Alphen aan den Rijn Tuesday July 19 2011 ritzdeluy@hotmail.com
Today a continuing story. All pictures from my archive.
Indeed a very difficult day yesterday and not too many points to win . I guess you finally could get through to the preliminary results as well. Now , at this early time, they are easy to reach.
Interesting to see that in world class 8 from 11 finished! For 128 km the Slovak winner [home advantage???, nothing wrong with that by the way] only received for all the hard work 398 points. This might change a bit as one file is not yet counted for.
In club class 11 from 33 finished! 611 points for German pilot Christian Lang, flying172 km. in the standard Libelle Y . Good on him!A mix of countries in the top and one of the Dutch pilots Tim made it home the other 2 JUST outlanded, missing out on still around 100 points!
In standard class 9 from 31 finished. The French pilots were best and Baptiste received 300 points for the 146 km. Sebastian did not miss out too much, he landed with a Slovak pilot and 2 Dutch and they, all 4,received 291 points. Mario Kiessling ‘s file was not yet in.
In the 20 m. 2 seater class interesting scores. The Danish duo discus flew 196 km for that the pilots got 732 points and the Dutch Arcus with the 2 former Dutch champions was 2d with 696 points. The Danish team has Ole Arndt, as TC, also in the past a great fan from soaring in Australia with us and still now, where he flies at Corowa.
Of course everything is still possible , but I noticed at TV this morning that “our ” bad weather moves East so I hope it will not disturb soaring in Nitra. On the official site they already announce rain and maybe Thunderstorms for the afternoon. Would there be another window to fly in????
Let’s wait and see. Briefing is at 10 AM.
Back later!
11.AM; Good on Mario Kiessling. His file showed the most kilometers in the best time, so he won day 1 in standard class; 280 points!!!!! Mario won in 1991 the very first JWGC here at Terlet in Holland.
Mario Kiessling [white longsleeved pullover and black hair]
AND great news for the young Dutch boys in the 2 seater class , Bart and Patrick, they won day 1!! Excellent!
Bart Berendsen [left] one of the pilots winning in the 2 seaters
And for today ” maybe” AAT’s from 1 hour and 30 minutes!!! It is not sure if the window will be big enough. More waiting.
2.00 PM; Sometimes my enthusiasm runs away with me. Made a beginners mistake!!! Never congratulate on preliminary results, be happy or sad inside, but FIRST wait till they are official, so you know that the files have been checked by the organisation. SORRY!!!!
So the Danish team did not win in the 2 seater class ,a pity for them as after 188 km. they had to pull their engine.
The organisers are a bit slow with the scores and with news but for sure it will be better after a few days.
At this stage the club class and 2 seater pilots are on their way. Standard and world plus some pilots who landed back and got a relight, will follow soon. They go for just 1 hour and 30 minutes for a max of still 280 km.
YES this is an EGC and…when soaring is possible you have to use the day, even when thunderstorms hang around later or when you hang in in a gaggle above the field lower then the point the tuggies dropped you off. You HAVE to find lift and go on track. And…there was lift so pilots go on their way. If you are interested you can follow the 2 seaters via the tracking system. I straight away did and noticed 2 gliders above 1100 m.[ SP and T] , the rest under and far under even, 148 m.
www.http://glider.tracking.lt/
Harri and Visa Matti from Finland [ KA] are now at 1304 m. and Alberto Sironi from Italy [AM] at 1208m.
All gliders are flying, weather seems to be OK/ reasonable , but it is “brewing” over there, hopefully they are all back in time before it gets nasty, so waiting is the best we can do now. It’s only 1 hour and 30 minutes and for sure they did not wait too long before going on track.
4 PM; The weather seems to be pretty bad and trailers leave to pick up their pilots. Some 2-seaters have arrived back home but if they finished is not sure. I will be more careful now. Rain might close of the last leg for club and standard class.
In between I looked at the Tour De France. Nice to see Serres and Gap from the helicopter, but terrible weather there as well. The Alps [ Galibier] even have 10 cm. of snow!!!!!!
It looks like another day , with low scores and happy pilots who were at the right time at the right spot and less happy for those who were not and were stopped on their track due to heavy rain or bad visibility. On these days skills are important but the luck factor is big as well.
Luckily it is not so bad in Nitra but it does n’t sound really flash either.
6 PM; The thunderstorm arrived just around 5 when pilots still were finishing in strong rain. Most pilots who had not out -landed tried to keep their position between the showers , but you can only do so for a while.
At this stage; 12 pilots from standard class finished under them Sebastian Kawa, Gert Peter Lauer, Dennis Huybreckx[ very good Dennis!] and the 2 French pilots.
In club at this stage only 3 pilots in, under them Vittorio Pinni and Mario Schupfer.
In world class one French pilot in flying 109 km. and atleast 5 landed between 12 and 22 km. out and in the 20 m. dual seater class at this stage one outlanding, 2 Italian teams not yet delivered the file, as well as Russian pilot Dmitrye and co pilot Ilya and all the rest has finished. Best preliminary distance 148 km in 1 hour 44 minutes for the polish team. Not bad with weather like this!
Look for the results on www.soaringspot.com hope you can reach them tonight. Tomorrow I will be back, I have a little break in between guests, so time to write.
Slovak Welcome party tonight hosted by Aeroclub Nitra, I noticed on the program, time to relax for pilots and crew after coming back home from wet retrieves. As long as pilots , crew and gliders are OK , nothing to worry about and with the predicted “bad” weather for tomorrow, everybody can sleep in as well. I hope!
CU tomorrow, cheers Ritz