Wednesday 7. PM;

After a very good and easy drive between 9 Am and 4 PM I arrived here in Narromine with Dundee who introduces him self here as; Ritzy’s private chauffeur, so what do you want more!!!Can’t say anything else then that he did a great job driving!!!!
From West Wyalong till Narromine the skies looked brilliant,so we thought that it would be definitely a flying day. It was. The pilots just finished when we arrived at the AERODROME.

I have never been at a cat 1 competition where registration was so perfect, fast and friendly. Then we went to register Dundee’s car for a spot at the caravan site ; no worries either fixed in 1 minute; find yourself a nice spot under a tree.

Then it was a feast of recognition, so many familiar faces.Just heart warming. Narromine has changed so much that I had problems to find where everything is.
Tony [Condon team USA ] is my neighbor and the first I met here.

18.45; Dinner now. SALMON from the BBQ together with Butch and Brian [Hayhow] the coaches behind the till now pretty successful Aussie team and Shaun, the editor of the Aussie Gliding Magazine,who is very helpful and showed me around where to be and to go!!!He is in the same motel and I can drive up and down to the airfield with him, awfully nice.

19.30; Lovely salmon meal under supervision of Arney and Beryll. A beautiful thunderstorm passed by and I will leave soon with Shaun to the motel. Though I am tired I will try to write a bit more over there, when internet works. CU then,

As said….. minute by minute, but the most important part are the pilots and the scores and it is REALLY exciting!!!!!!Only 3 more days to go!!!!!

So I try to do that later. Stand by.

8 PM;Settled in,  in the motel, we stayed here 30 years ago as well and NOTHING has changed, very dated but so close to the field and very nice people, got a connection to internet and here we go.
Mind you this is not a regular blog but more or less a diary which is more personal and has gliding and more!!!
First things first; Just caught up with Swaantje. She looks fragile ,but also strong-[minded] . What an amazing lady she is!!!!!

The most important “other” things; the scores from today:
A short task today in St. class, as the weather was a bit unpredictable, with expected thunderstorms. By the way these showers hang around now with thunder and lightning and look at the skies.
“First launch 12.30 pm Club first, 2.30 hour AAT for Club, 2 hour for Standard. There is an approaching trough and a high chance of storms.” was the news shared by Australian Gliding. And,…
“Launching on time for A task finish circle increased to 10 km 1000′ maximum height limit.” 

   

This picture was shared by Liisa from Finland.

Not so much points to gain not so much to loose , but the top- pilots from this JWGC ,did a top- job today as well.
Daily winner is Matthew with 283 km. in time 2.04 ,32 and 630 points.
Dutch hope Robin, was runner up and moved to spot 3 overall with his daily 603 points. He is  only 6 points behind Sebastian overall now. [6.038 and 6.032] Matthew has quite a good lead , with 6.403 points, but as we know,…. it is only over on the last day after the last pilot has finished or is accounted for.

In club class a 2.30 AAT was set and some pilots who had troubles in the beginning of the competition had a good day today.In this class the number 4 overall, won the day!!!Phillip from Germany flew his ASW 19b over 282 km. in time 2.30 AT THE DOT!!!!!800 Points for him AND a FIRST place overall!!!!
Over the last couple of days Phillip moved from 6 to 4 to 1 overall.
French pilot Lucas had a good day as runner up and young Petri from Finland was all smiles, when I met him and his mum and dad ,with a 4th daily  place.
Getting our badge, we heard at the registration office, that Dutch pilot Nick had out landed,ouch,….but then….. maybe not,…some confusion but he was over the finish line in the finish ring and landed after that in a paddock close by. He was retrieved by one of he tugs. No worries a nice 3d place for him.He moved from 10 to 8 overall.

I am not a chauvinist, but I am pleased to see my Dutch friends doing so well. Mind you they get the advise of a TC , Ger, who brought home already 2 WORLD CHAMPIONS , Tim [Kuijpers] and Peter [Millenaar] and one of these world champions Tim, is here as well as coach.
And,…this weather is SO different to Dutch weather, but that counts of course for all European pilots!!!

What a huge load of experience these young ones all take home!!!

Well,flying day 7 is over,  off to bed now, early morning and briefing at 10!!!!

CU tomorrow.Ritz
By the way the 6 “boys”  in Dubai are having great fun as well as you can see on the picture shared by Giorgio!