Post 1.466 on December 10 2023
Good morning, 9 AM here, Good evening 7PM there.
I slept in and good I did, as most scores are not yet available. Pilots still fly AND they have BIG tasks again.
Time to surf the web for interesting news and all about the prize winners from task 6 yesterday.
Here are today’s tasks and again long ones with 15 m. upfront, with a 4 hour AAT, club behind them with a 3.30 AAT and last but not least standard with 3.15 AAT.
Emotions from yesterday are under control again. Thies flew brave in the for him unknown St Cirrus , but was out after 403 km. Great effort!!!!He landed on a “strip” and could be retrieved by aero- tow.
For his story you have to scroll more down.
Briefing with yesterday’s daily winners and I found one with all on in.
Narromine Gliding Club Official
TODAY’s soaring!!!!
15 m; 4 hour AAT….at this stage not all are scored [ missing 2 ]but the last pilot’s who were scored finished just before 7PM among them the French,ouch and then the air is not good for spectacular lift anymore as you know.
So I carefully write down what the preliminary scores are.
Yves Gerster from Switzerland, a new face for the top position and for sure NOT a new face in competition soaring. Yves flew 505.84 km in time 4.18 so a speed of 117.59 km./h.
He was followed by Adam..my Aussie mates are in a great flow right now…with 500.62 km an a speed of 419.57 km./h.
20 started as I see now , 2 are out of the race and 1 not counted for yet.
With 5 days to go S.A pilot Uys still leads the class, ahead of Henrik and Steffen from Germany.
UPDATED: All pilots who started are counted for. AP from SA and Zoltan from Hungary are out of the competition.
Nobody reached 700 km , but the 506 km. from Yves was combined with his time , indeed the best result. 1000 points for him!
BB must be Butches [John Buchanan who flew many WGC’s ] glider!! as seen by Jerolamo Radman
BB and LP arrived a few years ago, on the same day in Tocumwal and I was there to see how they rigged the gliders and put them in Lumpies hangar.
One of my International soaring mates spotted the car from the owner of LP yesterday
standard class; 3.15 AAT and…..more pilots have found the good rhythm and are in a good flow. 2d Win for Polish pilot Lukasz Blaszczyk. Good to read he “felt” for his club class mate Thies, who’s glider unfortunately was damaged and touched the car and a runway light. He must have seen it.
Though 5 are not counted for yet. Among them Simon from Germany.
Unfortunately Mac is out.
UPDATED; Well,…Good old Tomasz Rubaj was number 1 today. Good on him!!! So Lucasz was runner up. No 2d daily wind but he only lost only 32 points. Tomasz flew 447 km in time 3.56 with a speed of 113.68 km./h gaining 1000 points!!
Simon [Germany] is still not scored, so I worry about him.
A tough day for Bruce , so I had to wait long [no worries] for his daily report. Bruce was IN but on spot 17, the last finisher in his class.
Here is Bruce ;” Today was tough again, a flight of three parts for me. The forecast was for another strong day, but a shorter window and slightly lower heights.
The first part was really fast down to the South-West with a tailwind and scattered cu beginning to appear. Three very strong climbs meant we arrived there with a really high speed. We turned that area on another good climb feeling pretty pleased with our progress… That was the end of the first part.”
“Changing direction is always interesting, as it sometimes takes a little time to figure exactly where the lift is when you are approaching the clouds from a different direction. Well, it certainly was today, as I lead Greg into the heaviest run of sink you could imagine. In no time at all we had lost all our hard-earned height, we flew over a glider parked in a paddock, and shortly afterwards we were really low and in trouble. For me the next 45 minutes was atrocious, three times below 1,000 feet above ground, initially not a house to be seen, and I was just stuck low. The ratty little climbs would not push up through about 15-1600 feet AGL and I was going nowhere in the headwind. Finally I got a stronger bubble that punched through this layer and kept going up to about 5,000 feet. By now the late-starting gaggle had caught me, and that was the end of the second stage.”
“Amongst the crowd things actually went much better. Not because they were giving much help, but because I managed to stay in front and find a few nice climbs. From there it was a long steady grind back home, with the only bright spot being a lovely convergence line which carried us home after we’d been watching it in the distance for more than 100km.” Taylor’s Gliding Page
With 5 days to go the overall scores look like this;
1.Tom Arscott with 6,525 p, 2. Lukasz Blaszczyk with 6,275 p and 3. Sjaak Selen with 6,155 points.
By the way Tom flies the LS 8 from Andy and his wife Claire;
” Huge thanks to Claire Scutter and Andy Maddocks (Maddog Composites) for their generosity in lending Tom their LS8, Cobra trailer and car for the competition!”
club class; 3.30 AAT....it looks like a great flight for James again; 429.70 km in time 3.53.50 so a speed of 110.26 km./h. Most pilots needed 4 hours but some , like former hang glider pilot Tomas Suchanek, flew 444.70 km.
2 are already out and 6 not counted for yet and Thies had to withdraw from the comps.
UPDATED;
The club class is hit again by several out-landings. I feel for them in the heat and terrible dust and what I heard the smell from bush fires about 200 k NE of the field. You can even see them in the evening.
7 Are not yet counted for.
Tony [ so no story yet] is out, so 3 outlandings by now.
So,…with 5 days to go and Thies out of the race the overall scores at this stage are :
1. James Nugent with 6,614 p. 2. Uwe Wahlig with 6,442 p and 3. Tim Milner with 6,403 points.
About the very unlucky pilot Thies; Club class pilot Thies told his story this morning and though EVERYBODY helped out ,the glider could not be repaired in time ,so he is out of the comps. He told, that the TOW BAR broke off whilst he drove his ASW 20 backwards and the glider is damaged on 3 spots [ailerons, flap and something at the fuselage] by a runway light and the car .In the end it was beyond repair and he had to withdraw. SUCH A PITY!!!!
Other news about the comps;
—-the snakes …. Teresa {Toivonen from Sweden] mentioned on FB a situation in Benalla. We were both there then in 1987
“Make sure it doesn’t get in to a glider.., that happened in Benalla, luckily the pilot was a farmer from Texas so he knew how to handle the situation…in the air...”
Indeed also IN a hangar , a snake can crawl in through the wheel doors.
—– great picture by one of the pilots from the Czech Rep.
—-At Gliding Australia you can hear every day what the winning pilots from the day before, have to say. Sean Young from Gliding Australia does the interviews
It’s 12.30 my time now, . With a last check on all the scores, 2 remain out in standard class , Simon and Paul [UK] and no big differences since earlier in club. 5 Are out and 4 not counted for/scored.
CU tomorrow for the beginning of the last 5 days with a farewell dinner on December 15 and the prize giving on December 16, with a spectacular Aerobatic display by Paul Bennet. Not long ago they were in Tocumwal as well. GREAT SHOW, I heard!!!!!
Cheers Ritz