Post 1.460 on December 4 2023
https://wgc2023.com.au/

On https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093208068838 you can see a video from the launches of a few pilots today and Sean Young interviews the 3 daily winners from task 1.

Day 1 ……. over and out, BUT only day 1, so it’s only a beginning.
What a top day it was. The only out-landing was because of no PEV.
Before I went to bed I checked on the evening after the opening, if there were tasks as I heard it would be an early day. They were already on www.soaringspot.com and whilst all pilots flew, I slept nicely on one ear!

Yesterday I did exactly the same, waking up with a smile , as tasks today were good again on a blue day, now but as I said many times, blue can be very strong in Australia.
So NO WORRIES for blue days!!
Only disadvantage is that not everybody dares to fly alone, hence bigger or smaller gaggles leaving the field.
Forecast was for fine weather, no rain ,8000ft and blue, thermals 4kt and at 1800 m 3 kt.

Task 2;
15 m. class; 437.47 km….The first thing I noticed was the big difference in start times. Adam and Toby started at 13.35 ,whilst Erik and Jeroen left at 14.11.
The late starters did well, as Jeroen won day 2 as well, but he had to share this win with Czech pilot Jan [Pavlik]; both “got” 1000 points. All 3 in JS 3,with Erik as runner up with 997 points.
Speed for all 3 ; 112 km./h.
Sebastian and Lucasz had an equal 4th place starting and finishing at the same time in their DIANA 2 for 966 points.
26 flew and finished.
And indeed a huge group in 15 m. left, stayed in the gaggle and came back to finish more or less as a gaggle too. I counted 21 gliders in 4 minutes with the finish times!!!!!!

Standard class; 436.13 km….Again the Aussies Bruce and Greg started early; 13.04 whilst the winners from South Africa started at 13.42. So congrats to Laurence [Hardmann] and young Phillip [Jonker] both in LS 8 for their successful day!1000 and 998 points for them.Tom was 3d and “lost” 30 points on the winner,..no big deal!
Even later was the start from Sarah [13.43] and sad to say as I know how good she is, she was last for the day and the only one who flew under 100 km./h.
Last over the start line was Czech pilot Pavel at 13.50. so nearly an hour difference . They must have had another expectation of the weather.
All 21 started and finished. I LIKE that. I know that even when ONE pilot is IN, the task setter was right, but I prefer many finishes .

Club class; 395.35 km….More big differences in start times between 12.56 and 13.54 so nearly an hour.No worries however for Hugo Corbille from France who flew with 108.86 km./h in his LS 7 over the track.
Tomas Suchanek was runner up and UK pilot Tim 3d.
I know Tim since more than 30 years, when he as a young keen pilot was a tuggy in Tocumwal together with my daughter Inge. Both are airline pilots now!

Tony had some problems at the start;“Team DK had some instrumentation gremlins this morning and had to push off. Thanks to Tony Condon and Peter von Tresckow ‘s quick thinking we were able to launch at the end of our class.“
Tony was 21st for the day.
All 30 pilots started and finished!!!!!!
The French are absolutely WELL-DRESSED for the hot sun. Though long sleeves and gloves would be good too.

Talking about club class ; The club class gliders flying for “fun” in Tocumwal had super weather on December 3 with over 600 km in an LS 4, Stephan Soell, with 696 km , Steve Trone in a mini nimbus with 649 km, and Grant in the DISCUS with 627 km.
Australia’s weather is great at the moment for soaring.

I am going to find out what the reason could have been for the start time differences.
Will update later with more fresh news, from family and or friends. They all have dinner now ,I will have breakfast.

So I checked. One of the answers was: the biggest differences were in standard and club , on initiative from the pilots their-selves. In 15 m they waited LONG with a start….but then they left as 1 big gaggle. Only The USA and Australia made their own plans and sadly they suffered.
Here is Adam;”A big day in the blue! Tobias & I flew a really great flight together, we typically had nice rhythm all flight & from what we were told via onlookers via the OGN, we were pulling away from the gaggle who started 30min behind us. Unfortunately though, we got unlucky at the Warren TP (which is known as the wettest place on the planet in gliding terms). We slowed down amply because we knew the area was coming at us, but still, all we could get was two low 3kt saves.
This is the only place I believe that the gaggle won over us today, because if we jagged two 5kt climbs as we did previously, then it would’ve been a different story I think.” More on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
Sebastian was less enthusiastic about the gaggle , here is the translation from what Sebastian said by Andrea Florence  from GLIDING & SOARING he belongs to team Italy;
“What a competition!
Completely clear of clouds!
Flarms are a must.
Eventmarker from pre-school…5 minutes and then what?
The last one en route wins.
Ricardo Brigliadori leaded the gaggle perfectly.
In the area above the swamps [2d TP] he was in trouble and the winners who did n’t even stick their nose out, in front of the others. Including myself.
But unfortunately there is only one way for such terms” so far Sebastian.
Ricky was 13th for the day.

Team USA ‘s Tony who had problems at the start;
“Nice easy morning today. First out to the grid after briefing, loaded up the task and shut everything down to save power. Got ready for launch to start and the S100 wouldn’t boot. SBOX ERROR CONTACT SERVICE. Nothing in the manual or the Internet. Try every combo of resetting cables, SD cards in/out, batteries etc. no vario no GPS no primary logger and the launch is starting. Push off to the side.
Peter von Tresckow hypothesizes that maybe the Terminator on a db9 plug is the problem. Grabs his mini screwdriver and removes it. The instrument fires up! No clue why but DONT TURN IT OFF . Back in line launch last only one volley behind where we would’ve been.
Flight was good until it wasn’t. Another low point grovelling in the third quarter. Then it was good again.”

Team Belgium shared great colorful pictures

As said before….50 VOLUNTEERS:
Here are the most important so you know too;
Competition Director Mike Durrant
Deputy Competition Director Beryl Hartley assisted by Jacob Bloom, Ross McLean, and Sean Young.
Operations Director Jenny Thompson
Tug Master Bill Bartlett
Leader of the marshalling and launch teams Kerrie Claffey 
Task Setter David Jansen
Chief Scorer  Neil Campbell 
Safety Officer Rolf Buelter
Meteorologist Ed Marel 
Daily Weighing Jack Hart
Competition Office Kathy Bell

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I missed out on a picture from Team Italy with my friend Ricky and to r. of him Luca Urbani who I met at several comps I visited in Italy

I also missed out on a nice picture of team Japan. Mac did so well on day 1 that I have to share it now.

And another nice picture with Inge. They both know each other already for a long, long time.

AND……Finally “I found team USA in the hangar” ;
With TC Pete Alexander in the yellow shirt, Tony to his left and Sarah, easy to recognize. She is the WWGC champion from Lake Keepit .

And among the many guests also Pam[Kurstjens Hawkins] here with steward Brian.