Alphen aan den Rijn Friday July 29 2011 ritzdeluy@hotmail.com
Friday; ONLY 4 days for club, standard and 2 seater class, at least a VALID EGC , but for sure not what pilots and organisers had hoped for in Nitra. The “poor PW 5 pilots ” still have to try tomorrow on the reserve day to make it a valid competition for them as well. Hope so , as this is their last EGC combined with club and standard class. It should finish with good memories, before the 13 m. class will have their own WGC in 2013.
One big lottery, being on the right spot on the correct place , what do you think….in fact clearly said by the organisers in the summary of July 27;
“First outlandings were reported quite early and we were afraid if the pilots will be able to make it home. Fortunately, the development of showers on the south that were causing the troubles has decreased and the weather situation has improved. Arrivals have started and after a while we knew that this day would be valid. “,
Is this bad luck when you land early , or is it smart to arrive when that weather has passed. In my eyes it has more to do with the factor LUCK!!! Certainly when this happens en route when a shower blocks a TP. Correct me if I am wrong!
There was no way to “beat” the ones in front of you to get higher on the scores list on this last day. Very disappointing….. and all pilots hoping for race weather had to fight in very marginal circumstances with those pilots who “like” rain and thunderstorms.
Top Pilots always are in the top, that’s why they are top pilots, but also some of them would have loved to improve like Mario, who is only 4 points behind his country -pilot Franz Poch.But then only with a REAL soaring day! It did not happen.
Weather is weather, no way to close a roof to continue with the sport, but….this happens since we started gliding!!! We all know.
Sad for the organisers , who have put a lot of effort in the preparations. Normally they calculate their budget also on income from tows, but as there were not a lot of launches that money stays in the pocket from the pilots. For sure they would have loved to spend it on launches and good long flights.
Now some have to drive back home many kilometers with good memories on friendships, parties site-seeing, but not on great soaring. And that’s why they were there. Hopefully the party tonight brings more great memories on new camaraderie.
Here are the preliminary results from the 3 classes who had 4 days and for that reason CHAMPIONS;
Club class;
1. Roman Mracek [Czech Rep] in standard cirrus 1495 points
2. Jozef Kozar [ SVK] in LS1 f 1446
3. Tomasz Krok [Poland] in stand. jantar 3 1400
Standard class;
1. Sebastian Kawa [Poland] in Discus 2A 1466 ALWAYS GOOD. A real TOPPER!
2. Franz Poch [Germany] in Discus 2B 1386
3. Mario Kiessling [Germany] in Discus 2A 1384 Would have loved to fly on the last day!
2 seater class;
1. Harry and Visa Matti [Finland] in Arcus 1440 Good on you Visa Matti!!!!
2. Dmitriy and Ilya [Russia] in Duo discus 1391 Better then Finland! Remember!?
3. Viktoras and Marius [Lithuania] in LAK 12 1350 Good glider for these weater conditions!! Welldone!! And congratulations to all pilots for flying safe!
So next stop is Pocuinai! And a week later, the JWGC in Musbach.
The Grand Prix Final today was posponed till 15.30 and had a C task as well. Start line opened at 16.15, with pretty marginal [ grey ] conditions and prospects, but they fly and reading this weather is very important. It is nice to follow it on life tracking.All pilots follow each other except for Sebastian Nägel who flies all alone a bit more to the East. Interesting!!!
But at this stage Tilo has turned the first TP, while Sebastian is still on his way to it .
Have to go but if you have time follow the 19 pilots on your laptop!Today Holger Karow is guest speaker.
Stay tuned, see you maybe tomorrow, but for sure on Sunday and SORRY that I forgot to publish my blog last Wednesday. It was short, but ready. I did it this morning.
Cheers Ritz