——FCC Gliding in Prievidza;

 

As shared by the organizers.

 

A lot of pilots and ,indeed their crews as well, remember fondly the WGC in Prievidza in Slovakia.
So this years FCC ….Flight Challence Cup….competition is attended again by several of those guests and/or new ones hearing about that WGC.
In club class Adam Woolley from Australia and Sven Olivier from South Africa are participating at the moment.
Adam mentioned in his blog ….the next news about day 2 and as he is there who else can better share what’s happening.

Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures     
Enjoying the learning curve,

The day was expected to be blue, which mainly it was. A 2.5hr AAT was set into the mountains today, thankfully with valleys to fall off either side too. Sebastian Kawa kindly sat next to us in briefing, then helped us task plan – was really nice of him, thanks mate!

We launched into the blue sky, 48 club class gliders all scratching around, avoiding each other & the hills in the gusty & weak climbs. Right at the moment the inversion broke, the next two classes were sent. The pre start gaggle was separated into 2 cores effectively, 110 gliders all very close – Cirruses to open class birds. I made my start at I think the optimum time, but sure was exciting flying head on to 50 gliders for a few minutes as they were fighting for their own position. Thankfully every one was well behaved mostly & all ended well.

When I left you they wanted to start with race 3 , but that Tuesday was cancelled.
Set tasks on Wednesday then….213 km. for club, 224 for 15 m. and the “combies” went for 260 km.
AND,….in CLUB Adam was runner up for the day!So his learning curve nearly reached the TOP for that day.
Uwe from Germany just was a tad faster in his LS 3 WL/15 m..Looking at points…3 more than Adam;86,69 km./h for 81,66 km./h. Handicap difference; 104.4 for 98.6.
29 From 47 finished.
In 15 m. was it great to see that one of the juniors from a few years ago, Miloslav Cink [Czech Rep] won the day in an LS 8b.
19 From 33 finished, indeed it showed that it was a tough day.
In the combi-class it was waiting for the name Sebastian on top, but he is a human being as well and this time he was “OUT” after 209 km.
10 from 23 only finished and the daily best was German pilot Andre Weidlich flying an ARCUS.

 

Picture shared by Adam

Adam’s comment on race 3;”
A grid squat occurred for 1:10 today, the thick high Cirrus affected the launch time. Luckily though the air was rather unstable & it was easy to climb away, mostly. I did struggle to get to altitude pre-start though, leaving below base at my cut off time.

I jagged a good first climb, this naturally started the feel for the day. Some ridge running then a cracking climb to base at the downwind turn, saw me catch up my team mates here, Sven & Tim. We’ve been having a great timeworking together & pushing each other along, thanks guys!

Race 4 was last Thursday ; they set 310 for club , 328 for 15 m. class and the “combies” had to go for 368 km.
A GOOD day and even the organizers were euphoric:
“We have not yet processed records from all loggers, but it is already clear that today’s race was exceptional! An average speed of more than 110km / h in the club class, more than 135km / h in 15m and over 140 in the combi! Excellent! According to the competitors’ words, also the track was hit exactly to the right place, as all the cumulus clouds has been only along the track, but nowhere else! Even that sometimes works!”
Nearly all in CLUB finished [only 3 out]  and it shows that a bit of practice before ,helps as Uwe won again. He was already good in Nitra [Czech Rep] but even better in Prievidza. So 899 points for him.
Being 29th , Adam had a bit of an off-day.
His comment;“It wasn’t my day, disorientated with the first track – took the wrong line town the hills, plus questions over the airspace, stayed safe & came to the first turn from the wrong direction. From there I had my bearings & started to catch the pack up, but the damage was done.
Exciting flight, got around as per the goal, but will loose plenty points today sadly. Slowly learning the area, onwards & upwards.”
After 4 flying day’s it’s Uwe, Tim and Darius on the best overall scores.
In 15 m; young Radek Krejcirik won the day with a speed of 135.29 km./h. Good on him. After 4 day’s it was Polish pilot Przemysław Bartczakon top [ 2.982], with Romanian pilot Norbert Alin Scarlat as runner up [2.933] and then 4 Czech pilots Radek, [2.982] Miloslav [2.923] and Pavel [2.914] and as you can see the differences were SMALL.
In the combi class it was back to normal for Sebastian , he won with a speed of 140 km./h.!!
After 4 day’s 2 Polish glider pilots in the top 3 ;Piotr Jarysz on 1 and Sebastian back from 6 to 3. In the middle Czech pilot Petr Krejcirik.

As shared by Adam.

This morning I noticed looking at the weather map on my TV, some “wild”  weather in the East of Europe and it turned out not a flying day on Friday the 13th. Maybe better for those who believe in “black cat’s”.But after,……..

Very nice picture by Adam :”Gliders Gliders, everywhere!”

Task 5 was BIG in all classes!!!
Club had 500, and Uwe and Adam were on top for 1000 and 989 points; speed just over and just under 100 km./h. 29 from 47 finished , some were close very close ;494 from 500 km.
Here is Adam;”A 500km fixed task was set, 11am launch & a 1700-1730 shut down predicted. That meant one thing, get cracking! I was in the first wave off tow, sat in zero for a while, then edged my way up the mountain. I noticed that there was a rather large convergence line running up the 1st leg, so went to explore it early & found myself marking the spot for every one else to join in.
Tim, Sven & I were amongt the first starters. It didn’t bother us as it gave us clean skies. The first climb 8kts & we were off! Exciting scenery all day, mountain lines, totally unlandable terrain, terrain that looked landable in POL – but that was my due to the size of the fields. Tim, two LS3’s & I were leaders all day, which eventually rewarded me with a 2nd place with 987pts! it was a shame that Sven wasn’t with us, missed out little gaggle of three.”

505 in 15 m. but this day was cancelled due to a midair collision.”Fortunately two parachutes were observed.We would later learn that the Lithuanian pilot ,  exited the glider very low – and was probably saved by the high trees which caught his opening parachute and arrested his impact. “Also the Polish pilot was OK.
Combi had 512 and Sebastian added more points to his total;1000. Roman [Mracek] had 989.

Task 6 was cancelled for the combi- class by the judges, before start due to incoming bad weather.”Many Gliders had to return to the airport due to bad weather conditions. Estimates about 30 planes and more are coming. We are waiting for the Commission to decide whether to continue in the today’s task.”
Club did not have a valid day though they flew, but no 25 % of the pilots finished as most did not start.
Adam got no points but lot’s of CREDIT for him.
Sven wrote; “Adam lead the gaggle around the task and 6 guys managaged to complete it – in my view the feat of the contest. 
We wait to see if it turns out to be a contest day (25% of the pilots must pass 100km – and thus far only 8 did). more than 20 pilots did not even manage to get through the start gate. ”
15 m; was cancelled later as well also here some heroes who started, flew the task and finished but not enough.
Only 2 of the 6 starters finished and flew 183 km. in 3 hours; Rumanian pilot Alex Pop and Lucasz Grabowski from Poland. No points but GLORY!!!

Task 7 yesterday; Not the best weather in the morning but improving.In EASTERN countries they are used to fly whenever possible, so 2 hour AAT’s were set.
“First sun just showed up. As long as the weather develops, as predicted by our meteorologist, around 1PM there should be active thermals. Starts are scheduled at 13:00 LT.”
Club‘s story today by Sven all the way from South Africa in the East of Europe:
“Day 7 – 47 competitors in the club class – strong winds from the north and conditions drying out. We needed 12 pilots over 100km for a valid contest day. After the start it was only at Zobor – the famous ridge at Nitra that I saw gliders. After drifting a bit too deep into the sector I set of for Prievidza. – At the centre of the third sector I was down too low to make it onto the windward side of the next ridge and after various desperate attempts I put UY down in an immense field (there is a whole story on getting the trailer in and out of the field – Petr Panek and his father came to fetch me – MANY THANKS – 12 pilots made 100km and I placed 11th, move up two places on the overall standings. ”
7 From 45 finished …..with between 138 and 170 km. ……and indeed JUST 25 % flew over 100 km. .so a valid day and some “shuffles” in the overall scores. [www.soaringspot.com] Though the top 3 is STILL the top 3; Uwe Tim and Jacek.
15 m;26 started and 9 finished with up to 193 km.
Combi; Sebastian won the day. Romanian pilot Andreas did well as runner up and moved to spot 3 overall behind Sebastian and Piotr.

Today they have set tasks;club 226,15 m. 264 and combi 307km.
“From the morning there is almost a clear sky above Prievidza, and it probably will stay the whole day. According to the forecast, there will be no, or very little cumulus clouds today, so it will be more difficult for the competitors to find the optimal track. The first start is scheduled to 11:30”

 

——–News from   DG Flugzeugbau GmbH

“During the last months, we’ve been asked quite frequently if the new “neo” winglets will be available for LS4 gliders. Based on very good results with neo-winglets, which DG developed during the past 2 years, we can expect a perceptible increase in performance for the LS4 as well. The LS8 shows an increase in both, handling and performance.

So now we offer this kind of development and ask LS4 owners to place an option. Only a few options are left to kick-off this exciting project.

——-News from Bailleau:
“Hello ! From July 31st to August 10th this summer, will be held the 44th Bailleau International Gliding Contest, a classic flat-land gliding contest.

And like every year for 21 years now, Bailleau International will be accompanied by the now famous “Amical” Contest, one of the best ways for a pilot to take his first steps in competition …

The website http://2018.planeur-bailleau.org is now open, you will find there all useful information and the online registration form …”

 

—–News from Shempp-Hirth;
The new 15 m. Ventus 3 has been tested as I read;”Congratulations Schempp-Hirth on the first flights of the new Ventus 3 15m! Looks wonderful, I hear the three test pilots on day one are very pleased & are yet again, impressed with its handling – love it :…by Adam.

Photo taken by Derren Francis of his 1 production set.

And,..the first edition of the new MAGAZINE MINIMOA, has been published, a magazine for all pilots and Schempp-Hirth fan’s.
Had a look,…. love the lay-out and great stories and pictures.
“This magazine will be regularly published and will provide news, interesting articles and of course lots of pictures.We wish you a lot of fun reading and are looking forward to your feedback.”

I like both Tilo and Ralf, know them for ages and as George always flew SH gliders, we ordered a few with them and in the past visited regularly. Ralf visited us with Klaus in Tocumwal. Glad to see he is since a couple of years part of Schempp–Hirth and he is the editor for the new magazine whilst french Benjamin Neglais does the lay-out and pictures. Benjamin fits very well in the SH family. Great cooperation !!!!
As far as I know one of my friends Hans, still has a MINIMOA.
SCHEMPP-HIRTH.COM

And the cover of the April issue the first of I hope , many more.
As shared by Schemmp-Hirth.

 

—-Interesting OLC news;
Allan Barnes flew on Friday the 13th still  571 km. in his LS 1f.
Very active Foehn in the Alps.
Switzerland ; with a great result for top pilot Rainer Crohnjaeger; 1.260 km. with a speed of 105,59 km./h !!!! Hausen am Albis was the place to be. He flew the ASH 31 MI/21m. After rain and clouds there was wave .
But the whole area was superb.
What about David Richter-Trummer in an H301, a club class glider!!!Niederoblarn [Austria] was for him the place to be; 1.134 km. with a speed of 95,52 km.h. He “cruised” over the mountains at under 4000 m. and found good thermals as well.
A few day’s earlier on Tuesday Keith Essex flew from more or less in  his Minden [ USA], another great flight in the JS 1 C. This time 1,254.5 km. with a speed of 153,6 km./h.
I liked his OLC-comment;
“As forecast….crappy unstable wave with ugly clouds. Laminar flow was very high, anytime you got lower than 13 to 14 thousand you had to work hard to get back into the wave. Lots of snow showers to skirt around too. A character building day.”

Talking about Minden,…they had a WAVE CAMP and one of my Dutch soaring friends Jeppe is there as well. He shared some news and great pictures.
He mentioned the great atmosphere created by Laurie and Silvio, who started  …SoaringNV.com… about 9 years ago; It seems the other 2 businesses from my time do not exist anymore.
Of course they are super hosts on wave day’s , but also on less day’s they organize readings about p.e. Perlan or invite Gavin Pretor-Pinney, the founder of the Cloud appreciation society to drop in to share his experiences.

   

   

Perlan 2 and Dr. Johnson and Jim Payne talking about how to protect against the cold and possible hypothermia.

Love Minden had a great time there in 1990 ,  NEVER forget the flight in the Albatross -amphibian from Joe Lodato and the landing on the Lake Tahoe with some friends at the Pre Worlds [later they were moved to Uvalde]
Jeppe shared a picture from the Lake as well and I HAVE to share it.

On Monday morning all pilots from the camp were up early , as it was supposed to be a super-wave day or a  “diamond lennie-day” with 5000 m. ]16.400]height gain.
It was 5 brand new DIAMONDS.
“Back on the ground. Got upto 9000′ on tow and then into the wave near Kingsbury Grade in the leeside of Job’s Peak. Upto 17500′ all the way and then northbound in the wave ‘highway’ to Carson City and south of Reno. 
Some planes upto FL280 since the wave window is open.”

   

Picture 1 ;early morning at Soaring.NV
2. Lennie and shadow overhead the airport. The white hangar on the the left is the initial point (IP) for righthand downwind when RWY30 is in use.

Next week more news and pictures from the WAVE PARADISE in Minden Nevada.THANKS Jeppe !!!

—-And to finish news from Japan:
Kenshi tried his 1000 km over Japan last week. He prepared well and was up early as you can see. I checked with him if it all worked out well, but ” I tried 1000K task with WAVE. But dose not success. I expect next chance.”
No worries he will do it another day!!!

 As shared by Kenshi Tagami

 

CU next week,by the way ,good soaring in Holland as well. Steven Raimond flew yesterday 445 km. and the day before 515 !!

A bit long this blog but nice pictures.Cheers Ritz