Post 1.464 on December 8 2023

GOOD morning, Good evening! It looks like another day in hot paradise.

Here is Bruce about yesterday’s “day off”;
“Today’s competition task would be cancelled, we knew that last night. We were all slightly sad, but I was told tonight that we needed to have a rest day on one of the next three days, and today seemed to be the best (or more accurately… the worst) option. It was hot, as hot as hell, but the forecast storms never eventuated here. We did some socialising, some resting, some bill-paying and shopping, and now we are waiting for the sun to come up so we can go flying again.”
Matthew from Sky Sight added:
“Having a rest day on one of the next three days is an *Australian Nationals* rule. There is no such rule in the IGC rules.“

Briefing at 10;

The winners from day 4 were presented and cheered on during briefing , ALL 3 very happy chappies;
Club class Rasmus from Denmark.

Winner in Standard class; Simon Schroeder. from Germany.

And the winner from 15m. Uys from South Africa.

Today’s soaring …..Most scores are ready now for the classes ,so I start straight away.
They got a B task, so a delay in launching from 12.30 till 13.00. same tasks but 15 minutes shorter.
Day 6 task 5;
15m; 2.45 AAT...YES, that’s what you can expect, when you combine flying from 2 aces , you get great results and that’s what I saw over the last days. They needed some practice on the first 3 day’s but now it works.
Uys and Ricky combined their efforts in their JS 3’s and won the day; 335 km with a speed of 110.58 km./h for Uys and 333.41 km with a speed of 110. 37 for Ricky.
2d day in a row with rest in between.
4 Points difference in points.
5 Pilots started at the same time , 14.51 . Phil from the UK was 3d with 110.18 km./h.
4 Ventus gliders in the top 6, with also the German pilots Steffen and Henrik and Aussie Adam, who started at 14.40.
2 out 1 and 2 not yet counted for.

Standard; 3 hour AAT...I was waiting for good results from team UK and here they are; Tom and Paul were 1 and 2, started at the same time but Tom flew 325.88 km whilst Paul flew 315.33 km.
Tom won with a speed of 106.55 km./h . They fly LS 8 so do the 2 German pilots on 3 and 4, Enrique and Simon. Simon was just under the 100 km.h range.
Weird day as some good pilots did n’t do so well.
Mac was just in ;83.88 km./h but 4 were out and 2 not yet counted for.
The Czechs , I know Pavel and Miloslav are GOOD, were out.
One of them also Bruce after 98 km., who was pretty sad;”Well, it’s just mid-afternoon here, and the field is (mostly) still out racing on what should turn out to be a reasonable day. However, my day is done. High overcast made things uncertain, and being me we left before the crowd. Greg and I became separated, and after a few very scratchy low spots… this happened…”
Ouch,……POOR BRUCE!!!!!

Club; 3.15 AAT... Jacek Flis from Poland flew 332.61 km with a speed of 99.44 km./h. and that was the best daily result; 1000 points. He moved up from 13 to 7 overall.
Scores are VERY close so a lot can still happen.
The runner up Dutch pilot Roelof flew 322.35 km but was much slower; 90.04 km./h.
between the number 1 and 10 is a difference from nearly 250 points.
From 30 1 is out at this stage and 2 are not counted for yet.

Will be back later with updates. Breakfast first.

UPDATES:
Back on track with some news written by the pilots who finished their task and still felt like writing.
15 m.…Adam ; some parts of his blog more on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
“Another big day in the skies & a hot one on the ground, 42°c at its peak.“
“Tobias & I picked our overall time right, as a few things were evident. On task, heavy shadow & locally, not going to the heights we wanted. So a 15min delay ensued to start upwind, with sun on the ground ahead & as much altitude as we could muster with the big pre-start gaggles blocking the extra height that we’d all want.”
“We had a great first few climbs & were soon joined by the French. Clearly it was a good idea to have company today. Both teams took their turn in leading out, which worked nicely.“
“The French went on a bit further hoping for a low downwind climb, but it appears that they never got it & rather, the shadow of the upper level cloud caught them out.”
“Unfortunately Tobias missed one bubble.“
Kevin and Christophe [Fr] finished on spot 7 and 10.

Club by Tony;
“No photos today. Too busy flying low.“
“The forecast was for like 12 k, cu and possibly storms shutting down the day early. Instead we got mid level clouds slowing the start, blue climbs from 1500 to 5000 agl, and a lot of working trying to stay mostly into the sunshine.
The only place the sun was shining was to the north where the ground is naturally wet and where it actually rained last night. Joy.”
“The finish altitude was set high and the ring was 10km because of concern about storms. Instead the issue was that a lot of the last leg was in shadow and the day was dying anyway. We found a few weak climbs to limp over the line just at minimum. Several others finished low. There was no trouble making it to the airport.
In the end we’re exhausted and very happy with today’s result.”
Also in club class; Diana [Lux] was very pleased with her flight as well. A St.Cirrus is from another level than an ASW 20, but she finished and felt good about the flight. It was very windy and the forecast was less than the forecast.
Only problem now is that the upload from her flight creates problems. Hence no scores for her yet. BUT,…they work on it.

My Dutch mates shared, that there are a lot of problems with punctures in tail-wheel -tyres and even from wing walkers. In Tocumwal we called them “bindies” and they are a pest, also for the bicycle and even bindie-proof tyre’s don’t help then. Even in a big town as Dubbo they are sold out. Also water bottles are a problem. Those towns are not prepared for such a huge influx of people.
Certainly not when it is BLOODY HOT!!!!

Thanks Team Australia Team Captain Miles Gore-Brown for photos of last night’s Narromine World Gliding Championships mayoral reception held at Soul Food;

More High Sophisticated news;
Netherlands Embassy and Consulate General in Australia welcomed the Dutch glider pilots who participate in this 37th WGC. They had some beautiful words about our sport.
“Gliding is an exciting, beautiful, and serene sport that takes place in the sky. The modern glider is an advanced, extremely aerodynamic, engine-free aircraft that can reach heights of over 10,000 meters and travel at speeds close to 300 kph. In the spirit of sustainability, the gliders exemplify eco-friendly aviation, with no reliance on traditional engines, leaving behind a minimal carbon footprint. The World Gliding Championships provide a unique platform to appreciate the beauty of flight while promoting a commitment to sustainable practices in aviation.” Dutch Gliding Team

The best 3 in the OVERALL scores after 5 days in
15m. and VERY close
1. Sebastian Kawa from Poland in Diana 2; 4,792 p.
2. Steffen Goettler from Germany in Ventus 2ax ; 4,790 p.
3. Uys Jonker from South Africa in JS 3 ; 4.786 p.

Standard class;
1. Tom Arscott from the UK in LS8; 4,602 p.
2. Simon Schröder from Germany in LS 8 NEO; 4,442 p.
3. Sjaak Selen from The Netherlands in Discus 2a ; 4,432

Club class; very close as well.
1.  James Nugent from Australia in LS3; 4,623 p.
2.  Thies Bruins from The Netherlands in ASW 20 L; 4,621 p
3. Uwe Wahlig from Germany in LS3; 4,584 p
4. Tim Milner from the UK in LS3 ; 4,544 p.
5.  Stefan Langer from Germany in LS3; 4,536 p
6. Adrien Henry from France in ASW 20; 4,525 p.

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The Argentinian Nationals for 15 m and standard class with 60 pilot ‘s [there was a third SENIOR class as well] , between 27 November 2023 – 8 December 2023 , are over.
On December 7 , which turned out their last day, they had in standard class a 4 hour AAT in 15 m. [24 pilots] and they flew 5 out of 11 days.
Nicolas Verdura won 3 days in his LS 4!!! He clearly is the winner with 4.098 points
Dino Ghioni was runner up with 3.960 points.

In 15 m. 2 young men are flying in these Nationals. I met them at WGC’s in the past, real nice fellows and I still have some FB contact with, Damian and Lucas Goldenzweig. I follow their flying for years on internet.
They have had 5 days and yesterday they had a 3.30 AAT with Felipe Girado and Martin Bossart both on spot 1 for 1000 points whilst Alejandro Hernandez missed out on ONE point.
Lucas finished on spot 5 overall and Damian on spot 14 from 32.
He and his brother were both out on task 6 ,and whilst they both started at 15.35 on task 4, Lucas was 3d for the day and Damian was out….that cost!
Task 1 had a 3 hour AAT flown by both but Damian finished on spot 16 and Lucas on 20.
Mostly ASW 20’s in this class and at this stage the leader is Manuel Darrain with 3.538 points. That’s only 8 more than Sebastian Luengo. Excitement and possibilities enough on the last day!
The last day was flown a tad better by Manuel. Difference in points; 994 for 991
So the new 15 m. champion is; Manuel with 4,532p
Runner up; Sebastian with 4,521. Both fly ASW 20.

Nowadays the Goldenzweig-children are going to the airfield as well. AND,…they keep their selves busy on non flying days!!!