JWGC in SZEGED.
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After the rest- day last Saturday, soaring life continued again on Sunday and though it was “colder” there in Szeged than normal, flying was on for the “young ones”. So here we go again.

You might have not noticed yet that I published a blog last Sunday as well, the first after all the problems. I am still struggling a bit as pictures IN the blog are not as easy anymore as it was.The set up is changed, it’s all more modern ,so I have to go with the time-flow. But,…I am a quick learner. The blog will be published as normal on Wednesday’s again…BUT in busy times I will add a Sunday extra.

AUGUST 4…TASK 6;
Club class…341 km; A good start of the last week, as everybody is keen again to go for it. Early launches as well at 11 AM. Specially the Dutch crew is happy with the long day for their pilots,as our F 1-hero MAX VERSTAPPEN had for the first time in his life pole position AND that was at the Hungaroring in Hungary.They had time to follow it!!!
First the daily prizes were handed over and the best one was for Sjoerd who won the last flying day. Also another Dutch pilot, Thijs, got a little present. He had landed in a prison area .He called it a sort of Alcatraz. He had to wait for hours surrounded by men with weapons, but after he showed all paperwork and I guess the authorities phoned Szeged as well, he was allowed to go. Interesting story. …a bit of adventure.
On the picture you see the gift he got at the briefing. Picture shared by the Dutch Junior Gliding Team

The flying was interesting too. A real racing day !!No,…. not a clean sweep this time by the UK, the French or the Germans but by the DUTCH. Max, by the way, did not win, he was runner up , after a great strategy by Mercedes, but they did.
1-2-3!!!!! Good on them. 1000 points for Jelmer Vis, 985 for Robin Smit and ” back from prison ” Thijs Bastiaanse. [960]Speed from 93 km./h. AND,….Daniel Ryba still holds on ,….he was 4th. AND,…he is number 1 now overall, as Jake and Finn had an off day and finished as 19th and 20thiest. BUT,…..only 5 points difference!!!

Standard class….389; 7 Pilots had between 994 and 1000 points. The 1000 were AGAIN for Aude from France. Good on her!!!Then the 3 German pilots [998/7] and with 996 points Michael Marshall from the USA and 2 Swiss pilots had 994 points.
They all started and finished together as a big bunch of white plastic.

John Good , [team USA] who always writes good comments ,wrote this story about today:
” A challenging day today, with post-frontal weather that produced some very good lift and some difficult areas, with spreadout, light rain and then dead skies on final glide. In the face of a complex forecast that mentioned various sources of possible trouble, the tasks looked long-ish: 342 km for Club class, and 388 km for Standard (whose start always opens about 45 minutes later than Club class). 

It proved a frustrating day for J.P. Stewart and Noah Reitter, who achieved excellent speeds and got very close to a solid final glide, only to find nothing during a 40-km glide, leading to outlandings (safe, but disappointing) about 6km from the finish. With a warning of trouble from those ahead, Daniel Sazhin was able to get the height needed to glide through the dead area, finish (just barely high enough) and arrive safely home.

In Standard class, Michael Marshall had an excellent day, starting at about the right time with a strong gaggle (of French and German gliders) and marching smartly around the task. The result was a fifth-place finish, just 4 points out of first.  The game of starting at the right start time – with the right sort of company – is always important at WGC events and has been especially so at JWGC2019 given the way weather has played out most days.

Tonight’s airfield social event was a screening of the classic soaring movie The Sunship Game, sponsored by the US Team.  This 1971 film by Robert Drew focuses on the rivalry between George Moffat and Gleb Derujinsky, finishing at the 1969 National Soaring Championships at Marfa TX. The film has acquired near cult status among soaring pilots.  If you haven’t seen it, you should certainly track down a copy and do so soon.

John Good

AUGUST 5..TASK 7;
The Dutch Juniors shared on FB the prize giving as the special result of a 1-2-3 was more than worth doing so.Great to see.But then the daily tasks ….BIG!!!! BUT,…the weather seems OK with a height of 2400 m. predicted in the East of the flying area.First start at 11. Go go….juniors.
The UK team added :” Big day, big tasks. 500km for both classes – here’s to a good flight from everyone! Tracking link: https://link.glideandseek.com/jwgc2019-task7
#JWGC2019

Club class…501 km;!!!!!!That is a lot of kilometers for the small “ships” during a competition!!!!! In the end the task was too ambitious and ALL pilots landed in a paddock somewhere, but some nearly made it.. CHAPEAU. I could read on the different sites how they all struggled to stay up.
The UK team mentioned ;” 6:10pm, pretty much the entire Standard Class field has landed out or is about to. The Club Class is struggling, with our boys out the front of the pack with 70km to run to home. Hoping for something miraculous... ” That did not happen but they were good;6th.[470 km]
Dutch winner from the day before, Jelmer, was still in winning mood and flew himself in the St Cirrus, over 484 km.!!!!! WOW!!!!!
His 2d win in a row!!!!600 points only though.
3 pilots were only 20 k out!!! Milan Surovčík from Czech Rep and Slovenian pilots Mark Travner and Mark Polajžar reached 479 , 477 and 478 km from the set 500 in a Pegase and DG 300. GREAT job!!!
For the last pilot who flew 158 km. the amount of 191 points were waiting.

Standard class….501 km;What started full of hope and joy ended somewhere in a paddock!! Also in this class NOBODY made it home though they fought for it. 455k. was the closest glider a Discus 2A with Simon Briel from Germany. Ignas Bitinaitis from the Ukraine was runner up.
A tough and busy day for the crews.
AND ,..not too many points to win after such a “terrible” day!!600 for Simon and still 405 for the last pilot with 307 km. All flew over 300 km. so the beginning of the day was good. The over- development later “killed” the day. A pity.
John Good’s look at the day, at least part of it the rest is on https://ussoaringteams.org/john-good-jwgc-report-8-5-conte…/
“A difficult and eventful day today.  At the morning pilot briefing, we were told to expect the best weather of the contest – and when the tasks were displayed, we learned we’d need it: both classes were given assigned tasks just over 500 km.  It was also clear that we’d need some luck, as an overcast area in the Alps well west of Szeged was forecast to spin off high cloud into Hungary by mid-afternoon.  Leaving out this uncertainty, pilots were told to expect good lift to over 7000’ – easily the best since the start of competition.

Unfortunately, even before launch time satellite loops showed the high cloud marching steadily eastward.  It began to affect the western part of the task area before pilots started, and after an hour or so on task, afternoon forecasts and the achieved rate of cross-country progress made it clear that something unusual would be needed to allow many task completions in either class.

The necessary miracle did not materialize, with the result that every pilot outlanded today.”

AUGUST 6…TASK 8 ;
I guess, a lot of tired people there at Szeged and I hope NO damage!!! the day started with the prize giving and Jelmer and Simon got great support and were cheered on. To avoid another day with mass out landings, AAT’s were set , both not too far from the airfield. It’s heating up again.
A day on which the start is important and a prediction of rain in the late afternoon.
During the day I read all enthusiastic words as ” I have 4 m./s” and “cloud base at 1600 at 2 PM.” , though the day started blue.There was wave as well.
It seems club and standard could help each other!! So what will the day bring!?
Club class…3 hour AAT; and….. Finn and Jake are back in business again flying 261km. in time 3.10 for 1000 and 999 points, after a rather late start. That was quite a bit further than the number 3 and 4 , Dutchies Jelmer and Thijs with 247 km in time 3.12/09. This time Daniel could n’t hang in and was 22d. So Jake and Finn are in the lead again with a difference between them of 19 points, German pilots Maximilian and Tobias are 3d and 4th now [LS 4] and Daniel 5th.
40 from 44 finished!!!
Standard class …3 hour AAT;German team members Simon S. and Robin and Simon B. started together at 13.49 and Swiss pilot Nico Jägli went with them. They flew all 4 over 290 km.Number 5 Dutch pilot Sjors flew 262 km.
31 From 35 finished. Aude had a less good day; 29th.She dropped from 4 to 7.But,….it is not over yet!!!!
BUT,….the German boys lead with more than 400 points!!!

More next Sunday!

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INTERNATIONAL BAILLEAU.
30 July 2019 – 9 August 2019

TASK 6; They continued with a smaller task in each class and late starts.
Speed class….234 km; 3.25 PM was the start time from Jeroen Verkuijl, a good choice as he won the day with a speed of 113 km./h. in his JS 1CEVO. Not so much slower was good old Ken Evens from Belgium in his Nimbus 4DM. Ken , who moves at the airfield in a wheel chair , is one of the most enthusiastic glider pilots I know.His speed ; 109 km./h.
From the 38 participants 4 did not fly and 7 were “aux vaches”.
Distance class…..332 km;12 Dutch pilots in the top 14 but a French winner , Dimitri Choler in an 18 m. LS 6!!Speed 113 km./h! Others had a different handicap and the best speed was 119 km. by Jaap Horsten From Holland in his 21m JS1C.
27 started and finished but 2 were in a forbidden zone and got points till their mistake.

Then 2 non flying-day’s, task 7 on Monday was cancelled, no task on Tuesday, yesterday, either.Rain.
The last 3 days will be published on Sunday.

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CIM in Rieti Italy.
4 August 2019 – 14 August 2019

Fabulous to see that a lot of pilots found their way again to Rieti in Italy. I have been there many years, as crew in 1984 at the Pre -WGC and as guest in 1985 at the WGC, when Ingo won.Did the JWGC and WGC over there as competition journalist on invitation and the Cim [Coppa Internationale del Mediterraneo ] 2 or 3 times , also on invitation, and loved the field, the people and the pilots flying there.

TASK 1;
They started on Sunday in 3 classes and Aldo [Cernezzi] is the CD.
The ceiling was between 2500 and 3000 m. So a real good day!! They use five tow planes: Maule, Stinson L5 and three DR400 Robin.
18 m…425 km; And nearly local pilot Alvaro, who flies already for years in Rieti, where I met him [but also earlier at WGC’s] was the daily winner;134.80 was the speed in his 18 m. ASH 31MI.
Jon Gatfield moved quickly from the -Livno- SGP to Rieti. He was 7th for the day.
18 Pilots in this class among them Arne Boye Moeller,[3d for the day] Bert Schmelzer jr. , [11th for the day] Thomas Gostner [8th for the day] and Giorgio Galetto.[6th for the day].
Mixed class…373 km. and an Italian group from 4 were the best with Luca Urbani as their leader,with 128 km,../h. in his Discus. Till…..Laurens and his German team mate changed the scores flying Laurens ASG 32 MI to a speed of 135 km./h.
11 Pilots in this class among them Andy and Simon Leutenegger flying an ARCUS together and Louis Bouderlique. They all finished.
Open….511km; with toppers as Bruno Gantenbrink, Pierre de Broqueville, Ronald Termaat and Eric Bernard. The Gantenbrink’s won the day in the ETA with 131 km./h AND former junior Davide was runner up in an ASH 25MI /26 m. with 129 km./h.

TASK 2;
Their news ;” Day 2. For today around 400 km tasks have been assigned. Weather forecast: weak east wind on the Adriatic side and weak from west on the Tyrrhenian side. Also today there will be confluence! The ceiling will be between 2600m and 3300m. After 5pm there will be any more termical activity. “
18 m. class…455 km; Thomas [Ventus 3T] called it a BEAUTIFUL day, I understand why,..he won with a nice speed of 108 km./h Not really fast , considering the VERY fast flights I have seen from Rieti, but the winning speed . Runner up was Ugo Pavesi in ASG 29 and Bert Schmelzer jr, was 3d 4km.h. faster than Giorgio.
8 were OUT including Alvaro, after 153 km.such a pity.
mixed class...419 km;The Bouderliques in the ARCUS M won the day with 106 km./h. And another pilot, Luca, who was so good on day 1 , was out as well after 210 km.
open class...449 km; I met Pierre and Arnaud, a few times at Rieti, so they know the area well. Today they won in the EB 29DR with 117.18 km./h. Just ahead of Eric Bernard who had in his JS 1C/21 m. 117 .05 km./h.
The ETA seems to have not flown.

TASK 3;
Meteo forecast Day 3- Wind from West South / west from 10 to 35 km / h. Thermal intensity will be 2 m / sec -1 m / sec (average seeYou). Dry thermals on side west of the mountains, in the afternoon on east side there will be clouds bases between 2500m and 3200m. Convergence will be only to the East.

18 m. class…..415 km.….The JS 3 from Arne was in a hurry and with a speed of 123.88 km./h he was just a tad faster than Bert with 123.30 km./h!!Very good for what I think his first time in Rieti.
18 From 19 finished!!!
I miss this year the Austrians with Peter Hartmann, Heimo Demmerer and Wolfgang and Ludwig Starkl. They normally fly in Rieti at the CIM.
Mixed class …391 km.…S. A / German team Laurens in the mighty ASG 32 MI were in a hurry as well and won the day with 120 km./h That was much faster than the runners up in the ARCUS M with 97 km./h.
3 were out among them the Leuteneggers and Luca,…this is not his year!!
Open class….432 km….Alberto Sironi in his Quintus M, flew 113 km./h and won the day. Davide had only 74 points .The Gantenbrinks are still out so no ETA flying. Alberto leads with nearly 200 points.
More on Sunday.

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3d FAI PAN AMERICAN Gliding Championship.
29 July 2019 – 14 August 2019

In Rockton in Canada the comps continued as well

Day 3 task 3...
15m./st.class…261 km. with 2 ASW 27 ‘s in the top; USA pilot Fernando Silva won with a speed of 95 km./h. That was quite a bit faster than the Canadian runner up  Luke Szczepaniak with 88 km.h.7 From 14 finished.
18 m. class….262 km; 4 ASG 29 gliders on top. Speed by Joerg Stieber from Canada was 106 km./h for 688 points.12 From 13 finished.

Club class….257 km and 3 winners from Argentina. Carlos in ASW 20, Paula in St Jantar and Matias in St. Cirrus. With Jason dropping from 2 overall to 12 due to an airspace violation after 18 km. these 3 are in the overall top now as well.

Day 4 …task 4 :
15 m./st class….2.30 AAT and NOBODY finished!!! Luke flew 245 km. and was the best. USA female pilot Sylvia was last with only 10 k. for 19 points.
18 m….3 hour AAT and finishers in this class;6 from 13 and 2 of them, the winner and runner up, just made it in , but got a remark on a too low finish. So did Dave who flew
Club…3 hour AAT…216 km. by Carlos was the best result. He leads with nearly 300 points. But still a week to go!!!

That’s it for now. I still struggle a bit with the new set up, but I am getting there. Bill has been MARVELOUS!!!!

And last but not least some extra news from Klippeneck I got from Bert Schmelzer sr. ,who is always very kind to write about the family experience at a comps. “Direct from the horses mouth.” Also the pictures are his!

“we had once again great two weeks on the highest airfield of Germany with 1001m, the Klippeneck. During the week before the Klippeneck-competition we made some big training flights of + 700km. The competition started at July 27 with 90 participants in the club class, the standard class, 18m class, double-seaters and open class. The beautiful scenery close to the Swiss border and spectacular flights along the Black Forest and above the Swabian Alb was the playarea for 6 competition days. Steven Raymond from Amsterdam participated for the very first time at Klippeneck the 51^st Competition and was overwhelmed after all. On Soaringspot all results of all classes can be seen. Of particular interest to us from a Dutch and Belgian point of view was the 18m class, because we were among the biggest group of participants namely the Germans and a Swiss delegation, from The Netherlands and Belgium.

A top result was achieved: Tijl became overall winner with the Ventus 3, Steven runner-up on ASG29e and I was 7th on Ventus 2cT among 32 participants.The day after the competition we had again great weather, almost all participants went home, but Tijl and I took again the opportunity to perform flights for Tijl close to 1000km with 960km and for me with over 700km.
THANKS Bert[sr.]

CU on Sunday
Cheers Ritz

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