Post 1.461 on December 5 2023

live tracking at; https://bit.ly/wgc2023-au

Launching at Narromine Go To LIVEGLIDING; https://bit.ly/wgc2023-au

official site; https://wgc2023.com.au/

Dutch Gliding Teamnetherlands-establish-early-lead-in-15m-class-at-narromine as shared by GLIDING AUSTRALIA the Aussie Gliding Magazine.
I noticed also real nice reels from December 4.
All those finishing gliders on runway 22. You can see them too on Gliding Australia

Just got an app from my daughter waiting full of excitement for the finishes on another blue day.It’s 8.30 in the morning here so I just start my day. Not a lot of finishes yet so I research first what happened during “my sleep”.
I wondered about the huge difference in start times. I was not the only one.
Here is Bruce on that day:
“Not too much to say about today. It was quite blue, and the task was long enough that we were concerned about getting home before it shut down. Greg and I decided to leave early, did that, and worked well together, touching down side-by-side. We got low down towards the first turn, and the run home from out near Nyngan was slow, but a part of me thought everybody would have a similar experience.
We were absolutely smashed by the late starters today, to the tune of 14kph. Gaggle power, not getting slow anywhere, whatever it was it cost us huge points. I didn’t imagine we’d suffer quite so brutally.”
More on Taylor’s Gliding Page

But,…..First things first…. I slowly get my comps-rhythm again.
Prize winners from day 2 , task 2.

Hugo Corbille from France in club class.

Laurence Hardman from South Africa….as happy.

And in 15 m 2 winners but here is Jan Pavlik as Jeroen had the experience already

Briefing in the morning at 10 AM with the concentrated Dutch team as seen by Anne. They do well at this stage and are very serious, so they should.

A brown snake was spotted at the field. I had a “bunch young ones” as dangerous as the big ones, but they look “sweeter” ,living under my house in Tocumwal,and I was very scared for them. Not my cat Denim he proudly walked around with one in his mouth and brought it to my doormat.

Day 3 one December 5; A very hot, sweaty and AGAIN blue day .
15 m. 3.45 AAT…… Great day for my Belgian mates. Number 1 and 2!!! Most pilots flew around 421 km some a bit more ,some less. Speed from Andre and Francois was 112 km./h . and looking at the times this was a small gaggle from 13 pilots too.
Andre moved from 20 to 8 overall after 3 days!!!!!!
Good day for Germany as well with Steffen and Henrik on 3 and 4. They all started around 14.30.
Not a good day for the Dutch and Aussies. The Dutchies started 10 minutes earlier and finished on spot 20 and 22. You can DROP from 1 to 14 overall…bizarre.
The Aussies even left earlier at 14.10 and were on a 14th and 17th daily spot.
One is not scored [yet] and 1 is out of the comps.

Not all scores are in yet. I heard already about out-landings too.
To be honest scores are FAST every day. Good on them.
First breakfast, then more news.CU you a bit later.

10.30 AM; IN THE NETHERLANDS.

15 m class; is scored now and 2 from 26 were “aux vaches” . The last 1 finished at 6 .40 PM. That was the daily winner from yesterday Jan.
Some pilots reached 10.000 ft.
Adam mentioned “I clicked over 2000hrs competition flight time today, out of my 3500hrs gliding!” Quite a mile stone good on you Adam!

Standard class; 436.56 km…..with 106 km./h Bruce won the day. An Aussie WIN!!!! 106 km./h. About the same as runner up Sjaak from The Netherlands.
Here is a happy Bruce;
“WooHoo!! Yesterday we got smashed by the gaggle, and today they waited too long and really struggled to get home. I really don’t mean to be smart, but I find the required start gate strategies such a complete pain in the butt. We knew we had to leave, so we did that, and as it happened we had a nice little group of five who started early and rolled along well together.” more on Taylor’s Gliding Page
At this stage 2 are not yet counted for and 4 were out.
Sjaak mentioned that “it was challenging and hot! The first leg went ok, then there was less lift due to wetter parts.But,…..The Aussies marked the way and we went “happily” with them” .Honest and open answer from Sjaak, who was the 2018 world champion in standard class in Poland.
According to Bruce “Mac actually had the highest speed today, but was penalised for missing his Event marker time by a small amount.”

Club class; 356.44 km……was last on the grid and Tony was the last to be launched. He belonged to the “out-landers”.
8 Are not yet counted for and somewhere in a field.
From 2, I know they are out; Roelof and Diana.
As all tuggies went home early , they had to go by trailer and car. An old fashioned “honest” retrieve, but time consuming.
18 managed to finish and the best was Tim from the UK; 95.72 km./h
Runner up Thies from The Netherlands;94.61 km./h.
Tim was the last to depart at 3 PM!!!! His team mate John did exactly the same but just finished at 7.20 PM as number 17.
Have to check with him how much of a risk this was.
Unfortunately the task was just too long as the thermals disappeared in the end.

Great day for my Belgian mates with a 1/2 in 15 m and a 4th spot with Dennis in standard class.
Great day as well for my Aussie mates Bruce and Greg on 1 and 3 with Sjaak in the middle on 2.

More updates later when I have them.
I checked in with UK pilot Tim who won the day and asked if it was a risk to depart that late. He answered straight away which was very kind of him.
“Our first PEV was a little early we were low with only a handful of competitors including Uwe and Stefan ahead. 5km down track we hit a fantastic thermal and decided to instantly hit the 10 minute PEV reset and restart again at 3pm, very tight for club class but if everything went to plan we might just squeeze it in. The great thing about this situation is your all out to catch the leaders and it really does focus your attention on keeping the pace up. Anyhow I shall be quickly screenshooting the overall results tonight it’s only taken me 50 years of practice!!!“
Thanks Tim!!!! Indeed 50 years of practice that started already at Tocumwal, where he was allowed to fly our gliders on days they were available and he was off- tuggie-duties.

My family is still on the way home from their retrieve and will be back after mid night.
20 Teams from 3 classes are on a retrieve so it will be a late night for more.
Time for me to do other things and share tomorrow what happened during the retrieves and the full scores from Club and Standard class.

Tony and Leah Condon from team USA, are back already “home” at Narromine. Tony landed at Trangie. If they could use the Mitchell Highway it is a good trip.
“Another interesting day in Austriala. Started later than ideal but almost every thermal was shared with a Wedged Tail Eagle. Never got as strong as forecast and ended up struggling around 1,000 ft and 1 knot 50 km short.
Found a great field and landed as a C130 buzzed us on roll out. Successful retrieve after swallowing about 50 gnats.“

CU tomorrow!!!!

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Some other news as well from Schempp-Hirth;
That beautiful ARCUS is going well not only in the air, but also on the ground. Number 400 has been built!!!!!