I left you on Wednesday when the pilots had a 337 km. race to go.
Of course I kept following the big final, as it felt like one of the best in history.
“The weather today brought moist southerly flow with high cloud and soft thermal conditions. The wind from the south was moderate but strong enough to complicate the task and the day was far from easy.” was the message in the morning.
Race 4 was a tricky one, with a “new” winner; Bostjan Pristavic from Slovenia in a JS 1!!!! Speed 119 km./h.
Sebastian nearly “got” him [118.7 km./h ] at the line but no, Bostjan just kept ahead.
An off-day for Mario, who had problems in the beginning and never overcame them. Zero points, so Sebastian who was runner up , is now ONE point behind Mario,29 for 30…. But,…it ain’t not over yet!!!

Race 5 was a bit shorter; 254 km. The expectation was for a “may-be-non-flying-day.” BUT ,…they flew. Though the pilots were a bit tense before start.

Mario and a small group with Louis ,Petr and Sylvain took another route in the beginning , got behind , but “travelled ” in the end together to the 2 TP.
They had to pass the airfield, where the weather was still not very flash….they even had rain. The French pilots bundled their efforts and flew more east. In hindsight not a good idea.
Other pilots struggled to keep height ,..only 1 m was available, but still at 1300 m….so not too bad, then, smooth thermals, wide as well……,AND …up to 1700 m.
Sebastian found the most important thermal and lead the others as …Tilo, Katrin and Mario.
Timing is important is what CD Brian Spreckley said.
Anyhow the weather held, the pilots continued after passing St. Auban and they had a race in their hand again. All positive .
They expected an exciting final glide, with many pilots, they got it, though 5 did not finish and broke off earlier.
Though Mario was 400 m. lower than Sebastian.[1800 m] and Tilo was high!!
The height was the winning ‘key’ for Sebastian.; 100 km./h. speed shows how difficult it was.
For Mario it was even more difficult ,but he was runner up, after a tremendous last move. Tilo was 3d.

Race 6; was unfortunately not meant to be. CD Regis Kuntz had to cancel the day because of the weather.

With ONE day to go, it is Sebastian who leads with one point on Mario [39 for 38 ]and Max is 3d.[22 p]
The last race will get an extra point for the winner! Anxious to see what happens as there is a “fight” for spot 3 as well between Max and Katrin with 22 and 18 points.

Race 6; 333.33 km…..Good weather, and pilots motivated to go, after a non-flying-day .
“The front has left the area and as high pressure is building up and the airmass is post frontal. It will be clear, dry day with cumulus up to 2,500m and over 3,000 in the mountains and no high cloud forecast. The wind is south on surface and southwest in the upper levels. There is also the likelihood of Convergences in the Verdon Valley. It will be an excellent soaring day.”
One change for the day.
Till now the finish height was 500 m. now it is 600 m.
Regatta started at 14.15.
Good lift specially above the plateaus.
A real race/fight for 3d place by 4 pilots.
Unfortunately the day was less exciting as Mario was too low and “out”, after he reached a good looking cloud, which did not work.
Mario seems to be an “always- runner -up” …feel sorry for him, but I know he is an excellent pilot.
So no reason for Sebastian to take risks.
Interesting to see that Louis Bouderlique was the only one flying West from the track and Philippe de Pechy was leading the group several times, but got lower in the end.
A local shower over the mountains to the W. ruined some dreams as well…..expensive day for some, as they quickly lost height.
Quite a few “engined” back.
In the end Tilo was the first to finish[126.4 km./h] …11 points for him…., just ahead of Max.[126.1 km/h].
Tilo took the short -cut, used a cumulus nimbus, which was not good, then went to the sun, where he climbed 350 m.
Max gambled for the sun-route as well, instead of the clouds over the mountain.
“The game is ONLY over when you are over the finish line” .Wise words from Brian.
Podium at 7 and then it is party-time!!
WORLD CHAMPION and WINNER OF THE 10th FINAL of the FAI SGP…
1. Sebastian Kawa in AS33es with 39 points.
2. Mario Kiessling in Ventus 3 with 38 points.
3. Maximilian Seis in JS 3 with 30 points.
Congratulations to all.
And thank you to Brian and Ben[jamin Neglais] for their professional comment. He commented himself as well:
“Another great time shared with volunteers, professionals and great champions. Commenting in English the daily races was fun and I Hope people following the race had same fun and learnt things following these pilots.“

AND ALL OF THEM.

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The virtual sailplane GP was as exciting. Jeroen and Ben both have 35 points. Polish pilot Witold Rozak is 3d with 32 points.
They had a special flight flown on Friday evening; race 6.
“At the Virtual SGP, task setters are able to choose the flying weather for any competition. Since it was overcast in St Auban, they decided that, if it wasn’t possible to fly the same task as the real SGP, they would set a fast race with excellent soaring conditions.”
So they did!
Competition Director Antoine Havet promised that the race would be ‘bombastic’ and expected speeds from the competitors of around 200 kph.
They gave “the racers” splendid weather and a task of 350 km.
It turned out to be a fast and furious race and Tim Kuijpers from The Netherlands did well. He was not able to fly every day but this day he was 3d.
Witold [Ventus 3] has 42 points now, Jeroen 41 and Ben 38, both fly Ventus 3 as well……. one day to go.

Race 7; 333.33 km….25 year old Ben won the day with a speed of 145 km./h. Arne Martin from Norway was runner up on this last day.
Nice to read that “Competition Director Antoine Havet was joined in the commentary box by the new SGP World Champion Sebastian Kawa and second place winner Mario Keissling ,who relived the race they had just completed ,while the Virtual SGP pilots were flying the same task.“
Great winners of a fantastic week of virtual flying by pilots from 20 countries;
1. Ben Fest in Ventus 3 with 49 points.
2. Witold Rozak in Ventus 3 with 42 points.
3. Jeroen Jennen in Ventus 3 with 41 points.
Congratulations to all.
They had news as well;
“Antoine announced that in 2022, nine official Qualifying Virtual SGPs would take place. The top competitors would be selected to fly in the 2nd Virtual SGP Finals, to be held in 2023 at the same time as the finals for the 11th Series SGP.”

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ABOYNE.

A couple of days without cross country tasks, but height gain was on.
On Wednesday ,when I published ,I did not know what the height was , but 6076 was the best. They flew over 10.000 ft.
After 3 days Alastair Mutch was the best “gainer” with a total of 16.594.
On the last day the message was :
“The rain is continuing to fall with little prospect of us being able to set a task today, we have therefore scrubbed the day and will hold prize giving at 11:30.”
So the winners were known.
Adrian Docherty has won the 24th UK Mountain Soaring Championship and Alastair Mutch won the height -gain trophy.
A pity from the weather, but next year they fly again in Aboyne.

That’s it for now.
A little break for me.
Cu back on September 29.
Cheers Ritz

To finish 2 , in my opinion, great pictures by Bo.