OSTROW WIELKOPOLSKI !!!!!
THEY HAVE STARTED!!!!As I told you already a while ago, I am not writing daily bulletins anymore ,too complicated ,that’s for those who are THERE, but of course I try to keep and eye on everything.
Here is the official site and the result site;
As shared by TEAM USA.
“The pilots meeting was held in an old Soviet-era hangar on the field. Scrutineering has started and the first official practice day had EXCELLENT weather up to 3000 m.”
First out-landings as well, BUT on the day before…
It’s ALL HAPPENING!!!!!
Practice day 1; 404 with 126 km./h. km in standard class ,in mostly blue conditions. Great day!!
Official news;” We’ve got more than 100 pilots at the airfield. During the briefing they had an opportunity to taste delicious coffee by Woseba. Today’s grid was sponsored by Ignaszak – Autoryzowany Dealer VW Audi Skoda, who lent us a car for event needs. Thank you!”
Andy Lutz from Austria won in 15 m. by flying 363 km from the set 430.90. No finishers in 15 m. class
The Dutchies, Tim and Frank in Club had a great result , both 1000 points for a speed of 109 km./h. over 358 km.Both are strong pilots …Tim was already European Champion, Frank Dutch National Champion, so pilots to keep an eye on!!!
Practice day 2;around 300 km. again. 317 for standard and a good practice day for the Swedes, Richard Swanstrom and Jan-Ola Nordh, as they won! In 15 m class it was Max Seiss from France who won the day with 332 km and in Club Rasmus Ørskov from Denmark in ASW 20w.
Something different, a GREY glider, though not TOO different as Blanik’s are grey as well. But looking good , have a look. Sebastian arrived with this Polish GP 15 JET at the WGC spot. On FB I read a comment by Swiss Chris;“15m but the aspect ratio is 29! Wing area only 7.7m2 (ASW27 9m2) but its empty weight is 60kg less.”
Gracious “toy”. As shared by one of the Lucasses; this time Grabowski.
“The glider however won’t be competing in the event itself, at this early stage in development and testing process. It will perform demo self-launches and flights between competitions” – says GP Gliders representative.
Practice day 3; Great day for the UK in St class Howard Jones was the winner just ahead of Louis from France [116.20 for 116,18 km./h.] CLOSE!!!!!. In 15 m. it was Polish pilot Lucasz [Diana 2w] and his mate Sebastian [ASG 29w]and in club AGAIN Rasmus from Denmark. Good on them!!!
Saturday opening and then the real thing started!!!!
Opening on Saturday with in the morning a safety briefing for all competitors at 10.00AM. Then before the briefing “Professor Krzysztof Kubryński will present the new polish glider Diana-3. The glider will be delivered by Avionic company ”
PR picture as shared by the organizers on the official site.
Before briefing enough interest in the new polish Diana 3 !!
As shared by the organizers.
AND
“WGC2018 are officialy open“
Team Belgium and team France .
As shared by Belgian Gliding Team and Pôle France Planeur
team South Africa and Team The Netherlands
As shared by South African Gliding Team
and Wereld Kampioenschappen Zweefvliegen
team USA as shared by US Soaring Teams
Enough PRE-NEWS, we start now with
Day 1 ….daily news first; Tasks 3 x AAT. and a new airspace file !!!And ….a first and exact- on -time -first- launch at 11.20 LT!!!The weather was fore-casted to be less good than the day’s before with possibility of over-development maybe even in to CB’s , slightly lower temperatures and lift deteriorating after 5 PM. It ended up an EXCELLENT day with huge speed and lift between 2.5 and later in the day 4 m./s
Before start the South African team shared their opinion.
“Interesting observation on the grid today showing the evolution of glider design through the years. The very first glider on the grid today is a Glasflugel Libelle and the very last glider on the grid a Jonker Sailplanes JS3.”
Not too bad skies by the way!!
The little but oh so good Libelle.
As shared by Team SA.
Day 1…standard; 2.30 AAT… ALL 47 pilots finished and ALL flew with a speed of over 100km./h!!!!!!!
There is always one the best,even with the smallest margin, this time “good old ” Russian mate Dmitriy Timoshenko in a Discus A ;355 km in time 2.39 so 133.85 km./h. ,…..and very good as well, Dutch pilot Sjaak Selen ….yes younger brother from….as runner up.; 345 km. in 2.35 so 133.31 km./h. That’s close!!!
Number 3 was young, Norbert Scarlet from Romania. He works for Glide Omarama, where he flew the last 2 seasons. Good on him.
9 Times Discus in the top 10.
Day 1…15 m ; 2.30 AAT..One outlanding and also here HUGE SPEED.
Winner from day 1 Uys Jonker [S.A] in the JS 3; 358 km. in time 2.35 so a speed from 138,39 km./h!!!
Runner up Sebastian in ASG 29 [136 km./h] and the VENTUS 3 with Andy Lutz from Austria was 3.[135 km./h]
4 From the 6 top-spots are for JS 3’s.
Day 1…club ; 2.30 AAT..The first 6 places were for East European pilots; Jaroslav Tomaňa from Czech Rep in St Cirrus, won with 286 km. in time 2. so a speed of 107 km./h.39.
Runner up from Poland Tomasz Rubaj.[SZD 55]
On 7 spot Rasmus from Denmark who won 2 day’s in the official practice week.
Jonker Sailplanes was OF COURSE happy with the day-1-result , shared a great video,…but was also very honest;
“The JS3 SA team, Uys and Attie, was fortunate to be in a small fast gaggle, towed by multiple world champion Sebastian Kawa. According to Uys, Sebastian gave the rest a lesson in flying. “It was awesome to watch such talent.”
Is he in his way to the next title?? Got lost how many he has.
Day 1 is over, disappointment for some, happiness for others , lot’s of day’s to go;no worries !!!
Maybe a bit too short tasks today?
Day 2…Daily News first; first start at 11.15 sharp…CU’s in the air…club, standard and 15 m….AAT’s again , but longer!Some mentioned 3/4 m.s. Another pretty conservative weather forecast.Scattered rain and a chance of thunderstorms BUT, stronger thermals and a higher cloud base!!
The weather turned out MUCH better again.
Glider 74 , a St. Cirrus, from Frank is ready to go …….AND ………look at the skies as seen by
as shared by the Dutch team. Kristian Roine from Finland.
Day 2..standard; 3.30 AAT… great day for the French…great speed 133 km./h…lot’s of kilometers 467 ..and flying together brought them, Louis Bouderlique and Guillaume Girard, to 1000 and 994 points.
Matthew Scutter …Aussie Aussi Ausie ,oi oi oi.. was on spot 3 with 470 km in 3.33.
And on 4 ,Sjaak from Holland , who likes this type of weather and is on spot 1 overall now. But he knows there are many more day’s to come.
The first 20 daily pilots are all within 100 points; between 901 and 1000. The first 10 spot’s are for the Discus and LS 8.
Day 2…15 m. ; 3.30 AAT…Also in this class the French , both in JS 3, did well on spot 2 and 3 with Christophe Ruch and Maximilian Seis. They flew 504 km. in time 3.42/43. so a speed of 135 km./h.
Good , better but BEST was Jan Omsels [Ventus 2ax] from Germany . He got the 1000 points 496 km. in time 3.36 so 137 km./h.
On spot 4 Sebastian and Lucasz from Poland.
On the last spot 37, Andy Lutz from Austria, a place he does n’t belong.
Day 2…Club ; 3.30 AAT… A Pegase 101A won the day with in it Darius Liaugaudas from Lithuania; 405 km in time 3.34 ;speed 113 km./h!!.
Frederic Hoyeau and Eric Bernard both from FRANCE [extra good day for the French in all classes!!!]and both in LS 4 were equally on spot 2 .The UK pilot Ge Dale had a great first leg with 135 km./h and for 80 km. no turning .
Another day done!!!
Darius “moves” in a wheel chair so his first spot is EXTRA SPECIAL.
Winner in club class Darius with a bag full of coffee.
As shared by the organizers.
Day 3 …Daily news first: The weather is less good, so a tougher day. A small front is passing by with local rain and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Another type of flying, WHEN they fly!! 2.30 AAT’s for all.
The USA team is still optimistic.
“A change of pace as we grid on Runway 11 today. It is noticeably cooler this morning with high cirrus moving in but still some low cu forming near the airfield.”
Ready for launch at the grid meant waiting… feeling tail- wind….postponing …waiting…. AND …in the rain!!!
As Adam mentioned : “Weather for ducks, still forever hopeful though.”
EVERYBODY stayed optimistic and hoping.
As shared by the Dutch team
Dutch team captain Ben with his son Frank, club class pilot and Sjaak , standard class, having a “meeting” in the car.
Day 3 …standard; 2.30 AAT.… Cancelled !
Day 3…15 m; 2.30 AAT… Scrubbed !
Day 3…club; 2.30 AAT… Neutralisiert!
NO TASK TODAY !!!!
As shared by the organizers.
After 2 day’s the overall scores are :
Standard;
1.Sjaak Selen [Holland ] 1.828…..2. Dmitriy Timoshenko [Russia] 1.787…3. Louis Bouderlique France] 1.744. All 3 fly DISCUS 2A.
15 m.:
1. Jan Omsels ,Ventus 2ax [Germany] 1.795…2. Christophe Ruche, JS 3 [France] 1.779….3. Max Seiss ,JS 3 [France] 1.771.
Club;
1. Jaroslav Tomaňa, St Cirrus [Czech Rep] 1.827….2. Ivan Novak , St Cirrus [Czech Rep] 1.773….3. Andrej Lebedev, ASW 20 [Lithuania] 1.772. !!
More next week.
TODAY, Wednesday July 11, IS CANCELLED!!!!
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——- EUROGLIDE;
After the first 2 good to very good day’s the weather changed ; some had RAIN [wish we had some here for my VERY dry garden!!] so the speed was a bit “on hold” on day 3 and 4. Some were still in the Czech Rep. some nearly on the 3d TP in the far South of Germany above Zurich.But the fun is as BIG everywhere and for some the “bad luck” as well.
Pictures say it all.
As shared by Annemarie ,from Krnov, Czech Republic and Volker……. he will be back in 2020.
On day 4 last Thursday, the ” Early birds ” were on the last leg number 4. As said huge differences between the different gliders .
But thunderstorms were annoying though the place to wait it out, Stillberghof was for team TP one of the early birds ,not annoying at all. But you always want to continue!!!!
The Magistic EB 28 in the rain.
As shared by one of the pilots,Dirk
FRIDAY AFTERNOON; the “early” birds are home !!!! 88 km to go……, waiting 22 km to go…. it will happen today ….YES it happened; Glider UFO with Max/Wolfert and Marc is HOME after 2350 km in 5 day’s!!!!!!
They are the first finishers.
They left with pretty good weather on Monday at noon, had a ball on Tuesday thunderstorms and heavy rain on Thursday and Friday afternoon they were home. Good on them.
Picture from the last kilometers…final glide to Terlet after “seeing” Venlo.
And,…LZ is in as well !!!!Luka Znidarsic from Slovenia,in a Ventus 2cxa FES ,…..he will be back next year!!!
As shared by Frans Guise
the first finishers.
Volkert, Max and Marc with bubbles from Sander at Terlet. And Luca at Venlo with nice cold beer.
In a few weeks when everybody is back and the handicaps are applied, there will be a special evening some kind of reunion, to hand over the prizes.BUT the first prize is there for all…the fun they have had. It turns out for many a real addiction.
Picture courtesy Sander Terpstra from the THERMIEKBEL and picture from Venlo shared by Luka Artelj.
Last Saturday another 6 teams arrived home.Others still en route, a few “landed” at a field were they could follow the opening-briefing from the German Aerobatic Glider Nationals .
Some make it a real holiday and stay longer than necessary,why not???
AND,…don’t forget the drivers, racing behind the gliders. They drove between 2500 and over 3000 km.!!!
Chapeau!!!
Now it’s 2 years waiting again!!!!! Be strong boy’s and girls,……. time flies!!!!!
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——RAF; I looked at the BBC yesterday, for more than 2 hours to see the celebrations of ONE HUNDRED YEAR RAF Amazing, lot’s of tradition, history and emotions. A new RAF flag was presented and I never saw the UK queen so “smiley”, she really enjoyed herself specially with the extraordinary FLY PAST from over 100 aero-planes.
Starting with Chinooks and finishing with the AMAZING Red Arrows. In between 7 “oldies” like the Dakota, Hurricanes, Lancaster, Spitfires, but also the brand-new F 35 , only arriving in the UK this June and now for the very first time presented in the air to the queen and the UK people.
Several Chinook’s wrote 100 in the air.
Of course the Dutch are still grateful to the allies ,who freed us in 1945 ,among them UK pilots as well.
——-Thailand; The world held their breath when 12 young soccer players were missing with their trainer in caves in Thailand. The news captivated the entire world. Yesterday they were freed and scuba divers and other helpers from all over the world contributed to this fabulous rescue.
Heroes,..that’s what they are!!!!!
Enough cheers Ritz
.