Post 1.535 on August 26 2024
UVALDE TEXAS
Garner Field, United States
18 August 2024 – 31 August 2024
Only a few days to go…. the final week and the final touches from the pilots, as some points are CLOSE.
Meaning maybe not everything is possible but a lot is.
The day I missed in Uvalde was Saturday, so I look back at that pretty interesting day.
Saturday August 24 day 7 , task 7;
18 m; 458.09 km….
A race was set and it turned out to be a good day for the German and Dutch team. No, they did not fly together, started at different times but in the end finished on spot 1,1,3 and 4.
Simon Schröder and Stefan Langer, were with 153.55 km./h the fastest for 993 points. I find that always unbelievable; they fly far, yes start and finis about the same time, but must be nearly glued together along the road. Smart if you can do that! Very smart and you must be equally good!!!!
They choose for an early start, most started after 3 PM , they at 14.57 and had a great run.
My Dutch mates Sjaak and Jeroen[ his logbook now has 3000 hours!!!!!!] ; Jeroen; 152.20 km./h and Sjaak149.76 km./h.
Matthew was on spot 24 and he describes the reason why, full of self knowledge;
“We had an awesome forecast and aloft prestart the day looked great. With the first task of the contest that wasn’t grossly overset, we actually had a bit of a window to pick our start time. I planned on doing 155-165kph, having now got a handle on the glider and seemingly similar conditions to previous days we were deep in the 150’s.
I was surprised to see many competitors leave as much as 40 minutes before my own optimal start time, and what I normally would do if I see a big discrepancy is wind back my own start time to minimise the risk if I’d got it grossly wrong, but having got it right a few days in a row, I backed myself and stuck to my optimum.
Unfortunately, the afternoon streeting never really got pumping like it has every other day since we arrived and I was only(!) doing 150kph, which left me one good climb short of final glide before the day packed in. Also a factor was I thought I could be faster alone today, but the climbs were actually a bit trickier to find than I anticipated.
I scraped home on sheer will, but only earnt 750pts for my effort. A lot of work to do from here.“
Matthew Scutter’s Gliding
I like his analyses., hope you do too.
All 32 started and finished!
20m. multi seat; 407.66 km
Most gliders in this class are ARCUS types. The first 6 of the day flew one. Daily winners ; Arnold & Striedieck, so another good run for Sarah and Karl; 150.94 km./h. A good race also for the UK boys , [they seem on steam now] Steve and Garry;149.77 km./h Adam and Keith were 3d and Erik and Mathijs 4th.
All 16 teams started and finished.
Together with Wolfgang and Andy Adam and Keith started late at 15.16.
Adam; “I couldn’t have written the start gate & time script better if I tried, we absolutely nailed it. Team America went through 7min prior to us & at about 6000′, the main gaggle didn’t come over to our wisp, which indicated they were all about to roll out soon, we were sitting about 500-1000′ higher & upwind, with only the FRA team starting behind us.
One glide, we’d caught the Americans & in touch with the gaggle. Day done, we were in the overall lead of the WGC..“
Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
Why they were 3d you can read in his blog. They are full of HOPE; “170 odd points off the world championship title with 6 days to go, it’s all to play for. Feeling good, charged with positive energy, we can do this.”
open class; 450.91 km…
They had a plan! They only had to execute it. 4 JS 5 pilots among them Attie from Jonker Sailplanes, THEIR business of course, and the other 3 JS 5 pilots, mate Oscar and Peter [Hungary] and Zoran. [Serbia]
The plan WORKED!!!!After a late start [ 15.14] the 4 went together at track and finished just after 6PM. Attie and Oscar won the day, 910 points, 907 for Peter and 899 for Zoran. Is that a “coup”????
Well done.
The German EB pilots Felipe and Michael flew around with 161 km./h. Fast day!
All 17 started and finished.
In between the pilots had their INTERNATIONAL NIGHT as well, with all teams presenting goodies belonging to their country/identity.
My Dutch mates were in cheering ORANGE mood, happy chappies all of them;
And,…a rest day at Sunday:
“What a crazy day. Uvalde sure knows how to do rest days! Easily the best of any contest I’ve been to.
We went to “Ox Ranch”, the private ranch of the founder of HostGator.com (weird fact). White rhinos, tanks, machine guns, sniper rifles.
Then a great dinner under the watchful eye of a taxidermy elephant. Texas is a hell of a drug.
The remainder of the contest looks stormy, which is good because after losing a few lotteries I now need some more lotteries.” by Matthew.
As Arne mentioned; “Rest days are tough“
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So far the news about the WGC.
We had the F1 at the Zandvoort circuit last weekend and the orange army went mostly by train [every 5 minutes a train to the circuit ] to see if Max could win AGAIN. But no he did not. Norris has a much better car than Max at the moment, so Max was runner up. How that works with cars puzzles’ me.
I had a great time at the KEIHEUVEL AIRFIELD, hope yo looked at the pictures and read the stories belonging to them, in the earlier blog.
CU tomorrow,
Cheers Ritz