11th WWGC
Husbands Bosworth, United Kingdom
14 August 2022 – 26 August 2022

This morning I got the message from one of my friends over there ; “Another day lost“.
So no flying in Husbos. Liz expected it already as you can read below.
But …..tomorrow is another day.

Yesterday the day was cancelled ,but the Danish girls had fun anyhow. This time in a plane with an engine!

BBC Radio Leicester, visited Husbos and one of the female reporters , Sofie, had a flight in a 2-seater. She loved it, but you could nearly hear her cry out loud, in the Netherlands…..” OH MY GOD……
I guess a mix from tension, excitement and fun. All was organized by Georgia, who is the the media coordinator for the event.

About yesterday, here is Liz;
“Prepared for anything the task setters had ready A, B and C tasks for all three classes but the weather did not play ball. The first rain shower came through during briefing and it never cleared up enough to encourage thermal activity. So after delaying the grid launch to 1300 the Race Office made the call to cancel the day, known as “scrubbing” in Britain. Pilots made the most out of the off day with hiking , sight seeing and some even getting rated in motor aircraft with The Gliding Centre. Tomorrow the forecast is not looking overly promising but there’s always a chance.“

Today some went to Duxford to the MUSEUM /Airspace Center…..a branch of the Imperial War Museum in Cambridgeshire .…the largest in the UK.
When you cannot fly you can at least look at planes.

Now I see it, I wonder why I never went with the boys to this museum in 2005 during the JWGC over there. Guess too busy!
So off to Duxford when you have time , on a non flying day!
www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-duxford

More tomorrow.

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CIM, Coppa Internationale del Mediterranio
Rieti, Italy
10 August 2022 – 20 August 2022

Over to the other competition which is in progress now in Italy.
Yesterday they did not fly, the weather decreased during the early afternoon and pilots with their families visited Roma, a go-cart in Rieti-town or spend time in or around the pool!
Today their weather improved again , so it’s back to action at the field and tasks have been set.
Small ones, BUT they can fly.

AUGUST 16; task 6...
A relative easy day, catching up with mails etc. Checking in between the scores in Rieti. And before I knew they were there.
Mixed class; 2.15 AAT...Bouderliques day again….they flew 335 km. in time 2.24.50. VERY nice speed of 138.92 km./h!! Their 2d daily win. They started at 13.15.
UK/NZ team Coutts and Walters were runner up. They started 10 minutes later [13.26] , as the very last to go on track, but had the same speed ;138.66 km./h.
So the ARCUS M and ASG 32 MI had about the same speed.
After 5 out of 6 days The Bouderliques lead with 4.246 points, on team Alberto Sironi, with 4.192 p. Only 1 pilot was out after 90 km.

18m/open; 2.05 AAT….342 km. in time 2.08 means HUGE speed!!! Indeed 160,32 km./h! Werner Amann from Austria was the “Speedy Gonzales”. A staggering 9 km faster than Boris [Zorz] , the runner up.
All pilots started about the same time!
It looks like the “fight” is between Boris [ 3.777] and Werner [ 3.736] as Markus had a bit of an off-day today being on spot 11 and moving from 2 to 4 overall. [ 3.572]
In between is UK pilot Jon Gatfield. [ 3.600 ] He and Werner fly a Schleicher AS 33es.
But still 4 days to go.
4 Are not yet counted for, so results are very preliminary. I come back with the full results tomorrow.

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LASHAM ;
The UK 18m and 20 m NATIONALS
13 August 2022 – 21 August 2022

VERY TRICKY weather yesterday and only the 20 m pilots were active,….and HOW!!!!
They all managed to reset their brain, from flying with 7 m. lift, to nearly no lift and scratching around.
And after a day-off ,for the 18 meter pilots ,they will be extra motivated to go for it again,…that is if the weather co-operates.
It did not! No tasks , means no flying.
“Both classes SCRUBBED today as the airfield gets a much needed drink!” Lasham Comps
Tomorrow is another day!

Easy day,
Cheers Ritz

Pleased to see how the main site from the WWGC has been updated[ https://wwgc2022.co.uk/ ]
You can easily find soaringspot now for the scores, the tracking and the news.
There is also news on: https://wwgc2022.co.uk/news/
Here is CD Liz!!
“The weather could not have been better for day one of the Women’s World Gliding Championships, with 10,000 cloud bases and cumulus cloud streets all round, local pilot Claudia Hill said “I’ve had a day like today once in the last 24 years that I’ve lived here in the UK”. The classes were set 3h and 3h30m AATs around the South West of Husbands Bosworth, most of the pilots finished with above average distances and in the 18m class the top pilots flew within 20km of the max distance and still finished just 3 minutes over AAT time. Everyone reported their biggest difficulty was not breaking the FL 100 airspace. The energy on the field was ecstatic when the pilots returned home reporting of 6 knot average climb rates and 130-140kmph cross country speeds.”

Indeed it was a splendid day for the “girls and there were some reactions;
—“Piloterne landede glade og tilfredse med en rigtig god flyve tur og oplevelse” by the Danish team, mentioning the girls were happy with their great flight.
—“Erfolgreicher start fuer in der WM der Frauen in WWGC”….successful start of the German ladies at the WWGC.

And Gliding shared a picture by people who are doing pretty heavy jobs , certainly in the heat but do it a volunteers with big smiles.
To not forget them here they are;

Enough help ..also from the children from the pilots;

Monday August 15…day 2…task 2…
Today is another day with totally different weather and smaller tasks. I heard that it was raining a bit during briefing. So let’s wait and see.
NO PEV today.
The next news; first launch not before 12.30 BUT…then 13.00.
For all classes!!!
Waiting for a “window”!!! BUT,…the window stayed closed, so no flying today.
Club; 188.91 km….scrubbed
Standard; 224.99 km.…cancelled
18 m; 257.48 km....no competition flying today.

Looking back at the scores from Club Class;
Judyta was yesterday on spot 2 ,then on the last spot ,but I guess after looking at the 2d logger, she is back on spot 2 .Good on her.
In standard; 3 were out due to penalties. Among them the 2 Ukraine girls.

The return of the pilots yesterday after a MAGIC flight.

Hopefully the weather improves and it will be back to soaring again tomorrow.

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The UK 18m and 20 m NATIONALS LASHAM 2022.
Lasham, United Kingdom,13 August 2022 – 21 August 2022

It was a truly busy day at Lasham yesterday. Even “they” thought so.
“Busy airfield today with close to 350 movements in just the afternoon. Over 130 launched in two hours.
It can be a bit manic if a gaggle of gliders comes back at once as seen in the photo!
Thankfully plenty of people on hand to help & all overseen by competition officials on the finish tower. Land long is the policy to keep everyone safe and there’s always plenty of space on our 600+ acre airfield.“

The Lasham Gliding Society was as happy!
“Today was exceptional, probably one of the best competition days in UK gliding history with speeds of over 150 kilometres per hour achieved on distances of over 600km. That is nearly 100 miles per hour average speed traveling across England and Wales in something without an engine!
Gliders from Lasham flew as far north west as Denbighshire in North Wales and up to 10,000ft above sea level where airspace allowed. Simply awesome in a soaring year that will be remembered for decades to come.”

I owe you the scores of 18 m, so here they are ;
It’s good that I called Leigh as a potential winner, he was runner up behind the fast Russell who flew with a speed of 157. 80 km./h.
Russell was pleased with his flight, possible the best flight he had flown in the UK. The highest cloud base he had ever seen. He had a particular good line, and was very happy to get back with ease!
There were 3 pilots that fast…flying over 156 km./h!!!!
Leigh had 156.26 km./h in his JS3 and Derren 156.12 km./h in his Ventus 3TS.
Top speed during a National competition.
On the other hand there were 11 violations, and 2 pilots had a day- disqualification. That happens not often either!
A really good day as all 43 pilots flew the task.

All 14 pilots in 20 m. finished yesterday as I told you already, but also here changes in the scores due to penalties.
Garry and Andy were pleased as well, starting off the day looking at a good strategy. Finding the best energy lines was one of them, and sticking with them.
The game changer came after the first turn on the second leg, so they said, after that, it was much easier with lift shy of 10 000 ft. which put us in a nice position!!

Monday ….August 15; day 3…task 3….
Another weather type, less good for gliding, but tasks were set anyhow and gliders gridded.
Tasks A/B/C have been set for both classes and” we are awaiting a decision depending on the weather.“
The tasks had to be changed to smaller B tasks.
18 m; 208,68 km... changed in 157.29 km…then scrubbed/cancelled!

20 m; 213.79 km...changed in 150.82 km…..So they tried hard to get 14 teams in the air and one HC team.
Time to look at the gliders; 7x an ARCUS type M [2x] or T [4x] and “just” an ARCUS.
8x a variation on a Duo Discus,….2x just a Duo Discus, 2x a T, 1 XT and 2x XLT and a W !

They “found” a window and a D task was handed out.
18 m cleared the runway and launching started for 20 m.

Starts after 4 PM and first finishes around 6 PM.
The ARCUS 20 with call sign 66, flew around with Garry and Andy ; speed 90 km./h !!!
Yesterday they won with 135 km./h. BUT..on both days Andy and Garry were the winners.
It all happens at Lasham!!!!!
Most interesting was that all pilots went for it.
Steve Jones and David Masson and Graham McAndrew were sadly enough out.
The max amount of points today was 433.
I saw pilots loose during the WGC a podium on 3 points, yes the Dutch boys lost from team UK then, so EVERY point is important!!!
A valid day….TOP!!! NO …excellent!!!

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No news from the CIM, as the weather in Rieti was not flyable either.

The weather really changed in parts of Europe. From one side I am happy with it, weeks with over 30 dgr. C…..3 heat waves in my area….. is not a real pleasure anymore.
But hopefully for the comps some more flyable days will come. I am pretty sure about that….

Cheers Ritz

I am still having troubles with the lay-out of my blog. Sorry.
Not too many pictures!
But the ones I had promised.

Finally I found some pictures from the JWGC from team Germany.

Cheers Ritz, hope tomorrow everything works NORMAL again!!!!!

Picture belonging to Rieti

First the last daily evening news from Matej yesterday;
“One last time during this competition, the pilots took off from the planes of the Tabor airfield today. After the two weeks full of excellent weather and exceptional performance, the competitors are currently attempting to achieve the highest average speed in today’s AAT tasks. Like everyone else, even the sky is mourning and crying today, causing some showers through out the day. Luckily, the local weather wanted to be remembered as extraordinary and except the showers, it remained very favorable. After the pilots will arrive from their final flight, pack their gliders and maybe have some rest, they can enjoy the farewell party, which will take place today at 19:30. It is the best way to celebrate the amazing time we all have spent here at the beautiful Tabor airport.”

AND here is David from the USA with another long but interesting story and his view on these comps.
“This morning I was sad, sad, sad that this amazing adventure was coming to an end. That sadness quickly turned into excitement as I was in the front of the grid and had a beautiful sky ahead of me.”
AND
“The amount that I was able to learn and the distance that I was able to fly was absolutely incredible. The learning curve was quite steep but I was able to cope rather well. The fact that this is a full team effort was the biggest shock to me.“
The full story on US Soaring Teams

Team UK via British Gliding Team
“A very close battle right to the end. Podiums for both Finn Sleigh and Toby Freeland! Gold and Silver respectively – Absolutely amazing! Well done to both!” I can only agree.

Whilst typing I was looking at and listening to the prize giving.
10 from each class were asked to come forward. 7 Of them for the certificate and 3 for the medals.
For the NEW WORLD CHAMPIONS there was the National anthem of the UK and Germany.
The winners also got a huge model of a glider!!!

The TEAM cup was won by Germany; GOLD.
Silver was for France.
On 3 the DUTCH team
ALL members of the team and their TC were cheered on.
These results are different to the ones on soaringspot , so I can’t give you the numbers.
Unfortunately the UK had no points on the last day [ damage and illness in St. class, Henry even had to be brought to hospital!!!!] so they were not on 1 anymore.
All the more CHAPEAU for Finn who flew ,when he really was n’t feeling too good. If you are on the gold position you don’t give up easily…… so VERY WELL DESERVED this “fight against all odds ” for gold!

The FAI flag was lowered on with their own FAI hymn and CD Tomas handed it over to Poland for he next JWGC.

Tabor will have the Europeans in ’23 and in ’24 the WGC as well , is what the president of the jury mentioned when he closed the 12TH JWGC!!!!!A splendid one!!!!
If those comps are AS GOOD as these, we can look forward to more great flying in a very pleasant atmosphere. Hopefully the weather is then as glorious as now.

Out of 13 days they had 10 valid soaring- days in both classes!!!!
Life-long-friendships have been made, experiences ,which a lot of young people their age will never have , created and for me as an elderly person, I can only say…… I enjoyed every minute.

Waiting for pictures on the prize giving and then ” full throttle” to the WWGC as priority, but also to the 18 m and 20 m Nationals at Lasham and the CIM in Rieti.

CLUB CLASS;

AND
An extra picture from team UK without Henry.

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11th FAI Womens World Gliding Championship

Husbands Bosworth, United Kingdom,
11 August 2022 – 27 August 2022

Today the ladies and their crews gathered together in a small town called Market Harborough.

Tomorrow on Sunday is the first flying day.

The VERY STRONG French team with as TC Eric Napoleon.

UK 18M & 20M Nationals Lasham 2022
Lasham, United Kingdom
13 August 2022 – 21 August 2022

Day 1 with task 1 is set and done .54 Pilots were ready for this high-levelled championship.
AND ,…it was a really good first day!
18 m; task 1.…375.38 km;
all 43 pilots in this class started and finished and Gary [Stingemore] was the best with a speed of 141.43 km./h! Gary flies an AS33es.
Just a tad slower was Derren [Francis] Ventus 3TS; 140.91 km./h!
20 Flew with a speed of over 130 km/.h.

20 m; task 1…. 359.09 km…..14 2-seaters participate, either a conversion of Duo Discus or ARCUS. With 127.42 km./h. Matthew Cook was the daily best in his ARCUS T , closely followed by Steve Jones in an ARCUS M. Interesting point. Steve flew the WGC recently together with Garry Coppin, they won bronze and they just “kicked” the Dutch team of the podium.[3 points]
Now he flies together in the ARCUS with call sign 66 , with Andy [Aveling] against Steve.
” It will be an interesting duel!” I heard.

You can follow them daily on;
https://www.lashamcomps.co.uk/tracking

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CIM – Coppa Internazionale del Mediterraneo
Rieti, Italy
10 August 2022 – 20 August 2022

They have started already and have flown now for 3 days, so 3 tasks in a mixed class and in 18m/ open class.
The MIXED class had tasks as 2 .50 AAT and 3.10 and a racing task from 360.65 km. today.
21 fly in this class and team Alberto [Sironi] won day 1 in ARCUS T followed by team John Coutts in AS G 32MI. Speed 122.34 km./h. and 119.22 km./h.
I got to know John as a junior in Rieti in 2007. I even remember his dad was there then too. Time flies!!!
The next 2 days were won by Marius Pluščauskas from Lithuania in Ventus 2AX.
Task 2 with a speed of 134.90 km./h for 1000 points and today task 3 with 127.54 km./h.
In 3 days ONLY ONE out-landing.

In 18 m./open class task 1 was won by Alvaro in his ASH 31 MI;130.55 km../h….. have n’t see Alvaro for a long time, may- be during the last CIM I visited. Markus [Frank] in the EB was runner up ; Faster but handicap;132.92 km./h.
task 2 , a 3 hour AAT, was for Boris Zorz in the JS 3 followed by 2x a Ventus 3T from Thomas [Gostner] and Giorgio [Galetto] Alvaro was 4th. Speed 138, 136 and 135 km./h.
Task 3 a racing task from 361 km. was not too good for Giorgio. He was “out” after 248.80 km. and last on the list. A pity!!!!

Not yet found ONE picture of the standard class. Unbelievable. Will try tomorrow again as some heads might be clear then.

Had some problems with my laptop as well, overheated from working TOO hard.
Hence less pictures.
Hope to solve the problem tomorrow.
It was 35 dgr C here today. Still a heat wave in The Netherlands From Monday on, thunderstorms and cooler still 27!

For now sleep well.
Cheers Ritz

FRIDAY; AUGUST 12….VERY LAST DAY of the 12th FAI JWGC flown from Tabor.

Yesterday evening, the last words from Matej were;
“ Tomorrow is the last chance for the pilots to win more points and move upward in the total ranking, therefore we can look forward to one last arresting competition day.“
Like yesterday , for today, a 3 hour AAT was set for both classes.
The Dutch boys try to “just do the same as yesterday” Why not!? For Simon and Jelmer this is their last JWGC, Lars has at least one more JWGC to go, he is 22 now.
For Simon it is also the last day of “using” the LS 4 AU, [for Tabor changed in AA] in which he flew for 3 years and flew over 200 hours in it. The LS 4 is owned by a foundation as is another LS 4. [SZN]

David from the USA had a double report again. His last words on yesterday;
“I placed 23rd on the day with the winner’s speed being 115kph. So between 1st place and 25th place the speed differential for the day was only 3mph. That’s 7minutes difference. Even though each race takes hours to do it really is a game of minutes. The caliber of this competition never ceases to amaze me.”
You can read the full story on US Soaring Teams

The UK had a comment ;
“A unique challenge today came in the form of Gastro. The team is really suffering now ,but despite this Finn & Toby have maintained their positions and Henry has managed to climb 2 more positions!”
There seems to be a “BUG” hanging around at the field and more people suffer from it.
Hope they can stand the last day. It will be extra tough to fly under such demanding circumstances ,for sure you do not need an upset tummy high up in the air!!!
“Today is the final day. Despite the difficulties of the last few days, Toby and Finn have held onto their positions and Toby is feeling a lot better today. Conditions are tricky so it will be a tough final battle.”

The last briefing started with ” a round” of presentation of the TEAM. Tomas and Matej Rendla , CD and deputy CD, started and all “passed by” .
They deserve a TROPHY for their top job!!! They got straight away a huge applause.
Weather about the same as yesterday, but some local showers might appear. The meteo man got an even bigger applause and a thank- you -t-shirt .
ALL procedures are the same as all days before so, no confusion there on the last day.

Prizes were given to Simon in Club Class and Simon in standard class….to win you might change your first name in SIMON!! LOL.

Well the last day of flying has started!!

AUGUST 12;….day 13….valid flying day 10..[very good]…task 12!!!!
Before the start, at 10.45, the group photo was taken, all were asked to come in their red JWGC shirt.
Quite a few arrived at the field “in red”. As did the German team.

First start at 11 AM.
I do not expect a lot of news on the internet ,as the last day is always a bit mysterious, with tactics and hiding on tracking.
So I did not expect ,… a lot of trackers on the tracking system.
BUT,…when I looked , that was certainly not the case in club class. I missed the German pilots and the UK pilots, but the Dutch and French were open and proud to be found.

Club class; 3 hour AAT… with 5 sectors….gate opened at 12.25….12.53 was already a late start by young Belgium pilot Emilien. He flew 92 km. and was out.
The Finns had a really good day , both Kim and Mikko, flew a good distance [358 and 351 km] with a speed of 116. 25 and 114. 57 km./h. in their LS 7.
Kim moved from 13 to 8!!!!!
Toby from the UK was in his ASW 20 a bit faster; 116.66 km./h. flying 371 km. He started at 12.49.
But where was Finn? Celebrating already or,…..I was sure he would start again with Finn and fly together, but Toby finished at 4PM and no sign from Finn at 4.30, neither at 5 PM.
AND,…there were showers from east to west and the young ones had to avoid them or fly in between them.
Such weather can make or “kill” the day.
15 in ,1 out and for a long time no more scores!!!
At 5,..there were 2 Finnish pilots in, 2 French, 2 Swedish, 2 Dutch , 2 Danish and a few more.

At 5 PM, within one second , 37 scores were visible. Maybe a short problem, but not good for my heart!!!!
The hotshots were in as well. Nils even won the day with 116.61 km./h.
Alexandre was runner up; 388 km in time 3.13; speed 120 km/h. He moves from 7 to 5 overall.
Finn was on spot 6, Miles on spot 30??? Ouch not good,… he dropped from 3 to 7 and Nils is now on spot 3!!
Finn remains on spot 1, sick or not, he had a great competition.
Believe me they will celebrate tonight!!!!

Standard class;3 hour AAT….with 3 sectors. ….gate opened at ?????? It took a long time before we got the gate opening time from this class. At 2.30 it was still not mentioned on the official site.
Would there be a B task!?
Or did they forget to mention it on this last day??
I decided to look at the tracking and YES, they were flying. A lot already in the second sector!!
So just forgotten, no worries!!!
Normally it’s half an hour behind club.
Benjamin shared this picture with the message; “It seems that finally the sky wanted to put a bit of chaos in the Standard Class cruising day”

As you can see the standard class had most of the troubles with the showers in the last sector.
Ouch,…..hopefully not a luck factor on this last day!!!
But,..they finished as well. The Dutch had a great day and Maurits ,who had that one totally-off-day, could have been in the top 3. But IF, does n’t count. He flew today 396.51 km in time 3.15; speed 121.44 km./h!!!!
Today he wins and Dutch Nick is runner up.
The overall top 3 till now is in.
Simon on 14, Engeurrand on 18 and sadly drops to 5 and Lukaz on 19, he stays on 2.
Still some changes in the top 3 after today.

And that was that !!!!
Both the new WORLD CHAMPIONS flew as the only one in their class to over 8000 points.

Very preliminary OVERALL scores;
1. Finn Sleigh in ASW 20 with 8,132 p, the only one in the 8000 p range deserved WORLD CHAMPION.
2. Toby Freeland in ASW 20 l with 7,874 p.
3. Nils Fecker in LS 4a with 7,852 p
4. Lars Van Breemen in LS 4 b NEO with 7,781 p
5. Alexandre Fierain in LS 4 with 7,738.p
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL.

Very preliminary overall scores;
1. Simon Briel in Discus 2a with 8,053 well deserved WORLD CHAMPION.
2. Lukas Kriz in LS 8 with 7,636 p.
3. Jaromir Macoun in LS 8 with 7,620 p. He moved from 4 to 3.
Not all have been scored yet I miss about 4 and some did not fly anymore.

So 2 UK boys in club and 2 Czech boys in standard class in the top 3.

Looking ahead at the prize giving tomorrow morning , I got a comment in my blog which I want to share with you. It’s about one of the trophies.
I got it from Matthews dad, Michael, who I met in Narromine during the JWGC ,which was won by Matthew.
“The standard class trophy is in fact in memory of a glider pilot.
The Giulia Incisa della Rocchetta Challenge Cup, donated by the Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare) in 2007 on the occasion of the Junior World Gliding Championships in Rieti, Italy, in memory of Giulia, a member of the Italian Air Force sport squadron, who was killed in an outlanding in Romorantin, France, during a local gliding contest, just before she was to compete in the Junior World Gliding Championships in 2005.”
In 2007 I attended that JWGC and I heard from the accident, but it was far away in my mind now. Glad I got this comment.

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11th FAI Womens World Gliding Championship
Husbands Bosworth, United Kingdom
11 August 2022 – 27 August 2022

The last practice days …….and though tasks were short due to the very hot , pretty stable weather and the waiting for more tugs, as there were only 3 yesterday, they go for another short one , to get ALL MISTAKES out of the system, specially the pilots, as some struggle with PEV, wrong TP rounding’s etc.
Hopefully today ALL ladies will fly!!!!
During the comps there will be 8 tow planes, so that’s GOOD!!!!!
On the site was written about yesterday ;
“The UK is breaking all expectations of the international pilots with another blinder of a blue hot day! The pilots had to be very careful with their hydration, sometimes drinking 2L of water in the aircraft was not enough. The day started with a lower than forecasted thermal height of 3900 but it built to 5200 mid-task. Everyone made it home and enjoyed an evening of fun with an open mic night and later on watching the August Moon rise over the airfield.“

Today; another blue but good day.
Great practice period from the French ladies!
Club; 157 km....Klara Teichmannova from Czech Rep was faster than the 3 French girls, flying LS4’s and LS 7’s.
standard ;168 km...More French girls doing well. Spot 1 and 2 were for Aude Untersee and Anais Gaubert.
18 m; 201 km….Best speed by the French girls . Anne Ducarouge flew around with 122.92 km./h as did Melanie, starting and finishing together. Good- team- fly-practice.

More tomorrow.

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AND TO FINISH these sad pictures from a mini-tornado in Vinon.

AND,…that the weather is the weather and not too predictable here news from the Scottish Wave Hunters
“In my last post I commented that wave can occur at any time of the year.
Sunday 7th August was such a day with Alastair Mutch from the SGU doing a heady height gain of 27,588′ reaching an altitude of 29053′, the highest anyone has been since 2018 (John Tanner from the Deeside gliding Club).

What is particularly interesting is that the winds were relatively light with no jetstream. Alastair broke off the climb still climbing at 3 to 4 knots. The forecasts did not really predict significant wave but the temperature profile was however quite good. The temperature profile is always a good indicator Just goes to show what can be achieved on an unremarkable day.“

CU tomorrow, I guess we can see the prize giving via a live stream, I hope!
Otherwise pictures from the glorious winners .

Then after all this,…..the WWGC and the CIM in Rieti in Italy ;10 August 2022 – 20 August 2022 with 44 competitors.
Tomorrow also the 18 m and 20 m class fly the UK Nationals from Lasham.
Very interesting too. 13 August 2022 – 21 August 2022 with 65 competitors.

Normally it looks like this.

AND
for the competition ,BUSY, like this, not as green….

Cheers Ritz

THURSDAY AUGUST 11;

A good beginning of today with Matej:
“Another day in the gliding paradise. The amazing results, weather and the smooth course of the competition so far were rightfully celebrated yesterday at the international evening. Huge thanks belong to everyone, who wholeheartedly shared their culture and created an amazing atmosphere at the party. Despite everyone really enjoying the evening, it needed to be stopped a bit earlier, because today we have another day with ideal gliding weather very similar to yesterday. The last few days are the most crucial for the competition and there is no time to rest. Hopefully, pilots and their crews managed to get some sleep in the night and they will be flying like the professionals they are once again. Today both classes have AAT tasks for 3 hours to the east of Tábor.“

Teams had more than enough fun at the INTERNATIONAL evening.

Time to focus on the last 2 days of this JWGC.
here is the task from STANDARD CLASS. 3 hour AAT

During briefing, Finn got his prizes , very well deserved ones.
Team UK had less good news as well;
“Tom has made the tough decision to retire from the race, the airfield surface caused a tyre blowout on take-off and led to other damage.”
Not only Tom [Thomas Pavis, was on 18 overall] is out in standard class ,…feel VERY sorry for you Tom….but also Ryan [Australia] and Jan [Czech Rep. was on overall spot 22] .
So 26 [from 29] will start today in this class, 44 from 45 now in in club.

At 11.30 they were ready to go, TOPDOG and TOP TC, Ellen, are putting in some last positive vibes in Simon. AND,…the vibes were really good HE WON THE DAY!!!

Team Denmark is really doing well. Yesterday they had a daily winner in St. class Jacob and they have Miles on spot 3 in club class. What do you want more. A good day today and tomorrow I guess.

Team Germany is doing well, here a picture from Eric [LS 4 b] with his mates.

Thursday August 11….day 12…task 11.
First launch at 11.30. During the day, you could see they were RACING, with capital letters. When the first scores appear, the flights are flown with over 100 km./h.

Club; 3 hour AAT...Gate opened at 12.36….A great day for TEAM HOLLAND, spot 1,2 and 3 was theirs.
They have a great system. Lars prefers to fly by himself, Simon and Jelmer prefer to fly together.
Lars starts early ,…today at 12.56,…. the others later at 13.29!!!!!
In between Lars has raced already over the track and gives good advise !!
Finn lost 100 points as he was on a shared 11th place. But he has points enough ,no worries he still leads overall; 7.180 points.
Simon flew 345 km. in time 3 hours at the dot!!!!!1000 points!!!! Speed 114.93 km./h.
Jelmer had about the same time; 998 points [ speed 115.13 km./h] and Lars 966 points. [113.75 km./h] His LS 4 b NEO [1.029] has a higher handicap as the LS 4 [1.022] and the LS 4 a [ 1.025]
Danish Miles was on spot 4 with 116 km./h but the handicap of his ASW 20 is 1.052].
The German mates fished on spot 5.7 and 8. In between was a great flying Finish pilot Kim.
Lets see what tomorrow brings, EVERYTHING can happen though Finn as a comfortable lead.

Standard; 3 hour AAT...Gate opened at 13.02…..A Dutch day in CLUB, a GERMAN day in standard.1.2 and 3. Good speed as well; 133, 132 and 131 km./h! over 403, 408 and 405 km. They had a rather early start at 13.27.
The French were on 6 and 8; 2x 928 points and 927!!!! They had a later start at 13.40!!!
Viktoria was the slowest / less fastest,….but with a LOT of respect ……today but still with 109 km./h over 327 km. TOP JOB!!!!
The top 3 overall is still Simon 7.227 p, Lukas 6.915 and Engeurrand with 6.829.
Tomorrow the decisions to start and other “games” , will be interesting

All scores are preliminary.

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the 11th FAI WWGC in HUSBOS
13 August 2022 – 27 August 2022

Most elementary things have been done by now. An important one is scruteneering.
A few of the pilots moved straight from Szeged to Husbos.
I noticed Eric Napoleon ,who will be TC for France again and also Petr Krejcirik is there. He was also TC in Australia for the Czech team.

It’s getting more serious now with an official practice day for all 3 classes. The long tasks from yesterday were flown by none of the pilots. Good practice though….. to not forget PEV and USE IT CORRECT.
That happened a few times 9x, to be precise , in Club, and better now than on day 1.
Where did the great weather go over there [ here we are in the middle of a heat wave!!!!] .. so short tasks on the official practice day.

CLUB ;148 km... with 84 km./h Elena the current world champion won the day. Not all are scored yet and 2 were out.

Standard ;198 km…not all are scored yet, 5 are scored at 7.10 PM and one was out. Better now than in 2 days. UK pilot Sally and the 3 French girls are at this stage on top.

18 m; 210 km….not all are scored yet….The French did well flying good together. At this stage Diana from Luxembourg is 4th. She started with some problems on the instrument panel, but luckily it had no influence on her flying.
Full scores tomorrow!!!

Whilst waiting I found some nice pictures for you.

and the Ukraine pilots, Olena and Sofia, who got sponsored and supported by the soaring world and now can fly this WWGC. They both fly an ASW 20.

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And to finish a colorful picture from ….BALLOONS. One of our gliding mates in the USA , Tony who also flew in the past the 13.5 m WGC, is not only a glider pilot or light aircraft pilot he learned to fly a balloon as well.
During the USA Nationals he helps out as crew, but one day he will participate. Today was cancelled!

Well, a long day today…… and tomorrow again, trying to pick up ALL news from the last day in Tabor.
So CU tomorrow!!
Cheers Ritz

JWGC in TABOR in CZECH.REP
30 July 2022 – 13 August 

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 10;
A roller-coaster-day with highs and lows ,that’s what you can easily call August 9 in Tabor.
Goose bums and happy faces with the fly pass from the 8 tow planes in the morning ,…… fabulous weather circumstances with mouth watering cloud streets during the day …..and then the message mid air…. and you can only hold your breath.
Everybody is OK, that makes it easier to handle, though I guess the 2 involved , Ryan from Australia and David from Switzerland might have a bad night.
As well as all their close mates.
Indeed they are resilient ,but also close.

The morning report from Matej;
“After a difficult yesterday, we are back on track and preparing for another competition day. The weather will be similar to yesterday with an increased quantity of cirrus clouds. The plan is to fly 3 hours-long AAT today, which is expected to allow very high speeds in such good weather and also a very high level of safety as both classes are flying to two very different areas. The club class will be visiting our southern neighbors in Austria whereas the standard class will be flying all the way to our friends in Germany. We look forward to the international evening, which will happen this evening.”

Tasks were set at briefing; 3 hour AAT’s for both classes. Also a clarifying explanation about the incident by steward Robin, who in the beginning of the comps also did the safety briefing.
The life stream from the briefing was available on youtube.
It was very silent in the briefing hall. A pretty emotionally charged morning.
This was NOT a case of dangerous flying. Just very bad luck!
The Aussie pilot was thermalling, the Swiss pilot raced , they did not see each other and collided.
Investigation will sort out all the details, for ALL to learn from.

He also told the young ones to keep the mobile in the pocket of the trousers not in the pocket from the glider. They had to wait long to reach the bailed-out -pilot as his mobile was lost in the fall of the glider. That gives a lot of stress to those who need to know and help.
Indeed something to remember straight away.

Here is the statement from Australia’s Gliding Australia;
“On 9th August 2022, an Australian pilot competing in the FAI Junior World Gliding Championships being held at Tábor in the Czech Republic was involved in a mid-air collision with a Swiss pilot. Ryan Driscoll, from the Gliding Club of Victoria at Benalla, was flying an LS8 sailplane in the Standard Class competition on a 513km cross-country racing task. He was about 120km WNW of Tábor when he was involved in a collision with a Swiss pilot flying a Club Class sailplane. Ryan was able to land nearby, and the other pilot bailed out.

Both pilots are safe. Another Australian competitor, James Nugent, landed near Ryan to ensure his wellbeing. An investigation has commenced which will examine potential causal factors. Gliding Australia has no further information at this time. We wish our pilots well, and will be providing any support needed to the pilots, families and crew.
Steve Pegler
President
Gliding Australia

Over to today!!

Wednesday August 10….day 11 ….task 10, meteorologist Jan had more good weather for the pilots, but also a warning with a smile;” There will be FULL MOON tonight”.
So BE CAREFUL!!!!
AND, another message at briefing,…….don’t party too long tonight at the INTERNATIONAL EVENING, tomorrow is another flying day.
Expected first launch at 11.30.
First launch confirmed for 12 PM.
And off they went on track .. with still in their head the words written on the board on the end of the briefing;
LOOK OUT,LOOK OUT,LOOK OUT.
STAY ALERT…. STAY RESTED
KEEP SEPARATION
STAY HYDRATED
FLY SAFE.

Time for pictures again and I liked this one from the Dutch team. The eyes of the boys are protected by sunglasses from Serengeti.
PR is SO important for our sport , so once in a while, I help them international:

Club; 3 hour AAT....start gate opened at 13.05….The early birds started straight away, around 13.08 and finished around 20 minutes past 4.
Of course there were late starters as well. As on earlier day’s, those boys turned out to be pretty fast.
2 of the Dutch left at 13.41, so did 2 of the German team, even later at 13.48!!!
There were even later starters; Miles from Denmark at 14.03,29 , flying 369,38 km in time 3.05,11, so a speed of 119,68 km./h!
BUT,….THEN there was the best combi from speed and distance ; UK pilot Finn flew around with a speed of 124 km./h ,a whopping 5 km./h. faster than Miles.
Finn flew 375.51 km in time 3.02.40 and started at 13.57.18!!!!!!
With 2 days to go now ,Finn’s lead has grown to 6.280 points.
Toby, [ 6.061 p] Miles [5.936 p] , Nils [ 5.909 p] and Lars [ 5.902 p] still have a chance for the podium.

Standard; 3 hour AAT...start gate opened at 13.34 and also here, early birds and late starters. A great day for Danish gliding!!! In club a number 2 , in standard a daily number ONE!!!!
AND they had a happy birthday boy, Jens.
364.80 km. in time 3.04 gives a speed of 118.68 km./h. was the result for Jacob, in the DISCUS 2a.
Simon and Jan had a good day again; The German boys flew 376 km with a speed of 116 km./h
Our Dutch mates were on 4,5 and 6 flying together;115, 114 and 113 km./h. Good job!
Overall at this stage with 2 flying days to go it is Simon from Germany with 6.226 p.
Lucaz [ 6.006 p] and Enguerrand [ 5.896 p] are still on 2 and 3.
Still in the race as well; Jaromir 5.681 p, Jan 5.782 p, Ignas 5.757 p. and Florian with 5.713 p.
A few can still rise at the ladder as one point difference….????!!!!
We will wait and see.

And to finish how David from THE USA , experienced yesterday;
“Back up at cloud base, going into the 4th turn I get a message saying that the day was canceled for both classes. “Return to airport immediately”. My first thought when hearing this message was that this was somehow an old message from a few days ago and I was just now getting it. Then I get a call from Tom telling me the day was scrubbed and for me to come home. Now I began to worry. What happened? Is everyone okay? Who even is involved? None of these questions really mattered at the time. I was 130k from home and the day was ending.
Fortunately, it was a booming day ,so I simply turned right around and took the same energy line that I had just been on and made progress home. I would later find out that there was a midair involving one standard class glider and one club class glider. The club pilot bailed out while the standard pilot landed in a field safely with his teammate not too far behind him. Everyone was okay.” David. More on US Soaring Teams He even has written his report from today already. A busy bee!!!!

The last words about the JWGC today, are for Matej:”The 10th day of the competition ended with all of the pilots safely on the ground, back at the airport or on their way and at very high speeds thanks to the amazing weather and the well-planned tasks. ”

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WWGC in HUBANDS BOSWORTH in THE UK
13 August 2022 – 27 August 2022

Briefing on the 2d unofficial practice day
WWGC 2022

Practice day 3 with long tasks:
Club; 3 hour AAT... it was waiting for the first launches . It’s one earlier than in the other parts of Europe .p.e. here.
Standard; 3.30 AAT….
18 m; 4 hour AAT...
At this stage NODY is scored they are still happily flying. More tomorrow.

CU tomorrow!

Cheers Ritz

AND THEN there was a midair collision!!!!
One jumped with the parachute/bailed out , the other could land in a paddock.
I could delete all I had written, as in such a case , all this news is totally not relevant.
But,…I decided to share it anyhow.
I hate mid airs ,but tragic enough I learned to deal with the fact that they happen.
I have been at several comps, where it did.
As long as everybody is OK, is it a shock for ALL the young ones involved, their families and also for organizers it is tough.
They deal in TABOR, with it in a decent way ; short but to the point;
“Everybody is safe on the ground, but due to a midair accident today the competition day was cancelled for both classes. Both pilots involved reached the ground safely but the recovery teams are still working to get both gliders back. Until then we have no more information to share. The international evening has been moved to tomorrow.“

Life goes on , so it should.
Whenever there is official news, I share it with you.

Here is what I had written already, it ‘s up to you if you want to read it.;

Indeed , including today, we have 4 days to follow the very pleasant and exciting JWGC. The announced LONG tasks are on the menu.
Matej had his look on things;
“As expected, the weather delighted us this morning, allowing us to plan tasks longer than 500 km. The next few days will be very challenging for the pilots as the competition culminates. It is predicted, that the weather will only be improving over the week, therefore we can look forward to more fascinating days. Continuous flying is one of the most exhausting parts of the competition requiring an abnormal focus and brain agility. To enrich the fun, we will have an international evening today from 19:30.”

August 9….task 9 …day 10…competition day 8;
Goose bums for all at the grid , this morning, when a great formation from all 8 tuggies flew over in a fly pass with the Cmelak leading. Normally that happens on the end of a big competition with a farewell flight, but so it’s a great show!
Great video. I even got goose bums at home!!! I tried to capture it on my mobile but of course it is not what it was, at such a time I am sad I can’t share the video.

Our German mates helped with a picture

David {USA} shines his view on yesterday in an other open written report. I share a small part of it. The rest is on
“Another good flight where other people just did better. I have been told that this is the most competitive JWGC in a decade. Whether that’s real or just glider hearsay who’s to say. Unfortunately, I dropped down one spot overall, but only lost 10pts on my goal of 13th place. Tomorrow looks rippin!”
US Soaring Teams

The French are very happy with the performance of their pilots, specially Alexandre and Enguerrand, both are on 3 now in the overall scores.

In between the crews had time enough to prepare for the INTERNATIONAL night. The Dutch had an early picture and as you can see they stick to ORANGE.

Time to start with the ripping day!
First launch was at 11 and through the day some mentioned “ripping cloud streets”.

Club; 458 km;…Start gate opened at 12.12.

standard; 512.89 km…..Start gate opened at 12.45.

THE CCR in RIETI
2 August 2022 – 9 August 2022

So the CCR finished already yesterday as the weather for today was not flyable.
That means a bad last day yesterday for team UK. They did not finish so lost their runner up spot and dropped from 2 to 9!!!!!
That was “good” again for the Austrian pilots Reinhard and Heimo , on a daily spot 5 and 7, who are now on spot 2 and 3 overall.
As you can see the CLEAR winner in open class is Max.
1. Maximilian Seis [France] in JS1c/21 m with 3,713 points.
2. Reinhard Haggenmüller [Austria] in ASG29e with 3,343 p.
3. Heimo Demmerer [ Austria ] in Ventus 3M with 3,335 p.

The rest of the scores from the mixed, standard and 15 m class are on ;www.soaringspot.com

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11th FAI Womens World Gliding Championship
Husbands Bosworth, United Kingdom
 13 August 2022 – 27 August 2022

Preparations are in full swing in Husbos. Quite a few pilots have arrived already and some help the organizers with the finishing touch.
Even BBC TV arrived to check.

The practice-tasks for today were small AAT’s.

As promised the pictures from the 10th WWGC, so you know who will be now in Husbos too and when you do not know their faces you do now too.
The open class winners from Lake Keepit.

The standard class winners from Lake Keepit;

Club class winners from Lake Keepit;

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Romain shared happy news;
“Last week was the (XXXI Russian national unlimited aerobatic championships).
After 4 flights and four medals I finished second in this great championship in which 13 unlimited pilots and seven planes took part. An other medal was for the combined results of unknowns programs. And an other medals for freestyle results.
Total 7 medals in the wonderful EXTRA330SC.

Good flights in The Netherlands at Venlo where the Dutch Junior Gliding competition is in progress. [August 6-August 13] with 14 pilots and one guest from Belgium.
But he , Martijn Eerdekens in LS 3, is from Keiheuvel, just over the border, so a bit Dutch.
He won task 2 [311 km. speed 110.61 km./h] and till now they have had 3 tasks, with today task 4; a 3 hour AAT.
Sometimes our top pilots fly around with them in a 2-seater, to teach or support them.

That’s it for today.
Still a bit “OFF” today!!!

Cheers Ritz

A new day,.. a new week…..new tasks and new challenges..no stress…just relax[ed] !!!!

There are 5 days to go. The last day is on Friday. In the evening at 8 , the farewell party starts and on Saturday at 10 the prize giving ceremony.
So hopefully 5 full days of good soaring by all juniors.
GOOD LUCK THIS WEEK!!!!!
David from the USA writes nice reports as often as he can. The one from yesterday started with :
“My three goals for this whole entire contest are to make it home every day, get hit with no big penalties and to not have any major f*** ups. Today I almost failed at all three of these goals.”
You can read the full story of this August 7 pilots report on US Soaring Teams

Team UK is ready for a new day.

Matej’s morning news;
“Today we woke up to a cold morning which will turn into a pleasant competition day. The direction of the tasks will today lead the pilots to the west according to the weather forecast. Few cumulus clouds can be expected. Pilots will fly over 300 km, which is appropriate training for the longer tasks, which are planned for tomorrow. The weather will probably stay suitable for the competition the whole week, so stay tuned for challenging but exciting races.“

During briefing , this morning, the daily winners got their prizes. Yesterday that was in Club class Jelmer from The Netherlands. In Standard Simon Briel from Germany.

August 8; day 9….competition day 7 ….task 8;

Launching started at 11 sharp. A blue day BUT, as before, they can see cu’s as well. Another day with huge differences in start time.

Club; 303.56 km.…gate opened at 12.08. For a moment I thought Tereza [ASW 20] from Czech Rep would win the day, but not everybody was scored , had an early start and….. she moved down on the list ,to nice shared spot 6!!!
And then BAM,….at one moment the 2 UK boys Finn and Toby topped the list. Start at 13.28, so another late start. Their speed was 109. 78 km./h and 107.34, as Finn’s final glide was faster .
4 ASW 20’s in the top today and the UK boys added a few more points to their total. Still 1 and 2 [ 5.280 p and 5.132 p] at this stage with French Alexandre on 3 [5.085] ! He was 6th today.
But Nils, Lars and Miles are on their heels!!!!
Start times between 12.23 and 13.28 !!!

standard; 310.37 km....gate opened at 12.39.
Here 2 German boys on the daily top list. Jan and Simon, flying together with a speed of 116.29 km./h. and 115. 83 km./h. after a late start.
Dutch pilot Maurits was indeed resilient and flew to a nice 3d spot ;115.26 km./h. Here 6 LS 8′ s in the top except for Simons Discus.
Start times between 12.44 and 13.27.
Simons overall lead is a bit stronger again, [5.258 p] Czech pilot Lukas follows [5.141 p ]

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THE CCR in Rieti

Tomorrow is the last competition day in Rieti from the CCR [Coppa City di Rieti] with 49 participants in 4 classes. The CIM also in Rieti , will be flown end of this week, from August 11 till August 20 with 35 participants.
I have visited the CIM several times, so I will check for you during the WWGC, also the CIM in Rieti.
With one day to go at the CCR, they had a small task today , only in open class, as thunderstorms were predicted over Italy today .
Till now they had 5 days.

UK Peter Harvey and Chris Dawes are flying the ARCUS M in open class and are doing well .So is Max Seiss [France] in his JS 1c.21m.. It ‘s between them who will win. THOUGH, the Austrians , frequent flyers in Rieti , Reinhard Haggenmoeller and Heimo Demmerer are not far behind .
but it feels a bit like the Max and Pete/Chris show.
A flash-back about the week;
Max won the first day and the UK ARCUS still had to get used to the area and circumstances; A 14th spot [from 24] was the result . Though I know Pete has flown there before.
The 400 km task 2, the day after was won by the UK boy’s and Max was runner up.

Task 3 ,453 km was won by Max , but cancelled on the end of the day. Max had a speed of 156.77 km./h. but only 9 from 24 finished.
Day 4 was again for Max; 484 km with a speed of 143 km./h. Heimo was runner up and Pete and Chris 3d.
Day 5 with a 2.30 AAT showed Max with 344 km. in time 2.37; speed 131 km./h. 10 km. faster then Pete and Chris.
Today task 6; 1.30 AAT….other classes do not fly….so they might try to have 5 tasks for each class. All pilots started before 1 PM and it was a tough day!
When a lot are back between 2PM and 2.30 and some are not scored at 4 PM , you start to worry if they still can finish. More low finish altitudes as well……mmmm……
Alvaro and Pete and Chris were not yet scored at 4.30, so were 6 other pilots. 2 Of them might not have started.
At 5.30 no more scores either though they might by out or virtual out.
A 1.30 AAT is not much but such a day can “make or break “you.
Austrian pilot Bernard Leitner,[ 18 m. Ventus 2CXM] combined his distance and speed best; 223 km in time 1.35 so a speed of 139.75 km./h .
Max had 145 km in time in 1.38 so a speed of 145 km./h, BUT also for his JS 1c the highest handicap; 124., so spot 4 for him.

In the mixed class with 16 pilots, the overall leader at this stage [after 5 days] is Polish pilot Przemysław Bartczak in a 15 m. ASG 29 e. He leads with a good marge ;4.559 p. Runner up Sandro Etalle from Italy has 4.104 p and Luca Urbani 4. 006 p.

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11th FAI Womens World Gliding Championship
Husbands Bosworth, United Kingdom, 
13 August 2022 – 27 August 2022

The CCR in Rieti shows no- new -news, so tomorrow is another day.

The last words to close the day are for Matej;
“Another day and another successful competition. Even though the weather forecast was not the best the pilots managed to fly almost 110 kph in club class. Today, the UK team has cemented their first position in club class with Finn Sleigh taking the first place and Toby Freeland coming in second. In the standard class, another victory went to Germany and today’s winner Jan Knischewski managed to fly over 116 kph. The weather for tomorrow is looking good and we expect to have another 1000-point racing day.“

Have a good evening and CU tomorrow.
Ritz

12th FAI Junior World Gliding Championships
Tábor, Czech Republic,
30 July 2022 – 13 August 2022

After a rest -day and a rain- day the juniors had to “work” again as tasks were pretty good and they are of course EAGER to go again. Back on track!!!
RAIN,…..No worries for the young ones , NOT EVEN with mud and rain:

Matej [son from Tomas the CD] wrote in the morning;
“After two free days, in which pilots could rest and regain some energy for the next week of the competition, the weather will be good enough today for another competition task. A clear blue sky with occasional cumulus clouds is expected today. The weather will not stay flyable very long, therefore the pilots will have to fly fast, but that should be their goal every day. Some of them might use skills they gained yesterday when they had the opportunity to fly the Czech classic L-13 Blaník.”
So things to keep in mind , a pretty short day but good enough to go fast.

August 7…day 8…competition day 6…task 7.
First launch confirmed for 11. During briefing they got the weather, the tasks and some memories on using the PEV correctly [ wait time 5 minutes. start window 8 minutes and you can do it 3x]
The safety message was clear:
LOOK OUT, LOOK OUT, LOOK OUT.
STAY HYDRATED
STAY ALERT AFTER 2 FREE DAYS
FLY SAFE.
Tonight there will be a presentation about the next JEGC in Arnborg in Denmark in 2023.
Cloud base today is about 1700 m.

Club; 275 km…..start gate open at 12. 08….The early starters at 12.23 were back just after 3 hours of flying; speed 90 km./h.
Some of the later starters were faster and flew with over 100 km./h .
One of them ASW 20 pilot [handicap 1.059] flying the distance in 2 hours 43 minutes; Milan was in the end runner up. With his mate Samual , [ASW 20 cj] they were the only 2 pilots flying over 100 km./h.
A few started more than an hour after the gate opened.
For some a blessing, for a few other pilots not so much.
You remember,….The forecast was for an early end of lift.
It took French pilot Alexandre [he won task 2] ,who started early at 13.07, 3 hours and 7 minutes, so 88 km./h
Our Dutch pilot started at 13.37 and Jelmer was in his LS 4a ,[handicap 1.025] back after 2 hours and 47 minutes; 98.87, in the end the winning speed .
A risk, or a calculated risk or just after looking at the meteo and thinking with courage…. “I can do it” ….what ever it helped.I will try to find out for you.
His mate Lars was 3d today but he started a bit earlier, just after 1PM.
The 2 German pilots Toni and Nils in LS 4a, were 4th and 5th.

Standard; 285 km….start gate opened at 12.37.
Just before 4PM the first pilots returned and finished.
Also in this class late starters , as p.e. German pilot Simon, in Discus 2a, who departed at 13.46!!! He needed 2 hours and 26 minutes, so was VERY fast. Speed 117 km./h !!!!
That was in the end 10 km./h. faster than the runner up; French pilot Enguerrand….107.95 km.
Simon moved from 3 to 1 overall.
The last to go on track left at 13.52 .
Interesting to see;
Belgian pilot Henri, LS 8, departed at 12.52.59 and finished at 15.54.06.
Aussie pilot Ryan , LS 8, left an hour later, was back an hour later [16.54] and they were on a daily spot 22 and 23.
“Poor” Maurits he was out after 140 km…….and was a proud pilot on spot 1 overall , before the rest -day……now on spot 13.
I feel his pain!!!! But he is resilient, so is the team.

Words from Matej to finish this day:
“The majority of gliders are currently back on the ground, with a few of them still racing to the finish line. Today was not easy. The weather did not spare anyone, which significantly shuffled the total results of the competition and the overall leaders in both club and standard class have fallen from their podium positions. As predicted in the morning, the day started with about 4 octas of very thin cumulus clouds that quickly began to dissipate and completely disappear later in the afternoon due to the high clouds arriving. The winner in club class today is Jelmer Vis from the Netherlands and in standard class, the winner today is Simon Briel from Germany who has now moved to the overall first position. In club class, the UK team is now in the overall lead thanks to a very consistent performance from Finn Sleigh and Toby Freeland. We have an engaging race ahead of us because the pilots are true professionals and all of them fight very hard for the title of junior world champion.”

2 pilots are not counted for yet. I will add them later .
AND,…they have been scored now. One

Jakub from Poland in club was out after 66 km and one from Standard after 88 km.
But GLAD they are both counted for now.
A real off- day for Team Holland in standard class. Mark was after Maurits, also out ; 85 km.
They started about the same time as the winner, so that was good. …..
Life can be tough!!!! A daily winner and number 3 in club and 2 disappointed pilots in standard.

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A FEW LOOKING BACK’S on Szeged.
Looking back on the WGC with Jeroen Verkuijl, who was on spot 4 in 18 m., a place you do not really “like” . GREAT SPOT THOUGH!!!!!!
“What an amazing weeks.
4th. No podium, but nevertheless proud of my results in the Royal 18 meter Class world championship. So many champions, some not even making it to the first ten.
I’m not a fan of the heat, but you need it for that ridiculous good weather we had. Flying above 2 kilometres most of the time, luckily temperatures were more comfortable.
But the weather wasn’t the only thing that made it a success. Good atmosphere within the team and a VERY well organised championship are main factors. But there is more. The field is very close to the city of Szeged, witch has a lot to offer. That made it so much more fun for the family. The water organ in front of the museum and the Aquapolis, with all its amazing slides, were favorite for the kids. A treat, you don’t often have in the vicinity of an airfield.”

Looking back with Jonker Sailplanes;
“Open Class was dominated by the EB29Rs with Felipe Levin and Oscar Gaudriaan taking gold and silver. Radek Krejcirik secured bronze medal in a JS1C showing how competitive these machines still are. The Krejcirik family really made gliding history with dad Peter Krejcirik taking gold medal in 20m Class.
But it was not all about gliding. JS once again provided technical support and assistance wherever needed. As a result, many new friends were made and Attie and Uys were awarded the Airmanship Trophy for FAIR PLAY.
The South African Team with captain Jason Adrian made history by finishing second overall – the best ever performance to date!
Thanks again to the organization and all pilots and crews who made this such a special event.
Hope to see you all again at the next WGC.”
And also from Jonker Sailplanes;
“The 37th WGC is done and dusted!
Yes, a lot of dust but the most amazing gliding conditions any pilot can dream off. 2500 m cloud base with 3 to 6 m/s climbs – gliding heaven.
Hats off to the team of volunteers let by competition director Andras Gyöngyösi who did a marvelous job. Most pilots regard this World Gliding Championship as the best they ever participated in.
It was exactly 12 years ago when JS entered the WGC in Szeged with 6 JS1 – four of them finished in the top ten.
2022 almost 2/3 of all gliders in 18m Class were JS gliders with 7 JS3s in the top ten at the end.
It seems that most of the top 18m pilots selected the JS3 and clearly, they understand how to operate these machines! An astonishing 12 JS3 were in the top 15 including the first 6 positions.“
They are definitely allowed “to show off”!

Looking back with Mélanie Gadoulet , soon on her way soon to defend her title in the WWGC in Husbands Bosworth.
She was very grateful to the French team to allow her to fly in 18 m. with them and with the other French pilots who welcomed her warmly between them.
It was a great competition and she finished on sport 14. She hoped and thought a place in the top 10 would/could have been possible too. She is as everybody else very enthusiast about the weather, the long and good set tasks and the perfect organization.
Very well trained now, better than ever before ,she starts next week the WWGC.
Good luck to her in the UK.

Looking back with Arne Boye Moeller:
“What a World Championship! Proud of my 8th place in the company of such skilled pilots and friends, family, team mates and with my super Crew Chief Allan Frank Madsen without whom all had been very difficult. The Hungarians made a fantastic setup that just ran like clockwork. Ground organization, weather forecast, tasksetting, scorers and tugpilots were unnervingly correct every day. That the weather was extremely good every day was a huge bonus factor in the overall experience and fairness. We flew some 4.800+ km in total in the course of 10 competition days at speeds typically well above 135 kph every day in ground temperatures well above 37 deg. Now awaits a 1.700km ride with trailer and then serious cleaning of my glider, trailer and equipment….”

Looking back with Oscar Goudriaan;
“Although gliding is not traditionally considered a team sport, it certainly takes a team behind the scenes to achieve results. Thanks to my co-pilot Riaan Denner for his sharp eyes, technical ability and ever-sharp input. Also our team on the ground – in our case Dave Robbie, Jackie Denner and Charlene Goudriaan back home for all the positive thoughts and encouragement.
South Africa’s pilots achieved a silver medal in the combined team cup due to our consistent high average performance, and with the support of our ground crew and team captain, getting the latest weather and other relevant tactical information before flying.
For a nation with so few gliding resources and pilots, we are punching well above our weight.”

Looking back with the Belgium team with former WGC champion Bert Schmelzer jr.
“Szeged, you have been wonderful!
Our Belgian pilots enjoyed a last bombastic flying day yesterday, in partly blue conditions up to 2800metres, before we could all enjoy a very well organized farewell dinner and party.
Good food, cold drinks and many nice conversations made it into a very enjoyable evening.
At 10AM today, the closing ceremony and the prize giving took place. In open class, Daan and Koen (8th place!!) and in the 18m class, Bert Schmelzer (10th place!!) received their diploma’s for being amongst the worlds top 10 pilots in their respective classes. Tijl never gave up his fighting spirit and managed to get back to place 27 in this strong pool of pilots.
Even if we didn’t manage to have a spot on the podium, we all concluded that the 37th wgc was a fantastic competition with good team spirit, lots of laughter and nice memories made.
Hungary, we will be back to enjoy more of your South African weather and thermals (and worlds best home-made lemonade ).
Over – and – out !“

Still one important item: The IGC/FAI flag was handed over by president of the jury in Szeged ,Marina Galetto, to John Good, as the next WGC for long wings will be in 2024 in Uvalde in Texas, where I was twice in 1991 and 2012.

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO SHARED THEIR NEWS ABOUT THIS WGC.
I was able to write with your help some good read stories.

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I promised you the picture from the winners in LIVNO. Here it is.

The next one is in France in Vinon sur Verdon. September 4 – September 10 and the last change IN Europe to qualify for the grand final.

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And, we had PERFECT weather here in The Netherlands too . Yesterday 2 of our “just not juniors”
anymore, but still very young flew amazing flights FROM HOLLAND!!!!!

What about a nearly 1000 in an ASW 20?
Caspar, one of the well known Dutch Kuijpers family ,…his brother Tim was JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPION in 2011 in Musbach in club class…. just did n’t make a 1000 triangle, but what great effort; 954 km [813 km FAI triangle]in ASW 20 JWL, from Malden.
Same great performance, now in an LS7 with winglets from Wenzendorf in Germany; 907 km [795 FAI triangle]
Lars [Groot] declared a 900 km. out and return to Luesse close to Berlin,. He started at Terlet and flew it yesterday with a speed of 112 km./h. To make the day even more brilliant, he added a few k’s to achieve his 1000 !!!!
The O&R seems good enough for 2 Dutch records in 18 m and open!!
“The best weather I flew in from Holland“[ASG 29E/18 m] He started at Terlet.
TOP JOB!!!!
https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=9114560

Another out and return to Luesse was flown by Francois and Bas. This was the first 1000 k for Bas in 42 years. A MILESTONE and so deserved; 1.017 km in the ARCUS T.
His comment;
“What a day. Claimed the club’s Arcus 20T, took a winch launch and went. The first part of the flight wasn’t easy but it became better every hour. My first 1000 km flight from my own club and the first of the Arcus 20T. I hope many will follow.“
AND, the first 1000 for Frank [ a former JWGC pilot] flying in the EB 28 with Bart also to Berlin/Luesse;
“What a legendary day. My first 1000 km distance. I have seen rarely such strong and reliable lift in Germany. And,…so late in the season. Awesome”
We had 6 over 1000 km. flights from HOLLAND.
One in an LS 3 from Soesterberg!!!!1.014.45 km. and 5 from Terlet.
2 in a NIMBUS 4 DM, 1 in ARCUS T , 1 in EB 28, and the one in the LS 3 and ASG 29.
“WE” were high on the OLC list…… reason to “show off ” a bit!!!!
Several pilots called it THE BEST DAY EVER!!!!!

Also the UK is in heavenly modus:
“What a weekend so far!!
Congratulations to the numerous Bronze, Silver, Gold and Diamond Claims from pilots so far from what has been a truly spectacular 48 hours of Gliding.
Special Mentions to
Nigel Mallender- First 750km in a LS8 15
Chris Bennett- First 750km in a DG400
Tim Robson- First 750km in a Duo Discus
Malgosia Marczynski- First 750km in a Discus 2cT
Dave Tanner and Dave Masson- 950km (OLC) in a Nimbus 3DT
Andy Aveling and Jordan Bridge- 1001km (OLC) in an Arcus M
Martin Clark- 950km Declared in a JS1
About Andy and Jordan and their flight last Friday ;
“850 kilometres Declared.
1000 kilometres Completed OLC.
10 hours 30 minutes airborne in one flight.
From the Welsh Borders to the flatlands of Nottinghamshire and the Isle of Wight. Still soaring at 8pm at 5000ft!
Gliding in the UK simply doesn’t get better than this.
Being able to fly distances of 750km and over isn’t common in the UK. That’s equivalent to the distance of flying London to Geneva in Switzerland in a straight line. All without an engine!“
As shared by the Lasham Gliding Society, as enthusiast as I am!!!

AND today the weather looks as good. IF YES , I will mention it tomorrow!

Due to my long stay in this soaring world [from 1967] I know more people from the WGC’s I have been visiting than the JWGC’s , so there are many contacts and lot’s of ways to find out, when I am not there, to see what’s going on.
That’s more difficult with the juniors.
Still I have been at the first one at Terlet in The Netherlands in 1999, as guest.
In 2005 in Husbos as TC from 6 Dutch young ones. One of them is now in Tabor . Robbie Seton. His wife is the TC from “our” team.
In 2007 in Rieti, as competition editor .
In 2009 in Rayskala as competition editor. There I congratulated Felipe Levin with his title in standard class, now he is the new WGC champion in Szeged.
In 2015 in Narromine [Australia] as guest.
BUT,….as you know, in the year they turn 25 they are not a junior anymore, so the wastage is huge.
It’s easier to write about people and pilots you know, contacting them is easy.
But I really like how the young ones deal with comps, open minded, sometimes a bit “wild” /over-enthusiast and eager. Their friendships during such a WGC last long,!
So I try to do my best to find and write enough interesting “stuff” about this last JWGC week.

The British Gliding Team is helping already.
“JWGC Czech – The internet situation seems to have improved so we’ve been able to upload all the summary videos from the past week onto our youtube channel!
Follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/c/BritishGlidingTeam/videos
And don’t forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell to be notified of any new uploads – we have lots of new content coming your way”

More tomorrow

Cheers Ritz