 the first pilots were in, nicely in time as cu’s/ac slowly arrived from the West.
With a speed from 146,78 km./h French pilot Christophe Abadie is the daily winner!!!! WOW , what a day!!!! Runner up Zoran Frenc [Serbia] with 146.67 km./h….. pffff……missing out on 2 points. WELL DONE!!!
Uys Jonker and Melanie Gadoulet had a speed from 146. 46 and 146.36!! TOP job!!!
All 42 finished , slowest speed; 120 km./h….best 146.78 km./h.

20 m; 316.01 km...with a 45 km. long leg to TP 1 and 3 legs from 78, 73 and 81 km and final glide over 34 km. Hungarian pilots Ferenc Tamás / Attila Korom finished at 15.30,44, so a good speed of 131.86 km./h. after an early start at 13.06,56. BUT NO ,.it was not enough to win.
The French must like this weather as Louis Bouderlique / Merlin Ulysse flew around with 134.90 km./h. They started at 13.32, the last start of this class and finished as number 3.
BUT,….EVEN BETTER…..Rainer Cronjäger / Guido Halter, their 2d win!!! Speed 140 km./h!!!! For the day a rather late and daring start at 13.30 and finish at 15.46!!!!!! But my goodness what a performance!!!!
What about my mates Eric and Joost; runner up for the day…speed 135.71 km./h!!!!! Good on them.
Weird to see Pierre and Arnaud on spot 17.
All pilots are counted for.

open; 346.70 km....also for open class not one long leg as in 18 m. but 4 from 67.7 km, 64.5 km, 76 km and 86.5 km. final glide from 48 km.
Alberto Sironi, flying the EB 29R, was faster than fast ; 154 18 km. /h Daily winner!!!!
His mate also an Alberto but now Pozzi was runner up; 151.99 km./h . They started together but the final glide from the EB was faster than the JS 1. Only 19 points difference though.
Oscar Goudriaan was a fast and on spot 3, also over 150 km./h ; 151.51 km./h
Sylvain Gerbaud, Felipe Levin and Michael Sommer also flew over 150 km/h

Everybody is back. ALL ARE COUNTED FOR!!!
WHAT A FAST DAY!!!!!
AND,..…..WHAT QUICK SCORES!!!! Compliments for the organizers!!!!
The last finishers felt the forecasted strong wind, as that wind arrived half an hour faster/earlier than forecasted. It turned out to be 20kt. and it blew straight through. So gliders had to be de-rigged or brought the the tie-down area with speed.
Luckily ALL pilots were IN!!!!

Looking at the overall scores,….. after 2 days AND …..days like this, can have huge impact.
In 18 m. Jeroen moved from 2 to 1 and Davide from 1 to 2. But,…Petri from 3 to 14 and he flew around with a speed of 132 km/h.??!!! Bizarre.
In 20 m. no doubt till now about the Swiss team, Rainer and Guido. Winning 2 days means, being on top of the overall list. The Twin Shark with Jakub and Lucasz is a strong runner up and my Dutch mates went from 5 to 3 .
In Open a bit the same situation; number 1 and 2 Felipe and Michael stayed on their place with 10 points difference , but Daan moved from 3 to 6 after todays 9th spot,…still 149 km/.h!!!???
Oscar is 3d now, coming from 7 and Alberto Sironi moved from 10 to 5.
BUT,…tomorrow ALL MIGHT BE DIFFERENT again.

—————————————————————–

The JWGC is about to begin too and in Germany there is an FAI SAILPLANE GRAND PRIX in progress [ July 24 July 30] flown from Eisenhuttenstadt.
There are 19 pilots among them 1 from the UK Pete Harvey, 1 from the Netherlands Mark Wering and 5 Polish pilots!!!
They had 3 days till now;
Race 1 was 246 km and won by German pilot Tobias Meiler in Ventus 3
Race 2 was 357 km and won by German pilot Tobias Breithaupt. The other Tobias was now runner up.
Race 3 was 204 km and won by Dutch pilot Mark Wering in JS3 jet.
Race 4 5 6 and 7 to go. I keep you informed.
https://germany22.sgp.aero/news

Giving my neck ,back and fingers a bit of rest now.
CU tomorrow again,
Cheers Ritz

37th FAI WORLD GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIP
Szeged, Hungary
 24 July 2022 – 5 August 2022

The briefing on day 1, last Sunday, moved from 10 to 12. They had thunderstorms overnight and with that, a long time of dry weather ,stopped.
The weather for day 1; tough wind, clouds and 24 dgr. C. but supposed to get better at noon. So hope for a [small] window!

Task 1 on July 24; Unfortunately they had to CANCEL the first competition day.
The weather for Monday seems to be better so…over to….

—————————————————–

Task 2: on July 25, with blue skies and thermal activity …3m /s up to 2200m.
Expected first launches: 11:45
18 m. upfront ,then 20 m and open class.
They moved the launches with 15 minutes, but then at 12 ,they all went on track.
They use PEV(Pilot Event Marker) Starts. This means that 5 minutes before a pilot intends to start they need to activate the event marker on their Flight computer. This then starts a 5 minute countdown after which they may start for an 8 minute window.
No PEV means that they automatically get a 50 pt. penalty.
This way they try to avoid gaggles and pilots following each other.
Perfect!!!!

18 m; 407 km.……the first 1000 points were for Italia’s Davide [JS 3] who won the day with a speed of 134.25 km./h. .That was 2 km. faster than Dutch pilot Jeroen[JS 3] ; 132.07 km/h. who really flew good.
Petri from Finland was 3d. I won’t start again about how he arrived with his parents in Tocumwal when he was around 6 years old. BUT,….Every time when I see his result I think how is it possible!!!! Time flies AND Petri now flies an AS33es in a WGC!!!!!
From 42, 40 finished, and those 2 Swedish pilots nearly were “home”.371 and 3363 km.
4 pilots in this class were out of the PEV window.

20 m; 380 km….a Swiss triumph meaning 1000 points for team Rainer Cronjäger / Guido Halter [ARCUS T] ; speed 124 .71km/h. after a late start. Just a tad faster than Polish team Jakub Barszcz / Lukasz Kornacki in the Twin Shark;124.11 km./h. On spot 3 Czech team Ivan Novak / Petr Krejcirik in Arcus M.
The early birds started at 13.36, the later ones at 14.14[the daily winners]
Somewhere I read that the 18 m had difficulties with the weather in the beginning, as it was not so good over the field, so a late start in 20 m sounds the way to go. All in retrospect, …..indeed!!!!
Only 2 Aussie mates in Szeged, 2 lovely guy’s Allan and Harry flying the ARCUS M. They were last today, but I am sure they will love every day, just by being there.

open; 416 km.…outstanding performance from Felipe and Michael in their EB’s; 133 km./h. for 1000 and 995 points. Great result as well for Belgian pilot Daan who in his EB was 3d; 126 km./h.
All 22 pilots finished, the last one flew 4 hours, but Zoltan was IN!!!!!
There are 9 EB 29’s in this class and 11 JS1’s.[21 m] 1 ASH 31 MI and 1 EB 28.

All points of course are still preliminary.

Newsy WGC news;
—“There are 3 Twin Sharks flying in the world championships in Hungary.”HpH Sailplanes UK
—“One of the tow planes – A turbine Čmelák (Zlin Z-37).I’ve seen on the tracking yesterday a 60 second climb average of over 8m/s @ 150kph !!! Almost better than a winch launch!” South African Gliding Team

—#WGC2022 Task annullata” the Italian gliding magazine Volo a Vela about day 1.
—“Gwennie Jones from wing cleaning cloth (New Zealand 2007) to British Team Captain (Hungary 2022) in 15 years!” quote by Steve Jones.

—In 18 m there are 42 entries, biggest class and 21 are JS3. 4 are JS 1 and 11 Ventus 3 gliders with 4 AS 33es and 2 ASG 29’s.
—-John Good the TC of team USA is a great writer/blogger as well, here is part of one of his stories about glider shipment!!!
“I alluded yesterday to the problems of shipping gliders to Europe for this contest. At WGC2022, the Jonker brothers (Uys and Attie) have fallen victim to this situation: they (characteristically) prepared tuned and tweaked examples of their JS-3 design to fly in the 18-Meter class here. These went on board a ship weeks ago, with delivery promised in a German port well in advance of this contest. The ship apparently was held up in one or more ports along its way, and now these gliders are predicted to arrive (at a port around a thousand miles from Szeged) this coming Tuesday. Fortunately, Jonker gliders are now found all over the soaring world, and it appears Uys and Attie had little difficulty arranging examples they could borrow. Uys has decided to stick with the one he has borrowed; Attie has secured an arrangement (with the concurrence of the contest organization and all Team Captains) that when (if ?) his arrives he will have a one-time chance to decide – irrevocably – whether he will switch.
https://www.facebook.com/ussoaringteams/posts/

So that was the first day in Szeged. Some will be very pleased and some a bit disappointed, BUT it’s only day 1. AND,…they flew.

CU on Wednesday again.
Cheers Ritz

Scruteneering is over….the practice days are over including 3 official ones and today task 1 will be set.
No task yet, but briefing was at 10 and the grid time at 12.
Great practice days as well, with good tasks and pretty strong weather…..high temperatures though; 38 dgr. C. Base often up to 3000 m. and even 4200. One of the pilots mentioned; “Never seen such awesome weather over flatland”.
Last Wednesday , on the first official practice day, all classes got tasks around 500 km. with quite a lot of smoke in the air from fires. Only 3 tuggies so a bit of waiting, but more tugs will arrive soon.
Most teams flew together, so won team France [Christophe Abadie and Melanie Gadoulet] in 18 m. class with a 532 km set task; speed 148 km./h both in JS 3.
Team Belgium with Bert jr and Tijl Schmelzer followed both in Ventus 3T with 146 km./h and the Austrians Michael Rass and Wolfgang Janowitsch with 145 km./h.
Only 24 from 41 flew. 9 Of them had their first out-landing-experience.
20 m. class had 471 km and the UK pilots Steve Jones and Garry Coppin had the best speed; 138 km./h.
Quite a bit faster then runners up Merlin Ulysse and Louis Bouderl;ique from France; 134 km/h.
11 from 19 teams flew!
Open class; 532 km and won by Andy Davis with 145 km./h on the “clock’. [MD JS1 c/21 m].
Italian pilot Alberto Sironi was runner up in his EB 29R; 143 km./h.
15 started, 6 started an out-landing and 7 stayed at the ground , still busy with other things.

Last Thursday all classes got 3 hour AAT’s.
Good flights of those who flew , were the result.
In 18 m. Henry Adrian flew 414 km in time 3.07 so a good speed of 132 km./h.[ 1000 points] followed by his French mate Christophe. They started and finished together with a small margin in distance. Christophe flew 6 km. less, for 977 practice -points.
only 23 flew and one was out.
In 20 m it was Swiss team Rainer Cronjäger / Guido Halter in their ARCUS T with the best time and distance combined; 375 km in time 3.05….speed 121 km./h.
About the same speed as runner up Czech team Ivan Novak / Petr Krejcirik in the ARCUS M.
12 Started from 19 …from those who started nobody was out.
In open class, 454 km was the best distance combined with time 3.16 for the German EB boys ,Felipe and Michael, practicing together,…. but Michael flew a few kilometers less.
2 were out and 9 did not fly.

Friday ; last practice day with on Saturday the opening and on Sunday the beginning of the comps.
18 m; 362 km...Roman Mracek won the day with a speed of 140 km./h. He flew together with his Czech mate Petr Koutny both in JS3.I was impressed to see young Petri from Finland on 3 in the AS33es.
30 pilots from 41 flew from them 15 were out. Enough penalties as well, also for airspace violation. Better now than tomorrow. That’s why flying on practice days is GOOD.
20 m; 333 km...Only 5 from 19 did not fly. Winner was again team UK with Garry and Steve;127 km./h.
open; 393 km…..142 km.h. for Russsell the UK is doing fine!!! Andy was 3d with 140 km./h In between Felipe with 140 km./h in the EB 29 R. Still pilots who “fiddle around” and not practice on an official practice day, but I know there is SO MUCH TO DO.

The opening was in town, last Saturday, a beautiful old town.

After today much more news about the comps. Here a picture from the briefing on day 1.

————————————————————————————

Some newsy WGC-news;
Oscar [team SA] had a minor problem during practice. After the first 5 m of their first start the undercarriage collapsed from their EB.
“A quick derig, and inspection found the problem. Now fingers crossed that the replacement parts will arrive within the next day or two. (Nothing too serious)”
They did and arrived in time for a nice practice flight on Thursday :”The mighty EB29DR (AC) has taken to the skies!!”
Team USA has a nice picture as promo for the worlds as well. Sarah Arnold and Karl Striedeck in the ARCUS. Photographer Bo, who is a real good photographer. I am allowed to use quite a lot of pictures from her.

Team UK ;”Day 1 WGC Hungary:
Thunderstorms overnight have resulted in a delay in task setting. Waiting for a cold front to go through but maybe not clearing in time for us to play. Next briefing 12noon local.
Pilot quote of the day: “First contest day ends three month Hungarian drought!” Andy Davis.”

By the way the opening yesterday was at 16.30,…the temperature 41.5 dgr.c , so HOT very hot!!!!!!
An invitation for dinner by the organizers followed .
I expect a lot from team UK, here they are, so you know /see who I am talking about. But as said before there are many possible champions in Hungary.

—————————————————————————–

Last but not least;
I wrote about the WGC 13.5 m in my last blog.
How I had contact with some reliable mates to find out what happened with the Italian team.
Their thoughts about it. Their opinions. Not more, not less.
What I wrote was what I heard. They were not facts ,as I did not have facts, otherwise , as you know, I would have told you.
I got some comments on my last blog, that I had the facts wrong.,… I appreciated the comments very much. It means I should give no room for confusion, be even more clear.
I got it.
Now I can share the jury report with you, these are facts and OFFICIAL, they are public and in the Public Domain, but I know how difficult they are to find there.

Jury Decision

4^th FAI World Gliding Championship 13,5m Class

Pociunai, Lithuania 3^rd – 15^th July 2022

To whom it concerns;

This Jury Decision refers to the two Protests lodged by the Italian Team on the 7^th July 2022 at 21.44hrs with the Organisation of the above Competition relating to Penalties received on their scores for Task 3 on the 5^th July 2022 in the above Competition.

The  Penalties applied by the CD were according to the FAI Sporting Code Section 3 Annex A.

Mr. Thomas Gostner – Cheating, First Offence, Disqualified from Competition (not returning direct home to Pociunai Airfield after Technical GNSS Outlanding by using his FES engine)

Mr. Stefano Ghiorzo – attempt to accept external help, First Offence, Day Disqualification (returning on same track as Mr Gostner and benefiting from Mr Gostners search for Thermals)

 For both these protests the Jury examined and decided the following;
1. The Jury examined the IGC flight recording files i.e 275VS.igc from Mr. Stefano Ghiorzo and 275GT.igc from Mr. Thomas Gostner with the SeeYou V.10 flight Analysis Program. Detailed print outs were made to show critical factors such as point of Starting engine, heights of gliders, Distances involved ,exact flight routes etc.
2. The Organisation of the Competition was interviewed by the Jury President for all the details about their Reasons to apply the Penalties and were invited to explain their points of View to the full Jury Panel but they declined.
3. The Jury President also had a meeting on request of Mr. Thomas Gostner with Mr. Luka Znidarsic from the F.E.S. engine manufacturers of the engine in Mr. Thomas Gostners glider. Mr. Znidarsic showed the JP an Excel Spreadsheet with Data downloaded from the engine flight recorder. He was asked some precise Details by the JP  about Battery status at beginning of flight, the way engine was used for return to Airfield, alarm of overheating etc. I asked Mr Znidarsic if he could make this Data available to the Jury and he agreed. This offer has been withdrawn today as Mr. Gostner instructed Mr. Znidarsic with the words “the data could be used against me”. Please note Mr. Znidarsic is also a fellow competitor in the 13,5m Class but contacted us as already stated above on request of Mr. Gostner.
4. All the above was correlated by the JP and distributed to the remote Jury members. Subsequently with e-mails and What’s App a lot of questions were discussed and we were finally ready on the 8^th July 2020 to hold a Zoom Meeting at 6pm Lithuanian local time to make our final Decision.
5. Mr. Ghiorzo and  Mr. Gostner were invited to this Zoom Meeting to speak to all the Jury members and make their Points which they accepted and did. They understandably were very emotional about this whole issue but appeared to be more concerned about their Reputation and Integrity and accused the Organisation not to treat them fairly and equal.
6. The Jury subsequently continued their Meeting with a long Discussion and Examination of the Fact present, to see if the Penalties applied were correct and if there were any mitigating circumstances to change them. It is surprising that both Pilots with such vast experience in Competition flying claim that they were not aware that they committed an Offence and were breaking the Rules and they want to ignore the evidence which clearly proves the opposite that they were guilty. The Jury Decision taken at the end was unanimous in agreeing  with the Penalties applied by the Championship Director  as mentioned  above in this Document.
7. All parties involved were notified immediately verbally by the Jury President  and the Team Captains and pilots during the Briefing on the Competition on the 9^th July 2022 at 10 am. Also by the Jury President.

Please note that this Document is only a “short” version for formality and a full comprehensive Report with very detailed data and explanations will be submitted by the Jury President in his Report to the FAI after the Competition.

Pociunai, 11^th July 2022

Jury President                  Bruno Ramseyer

Remote Jury Member     Frouwke Kuijpers

Remote Jury Member     Peter Ryder

So you know the official in’s and out’s. A lot to think about!!!
I don’t know how this all continues, but I will keep you informed.

CU SOON
Cheers Ritz
to finish my Dutch mates in Hungary with 2 times WORLD champion Baer Selen in the middle as TC.

Looking back at the EGC and 13.5 m WGC in Pocuinai,, I still wonder what exactly happened with Stefano and Thomas, in my eyes very respectable and integer, persons and pilots.
So I tried to find out more by asking around a bit.
From the scores I knew how the organizers thought about it.
First I was wondering why all 4 Italian pilots were out. Did they disagree with the organizers or felt ashamed and left? Only Thomas was disqualified.
No that was not the reason.
The withdrawals;
Stefano withdrew “because his mental state after Thomas’ disqualification, without any evidence, prevented him from safely continuing the competition.” I understand that totally.
Luca Urbani withdrew because he seriously damaged the glider in outlanding, because the fields were high and the conditions were very marginal. I know him for many years and he is a very experienced pilot.
Lorenzo Fornari damaged his glider as well.

Then the disqualification;
“Thomas had a shortage of battery and to avoid a potentially dangerous outlanding, he had to find thermals, which is NOT forbidden. In three consecutive days, three gliders were severely damaged and this was the main reason why Thomas did not land and tried to return to the airport. “
If safety was indeed the reason, of course the team did not agree with the outcome of the organizers and they filed a complaint.

I guess that after the WWGC in Lake Keepit, another appeal during a WGC will be delivered to the international court of appeal.
Not good!!!! But honesty and justice , fairness and integrity should win at ALL TIME in sport/life. Including SAFETY.
Otherwise we better stop!
I keep you informed and I am very anxious to know the final result and share it with you.
To be honest, I prefer comps without problems. I guess we ALL do.

——————————————————————-

The 37th WGC in Szeged in Hungary
July 24/ August 5 2022

LOOKING AHEAD;
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, the location of the 37th FAI WGC 2022 has been changed from Kecskemét-Matkópuszta (Hungary) to Szeged (Hungary),” was, what was written in the 2d bulletin.
So Szeged had to organize in a relative short time a WGC, but they did it before.
82 Pilots will attend; the official site www.wgc2022.hu
For some pilots it will be the return to where they were once before.
Maybe in 2010 when Michael Sommer won in open class , Zbigniew Nieradka in 18 m and Stefano Ghiorzo…yes Stefano, who was bitterly disappointed in Pocuinai and withdrew….in 15 m.
In my last blog I gave you the schedule, so now it’s looking ahead of what’s going to happen and who is who.
In 20 meter class there are 2 interesting couples. Sarah ,who won the last WWGC in Australia, flies with Karl Striedeck, multiple WGC pilot and more than that,…. a USA icon!!! Strong couple.
AND,…the only competitors from the USA. They fly an ARCUS T.
From Australia Allan Barnes also in an ARCUS now an M, with Harry Medlicott in his mid nineties. Allan flew several WGC’s and Harry is a flying phenomena. This is what he always wanted and now at this age it all happens, why not??!!!
Also they,… are the only participants from Australia.
Pierre and Arnaud de Broqueville, are well-known faces in this class too AND good pilots!!!
The Finish team Aku Jaakkola and Juha Sorri, might be less well known in this class, but during my stays in Finland I got to learn them. Jaku then still as a junior, now married with children, Juha a bit older with many titles on his name.(Finnish champion, standard: 1992, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012
Finnish champion, racing: 2015, 2017, 2018) and more.
Chances also for UK pilots Steve Jones [ who won with his brother Howard in 2014 in 20 m class]and Gary Coppin .
My Dutch mates Erik Borgmann [runner up in Sweden in Borlange] with Joost Wolff in an ARCUS T, had already good practice together.

In 18 m. Wolfgang from Austria will fly his Ventus 3TS, WGC winner in 2003 [Leszno] and 2018 in Hosi. the brothers Tijl and Bert [jr] Schmelzer both in Ventus 3T. Bert jr was WGC champion in 2014 in Rayskala. Young Petri Sucksdorf is too young to be world champion already, but has a bright future! The French pilots Christophe Abadie and Melanie Gadoulet will fly in a JS 3. Melanie won the last WWGC in Lake Keepit. Good to see Hungarian pilot György Gulyás is still flying comps. He won in 2008 in Luesse. Davide and Riccardo fly their JS 3 for Italy. Hadriaan van Nes and Jeroen Verkuijl participated for the Netherlands in several WGC’s and fly JS3. Attie and Uys fly their own glider for South Africa.
Mac from Japan flies an AS 33es and don’t underestimate Roman Mracek from Czech Rep.

Open class; has several “heroes”. Russell Cheetham [won the WGC in 2017 in Australia ] and Andy for the UK.[won in 2003 in Leszno] . Yves Gerster who had some really good flights lately in JS 1 C /21 m.. Oscar Goudriaan and Riaan Denner fly an EB 29 DR.
Bas Seijffert [The Netherlands ] is good/fast in his JS1C and Alberto Sironi also good and fast in EB 29R. Not too forget Michael Sommer who has been at least 5 times WGC champion in 2006 in Eskilstuna] in 2008 in Luesse. in in 2010 in Szeged , in 2014 in Leszno and in 2018 in Hosin. He flies with Felipe Levine [EB 29R] who was JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPION in 2009 and 2011. Not to forgeteither, Radek Krejcirik from Czech Rep. in a JS1C.
And then Sebastian Kawa even won more, 12 , I counted on different disciplines. BUT I do not see him on the list in Hungary.
I only found 3 Polish pilots one in each class.

I look forward to the event and hope it will be a fair one, without treats from the Russians and without corona. I will keep you informed!

Preparations for the 37th WGC in Hungary;
So is the presentation of the Danish team, but now for the WGC in Hungary.
They fly there with 5 pilots all good ones, what about; Arne Boye Moeller, [18 m] Peter Eriksen, [open] Rasmus Orskov, who was WGC champion in club class in 2018 in Ostrow Poland] , [18 m] Poul Kim Larsen [open] and Tom and Henning in 20 m.

Slowly the teams are arriving in Szeged.
“Arrived in one piece. Glider in good condition. Chomping at the bit.” Oscar from South Africa.
” So , the JS is rigged and ready to go. Now coffee and shopping and a flight to discover the area from above.” Hadriaan from The Netherlands.
“First training flight yesterday with thermals up to 2700 m [5m/sec] . ” Philippe from France.

They are practicing hard as well. Also for today there is grid info on https://wgc2022.hu/ under news. One comment after/during a flight :”First impression .The sky is on fire! (quite literally..)”

——————————————————————

Preparations for the WWGC in Husbos are in full swing as well.
The French are going with a big team to the WWGC in Husbos in the UK. Their presentation is top, look at this. Sorry one way or another the pictures at the flag from the girls disappeared.
4 of the girls I met at the last WWGC in Australia, where Melanie became world champion.
Anne was WWGC champion in 2013 and 2015 and Aude Grangeray in 2015 and 2017. A very strong team.

———————————————————————————

It’s hot in the Netherlands, very hot but the annual SUMMER COMPS 2022 from Malden were on, between 17 July 2022 – 23 July 2022.
It’s a qualification competition to enter the Dutch Nationals and for some a fun competition.
Even with the 40 dgr. C they had to fly a 2 hour AAT. But the higher , the cooler and for those on the ground they have a huge cellar under there hangar , where they store all their gliders in winter, and that area under the ground is nice cool.
Till now they flew 2 out of 3 days , with a 184 km. set task, and 2 x a 2 hour AAT. The last one was cancelled.
For today a 105 km. race is set, with the expectation later in the day for severe thunderstorms with hail , lot’s of rain and gusty winds.

OLC news;
Between the 1.230 km. last Friday From Gordon Boetcher/ James Lee from Minden in the ARCUS J and the 1.025km. from Germany by Josh Jarosch in a Nimbus 4 , the flight from Tim Kuijpers in his ASW 20 WL, from 961 km. flown from Malden, was outstanding. He tried a 1000 but as he said he made a small mistake at the TP…. costing him. Great flight mostly flown over Germany.
On Saturday still great weather ;1.345 km by Keith Essex from Ely Arpt in the EB 29R.
Fuente has early already top weather…the heat there is unbearable so the higher the better….4x a 1000 km.plus .
Sunday .Great flight from Alfred Paul from the Netherlands flying from Garray Sorianuma in Spain; Soria.
He flew easily avoiding thunderstorms ;1.105.77 km with speed of 147 km./h He loved flying from Soria so much ….”What a country this is !! The most attractive women, stunning nature, and  I believe the best European gliding conditions”….that he will travel back for another week after work.

We had tropical temperatures on Monday, the first official tropical day in the whole country; we here in the SE had it already earlier this year and we had 39.8 dgr. C yesterday, not the expected/forecasted 40 ….with code orange for heat and smog, but I did not see any smog.
Also the UK suffers from the heat with temperatures over 40 dgr. C, never ever before it was so hot there. So it was a “HOT TOPIC” during the day.
Heat records everywhere in the S W of Europe, BUT …it is not funny anymore. Over 500 died of the heat only in Spain. In Spain, France and Portugal bushfires got out of control. Like in Australia ,where I spend a lot of time, people have to leave their houses , camping’s and agriculture land….. tragic!

CU again on Wednesday or earlier when there is enough WGC or other news!!!
Cheers Ritz

4th FAI Gliding Championship
Pociūnai, Lithuania
3 July 2022 – 15 July 2022

Wednesday July 13 task 9….2 hour AAT.
A valid day with still only 3 finishers! Polish Christoph, [161.13 km. in time 2.03 ] Lithuanian Darius [161.90 in time 2.08] and Dutch Nick [165.82 km. in time 2.18] . Robin was on 4 , but just out!
Darius and Nick started early at 1.11 PM and Christoph late at 2.26. In retrospect, daring but a correct decision.

Thursday July 14 task 10…..263 km. changed in 217.02 km…..on the one but last day!!!!!
Finally the weather-gods had mercy for the organizers and pilots/crews. Finally a longer task again. Some pilots flew in their AAT already 270 km. but now they had a set task.
7 from 8 finished and the best was Christoph with 95 km./h .Darius and Linas ,the proud Lithuanian pilots ,flying in their own country and keeping the honors high, followed. Behind them the 2 Dutch pilots. All had 93/94 km./h.
So no changes in the overall scores with one day to go.

Friday July 15 very last day!!
task; 2 hour AAT,BUT CANCELLED due to lot’s of rain.
So the winners of the 4th FAI 13.5 m. WGC are known now after 9 out of 13 days;
1. Nick Hanenburg from the Netherlands in Mini Lak with 5.025 points. WORLD CHAMPION 13.5m
2. Darius Gudziunas from Lithuania in Mini Lak with 4.720 p.
3. Linas Miezlaiskis from Lithuania in Mini Lak FES with 4.514 p.
Congratulations to Nick and to all other pilots who had to deal with miserable weather and many out-landings. A pity but it is as it is. Nobody can change the weather.
Still 9 out of 13 days, but not one 1000 -points-day.
The Dutch shared a video on the prize giving and I got a little tear when listening to the Dutch hymn.
Here are the boys from The Netherlands who are happy but “worn out”.

——————————————————————-

21st FAI EGC in POCUINAI.
3 July 2022 – 15 July 2022

Wednesday July 13
Club; task 9….1.30 AAT….The day went between Danish pilot Michael Mix and Czech pilot Tomas . Both had 90 km./h . Michael, in his LS 3A, flew 146.66 km in time 1.36.49 and Tomas in his ASW 20, 135.51 km. in time 1.29.28.
3 Were out, among them “poor” Claudia…hope for her the glider was not damaged again. Tomas is gaining more and more overall points.
The 2 Dutch pilots , Thies and Roelof, started more than an hour later than the rest of the class, still being 7th and 11 th for the day.
Early starters left at 13.14, a big group around 13.50 and the Dutchies at 14.50.
Tom and Tapio swapped places overall.
“After more than half of July’s average rainfall fell in one day yesterday, we were back in action today. Short AATs for all classes to the South East, then South West.
Conditions were generally good, albeit in a narrow band with a very low close base for most of the day and rain approaching late on. A mixed day across the team, with one missed bubble being enough to put you in the weeds. After today, Tom has snuck in to the top three overall in the club class. But with 2 days of unpredictable Lithuanian weather ahead still, anything could happen.”British Gliding Team

standard; 2 hour AAT….Only ONE OUT, but still a challenging day. Most kilometers were flown by Polish Lucasz in his Discus 2A; 194.83!!! With the time at 2.12 he ended on spot 1 for the day.
Over the last days he moved up from spot 6, to spot 4 not far behind my Belgium mates Jeroen and Dennis.
7 Pilots still have chances in this class to be European champion.

15 m; 1.30 AAT....167.55 km. was the best distance by Czech pilot Karel Novak in his JS 3. Not enough to win as he needed 1hour and 42 min. , and some pilots needed less time. Oliver and Thomas from Germany combined distance and time best with a speed of 101 and 99 km./h. Oliver was the only one over 100 km./h. and moved to spot 3 overall, as Yves had a less good day on a daily spot 18.
4 from 25 were out.

Thursday ...July 14..quatorze juillet…one but last day……tasks longer than before ,but also the message from team Belgium;
“Today may be the last day, we’ve got B tasks for standard class and clubbies and C task for the 15m class. A lot of wind and not that high cloudbase is predicted. Let’s see what happens!”
They flew….. it was another challenging day with wind over 25 kts.
start times;
Start line for 15m class will be open at 12:45.
Start line for Standard class will be open at 13:14.
Start line for Club class will be open at 13:23.
Club; task 10….205.50 km...With hopefully one more day tomorrow the overall scores on this last but one day are;
Tomas 3.203 points…Thies 2.914 p…Tom 2.785… Tapio 2.759…and Danish Michael, who moved up over the last couple of days from 11 to 5!!!
A good day!!!!Certainly a great one for Tom and Jake from the UK. They won with a speed of 97 and 95 km./h . What about Tomas and Thies?
They both finished too on spot 4 and 8.
Nothing changed in the top 5 overall, only a few more points of course.
With one more day….
Tomas has 3.815 p….Thies 3.506….Tom 3.434…Tapio 3.379…Michael 3.345.
“finally some good racing weather with racing tasks in all classes.
With 20-25kts of wind, there was a fair bit of apprehension on the grid about how tricky it would be to find solid thermals, let alone make progress in to wind.
Our concerns turned out to be unfounded with conditions much better than forecast. The peak of the day saw regular 4-5kt climbs to 5000’ and epic streets deep in to Poland.” British Gliding Team
Tom, after winning the day ;“Starting just behind most of the class, we ran hard and climbed well on our first leg. Turning the first turn in the forest, close to the Belarusian border, we lined up on a perfect looking street heading West in Poland. Only stopping for 4-5kts, we had a great run to the turn, dragging a lot of the class with us. The run home was uneventful, and great to get a 1-2 finish for day.”

standard; task 10….248,92 km….Another top day for Lucasz winning with a speed of 108.83 km./h. Good on him. Dutch pilot Stephan Grunder, in his LS 8 was runner up.106.69 km./h. My Belgian mates were 9 and 16 . This had influence on their overall scores; Dennis moved from 2 to 3 as Lucasz moved from 4 to 2. Jeroen from 3 to 6.
here is news from the Belgian Gliding Team
“Yesterday there was a huge disappointment, again. Dennis and Jeroen had a great start and caught up some planes at around the turnpoint. After a little better path they could catch a long cloudstreet and by zigzagging under it the leg on with the head on wind was going quite quickly. The key point was at the second turnpoint. With a 2m/s lift just before we were kind of sure that we could catch more than a meter on the way back which would be a lot better with 40kmh wind. There were still other gliders to point us were the thermals were bit unfortunately this didn’t work out as planned. We got lower and lower by searching this lift and lost each other. Dennis managed to stay a little higher and got a good path home but he had to deviate a lot to the south. Jeroen had some more time struggling but managed to finish after some ridge flying at the river. We tried to gain that one place and were on a good run until everything collapsed and now we tumbled down a bit.
Today looks not really great, lot’s of rainshowers which already started to form.”

Swedish topper Jan-Ola is still on 1 overall with one day to go, with 3.068 p. followed by Lucasz with 3.578 and Dennis with 3.572 p. ONLY 6 points difference!

15 m; task 10…314. 66 km.…The Polish pilots flew very good during this EGC and on the one but last day they are on top of the overall scores;3.600 for Sebastian and 3.495 for Lucasz. So with all this marginal flying, it will be difficult to beat them in 2 days.
Between 3 overall and 8 there might be possibilities. 3.217 and 3.006points.
So off they went and they had finally a race on their hands.. Werner Amann in the AS 33 was the best ; speed 116.81 km./h. But Sebastian is Sebastian and flies AAT’s and set tasks/races without a problem. He and “his” Diana 2 FES V were runner up;114.92 km./h.

Friday; July 15…very last day! CANCELLED….
So the winners and champions are now known after 8 out of 13 days. No last-day-tactics, no tension,…it’s over now.
Club class;
“Final day – scrubbed! After gridding in the rain we were scrubbed at briefing, so that’s the comp finished.
It’s been a typically difficult competition, with plenty of landouts and tricky days; well done to all the pilots for their flying and resilience, and congratulations to Tom on a Bronze medal in club class.”
British Gliding Team
1. Tomas Suchanek in ASW 20 with 3.816 points. EUROPEAN CHAMPION!!
2. Thies Bruins from the Netherlands in ASW 20 with 3.508 p.
3. Tom Arscott from the UK in LS 7 with 3.434 p.

Standard class;
With 7 out of 13 days here are the champion and winners in this class.
1. Jan-Ola Nordh from Sweden in Discus 2T with 3.611 points. EGC CHAMPION.
2. Lukasz Blaszczyk from Poland in Discus 2A with 3.578 p.
3.  Dennis Huybreckx from Belgium in LS 8 with 3.575 p.

15 m class;
Winners and champion from 8 out of 13 days;
1. Sebastian Kawa from Poland in Diana 2FESV with 4.452 points. CHAMPION!!!!!!
2. Lukasz Grabowski from Poland in Diana 2 with 4.328 p.
3. Oliver Springer from Germany in AS 33es with 4.027 p.
Congratulations to all, specially Sebastian with his “so-maniest-WGC-title”. I got lost…..He never gets bored and flies and flies……

For sure the HAPPIEST CHAPPIES!!!!

EGC team CUP:
1 Poland
2 Czech Republic
3 Germany

It must have been “hell” for the experienced organizers from Pocuinai. Rain, rain and more rain. The weather can be very good there. But what I heard, the organizers did a good job and EVERYBODY in Lithuania was so kind. So pilots and crews are very tired now, but will look back with a good feeling ,[ even with the scratched bellies from their gliders ] and on many new friendships!
That’s what it is all about!

——————————————————

After the 13.5 WGC and EGC the next big “stop” is in Hungary…Szeged.… with the WGC and in Tabor for the JWGC in about 2 weeks from now. [Czech Rep]
The Hungarian unofficial practice days start Monday on July 18.
Opening ceremony on the 23d and contest flying between July 24 and August 5.
There are at this stage 82 participants in 3 classes; 18m, open and 20 m/double seaters.
I will keep you informed.

The 47th Polish open Class Nationals just finished and those Polish pilots are always good; We just saw a few toppers winning at the EGC, more TOPPERS were flying the Nationals in Ostrow between June 30 and July 9.
They finished already on July 9 but looking back the 28 pilots had good weather and tasks in the beginning, not so much later.
The first day was cancelled but then they had a 3 hour ,3.45 and 2.15 AAT. Gintas Zube [ASG 29] won the first AAT with 393 km. in time 3.13.[speed 122.20 km./h]
The second long run was won by Zdzisław Bednarczuk [JS3] with 492 km. in time 3.53 [speed 126.65 km./h] Task 4 by Łukasz Wójcik366 km. in an EB29R 28,4m., in time 2.31 [speed 144.76 km./h!!!!]
Then a few 1, 1.30 and 1.15 AAT’s with in the end pilots from “my time” winning the comps. They flew 7 out of 9 days.
1. Łukasz Wójcik in EB29R 28,4m with 4.242 points.
2. Karol Staryszak in ASG 29 with 4.051 p.
3. Tomasz Rubaj in Diana 3 FES with 3.795.
 Janusz Centka also from “my time”, is still going strong on spot 9.

That’s it for now. Enjoy.

Cheers Ritz

When I left you last Wednesday I was still in some kind of shock, as I could and can not believe what happened to Stefano and Thomas. The next day I straight looked if things were different,…..but no they were not. So I have to accept the decision of the organization.

This is what I heard ; one of the Italian pilots had to start his engine pretty early and instead of flying back to the airfield ,he helped his mate by showing him the thermals.
Let’s look at the continuation of the EGC and WGC 13.5 m.

————————————————————————————-

13.5 WGC in Pocuinai.[Lithuania]
4th EDITION
July 3-15-2022

On Wednesday they had task 4, a 1.30 AAT. Another day with NO FINISHERS, but some nice results, specially for the Netherlands as the Narromine WGC runner up, Robin [Smit] won the day with 213 km. Only distance points; 167. But,….when you can loose on ONE point , EACH point counts. It took them nearly 5 hours to get the 167 and 164 points.!!!
3 from 11 pilots [25 %] had to fly over 100 km….that happened; 213, 209 and 191 km.
A grown-up- tactic- flight by 2 young men, fighting for every point.
Character building, but character they had already!
Dutch Nick, was 3d. Nick ,was from one moment to the other, on top of the overall list when after task 3, Stefano and Thomas dropped to 10 and 7 from 11.

NO TASK on Thursday.
Task 5; 1.30 AAT…..cancelled.
Task 6; 1.30 AAT, you can see they are trying hard. Another tactic day?
NO, they flew for points with speed. Darius flew 80 km in time 2.15, which says enough but he made it a valid day together with the 2 Dutchies who flew a bit further ,but needed more time;183 and 184 km in time 2.18 and 2.32!
Thomas seems to be disqualified so is out of the comps and Stefano has withdrawn from the comps.
9 left. Only 9 …not good for the image of competition gliding.

Task 7; 3 hour AAT…..B task…2.30 AAT….Finally a GOOD DAY!!!! All PILOTS FINISHED!!!!
Nick flew 250 km in time 2.30 at the dot for 801 points,….finally some points…. and Robin flew 272 km. in time 2.48 for 755 points.
Nick was the only one flying over 100 km./h.
Task 8; 2 hour AAT....From the 9 pilots 3 flew the task and finished. 2 Lithuanian pilots and Nick from the Netherlands. The rest was out. 3 Flew over 100 km. among them Robin after 115 km..He must have “lost “Nick as they try to fly together.
Nick still leads ahead of Linas and Darius from Lithuania and Robin, who lost over 300 points.
July 12; declared REST DAY.
Then,……3 days to go.
TODAY ;2 hour AAT.

———————————————————————–

The 21st FAI EGC at Pocuinai
July 3-16 2022

Such a pity that the Lithuanian organizers have to deal with “bad” weather. But as we know it’s part of our sport.
On July 6 and 8 there was NO flying.
July 6 had NO TASK.
July 7; a 1.30 AAT for the 3 classes , some flew but “no valid day.” One “hero” in club class , the only class not scrubbed, even finished…. Szabolcs Veigli from Hungary; speed 42 km./h in his ASW 20.He was the only one. TOP…..no points but a big chapeau/ thumps up!!!!!
July 8 ; another 1.30 AAT but nobody flew. In the evening…INTERNATIONAL NIGHT!!!!

July 9; marginal weather with a small window….they hoped…
Club; 1.30 AAT...a valid day as enough pilots managed to fly over 100 km…..but no finishers!
Czech pilot Jan Ratz was the best flying 148.52 km. for 228 points. UK pilots Jake and Tom “got” 226 and 225 points for 143 km.
Jake , runner up today, shared the day with soaring world;
“Day 4 (again) – A short weather window before an occluded front came in and wiped out the task area. 1.5hr AATs were set for all classes. We had some lovely streeting conditions pre-start, which very quickly gave way to large areas of spreadout between the first and second sectors – requiring a huge detour back to the north for 13.5m, 15m and standard class gliders to dip into the north side of their second sector and then scrape back home. Unfortunately, the club class sector was just too far away from the soarable conditions meaning we spent a lot of time just staying airborne and waiting! Eventually a convergence line from the leading edge of the front swept us up and allowed us to finally get into our second sector and back out. It was quite spectacular climbing on its leading edge in 8kts+. The next problem was that we had to go through the rain on the back of the line, and after a long glide averaging 18:1 through the rain and into a strong headwind, we finally all ended up in fields near the control point about 25k from home.“
Standard; 1.30 AAT...13 from 28 finished!!!!!Swedish pilot Jan-Ola Nordh was the best with 147 km in time 1.49.80 km./h!!!
German overall toppers Mario and Enrique had a bit of an off day being out after 100 km., so they lost some points and dropped from 1 and 2 to 8 and 11.
The differences are very small. My Belgian mates Dennis and Jeroen moved to 2 and 3 behind Jan -Ola. But it ain’t over yet!!!!!
15m; 1.30 AAT...Karel Novak won with 154 km. in time 1.29…good….and “got” 138 points!!!!!
Sebastian was runner up for 96 points;152 km in time 1.54.
The Italian pilot, Lorenzo Fornari, in this class withdrew!
25 Pilots left.
Poor Henrik from Denmark was out after 44 km and “got” 22 points.
BUT,…..19 finished. There are many overall scores with a marge of only ONE point, so a lot can still happen.

July 10; longer tasks! Hopefully NOT MASS OUTLANDINGS again.
B tasks were set as there were more middle-high-clouds than forecasted.
BUT…..NO OUTLANDINGS as EVERYBODY FINISHED!!!!!! GOOD!!!!!
A great RACING DAY!!!! Pilots and crews deserved that.
club; 2.30 AAT....2 hour AAT….27 finishers!!!! Best was Tomas Suchanek in his ASW 20, [229 km in time 2.08] followed by Danish pilot Lasse Edslev in LS 4.[217 km. in time 2.06.]
At spot 3 “our” Thies [Bruins] …yes our Dutchies do well….220 km. in 2.10.
team UK [Paul] wrote; “The club class got very low between two huge lakes and had to scratch away in weak lift. Passing over them at 3,000 ft looked nasty down below. But Jake and Tom did what they do best .”
standard; 2.30 AAT....2 hour AAT...Lukasz Blaszczyk in his Discus 2a, [229 km in time 2.04.50] finished ahead of Jan -Ola .[237 km. in time 2.11.
The German boys recovered from their less good day and were now on 4 and 7. My Belgium friends were on 5 and 8. Everybody was pleased with a finish AT the field.
15m; 3 hour AAT…2.30 AAT...4 eastern pilots, 2 from Czech Rep [JS3] and 2 from Poland [Diana2] formed the top 4 in this class. They flew over 280 km .and finished just before 5PM. Speed between 111 and 113 km./h.
All 25 finished!!!!Good day!

July 11; The skies looked good, but again many out-landings. 14 in 15 m, all gliders in standard[invalid day] and 20 in club class.

Club; 1.30 AAT…..A real European top 3; Danish pilot Lasse won the day with 121 km…speed 79 km./h for 130 points. He is in the right groove now!
UK pilot Tom was runner up with 127 km…speed 75 km./h. and Tapio from Finland with 134 km in time 1.47 was 3d.
Only 7 from 27 finished!!! “Poor” Claudia, with her already “battered” LS1 f neo, after so many out-landings, …by the way she makes nice out-landings…. was on spot 27 with 35 km.
Tomas Suchanek [LS4] still leads overall, ahead of Thies[LS7] from the Netherlands and Tapio [LS7] from Finland. BUT,….UK pilot Tom and German pilot Lukas are only 16 and 17 points behind Tapio.
Standard; 1.30 AAT.…..Only 2 Czech pilots , Miloslav and Jan, flew over 145 km. so the day was invalid! Well done to Miloslav and Jan.
15 m; 2 hour AAT….Polish toppers Sebastian and Lukasz in their Diana’s dis well again.192 km. in time 2.02, for 323/2 points.
From 25 only 11 finished, the last one of them Henrik, so a good Danish day!

A great write-up by Tom, who is flying there in Club class, so you also know all in’s and out’s from the “horses mouth”.;
“What a strange day. Short AATs set in all classes, with the threat of showers developing from the early afternoon. Sure enough, shortly after launching, under a cloud base not much higher than release height, the start sector started getting wet. Club class and 15m class were able to make an early start and set off through the rain. Jake and I rolled the dice and headed south at best glide with wet wings until eventually we connected to a weak climb from 700 ft. From there, the flight was great fun, dodging showers and running energy on the front of them, all in a very low working band. Both club class and 15m class had a great run home from the second sector, watching competitors still starting their first legs in the opposite directions. 2nd and 5th for the day was a good result, but unfortunately very few points for today. For the standard class, the later start opening time meant Nigel and Paul were forced to land back and wait for the showers to clear. By the time they made a start, most of the first sector was behind a shower line and despite their best efforts, they landed out in the best field available. With less than 25% past min distance, it was not a scoring day for standard class. With weather warnings for wind and rain in place, tomorrow has been declared a rest day. We go again on Wednesday with three possible days remaining.
Tom

July 12; Rest day for all classes.
Reparations for many gliders after the many out-landings;
” Good morning from the European Undercarriage Door Refitting championships. “British Gliding Team

July 13 TODAY….1.30 AAT for club, 2 hours for standard class and 1.30 for 15m.

—————————————————————————————-

Both in the USA and Europe there were some over 1000 km. flights. A very interesting one last Thursday, flown from Ely in an LS 6 by German pilot Thorsten Streppel, with” a long and marginal 105km final glide in dying conditions which could be extended by ridge lift in the final part to avoid a landout and make it home safely.“
He shared this picture over pretty remote areas!

On July 11, last Monday Ely-Arpt was GOOD again. Kilometer eater Keith Essex went for a nice race of 1.329 km, a real FAI 1000 km triangle in this flight. His speed 160.44 km./h. [ 8 hours and 17 minutes]
For the triangle he sat 7 hours and 53 minutes with 132 km./h.
He flew a EB 29R.
There were 2 more 1000 km.-flights from Tonopah, a FIELD ON one of the legs SW from Ely, but also one from Fuentemilanos in Spain where it has been “bloody” hot over the last weeks with real heat waves, up to over 40 dgr. C.. In the ARCUS M Frerk Frommolz [Germ] and Guy Bechthold [Lux] flew 1. 135 km.
The heat and good soaring conditions felt good for more pilots so Gil [Souviron] and Baptiste Innocent “took” their Stemme S12 to Fuente and flew yesterday 1.223 km.[over 800km FAI triangle]
Guy and Frerk flew another one , this time a bit longer;1.187 km. Normally the season starts now in Fuente but with 6 over 1000 km flights yesterday, it looks like a great start of the Fuente-season, where many different Nationalities meet each year.
A real place for long-time-friendship and great soaring.
To complete yesterday’s 1000 km. flights. James Lee flew one from Minden;1.171 km [974 Fai triangle] and Ramy Yanetz his so maniest this time 1.048 km. Only in July 2022 8 x.
Young Simon Schroeder flew one in Germany in his Ventus 3. He flew a 1000 km. FAI triangle …GREAT JOB!!!!!

—————————————————————

Soaring creates FRIENDS FOR LIFE!!!!
Talking about long-time-friendship!!!!
No , this is not a gliding field in Europe, Australia or Africa, as you would expect seeing these faces, …..but glider pilots/friends on their way on motor bikes through Norway; at the picture….Arne,[ Denmark], Bruce [Australia] Katrin [Germany] and Arne’s wife Anne.
No TP’s on maps but rest points to enjoy the awesome beauty of Norway.

From motor biking back to the finals from the WGC and EGC next week. Most probably on Sunday!!! Standby.

Cheers Ritz
To finish this great picture by Tobias Barth who creates those great soaring calendars.
More of that soon here: www.aviation-calendar.com
www.instagram.com/tobi.barth.photographer