Post 1.445 on Wednesday September 6 2023.

FAI SGP FINAL
Pavullo, Italy
24 August 2023 – 2 September 2023
FAI Sailplane Grand Prix

On Wednesday August 30 a task was set for
Race 1, day 4; 129.34 km…..All 19 pilots were more than eager to fly. The cold front was gone but there was still a possibility for rain.
CD Brian said;
“The challenge today is that we are sandwiched between rain, low cloud and airspace. If the cloud does not overdevelop and the rain stays to the west of Pavullo a short and fast race will be possible.’
Did they fly???? YES THEY DID,..an even smaller task ….119 km. but there were winners and it was a good race with nice cu-conditions, though the climbs were only 1 m./s, the cloud base was pretty low and the window “small”.
Stefan Langer won race 1 after a regatta start at 14.50, with a speed of 114.9 km./h.in his ASG 29/18m.
Runner up was Mike Young with 8 points [Ventus 3T] and Alberto Sironi in the AS 33 was 3d.
In my “box” I found the next SGP- news;”After a very exciting race Stefan Langer from Germany won. He was higher from the first leg on and resisted the pressure of the gaggle behind him. On the last thermal, Mike Young (UK), Alberto Seroni (IT), Sebastian Kawa (POL) and Gorgio Galetto (IT) caught up.”

Race 2 day 5 on August 31; 210.52 km.….The organizers message for today about the weather;
“There is a southerly airflow along the coast of Italy that is feeding moist air onto the Appenines. This is bringing unstable air and good soaring condition, but also rain in the afternoon.“
BUT…they had to go to a B task from 168 km. New faces on the top spots ,though Stefan ,of course, was there 1 day earlier too.
Speed by Sebastian who won the day; 104.02 km./h …Stefan 102.01 km./h and Tilo 101.01 km./h.
Competition Director Brian Spreckley said, ‘We expected it to be difficult, but not this difficult.’
The full story from day 2 on; https://sgpfinal23.sgp.aero/news/r2

The difference between number 4 Erik and number 5 Alberto was SMALL: 100.08 km./h and 100.06 km./h. and in points ONE.

Race 3 on day 6 on September 1 and 1 more to go;310.22 km
The meteorological autumn has started on this part of the world, but looking at the distance it’s a good autumn -day.
“Fine conditions with light winds and thermals to over 2000m.”
Let’s wait what happens today?!
10 points for somebody who really loves SGP soaring; Tilo Holighaus. In a cab to a party somewhere in the middle of nowhere, but close to Uvalde [2012] he told us , brother Ralf was there too, he really loved this type of flying.
He won but JUST; 105.5 km./h and 105.3 km./h for Max [Seis]. ….both flying a VENTUS 3. And “our” Erik did well too; 3 with 105 km./h. A real race between them. The first 10 all flew over 100 km./h.

Race 4 on day 7 and the VERY LAST DAY starting with 18 points for Stefan, 17 for Tilo and 14 for Max.
“For the final day of SGP Final Pavullo the weather is fine again and a 248 km task has been set.“
More stable, dry thermals , they fly over the mountain tops where they expect a convergence line according to CD Brian.
I looked at this last race with very clear comments from Benjamin Neglais and as it is in Italy, Stefano Ghiorzo explained all about the mountains and ridges. So easy to follow it then. Good job from them.
The first time I saw this , was in Rieti a long time ago,when Art Grant with his “deep” voice was the commentator and he was good too, it then was an eyeopener for me, nowadays it’s pretty normal.
With some excitement in the voices we heard and saw “47 km. to go to the last/3d TP on top of a mountain,on this last day for Alberto [Sironi] in MA “. But he was much lower than runner up Thomas [Gostner] in GT, who tried to stay as high as possible , but Alberto reached it first. Ben and Stefano really hoped for lift for Alberto.[1600 m] otherwise the “followers” could catch up. He got it ,but was it enough to stay upfront???
Unfortunately Stefan made a “mistake” , got lift again, is still in the race but might be out of the “top”.[ Indeed this was said!!]
Alberto followed a different track than the others . He flew all by himself more east of the track straight to the last control point….but still missing 100 m to make it!!!! Is there still enough energy to keep the height. Some were not high enough to just glide home. They fly not fast 150 km./h and GT closes in
I am not going to follow this every time, it’s to scary for me, not good for my heart.
“We have a nice finish” said Benjamin ,with a happy voice ,so I felt it bit more at ease.
Above 850 m OVER the finish line is compulsory, so penalties might spoil the last flight from Alberto and maybe from Thomas.
Have to wait for the final results now! Pfffff…..The referee will be busy.
1 Point extra on the last day!!!so 11 points to gain.
9 PM is the dinner and prize giving in down town Pavullo and there will be a WORLD CHAMPION as they call it.

It turned out totally different than expected. Indeed there were penalties and what for penalties ???
Alberto got 274 sec.as penalty ,Thomas 84, so the winner for 11 points was German pilot Hermann Leucker in JS3.
“The last race is over and it was crazy with the 3 main challengers (Tilo Haulighaus, Sebastian Kawa and Max Seis) falling at the back/ flying the wrong task . Stefan Langer could have had an easy win but he missed a critical step on the 3rd leg and the gaggle passed him. Finally, the daily winners arrived very low.”
In the end Stefan , “who might be out of the top”, got ONE point on this last day, meaning there were 2 pilots equal with 19 points ; Stefan and “our” Erik Borgmann.
But then extra rules start and as Stefan won day 1, he got the GOLD and Erik the SILVER.

World champion;
1. Stefan Langer in ASG 29 with 19 points.
2. Erik Borgmann in JS 3 with 19 points.
3. Hermann Leucker in JS3 with 18 points.
4. Tilo Holighaus in Ventus 3 with 17 points.
5. Alberto Sironi in AS33 with 16 points.
6. Sebastian Kawa and 7. Max Seis both in Ventus 3 had 14 points.

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–——The change of season has started;
YES,…it’s that time of the year again. The meteorological autumn started on September 1 and Down under the spring time. The weather is already pretty good there, in fact you can fly through the year in Australia.
Spring has announced itself with fields full of the yellow canola and the bottle brush starts to flower. It looks a bit like a red-gum- flower.

—— Gliders for the Bitterwasser season have been shipped to be in time for their season, more or less between November 1 and January 15.
“Looking forward to the season by Hannah
On August 22, 2023, the first four gliders were loaded into the container in Waghäusel.
The anticipation of the season in Bitterwasser and the togetherness had arisen very quickly, which facilitated the loading in strong heat. In the end, each plane had its place and is now waiting for departure. In the middle of September it is then so far! The Arcen will then make their way to Bitterwasser. The remaining containers will be loaded on 09 September 2023 in order to arrive in time for the start of the flying season.
(Text and pictures Hannah Schweckendiek)

——–The German Team is very busy with the shipment of their gliders to Narromine for the WGC down under, during the first 2 weeks in December.

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–——Also the Polish team is sending a HUGE container with 6 gliders to Narromine, as you can see on the above picture from Lukasz. They have a different system, they move some kind of iron pallet, with the gliders on it, in the container.

–—the Dutch container is cleaned and packed last weekend. With Francesco from Corowa this was an easy job, as he has shipped many containers . He specially was flown in to pack the container, to have NO problems with arrival. Sometimes when things go wrong, that can be very time consuming.

—-The French team starts also with the cleaning of the container. VERY IMPORTANT, for Australia. Not their first time!!!!!!

—–Closer by the “UK Mountain Soaring Championships started at Aboyne, and they are hopeful of good wave soaring conditions. As always the Deeside Gliding Club is the host!
They started last Sunday and though they did not fly every day till now Cross Country ,they for sure went for height.
Day 1 was straight away a good one with both elements CC and height; a 4 hour AAT and “the club two seaters are already at 14,500 feet and we will be launching the grid very soon.”
Jordan Richards in an LS6 b flew 451.48 km . with a speed of 111 km./h.
Great comment on his flight:”Jordan Richards won the first day of the UKMSC with an excellent 430km flight. On his way home he flew from Forres to Aboyne in 19 minutes, a journey which would take 1hr 43mins by car.
That is an average speed of 249kph / 155mph.
Now we will admit that his glider cannot take 2 kids and a Labrador for a lovely day out in Forres, HOWEVER, there were significantly less caravans in the way on Jordan’s route home...”

21 Pilots some HC and 5 did not finish.
The organizers mentioned; “One of our club member has just started descending from 20,100. A few competitors have flown to the furthest point in the first sector before turn south. “
Day 2 was good for height not so much for CC flying . That part was scrubbed, but for a scrubbed day the height was good;16.000 ft.
Day 2’s results;
Glider Pilot               High Point Low Point    Gain
3M     Dave Latimer   16016        2433        13583
60      Paul & Cook     15046        2054        12992
X6      Jordan Richards 14066      2347        11719
3D      John Tanner     12049       2810          9239
R1      Tony Mountain  10832       2985          7847
J5       Phil Penrose     11155       3458          7697
DD2    King & King     10186        3067          7119
115     Robert Tait      10846        3950          6896
2C      Chris Dawes     0230        3468            6762
Day 3 was cancelled.
you can follow them on www.soaringspot.com , where they have all the news as well.

—-AND, the 2d FAI VIRTUAL Gliding Grand Prix….. “I did it, me and my virtual JS3 are world champions of the virtual sailplane grand prix!” Arne Martin Güettler
Great job Arne Martin, CONGRATULATIONS.
“With an outstanding 37 points over 7 breathtaking races, Arne-Martin displayed incredible skills and unwavering determination throughout the week, steadily gaining power to seize the coveted title today!
Number 3 was from the Netherlands; Wiek Schoenmakers. Great job Wiek!!!!!
“A stunning performance by Wiek Schoenmakers from the Netherlands in the 7th and final race of the 2nd FAI Virtual Sailplane Grand Prix!
Wiek’s stellar performance earns him a whopping 11 points for the day, launching him onto the podium with a well-deserved 3rd place overall finish!”
On the last day he was not yet in the last top- 4 -group.

——AND, the first 1000 km “OUT and RETURN “flight out from Slovenia is a fact. Straight after departure from Italy where Luka Žnidaršič [LZ design] flew the final of the FAI SGP, he flew in a DUO DISCUS FES, a flight from 1.127 km OUT AND RETURN with a speed of 131.82 km./h.!!!! Together with Bernard Dobre they started and flew back to Postojna.
Have a look at weglide.org or the OLC.org

More news next Wednesday. By the way the average normal temperature on Sept 6 is 20 dgr. C we have 32 today!!!!!!
Cheers Ritz