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