ISSOUDUN last day!!!!

Courtesy Mark Pal

It turned out more hectic yesterday than earlier expected and hoped for. Several girls could not  come back AT the field due to the 20 kts wind. Some landed within the 4 km. finish ring,  but one of the Russian girls “landed “in a tree and was hanging there,  till she could be saved, but it seems she was lucky and had no injuries. The glider stayed in the tree over night as I heard.
Aussie pilot Kerrie made a hard landing [they say from 3 m. high] also she seems to be all right, after a check in hospital. Being 5th for the day must have made her happy.
Everybody complained about the wind, a tough head wind on the last leg, forcing some to react different than they normally would. Also the gaggles were a bit scary as Jutta said in her [French written] story; “The UK girls called it “a fight in a phone cell” with about 50 pilots from 3 classes more or less on the same route.

Jutta in her glider C.
Courtesy Mark Pal

Jutta thought at one moment she was ” OUT” , but a miracle happened . After a late start , as they heard from the club class girls that it was difficult en route in the beginning, they easily got away but after 30 km. the lift stopped and they tried to get as high as possible. They moved a bit more to the East finding a meter. Then she had quite a pleasant flight. Heard lot’s of girls complain, but Jutta did not know why,  it all went well, even up to 2 m. and 3m.  lift. Later,..at that moment she flew alone , she did not find any lift, good looking cu’s but they did NOT work, she went down from 900 to 400 to 300, hoping for a miracle, and,…the miracle was there; lift up to 900 m. again and 3 other pilots , so not alone anymore in the blue and the wind.
Then the girls  slowly make it home against the tough wind. Jutta WON the day!!!AND,…..WHATADAY!!!!!?????

 
THANKS to Mark for allowing me to use his great pictures and for sharing them with ALL of us on his FB site!!!!

Ayala took advantage of the 4km finish ring to land safely in a good field.  As written in Melissa’s blog:”  She ended up about 3.7km from the airfield so we got to watch her turn and land.  There is no way she could have made it home into the steep headwind. She won the day and is 1 overall on this last day.”

 

Ayala yesterday within the 4 km. finish ring. AND,… in a nice fresh cut crop.
Courtesy UK blog site!

Here is the report from USA TC Francois Pin about yesterday the rest you can read on their blog.
http://ussoaringteam2013issoudun.blogspot.de/
It says it all about yesterday:
—“All eyes then turned toward the Southwest from where the finishers would come. The last 3-4 Km before the runway threshold are fields, about 30% of which are now harvested, and before that about 10 Km of forest along the arrival course line. It was a blue day, so the entire fleet was flying in gaggles, 5 or 6 “packets” as they call them here. We heard a lot of “10 Km out” calls and saw waves after waves of gliders reaching over the edge of the forest and landing in the fields between it and the runway, some low enough over the edge of the forest that they must have been very relieved to see something else than trees under their wings and be able to put it down in a field. You can imagine that the sight generated some anxiety among the waiting crew.

Sarah with her crew Joy McKee.

 

Time to reflex today and a later briefing at 11.30. Good that the TOUR and WWGC can continue each in their own way. They are expected to pass by around 4 PM.
For that reason it was in the morning decided that they would start at 2 , not later to avoid problems with the helicopters. Safety FIRST!!!!
Hopefully the film-crew makes some pictures from Issoudun airport as well.
Let’s see what happens today.
Tasks for the last day: 197 km racing task,….Standard  3.00 AAT [155-290 km.]   …..15 m. 2.30 AAT.[157-305 km]
First take off 13.30.

With in the back of their head the knowledge, that the weather was similar to yesterday, the girls were launched for their last day. Wonder if the tuggies do a nice fly pass to say farewell to the crews. Always loved that moment.
Still a lot of wind as I noticed looking at the TOUR, but according to what I hear less than yesterday.
By the way I looked at the TOUR de FRANCE on TV, saw them cycling through Issoudun at 4.10 PM , but no view on the airport or mentioning the WWGC. “WE “/gliding is  still  not important for the press.
A great pity.

So the ladies all went up eager to consolidate,  or to gain more points,  or to just fly relaxed for those for whom  scores were not important anymore.
They mentioned less wind, the bicyclists really struggled with the tough wind.

Not a lot of news during the day, everybody is busy.
In club class it seems to have looked like a regatta start as all ladies moved forward at 15.30.  This time was set as last possible departure/ closure of the gate, to not get into conflict with the helicopters from the TOUR.
Around 6 we should know a bit more.
It’s 10.30 PM now and still we do not know the scores of Club class as this last day was another crimi-day with unexpected and  many out landings. Really a lot!!!! Only 3 finished as I see in the preliminary scores! Edita from Lithuania won the last difficult day , starting late at 15.21 with Helen from the UK as runner up and she started one hour earlier and Magalie from France on spot 3.
BUT WHO will be the champion now??? Chrissie ????? It looks like it at this stage.
Not everybody is back from the retrieve so it’s still waiting!!!!
Was the whole competition more or less predictable the last 2 days it was tension all over!!!!
Heard that Sarah was out about 30 k. Ayala was out as well.

In standard class it looks pretty sure that the 3 first places are for the German girls!!! It looks like Sue has defended her title with verve. Cornelia goes home with the silver and Meike with the bronze. Great effort from Germany.
The 2 Jana’s were the best today and climbed up to spot 4 and 5 with Dana on 6 . Not bad either from the Czech girls!!!

In 15 m. only 6 girls finished. Jutta was “out” so was Susanne. Would it still be enough for her to defend her title. It does n’t look so. It’s Anne from France than Mailyne from France and  with Katrin on spot 3 and Susanne on 4. Jutta finishes on spot 5. Her dream was “ruined.”
Great effort from the French in this class.

All preliminary, so when you want to know for sure keep following soaringblog.
I am off to bed CU on Sunday.

 

OSTROW  no flying today!

Courtesy Matthew!
https://www.facebook.com/MatthewScuttersGliding?hc_location=stream