Post 1.433 on Sunday July 16 2023

WWGC 2023
Soria-Garray, Spain
 2 July 2023 – 14 July 2023

The last days of this HOT competition with temperatures up and over 40 dgr. C, are for most pilots no problem, as they have flown in such hot conditions often, as they can provide good tasks. Wednesday was COOLER! Good for the crews who stay at the ground.
Let’s look at the last 3 days of this WWGC.

WEDNESDAY; July 12 with task 11 on flying day 7/8….a cooler day!
“Good morning. Less wind today and the day starts with high cirrus, but it is supposed to subside as the day goes on. We also have task A and B today. Club class is on the front of the grid again.” US Soaring Teams

Club class; 2.30 AAT...The Italian team around Elena and those in Italy following her, are always the most enthusiastic and this time they really could CHEER out LOUD!!!
“Grazie Elena Premiazione per la vittoria di ieri, grande!” Volo a Vela by Clara Bartolini 
Elena, who won the 2020 WWGC in Australia won the day. She is a lovely “girl” from a REAL soaring family and a great “asset” for women gliding.
In her Discus A she flew 242 km with a speed of 95.61 km./h.
The first starters left at 4PM , Elena at 4.22 PM some others as the at this stage overall number 1 Louise [5,114p] left at 4.32 PM. But by now they are used to late[r]starts.
The German girls, Daniela [5,021p] and Carolin,[5,008 p] both high in the overall top[ 2+3] as well, were on a daily spot 2 and 3.
2 are out of the races, Carol from the UK and Ukrainian Olena. So 17 left in club.
Yes, there is an Elena from Italy and Olena from Ukraine both in Club and Alena in 18m. She is from the Czech Rep.

Standard class; 3 hour AAT….Anais, Maryline and Aude the 3 French toppers won the day flying 352 km with a speed of 116 and 112 km./h. They started rather late at 4.33 PM. Delia from Switzerland was the first on track at 3.49 PM.
All 16 started and finished. Lizzy was on spot 9 [294 km…73.79 km./h]

Looking back at task 10 with Lizzy;
After the less-points-day for Lizzy, due to the fact that she was “sucked in” the forbidden zone for ONE second, meaning out- landing at the spot, after 54 km, she had a good flight. Luckily she only found out later about that second! She looked at her instruments as a “hawk” but it still happened.
“A challenging day with 40 kts. wind and an enormous gaggle with nearly all gliders.
I decided to take it easy today, take no risk and leave the initiative to others. When I was high and the 18 m started, I just went along behind them. In the blue I quickly found the convergence and even caught up with the 18 m gliders .Loved the convergence and the view, though I was a bit impressed with the mountains and the little useful height because of the airspace. Unfortunately I was sucked in for a second! But all in all a very nice day and all went well.“
Competition flying certainly a big competition is a real learning curve. From those “little” mishaps you LEARN A LOT!!!

18m. class; 3 hour AAT….ALL 12 started and finished. Melanie and Anne [Ducarouge] were the 2 best with 369/362 km and a speed of 116/115 km./h. Alena from Czech Rep. was 3d and still leads this class at this stage with 7,107 p. Followed by Melanie [6,954p] and Anne [ 6,867 p]

Thursday July 13; PENULTIMATE DAY
weather-wise good, so long race tasks for all classes.
First expected launch at 13.30.

Club class; 306.45 km….With a start at 3.17 the Czech girls had a good day. Tereza and Michaela flew around with 96 km./h for a daily spot 1 and 2. Petra was 4th with 86 km./h and in between at spot 3, Danish Christina in her LS1f. She started at 2.56!
Louise was on spot 7 loosing over 300 points, but she will still start on the last day with a lead of FOUR /4 points!!!! Exciting stuff for her!
The German girls started, for what reason I don’t know[weather, problems] ….LATE; at 4.27. Daniela dealt with that and finished on spot 5 arriving back at 8PM, but Carolin less, arriving at 8.34 PM; she was 16th, lost over 400 points and dropped from 2 to 4!!!! Daniela stayed on 3.
All [now] 17 pilots started and only our Brazilian friend was out after 94 km.

Standard class; 374.60 km….After the “troubles” from the day before, now a REAL GOOD day again for Lizzy; she won after a pretty late start [ she was the last to be launched] at 4.21PM; speed 100.08 km./h. !!! 1000 points…. Speed 100.18 km./h
Just a tad faster than Francesca Roberts from the UK, who had 100.11 km./h [999 p] and that was less than a “nano-second ‘ faster than Marilyne [998 p]
NOTE!!!!! I heard that Francesca is 6 months pregnant!!!!! WOW !!!!
Except for Delia from Switzerland ,…she missed out on only 40 k …all girls finished.
The 4 early starters between 3.45 and 3.59 PM, finished on the last 4 spots.

18 m class; 511.04 km....OUCH, maybe a bit too far, BUT when 3 girls fly the distance the organizers have set, they are correct! SO,….Only 3 finished; Alena and Michaela on 1 and 3 and in between Katrin Senne from Germany a real good pilot , was the 2017 WGC champion, but she got late “on steam” in Spain.
Melanie and Anne were close; out after 496 and 478 km.
The UK-girls Liz and Ayala had a bit of an off-day with 250 and 183 km.
All starts between 3.10 and 3.23 PM.

July 14 …..Quatorze JUILLET…. NATIONAL DAY….party time in France.
ULTIMATE ,….very last day !
Good weather again, races as task and for the first time more EAST over the mountains and hopefully using them , standard class upfront the grid, then club and 18 m.
First expected launch at 1.30 PM.

Club class; 238.67 km….The French girls were on a mission, for sure initiated by TC Eric. Alizee went 8 minutes before Louise and Aude and “paved” the way. Daily result; number 1[Alizee] with 105 km./h, -2 Louise] and 3 [Aude] on this last flying day.
The bigger result, the goal of their mission; a new WORLD CHAMPION and yes they succeeded. Louise won but only with 45 points on Czech Michaela.
Aude and Alizee were overall on a 6th and 10th place.
GOOD from Argentinian pilot Paula[ Drazul] she was 4th on this last day.

FINAL RESULTS IN CLUB CLASS; after 8 out of 12 days.[1 was a rest day for all classes on July 7 ]
1. Louise Rodriguez from France in LS7 with 6,485 points and WORLD CHAMPION.
2. Michaela Krizova from Czech Rep. in LS 4 with 6,440 p.
3. Daniela Wilden from Germany in LS& WL with 6,371 p.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL.

Standard class; 321.94 km….with a speed of 124 km./h Marilyne and Aude won the day for 831 and 827 points. Barbora was on a daily spot 8 but only lost 32 points. She is the new WORLD CHAMPION . She only won day 1 [task 1] but flew very consistent!!! Good on her!
Dutch Lizzy finished on spot 11, after 2 off days , but winning 2 days on her first participation. CHAPEAU!!!!

FINAL RESULTS IN STANDARD CLASS: after 10 out of 12 days.
1. Barbora Moravcova from Czech Rep in LS8 with 8,704 points and WORLD CHAMPION.
2. Aude Untersee from France in Discus 2A with 8,656 p.
3.  Marilyne Abadie-Bérard from France in Discus 2A with 8,605 p.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL.

18m class; 381.22 km…with 142 km./h the French girls Anne and Melanie in their JS 3 won the day. This way they could count on a spot 2 and 3 at the podium, as Alena was overall too far ahead already.
The Czech girls went 3 minutes ahead of the French girls.[3.50 PM]
All 12 started and finished and at 7.22 PM. Liz was the last participant of this WWGC to finish but IN.

FINAL RESULTS IN 18m. CLASS; after 10 out of 12 days.
1. Alena Netusilova from Czech Rep. in JS 3 with 8,885 points and WORLD CHAMPION!!!
2. Mélanie Gadoulet from France in JS 3 with 8,571 p.
3. Anne Ducarouge from France in JS 3 with 8,459 p.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL.

The final notes from; British Gliding Team
“Well folks, that’s a wrap. WWGC 2023 is over and what a ride it’s been. Our hosts have been fabulous, the organisers and adjudicators have done everything they could to make this a great competition. And Spain? It’s like a gift that keeps giving, stunning scenery and capable of providing some amazing gliding. Thank you to all involved.
Importantly, let’s look at how the team got on. We finished 4th overall out of 14 nations represented.
1st – Czech Republic 896.67 points
2nd- France 881.85 points
3rd – Germany 790.02 points.
4th – Great Britain 750.30 points.
Well done to all the countries and our team members.

But here’s a thing, the three nations that beat us have heavyweight funding from government or national sports bodies including the provision of their gliders in some cases. With that kind of backing, it’s quite possible that that for the Women’s British Gliding Team the sky would be the limit. Just a thought…
So it’s closing ceremony time, and then a sprint to the ports to get back to the wonderful British weather.”

Looking back[ personal opinion] ; It’s maybe too much to say that flying in a big team HELPS. I have seen that it helps, but if you are with 3 in bad lift or have the wrong trace you can loose or be out with 3 as well.
A very experienced TC and personal weatherman and lot’s of crew help as well.
I was a bit disappointed in the German and UK team. They have big teams too and some very good pilots, but it did not show, though of course the German team won a bronze medal.
Have a look at the full overall scores on www.soaringspot.com
Looking at Dutch Lizzy, all by herself with great help of her parents and doggy ….she proofed you can perform well, when you want too, and she wanted it. She was unlucky too, during this comps , but got over it. Good on her!!!!!

Last but not least…..Where would the girls be without their TC. Important job.

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Issoudun 2023
7 July 2023 – 15 July 2023

On Wednesday they got small tasks under 200 km. but the weather decided to not even “give” them a small window. So the day was cancelled.
3 tasks till now and 3 days to go. BUT,…...the showers left and the weather became GOOD.
On July 13 they had a big task;
Multi class; 503.73 km….Australia, South Africa, the UK and France on the 4 top places; Matthew Scutter on the daily spot 1 with 119.77 km./h His 3d win!!!
Philip who flies together with Matthew and probably learns a lot, with 119.78 km/.h but a small penalty for a too high start. Both fly JS 3.
Henry in the LS 8 and 2 French pilots Daniel [AS 33es] and Philippe [LS8] with equal points , all flew over 100 km./h.
Shaun, did not start anymore, so 19 started and 14 finished. But all of them flew over 400 km.
On July 14 the penultimate day, with a 2 hour AAT and a very challenging day! UK Tom in his LS 8 flew 166 km with a speed of 70 km./h. Matthew had problems ,[ but still was 4th for the day], as you can read in his blog , so had 7 others as they did not finish.

Matthew Scutter’s Gliding
“The even later starters very surprisingly pipped us overall, somehow managing to get back cleanly almost at 7pm, but the overalls remain strong and I have a very defensible lead of 400pts going into the final day, which we think is likely a scrub.” on the penultimate day …. full story in his blog.

On the 15th, last day, they did not fly so out of 9 days they flew 5.
Final results in the multi class;
1. Matthew Scutter in JS 3/18m from Australia with 4,205 points.
2. Henry Inigo-Jones in LS 8 from the UK with 3,776 p.
3. Philip Jonker in JS 3/18m from South Africa with 3,685 p.

July 13;
Club class; 351.63 km……so a good day for the clubbies as well. 16 Started and 14 finished! Daily winner with a speed of 100.66 km./h was George Downing from the UK starting at 3.37 PM. Runner up was Tim with a later start at 2.04 PM;91.31 km./h
On July 14 the NATIONAL day in France they had a 1.30 AAT. Robin Selfslagh [LS1-f-neo] from Belgium was the daily winner with 131 km speed 65 km./h .He moved from spot 6 to 4 overall missing out on FOUR/4 points to be at the podium.
13 started and 9 were IN.
Off day for Italian pilot Lapo Alessandro Busi in his ASW 20; out after 47 km and dropping from an overall spot 2 to 5. Feel sorry for him.
Final results in the club class;
1. Tim Milner from the UK in LS3 with 3,433 points.
2. Oliver Ramsay from the UK in ASW 19B with 3,104 p.
3. George White from the UK in ASW 20 with 3,056 p.

They had a guest in Issoudun. A solar glider.
“ Sol.Ex is a solar electric glider developed by Jean-Baptiste Loiselet in a philosophy of sustainable sailing: it is the ” electric bicycle ” of sailing.
He left Saint-Rémy de Provence and after 3 stages in total energy autonomy thanks to his FES system and his solar panels, he stopped in Issoudun to present his innovative and pioneering project to us.”
https://www.desaillespourlaplanete.fr

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UK Nationals in 18 and 20 m.
Husbands Bosworth
8 July 2023 – 16 July 2023

Wednesday ,July 12 they were hopeful in the UK as well. But NO, it was not happening. CANCELLED!
Only 1 out of 7 days till now. NO task was set for July 14. Such a pity!
I wonder if they can fly on July 15 and 16 their last days!
More next week, WHEN they still fly.

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Looking ahead to AUGUST 2023!

CU again on our normal appointment on Wednesday.
Cheers Ritz
FINALLY I found a picture from the Czech girls here you are